A God Who Suffers

I just finished my final course for seminary, so I now feel an incredible freedom to read any book that I choose to read! Yippee! I ordered a few used books off of Ebay, and I just finished the first book to arrive: "Night" by Elie Wiesel. It’s one of the most captivating and haunting books I have ever read. "Night" is Wiesel’s autobiographical account of living through the holocaust as a young teenage boy. If you have not read this book, I highly recommend it. It is difficult to stomach, but it is also inspirational and deeply moving.

In the most interesting passage of the book, Wiesel recounts a story of a likeable and sweet Jewish boy who is brutally hung to death by the Nazi SS. He writes:

“But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light was still breathing…And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished. Behind me I heard the (a man) asking, ‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ And from within me, I heard a voice answer: ‘Where He is? This is where—hanging here from this gallows.’”

As a boy Wiesel passionately believed in God and even desired to become a rabbi, but the holocaust made him lose all faith in God. I wonder if his experience would have been any different if he had believed in a suffering savior, a God who descended to human form and suffered an atrocious death on a cross. I cannot pretend to imagine the horror that Wiesel suffered in the midst of Nazi oppression and the horrors of the concentration camps, but I wonder if his faith in God could have survived if he was a Christian and knew the suffering of Christ. It seems to me that the only faith that would have had a chance of surviving such a horrendous experience is the Christian faith.

Theology Quiz

Here's another fun quiz to determine your theological tradition. I was actually a little surprised how strongly mine turned out. It worked better than I expected:

You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan - 96%
Neo orthodox - 82%
Roman Catholic - 71%
Emergent/Postmodern - 54%
Reformed Evangelical - 46%
Charismatic/Pentecostal - 46%
Fundamentalist - 43%
Classical Liberal - 32%
Modern Liberal - 11%

A Prayer

I was reading and praying tonight and came across this prayer by Thomas Merton. I was moved by his words. I need to pray his prayer:

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” (from “Thoughts in Solitude” p. 89).

Are You a Heretic?

Here's a test to determine if you're a heretic. I scored 100% as a Chalcedon compliant, so obviously this test failed to pick out my specific heresies. Oh well, no test is perfect.

Anyway, I got this from Sean Scribner's blog. It's pretty fun.

My Sweet Hair

Yeah, I haven't been blogging much lately. I hope to post more over the next couple of weeks, but one thing I have been doing is letting my hair grow. I figured you might enjoy this pic from a few weeks ago. Jill and I were bored on a Sunday afternoon, so I let her do my hair.

We're #2!

A few years ago, a friend of mine found some 30 year old paraphernalia from Circleville Bible College. One of the items he found was a sign with the college’s old sports slogan. The slogan read: “We’re #2!” The implication was that “We’re #2 because God is #1.” I think it was the cheesiest slogan I have ever heard….but now I’m not so sure.

Perhaps all Ohio sports teams should adopt “We’re #2” as their official motto, not because God’s #1 and Ohio is #2, but because Ohio teams are finishing second in everything in this year. We’re putting together the greatest string of silver metals in the history of sports. The Buckeye’s football team was shellacked by Florida in the National Championship game in January. A few months later their basketball team was beaten handily by Florida in the basketball National Championship. Then, just last week, the Cleveland Cavaliers were swept by the Spurs in the NBA finals. If the Cleveland Indians can somehow manage to lose the World Series this fall, 2007 should mark Ohio as the greatest runner-up in the history of sports, and I think that’s something to cheer about. So, here’s to you Ohio, you may not be the best, but your pretty darn close.

Spirit Filled Bob

I finally finished watching No Direction Home, Martin Scorsese’s Documentary on Bob Dylan. I had seen the first half of it on PBS last year in MN but didn’t see the second part until I borrowed it from my brother. I thought it was pretty good. I think it gave Jill a new appreciation for Dylan.

My favorite quote from the documentary came from some crazy looking hippie who worked with Dylan on one of his albums. When speaking of Dylan’s success, he said, “I believe giving credit where credit is due. I don’t think Dylan had a lot to do with it. I think God, instead of touching him on the shoulder; He kicked him in the (butt). Really, and that’s where all that came from. He can’t help what he’s doing. I mean, he’s got the Holy Spirit about him. You can look at him and tell that.”

What Lies Ahead, I Have No Way of Knowin'

I’m going to be out of town this next week, so if I don’t post any, that’s the reason.

Keep Jill and me in your prayers if you remember. We’re still seeking God’s direction for the next step in our lives.

I’ve always been a bit of a worrier. I tend to live in the future and plan everything out well in advanced, so not knowing where we’re going has been a little stressful for me. But, I’ve felt a lot better about not knowing these past few weeks. I’ve come to the conclusion that waiting for God’s leading is much better than rushing into some forced decision. Everything doesn’t have to happen according to my timetable. God certainly has the power to lead us where and when He desires. If He really wants us to be somewhere, I’m sure he can get us there. The most important thing I can do is simply be faithful today and let God worry about the future.

I came across these words of Henri Nouwen that encouraged my soul. “Be sure that you love the life you’re living now, your studies, your prayers, your friendships…Then you can trust that God will reveal to you the direction to go when the time comes. But don’t try to know now what you only have to know a few years from now.”

The Honeycomb Evangelization

The conquest of my holistic remedy indoctrination of the world has begun. Jill was getting groceries yesterday, and the cashier sneezed and said, “Oh, my allergies are killin’ me!” Jill responded, “You may want to try taking some honeycomb. I know it sounds weird, but my husband took it this spring and his allergies have been cured…”