Worship Symposium: Day 3
Jan 30th, 2007 by Carl
The last day of the symposium. By the end I was tired. I was tired when I came and the days are good, but they are long.
Probably the most interesting was a session on providence, preaching and pastoral care. The topic dealt with how we deal with the whole suffering and evil “problem.” Crammed into 60 minutes, we had a quick theological review and then some practical insight into what this means for a pastor. It had some good things to think about. Of course, it all comes down to your theology of evil and suffering. Do all things come from God? Does God ever punish Christians, or was all the punisment taken by Christ at the cross? What does Paul mean when he says “all things work together for good” – does he mean each and every thing or that the sum total of all things works for good, but maybe not every individual event has some redemptive value?
It seems to me that the Bible does not answer some of the questions which we have. As the one presenter pointed out, the book of Job has Job complaining and questioning God about why, after having gotten all knds of bad advice from his friends. Then God shows up, and says, “Look a hippo.” Almost like I do with a screaming two-year old.
All in all, a good conference. I will definititely consider it in the future.
“Then God shows up, and says, “Look a hippo.””
LOL Loved this!!!!
Is suffering the consequences of our sin (or someone else’s sin) “punishment”? It can seem so. But I don’t think God punishes us in that way. He doesn’t always intervene to rescue us, but that’s because he has another plan. Obviously he allows sin and suffering… does that mean it comes from him? Hmmmmmm. Personally I think every single thing can have some redemptive value. Often times it’s beyond our human capabilities to get there on our own, but that’s where the miracle comes in. The Lord changes us or others, orchestrates a good thing out of an evil event, and/or makes the seemingly impossible happen. It’s a God thing that we can’t conceive of until it comes to pass.
Interesting stuff to think about. And when we get tired of thinking and trying to figure things out… we find our relief by going to the zoo! (Loved that!!!) Let God worry about all these details……
Thanks for sharing.
I have been thinking more about what the presenter said about punishment – that God never punishes Christians for sin, since all punishment was taken by Christ on the cross. I had never thought about quite that way. I still haven’t thought it through all the way. Some of it is semantics, but I think while we may say that God never punishes us for our sins because the punishment is taken by Christ, that does not mean there are not consequences or discipline resulting from sin. We are forgiven but sometimes also disciplined for the sake of our own transformation.