Tag Archives: Sin

Understanding the Voice of Pain

Time for a long, rambling bit of pop psychology. I am much more comfortable thinking of the big-picture mysteries, but there is a valid claim against that. While I happily affirm and declare that every point of theology and doctrine has implications as to how we must live, that does not mean that we (and I) will actually make the connection. It’s one thing to take good notes in the lecture hall, but if I can’t get the project to work right in the lab section, I probably did not understand it as well as I thought. Real life is where the theology is lived out. This is where it happens.======

I have noticed both in myself and others a linking of experience and interpretation, bound in lock-step, where they should not be linked. Indeed, I am surprised that we and I do it so readily, almost automatically as first response.

The first condition is the experience of pain; emotional, spiritual or physical. As I try to think through what I want to say, I find it almost impossible to confine myself to a few sentences. But that is probably OK. You know about pain. Everyone does. Continue reading

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The Last Post of This Story

“You give and take away, blessed be the name” Popular worship song by Matt Redman (Listen here)

“ …The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21

“…Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil (or disaster)? Job 2:10

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One of the more difficult things in theology is how we are to understand the existence of evil; particularly, since we Christians affirm that God is all good, all loving, and all powerful – that God is One, and has no rival equal but opposite dark force who fights for evil while our God fights for good. No, we are forced to wrestle with Isaiah 45:7 “I make light and create darkness. I make blessings and create disasters. I, the LORD, do all these things.”

I say it is difficult, but it is not beyond our depth. At least, it is not beyond our depth when we are just talking in the abstract, in the absence of the screaming pain of real, fresh loss. But that is when we must talk of these things, so that we may be equipped when the waves threaten to overwhelm us. If we avoid wrestling with the problem until the day of trouble, we will be like a swordsman who avoids learning about his sword and shield until the enemy is upon him. Here on the Gulf coast, we are in the early days of Hurricane season. If we wait to prepare, to think about what must be done, until the wind is howling around our doors, how shall we stand? The time of need is too late.

I long to write more exploring the idea; but today, that is a diversion and a temptation. I need to be more personal.

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On the closing of The Church of the Redeemer

“My place in Redeemer & vice versa, ”compare and contrast “ with life in general and personal history, with particular emphasis on the themes of plans and expectation (see subtext “Judas”)…”

OK, yesterday eve (well, late afternoon!) when I finally got to bed after staying up like I was half my age, I couldn’t write what I wanted. But I was too full to properly resist, so I at least assigned a theme for myself, noted above. Upon reading my “assignment,” today, I am dismayed, and thankful on behalf of my non-existent class, that I do not teach High School English, nor do I assign term papers.

I have been dodging this topic all morning, and my available time is near an end. Some would say I have been dodging this topic for 20 years, maybe 25. Time to get to it… Continue reading

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And now…, the other shoe.

I’ve got to take care of a little unwelcome personal business.

As you may have picked up through these scattered threads lying about here are a number that try to make some connection between the themes of Christianity,  of Christian theology, and the way the world seems to actually work in observation. Sometimes, as in “Simul Justes et Peccator” that connection is revealed by failure. Failure to act in accordance with what one knows to be true involves, if not a willful blindness, a willful “dimming of the eye,” a choosing not to see, a choosing to not know what one knows. Continue reading

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Simul justes et peccator (and how it relates to me and my marriage)

One of my “soap-box” points, on which I am continually harping, is the importance of the pastoral implications and applicability of doctrine, and of theology. If there is a particular point about the nature of God and of our relationship with Him that is intellectually stimulating and recreationally pleasing to fondle, but has no true impact on my life, then I think that is a pretty fair description of what it means to “take the Lord’s name in vane” (No, it doesn’t mean saying “OMG!” as tiresome as that is). Continue reading

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