Pastor Mark Roberts shares some helpful resources for thinking about suffering and evil in the wake of the killings at Virginia Tech.

In light of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, I thought it might be helpful to put up some resources for people who are looking for answers to the tough questions having to do with suffering, evil, God, and faith. Though there are limits to our understanding, and thus to the satisfaction [we] will find in this conversation, nevertheless I believe there are some truths we can know that will help us find guidance and even solace.

Mark’s post provides links to some helpful articles, books and sermons discussing God and the problem of suffering and evil in the world. You can link to the resource page here.

Mark also has an excellent post today on caring for people who are grieving.

The most important thing we can do is be present with those who hurt. Sometimes our presence will be literal. Sometimes it will be expressed through a card or a letter or a meal. Presence says “I am with you. And I will be with you through this process.” Presence doesn’t try to make things better. It doesn’t offer explanations or solutions. Presence doesn’t try to fix things. Rather, it offers love in tangible, faithful, and non-invasive ways.

Our American tendency is to want to help people feel better, to take away their pain. Thus we’re often tempted to “cheer people up.” We want to say things like, “I’m sure God will work good things out of this tragedy.” Now this might be true. Indeed, I believe it is. But when people are in the midst of deep grief, such words, even when true, can seem terribly superficial.

I appreciate Mark’s unique blend of compassion, wisdom, and insight. I enjoy reading his blog and recommend it to you.

The new J.R.R. Tolkien book, The Children of Hurin, was released yesterday.

From ABC news:

Six thousand years before the Fellowship of the Ring, long before anyone had even seen a Hobbit, the elves and men of Middle-earth quaked at the power of the dark lord Morgoth.

Hunted by easterlings and orcs, they fled to the fastness of Nargothrond and to the deep forests of Brethil and Doriath. Among them, a hero emerged. Strong and courageous he was, but foolhardy and impetuous. His name was Turin, son of Hurin.

The Lord of the Rings works rank up there as some of my favorite books and movies, so I am excited about this one. I am curious how many Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fans out there plan on getting this.

Here is the book description from Amazon and some comments from Adam Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien’s grandson:

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(Part 2 in a series of posts on Habakkuk.)

Today we will answer the following three questions about the prophet Habakkuk: Who was he? When did he live? Why did he write this book?

1) Who was Habakkuk?

Unlike some of the other prophets, we do not know that much about Habakkuk. His name only appears in Scripture twice, in Habakkuk 1:1 and 3:1.

Some sources outside of the Bible say he may have been from the tribe of Levi, but the Bible does not tell us one way or the other. However, chapter 3 of Habakkuk is a musical poem, and so it is possible that Habakkuk may have been one of the Levites responsible for worship in the temple.

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John Mark Reynolds reflects on what it means for him to vote as a Christian and a citizen in the upcoming Presidential primary and election.

I don’t know, it just doesn’t have the same ring as “Evel Knievel.” As a kid I was always enthralled by the daredevil exploits of motorcycle stunt man Robert “Evel” Knievel. I would watch in awe as he fearlessly jumped various obstacles on his motorcycle, sometimes making it and sometimes offering up spectacular wipeouts. And then of course there was his ill-fated attempt at jumping Snake River Canyon on his rocket-powered X-2 Sky-Cycle. (He didn’t make it.)

I had not heard anything about Knievel for years, except for a brief interview I saw with him during a David Blaine stunt special last year. I know, I am still watching stunt shows. What can I say? They say the personality is set by five-years old. So I was pleasantly surprised to read this in Christianity Today:

On Palm Sunday, hundreds responded to Robert “Evel” Knievel’s testimony by asking to be baptized on the spot at Crystal Cathedral. Speaking alongside the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, Knievel told the congregation in Orange County, California, how he had refused for 68 years to accept Jesus Christ as Lord. He believed in God, but he couldn’t walk away from the gold and the gambling and the booze and the women.

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This is a must-read post from Joe Carter on the subject of visiting fathers. Dads, if you are thinking of leaving your family or even in the midst of divorce proceedings, you need to stop and read this article. Thank you, Joe, for sharing honestly from your experience and from your heart.

Here is a clip from the post, but I encourage you to visit Joe’s site and read the whole thing.

Over the past twelve years I’ve learned being a part-time dad is not enough. Our children always need more.

That is why I want to address a specific, narrow audience with the rest of this post. I want to address those fathers who are on the verge of leaving their families.

I want to start with a basic premise: When your first child is born, your life stops being about what you want and starts being about what they need. If you disagree, then you can stop reading now. The rest of what I say will only make sense to those who understand that this is the foundation of fatherhood . . . [Your children] need you at home. If you’re a man and aspire to being a dad, that is all you need to know . . .

I couldn’t ask for a more thoughtful, accommodating woman to be my former spouse. But as hard as we work to make it easier on our daughter, everything we can do is not enough. At the end of the day, my child lives in a house where one of her parents is missing. Divorce doesn’t just end a marriage, it ends a family.

Rabbit roadblock. Five-thousand runaway jack rabbits closed the main highway between the capitals of Hungary and Austria for several hours Monday morning. The truck carrying the rabbits turned over when it was struck by another vehicle.

Dying star. Using the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory and the Keck-2 Telescope in Hawaii, astronomers have taken some amazingly beautiful pictures of a dying star at the center of the Red Square nebula. The Red Square is one of the most perfectly symmetrical objects ever observed by scientists.

(Part 1 in a series of posts on Habakkuk.)

As I mentioned last week, I would like to spend some time blogging with you through the book of Habakkuk. The posts will be adapted from a sermon series on Habakkuk that I will later put on the Sermons page. For example, last week’s series of posts (“Reading the Prophets 1, 2, and 3″) on the Old Testament prophetical books came right out of the introduction to this series. The whole series is called Habakkuk: The Journey from Doubt to Faith.

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Yesterday we began a new message series on the book of 1 Timothy called, Doing Church Together. The message served as an introduction to the book of 1 Timothy as well as a study of the first two verses.

1 Timothy 1:1-2 – 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

We did three things in this introductory message to the book of 1 Timothy:

1) We went over the background of the letter.

    – We discussed 1 Timothy as one of the three Pastoral Epistles (P.E.’s).
    – We explored the differences between Paul’s P.E.’s and his other letters.
    – We suggested a timeline for 1 Timothy and the other P.E.’s

2) We discovered the purpose for the letter.
    – We looked at 1 Timothy 3:14-15 where Paul says, “I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household.” (1 Timothy 3:14-15)
    – We saw that Paul wrote this letter to tell Timothy how people should conduct themselves as the church of Jesus Christ.

3) We examined Paul’s greeting in verses 1-2.
    – We discussed Paul’s apostleship.
    – We talked about God as our Savior and Jesus as our hope.
    – We explored why Paul called Timothy his “true son in the faith.”
    – We reflected on Paul’s greeting of grace, mercy and peace.

We made the following three applications from the message:

1. God gave us salvation and hope through Jesus Christ – therefore we should trust him.
2. God gave us spiritual fathers through the gospel – therefore we should share the gospel with others.
3. God gave us instructions for the church – therefore we should follow his instructions.

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.

Here are some miscellaneous quotes about church attendance (or the lack thereof):

If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then some people must really love the church!

Call it a trump card if you must, but lawmakers in Virginia made a law in 1610 that prescribed the death penalty for people who failed to attend church three consecutive Sundays.

The following statistics reveal church is the safest place of all. Automobiles account for 20 percent of all fatal accidents, while 17 percent of fatalities occur at home. Fourteen percent happen to pedestrians on streets and sidewalks. Travel by air, rail, or water causes 16 percent of the deaths. Yet, of all reported deaths, only .001 percent occur in worship services.

The great task of the Church is not only to get sinners into heaven, but also to get the saints out of bed.

Has it been a while since you’ve been in church? Why not decide right now to go this week – and then go! Just remember (one last quote):

This could be a word of caution to those who place their eternal security in church membership rather than Jesus Christ. The late Corrie ten Boom, a survivor of the Holocaust, used to say, “A mouse in a cookie jar isn’t a cookie.”

We have been discussing two questions concerning the prophetical books in the Old Testament:

1. Why are we so unfamiliar with them?
2. Why are they important for us to study and learn?

In answer to the first question, I offered the following four reasons:

        1) Placement: at the end of the Old Testament

        2) Language: poetry rather than prose

        3) History: requires an understanding of historical events

        4) Theology: many messages of judgment and doom

Now we move on to the second question. Why are the prophets important for us to study and learn? Here are four reasons to consider:

1) We need the prophets to help balance out our unbiblical views of God.

We ended yesterday by talking about the messages of judgment that the prophets brought. And yet we saw that they also spoke words of comfort and hope. People often say things like, “The Bible says God is love. He doesn’t judge people.” But the same Bible that tells us that God is love also tells us that God judges and punishes sin. God is both loving and just. The prophets help us to develop a fully biblical picture of God.

2) The prophets deal with the weighty issues of life.

The prophets deal with the weighty issues of life – things like God’s character, God’s uniqueness, God’s sovereignty over the nations, God’s requirements for his people, the importance of justice and righteousness. Without the prophets our faith can grow shallow and weak, unable to stand up to the rigors and challenges of life.

3) The prophets point us to Jesus as the Messiah.

The whole Old Testament points forward to the coming of Christ, but as the time drew nearer, the prophetical books became more and more specific about the coming of the Messiah who would bring salvation for all the nations. Some of the most startling and clear prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament are found in the prophets.

4) The prophets help us understand God’s plan for the ages.

Without the prophets we could never make sense of what happened to Israel as God’s people. We would not understand God’s plan for his church in the present age. The prophets are critical for understanding God’s plan for the ages, including our own future.

Next week I will begin blogging through the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk is one of the Minor Prophets. It is a short book with a powerful message for today. I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to practice “reading the prophets” with me.

Bible Belt. This story gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “Bible thumper.” A Minnesota jail guard is on leave after striking a prisoner with the prisoner’s own Bible.

PC Bunny. A Rhode Island public school thought the Easter Bunny was too Christian, so they changed his name to the more politically correct “Peter Rabbit.” But wait, that won’t work either. Peter was one of Jesus’ twelve apostles. Perhaps they should just call it the PC Bunny.

Getting a leg up on crime. A man with a prosthetic leg was apprehended by police after his leg fell off during the getaway. He and his partner had just hoisted a 1,500-pound ATM machine loaded with cash into their pickup truck when police gave chase.