We have absolutely questioned God and had our doubts and said, “Is this whole thing true? Is this real?” I sat on our tour bus last summer and called Scotty Smith, my pastor, after spending a very difficult night of wrestling with God. We were getting ready to go do an interview with People magazine or Larry King or somebody, and I was just in tears, calling my pastor and saying, “Is it really true? Is it really true? Can God be trusted?” … I needed to hear my pastor speak truth again to me. I needed to hear somebody say again, here’s what’s true.

That has been an important process, the whole thing of taking every thought captive and saying, God, this is what I choose to believe. Because I’ve found myself, especially in the first few days and weeks after Maria went to heaven—and there’s still moments of this—that I could almost feel myself being sucked into this black hole of doubt and despair. Of saying, “God, if I let myself keep going in this direction, there seems to be no bottom, no end to this, and I’ll never be able to escape from it.”

At the hospital at Vanderbilt, literally within an hour of knowing that my little girl was in heaven with Jesus, I found myself having to make a choice, when I would start to feel myself and everything in me being sucked into this place, this abyss. I would begin to say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord. You give. You take away. But, God, I trust you. I trust you. You are faithful. You are good. I trust you. I trust you.” And as I would say that, literally just choose to make that declaration in the midst of this, I would almost physically feel myself being pulled back from that place. And I’d start to breathe again.

HT: Justin Taylor

Related posts:
    • Steven Curtis Chapman’s Daughter Killed
    • Steven Curtis Chapman on Good Morning America
    • MaryBeth Chapman on Maria’s Death One Year Later

I especially liked this article on the topic of God’s involvement in this world and its effect on science.

In theological terms, this falls in the area of study called providence. How involved is God in the natural world? If he is heavily involved, does it make the study of science pointless?

Collins unpacks God’s involvement in the world by stating the classic Christian understanding of God’s providence. God created real things with real properties (i.e. natures) each with the possibility of causing things. God ceased creating but goes on maintaining and governing. That is, he keeps his creation doing what it is supposed to be doing …

This raises a question. Does God do everything?

In a sense, yes. In a sense, no. God directly governs this world. His purposes are holy, wise and thoroughly good; and he sees to it, that in the end, his purposes stand. The reason the laws of physics work is because God keeps them working day after day. They serve his purpose. So God is directly involved in all of creation daily. However, God created a universe with a web of cause and effect and things that have natures … and one of the properties of those natures is to cause things. In that sense, God did not write this blog post. Mr. Dawntreader did …

Is it still possible for Christians to study and learn about the natural world if God is so involved in it? Of course it is, and we should learn as much as we can. In fact, it is because God sustains this world and gives it order that forms the basis and foundation for studying it.

I encourage you to visit the Dawn Treader site to read the full article, plus the earlier articles on the book as well. This looks like an excellent book on science and faith, and I have added it to my “books to read” list.

Related post: The Bible is to Theology as Creation is to Science

“Don’t expect faith to clear things up for you. It is trust, not certainty.” (Flannery O’Connor)

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Okay, I don’t want to make this a Flannery O’Connor versus the book of Hebrews smackdown, because, as much as I like Flannery O’Connor, the book of Hebrews would win hands down. But I saw this quote by Flannery O’Connor earlier this week and immediately thought of Hebrews 11:1.

At first read, it might seem that the verse from Hebrews is contradicting Flannery, but perhaps Flannery is getting at something different in her quote. I have my own ideas on this, but I will let you all tackle this first.

What do you think? Is Flannery O’Connor’s quote out of line with Scripture? Or is she saying something different than Hebrews 11:1 is saying? (i.e. not contradictory, just different)

I know, you weren’t expecting to come to the blog today and have to think!

HT: Don Bryant

How to get to heaven:

• 28% are trusting in Jesus Christ alone as their means to get to heaven.
• 27% are trusting in their own kindness as their means to get to heaven.
• 26% are trusting in their own religiosity as their means to get to heaven.

Attendance/participation in church activities in the last 30 days:

• 54% attended a church or religious service.
• 23% attended a church youth group social activity.
• 20% attended Sunday School.
• 14% attended a small-group Bible study.
• 8% have been in a leadership role within their youth group.

Some results show a decline compared with an identical 2005 survey:

• Believe heaven exists: 75% in 2005; 69% in 2007.
• Told a friend about their religious beliefs: 30% in 2005; 24% in 2007.
• Attended Sunday School: 24% in 2005; 20% in 2007.
• Invited someone to a church activity: 19% in 2005; 15% in 2007.
• Attended small group Bible study: 18% in 2005; 14% in 2007.

Age and gender differences:

• Older teens (18 and 19 year-olds) are less likely than 12-17 year-olds to attend youth group activities (13 percent vs. 26 percent), and they are less likely to attend Sunday school (8 percent vs. 24 percent).
• Female teens are more active religiously than their male counterparts. More females pray regularly (48 percent vs. 31 percent) and read the Bible regularly (17 percent vs. 11 percent) than male teenagers.
• The level of teen participation is also higher for females than males for church youth group social activities (26 percent vs. 20 percent), small group Bible studies (18 percent vs. 11 percent), and leadership roles in their church youth group (10 percent vs. 6 percent).

As a pastor and parent of teens, I am concerned to see the confusion over how to get to heaven, the decline in areas of faith and participation, the radical drop in participation from older teens, and the lesser involvement of young men in church life. These should all be areas of concern, prayer, and action for churches in America.

HT: PastorBlog

The first post is a letter written to her son this year on what would have been his thirteenth birthday. In the second post, written on Easter of this year, Elle shares openly about her own struggle with faith following James’ death, along with the added difficulty of learning how to celebrate Easter once again, which now represented not only the resurrection of her Lord but also the birthday of the son she had lost.

I pray that these two posts will minister to others who have lost children as well as deepen the hearts and understanding of those who have never experienced such a loss. Thank you, Elle, for sharing personally and from your heart. May God continue to comfort you and your husband with his strong hand of love.

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.

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.

“I don’t know why I fought it so hard,” he said. “I just did.”

But Knievel knew people were praying for him, including his daughter’s church, his ex-wife’s church, and the hundreds of people who wrote letters urging him to believe. And then something indescribable happened during Daytona Bike Week this March.

“I don’t know what in the world happened. I don’t know if it was the power of the prayer or God himself, but it just reached out, either while I was driving or walking down the sidewalk or sleeping, and it just—the power of God in Jesus just grabbed me. … All of a sudden, I just believed in Jesus Christ. I did, I believed in him! … I rose up in bed and, I was by myself, and I said, ‘Devil … get away from me. I cast you out of my life.’ … I just got on my knees and prayed that God would put his arms around me and never, ever, ever let me go.”

Way to go, Evel Knievel! It is good to know you finally made it to the other side.

Meacham describes the two debate participants as follows:

Warren believes in the God of Abraham as revealed by Scripture, tradition and reason; Jesus is Warren’s personal savior and was, Warren argues, who he said he was: the Son of God. Harris, naturally, takes a different view. “I no more believe in the Biblical God than I believe in Zeus, Isis, Thor and the thousands of other dead gods that lie buried in the mass grave we call ‘mythology’,” Harris says. “I doubt them all equally and for the same reason: lack of evidence.”

Newsweek religion contributor Rabbi Marc Gellman adds his own thoughts to the subject in his April 5, 2007 article, “Problems and Mysteries.” I got a chuckle out of Gellman’s closing words. After commenting on his own Jewish faith, Rick Warren’s Christian faith, and Sam Harris’ lack of faith, Gellman signs off with these three greetings:

Happy Passover to my Jewish readers.
Happy Easter to Rick and all my Christian friends.
And to Sam Harris, happy springtime.

Is God real? This is the most basic question of faith, and one that must be addressed in order to come to God. Hebrews 11:6 says: “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Without God there is no meaning to life. Without Christ there is no hope of resurrection and life beyond the grave. There is just “happy springtime.” Springtime is nice, but it cannot compare with Easter. May you know the reality of God and his love for you in Christ this Easter season.

I have always enjoyed the B.C. series (as well as the Wizard of Id, the other series Johnny was involved in). Johnny had a keen sense of humor, and his comics almost always made me laugh, and often made me think as well.

Johnny was a Christian, and he sometimes injected his faith into his B.C. strips. Here is his comic from Easter Sunday yesterday.

Thank you Johnny for sharing your life, faith and humor with us over the years. We will miss you, of course, but how magnificent for you to celebrate Easter Sunday 2007 in the presence of your resurrected Lord!

(Continue reading for some articles about Johnny Hart and some more great B.C. comic strips!)

Articles:

• Fred Sanders at the Scriptorium from April 10, 2007
• World Magazine article from April 8, 2000
• Today’s Christian article from March/April 1997

Recent comic strips:

• April 3, 2007
• April 2, 2007
• April 1, 2007 (Palm Sunday)
• March 25, 2007
• February 23, 2007
• February 17, 2007
• January 20, 2007
• December 25, 2006 (Christmas)
• December 23, 2006

I found this a very touching scene, and yet I also remember thinking, “What was that all about? I don’t remember that in the Bible.” Well, three years have passed, and I guess I was never curious enough to do the research myself, but John Mark Reynolds over at The Scriptorium has come to my aid today with a fascinating article called: Women of Holy Week: Veronica and Legends that Capture the Truth.

In the article Reynolds explains the origins of the Veronica legend and even the origin of her name. (Her name, “veron ika” means “very image” and corresponds to the image of Christ’s face on the cloth.) After affirming the historical truth of the gospel accounts and revealing the Veronica account as clearly legend and myth, Reynolds goes on to show how we can still learn something from the Veronica story today.

Now that we are in no danger of confusing the legend with Gospel history perhaps we can learn from it what our spiritual great-great-so-many-more-great-grandparents found true in it.

Veronica can stand for all those real women who would have comforted Jesus.

Her story, like the Cinderella, can function as a myth. I can learn from the story of the Cinderella without believing that she once lived in France. I can learn from this gentle story of a woman who loved Jesus without giving it the historicity I grant the gospels.

The Gospel is a myth that is True in every way, the story of Veronica is a myth that has an important truth.

What can we learn today from Veronica?

Every act of kindness done in His name leaves the image of Christ on the receiver.

Today if you hold your child in Christ’s name, then you are Veronica. When as a teacher help the child in government school for Christ’s sake, you are Veronica. A gift to a charity in the name of the Lord from a checking account already stressed, makes you Veronica.

All over the world the image of Jesus Christ appears in the beautiful and legendary acts of His Veronica’s.

The happy “confusion” of the Middle Ages was between the Image of Christ itself (veron ika) on her napkin and the woman’s name. It was a blessed and meaningful mistake (if it did not reflect a deeper folk wisdom) for the greatest imprint of the Face of the Master is not on the receiver of the good deed or on the tool used . . . it is in the transformation of the person who acts in love.

The sinner who is transformed by grace through a faith that acts begins to wear His Image. She becomes Good, because He is Good. She is made True, because He is True. She is truly Beautiful, because He is Beauty. She is the very image of Christ to a watching world.

Thank you, John, for clearing up my confusion about Veronica. And thank you for leaving me with a new way of picturing what it means to bear Christ’s image as we are transformed ever more into his likeness.

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)