Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Last Sunday

I helped out at our Durbanvile church and did a panel discussion with two elders and a colleague minister. The congregation had submitted questions prior to the service for us to answer. Some really good ones (although old and unanswerable :) ) came in:

Slavation of children or those who have not heard the Gospel.
Literal vs metaphorical rading of scripture (in particular relation to the two genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke)
And then suffering related particularly to Zim and in light of Luke 12:22-34 ("Do not worry...")

It was great fun and we really did some good work. My colleague Douglas ended with a quote from "Night" by Elie Wiesel and spoke about God being real in that suffering...he spoke immensly powerfully. In Elie's book a young child is being hanged in Auschwitz and someone asks "where is God?" and the answer comes back "There on the gallows..." very powerful message that we know God through the suffering of Jesus on the cross.

I read the book yesterday morning. It is an outstnding if harrowing read about the horror of the German concentration and extermination camps. I find myself fascinated by these places and would love to go to Auschwitz. Marisa nd I went to Dachau when on holiday in Europe in 2000 and it was a truly fascinating and moving experience.

All this pain and suffering around us raises deep questions about God, his goodness and power. They are the same qustions that have been asked since the very beginning and the same questions to which there are still no answers. all we can do is to wrestle with God as we seek to find understanding and hope in Jesus who is alive!

1 comment:

JustAGuy said...

Sorry I missed this panel discussion. Sounds like it was useful. Am attending a debate in the Edinburgh Festival this week entitled "Should the New Europe embrace the New Atheism?" ... should prove interesting...