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!

Back from leave and into the swing of things...

Great to be back from leave and hopefully a new season of blogging.

Watched some of Oprah yesterday. I used to like her show but the last months I find myself getting more and more uncomfortable with what she is focusing on. Whilst she calls herself a Christian I find that very hard to believe, when her show focuses on new age thinking, reincarnation and the such like. Each to his own I guess...

But what frustrates me is that so many Christians, young in their faith and lacking discernment get so easily confused about what is truth and somehow we also think that what is on TV is true...the world is a crazy place and it would be great if those who are the church could see the truth and also the lies paraded as truth...