Job, Jesus and Suffering

I am prompted to write in reply to Colin Paris, George Glanville and most recently, Christopher Idle on the topic of alcohol consumption. It concerns me that the argument against drinking that comes up again and again is one of abuse. I believe that our views on any topic should be based on Scripture and Jesus' example, not on the sinful behaviour of others.

Satan's tactic right from the beginning was and is to entice people to abuse God's good gifts. Go back thousands of years to Genesis 9 and 19 and you will find both Noah and Lot getting drunk. To say that wine in Bible times was not alcoholic is plainly wrong. There are many warnings in Scripture against drunkenness. People abused alcohol in Jesus' time, and it was just as wrong then as it is now. I am sure our Lord knew full well the destructive nature of sin and the abuse of his gifts, yet his first miracle was to turn water into wine.

It is always disappointing to hear of Christians who, by their lack of self-control, bring God's name into disrepute. It is also heartbreaking to hear of the suffering that the sinful abuse of God's gifts can bring. God gave us the gift of sex, and yet the abuse of it has caused untold pain. Think of rapes, child molestation, the AIDS epidemic, pornography, homosexuality, adultery, abortion ... the list goes on. We could safely say many millions have been affected. But should our response to such suffering be to advocate for all married couples to give up sex?

I believe that God is glorified when we model the responsible use of his gifts to a watching world. Remember the fruits of the Spirit—one of which is self-control.

Joyce Parle of Epping VIC, AUS (10/12/2007)

Thought I'd send you a note. I had a little chuckle to myself when I read the advert on page 25 in light of the CHN column ‘When it's just not working’. No doubt your published Sunday School material is top notch, and I do note that Step 1 is pray ... BUT, follow these steps and bingo, you'll have a great Sunday School! I found it a bit too programmatic and promising of results, if you follow a formula. You could see if Willow Creek need any ideas for a new Sunday School programme that's guaranteed to work in six steps. I'm sure that would really appeal to them.

I know it's just an ad ... and I hope you sell lots of packages. I was even thinking of buying one you know.

Natalie Mills of Mount Lawley WA, AUS (17/12/2007)

Living in Tanzania, I receive the Briefing with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I am encouraged to hear of the many biblically faithful resources and training programmes available. On the other hand, I am constantly reminded of the huge gulf between the number and quality of biblical resources available in the West and the little available here in sub-Saharan Africa. Here in Tanzania there are very few biblical resources available in Swahili (the national language; very few people speak English), and even the resources that are available are often not accessible because people are unable to read them due to very low literacy and education levels. I'm personally working with a project translating the Bible and promoting literacy in a number of local languages. Many people do not even have access to a Bible they can read or understand! There are many pastors and church congregations here, but training levels are low; most pastors have not even had an opportunity to go to secondary school. A lack of faithful Bible teaching results in a weak church which stagnates and is easily susceptible to error. Many people attend church, but don't really understand the gospel, and are not equipped to follow Christ day by day.

So I want to encourage Briefing readers when you log onto the internet to order your next book, praise God for all the resources he has given us and for the privileged position we are in. And remember your brothers and sisters in Africa, Asia and Latin America who aren't able to access resources like these easily—and give generously to them. If you don't know who to give to, I highly recommend the Langham Partnership (www.langhampartnership.org) who help train pastors in Africa, Asia and Latin America in faithful expository preaching, and help provide resources for them to study God's word effectively.

Alastair Duncan of Mbeya, Tanzania (17/12/2007)

Thank you for the article entitled ‘The perfect gift of right now’. This was a great blessing for me. One of the first things that struck me was that the author didn’t refer to his suffering as suffering but as his personal circumstances. I can be quick to label my circumstances as suffering and focus on the negative rather than the sovereignty of God.

The article articulated some things that I have been thinking, in response to my personal circumstances. In January 2007, I moved to the Sunshine Coast with my family after 10 years in ministry to be the full time paid teaching elder at Lakeshore Community Church of Christ.

Although this was an exciting venture for our family, we realised it would not be easy, especially moving away from close friends and family. We did not know that it would be much harder for a reason we never expected.

After arriving, symptoms that I had been experiencing in my hands spread to most of the major joints of my body. These symptoms included pain and stiffness, which meant limited activity during the day and sleepless nights. This was a very difficult for my wife as most of the daily family duties of looking after our three daughters fell to her.

It was also difficult to operate in the way I hoped, in my role that I had been appointed to at church. I felt like the one thing I was capable of doing was preaching each week. Even then, I literally moved slowly to speak and then, after standing for so long, struggled back to my seat.

I was eventually diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis. The author of the article articulated the very things I have been feeling all year: “I often felt trapped—unable to serve as a pastor in quite the way that I hoped ...” and “I would look longingly at opportunities I was ‘missing’, and think, “Lord, if only I could do that for you ...”, “I would soon be conscience-stricken over what I would perceive as the many gaps in my pastoral ministry”.

I too want to learn that “my circumstances, far from being the enemy of my soul, are its friend”. In no way am I comparing my personal circumstances to the author’s, but his response has helped me respond in a God-honouring way to my own circumstances. I suspect this is what he hoped for in writing the article, so I wanted to encourage him with my response.

L-T Hopper of Buderim QLD, AUS (07/01/2008)

It not being my usual practice to respond to pieces appearing within magazines, I could not but help respond to a couple of cheeky assertions which made their way into a recent book review which appeared in your publication (A clear and Present Word—reviewed by Gordon Cheng). Whilst the reviewer neatly exposed the nodal points of the author's project, a couple of off-hand comments hit me fairly squarely in the jaw and prompted me to raise my voice in faux protest.

In the first place, my attention was drawn to the statement that “Contemporary hesitations about viewing Scripture as God's word written have found a voice even amongst somewhat conservative 20th-century theologians (Karl Barth, John Webster and Colin Gunton, among others.)” This struck me as being a little lenient with the truth on two counts.

On the one hand, it suggests that the theologians within the vein of ‘conservative 20th-century theology’ have a one-dimensional view of the ‘word’ of God, and that this view does not see the Scriptures as being that ‘word’. However, that is to misconstrue the intent of those theologians. These theologians remain committed to the scriptural language of the ‘word’ as the ‘word who is with God and is God’ and the ‘word made flesh’ (John 1, etc.). Thus, the notion of the ‘word’ as it appears in this theological vein is far more multi-faceted than Gordon Cheng makes out.

On the other hand, and as a corollary, the theologians within this vein of ‘conservative 20th-century theology’ do not have a problem in affirming the scriptural aspect of the ‘word’. Take Eberhard Jüngel, for example, who was influenced by Barth and was subsequently an influence upon Webster rand Gunton. In his magnum opus, ‘God as the Mystery of the World’, he writes, “that this possibility which guides thought in the task of thinking God as God is steered by the reality of the biblical texts” (155). And that this notion is governed by “the same basic content which states that the place of the conceivability of God is a Word which precedes thought”. For ‘conservative 20th-century theology’, the ‘word’ is the person of Jesus who appears as God's self-revelation and is testified by the scriptural witness.

That is not to say that there are no problems with the doctrine of Scripture exhibited by these theologians, but rather to highlight that the Scriptures are important to these theologians because they refer us to the self-disclosure of God in history. This is one lesson that the evangelical church could learn from such theologians as the tendency with the evangelical church is to make the Bible into an idol itself—an extreme form of sola scriptura. Sola scriptura sine deo.

Secondly, a word of caution against those who compartmentalise theology into the ‘goodies’ and the ‘baddies’. Gordon Cheng begins by highlighting and decrying the theological method known as ‘apophaticism’. Whilst giving Rowan Williams as an example of such a method, Cheng goes on to advise the reader later on to “follow Augustine's example, and ‘take and read’ their own copy of the Bible”. However, Gordon Cheng ignores the fact that Augustine exhibits many tendencies of the apophatic method in his theology. For example, Augustine notes that “We are speaking of God: it shouldn't surprise you if you do not comprehend him, it would not be God” (Sermo 117, iii, 5). The inference being that one cannot completely express God as he is in human terms. Ultimately, the apophaticism of Augustine did not prevent him from having a positive view of Scripture.

The classification of Augustine as ‘good’ and Rowan Williams as ‘bad’ betrays that evangelical tendency to brush over the issues that contemporary theology throws at the church. I do not ask that the theologians discussed be embraced wholeheartedly, but rather ask for a spirit of patience and discernment as such theologians are engaged with and their theologies appreciated insofar as they can be appreciated.

I end with the words of the Apostle Paul:

Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)

Jon Mackenzie of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland (07/01/2008)