I began this Puzzling Paradox Series with six real life situations in mind and a host of real life examples and stories to tell. Some of which I have shared with you and some are still on the list. I started by soliciting your tough questions:
Share your questions with me.
- No question is too dumb.
- No question is off limits.
- No question is too sensitive or personal from my point of view; the limit will be what you are willing to ask.
- Another limit will be how willing you are to share real life examples of your own.
- How willing you are to list some brave, revealing, transparent questions you want answers to.
The Questions gathered so far:
- Have God’s promises failed?
- Is God really in control?
- Is God even fair?
- How can some people see healings through their ministry and yet remain sick or impaired themselves? Is that fair?
- Why does God allow missionaries, his ambassadors, to die for the cause?
- How is that some Christians believe that healing is in the atonement and it is ours to appropriate while others believe God does not heal some as part of a greater plan? All from the same Bible.
- How do we harmonize the belief that all sickness should be healed with the idea that God allows sickness and suffering, and God uses both for His purpose?
- Is healing really in the atonement and does it mean that healing is ours by right? Can we really name it and claim it?
- Do miraculous healings happen for non-Christians too?
- How can God be called “just” in the light of the aftermath of the Acehnese earthquake of Boxing Day 2004?
- God, why did you let that happen?
- God, why did you allow that to happen?
- Where is God in it all?
- Why is God silent at such times?
- Isn’t one hard thing in life enough? Why do some people go through serial disasters?
- Isn’t there a quota for hardships experienced by one person? (Especially for fine Christian people)
- Doesn’t God protect His children? Isn’t He always with them, omni-present and all-knowing? Then why do disasters happen?
- How is that rogues and crooks “get away with murder”? Where is the justice in life?
- How long do we have to wait for justice? How can the Jesus say “God will see they get quick justice.”
- How quick does it have to be to be quick?
- How can God be good, be in control of everything, love people, and still allow bad things to happen to fine upstanding people?
- Who is to blame for all the bad things in life?
- How can we trust that there really is a God when “acts of God” happen with monotonous regularity?
- Do miracles happen today?
- Why don’t we see them around us?
- Why do miracles always happen in far off places?
- Does anyone check to see whether the “healings” people claim are real, verifiable?
- Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
- How do Pain and Praise, Suffering and Solace, Grief and Glory go together?
- How can the fact a person was born blind or someone’s death be to the glory of God? (John 9:3, 11:4)
- Why does God heal an eighty plus year old woman and allows a 20 year old young man to die?
- How do we make sense of God when at times God doesn’t seem to make sense?
You will notice I am sure that the Nuggets I have written in this Puzzling Paradox series are listed at the bottom of each related Nugget in a growing navigable, interactive list. So you can easily navigate your way around them and flip from one to another. I am not pausing along the way to explain myself nor God (who is up to such a task?). Nor have I explained why I have included each story or example. I figure you can work it out along the way. Some readers have challenged me over some of the stories or examples I have included only to realise I am also playing the devil’s advocate on some topics. I am leaving you my readers to work out your own conclusions. This is especially true of the stories I gathered in two Nuggets where I covered the Acts of God and the Ways of God.
- The removal of the Swan Quarter Church in North Carolina.
- The destruction of the church in Dallas by tornado.
- The eleven year old boy’s problem with his eyes.
- Two different mothers’ deaths in Florida.
- Marolyn’s blindness healed while Jennifer’s blindness not healed.
- The tragic loss of Jimmie Wallet’s family.
I personally think there are times when we attribute an act of God status to the happenstance of life when God wasn’t at all the One behind it. As I have noted before, many occurrences in life happen because we live in a fallen world and Jesus did tell us in this world we will have tribulation and trouble.
A number of you have thanked me for the list of the books I have been reading to support this series. There are many more great stories buried in the pages of these books.
- When God Doesn’t Make Sense by Dr James Dobson
- God is Just Not Fair by Jennifer Rothschild
- When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S Kushner
- God, Why? Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? by Chas Stevenson
- Where Is God When It Hurts? By Phillip Yancey
- God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer by Pete Greig
The most impactful Nuggets have been the last three judging by the responses:
- The Auca Story – The death of eight saints – Five Missionaries
- The Connection between two pastors whose stories God used to save 900 families
- Domi’s Testimony
I had been saving them for that purpose. I am sure you will conclude like me these true stories give us new perspective as to whether God cares for human kind or has the ability or the power to help if He so chooses. I have spent the last week reading The End of the Spear by Steve Saint. Two days ago I read of the death of Stephenie Saint, Steve and Ginny’s only daughter. I admit the story of Stephenie’s homecoming, headache and subsequent sudden death from a massive brain bleed reduced me to tears as I read the account. That took me back to two salient questions I included amidst the questions above:
- Isn’t one hard thing in life enough? Why do some people go through serial disasters?
- Isn’t there a quota for hardships experienced by one person?
To Steve and Ginny Saint’s story I could add many more. Some people go through multiple tragedies and others remain untouched by tragedy and sail through life without a care. Why is human experience so unfair God? Read Psalm 73 to give yourself some clarity on that issue. I have set myself the task of reading Menkaye’s book over this coming week despite feeling rather overwhelmed by the Saints’ story and the stories of the saints throughout the ages. That includes the ongoing stories of the six families and others that I am encountering. Sometimes I wonder why I start these kinds of challenges but then the things I am learning are invaluable.
I have used this Nugget to pause the process, to gather up the pieces and give a moment’s respite for those here in New Zealand who are currently on a long holiday weekend. But I am also reassuring you I haven’t forgotten the questions above. I will address the questions you have asked and I will also use all I have given you to draw our thoughts together at the end. Some have asked me how many Nuggets are planned for this series. This is the 12th Nugget in the series and I have still have numbers of other matters to address and a number of very different stories to tell. It is not too late to add your questions nor your input. You will see now a section at the bottom of the Gems which will appear on the Nuggets too to give you a chance to add your feedback. I am also interested in knowing whether I have the timing and frequency of the Gems and Nuggets right. I am always keen to hear from you, my readers and know if what I am doing is hitting the spot for you personally.
In the two immediate upcoming Nuggets I intend to address Jesus’ thoughts and response to death and then to investigate the Two Opposing Views more thoroughly. How do we deal with the responses we get from onlookers or worst yet our family members when they make comments like:
- “You must lack faith if you still have this sickness.”
- “You can’t have prayed enough. Perhaps you need to fast and pray.”
- “You have to ignore the lying symptoms and hold fast to your healing.”
- “Healing is ours by right in the atonement; so if you have not yet been healed there must be sin in your life you haven’t dealt with.”
The second question (and other related matters) I will address in the following Nugget (the 14th of this series) will be:
- Is healing really in the atonement?
- Can we name it and claim it?
Stay with me on this journey to investigate the deeper things of God, much like Steve Saint invited us to join him on the journey back in time to the Auca.