“Man of Faith, Why?” Physics? “Man of Faith, Why?” Socio-Political-Economics?

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“Man of Faith, Why?”


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Socio-Political-Economics?


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Pastoral Answer?

... The most precious gift that marriage gave me was this constant impact of

something very close and intimate yet all the time unmistakably other,

resistant ﾑ in a word, real. Is all that work to be undone? Is what I shall still call [Helen] to sink back horribly into being not much more than one of my

old bachelor pipedreams? Oh my dear, my dear, come back for one moment

and drive that miserable phantom away. Oh God, God, why did you take such trouble to force this creature out of its shell if it is now doomed to crawl

back -- to be sucked back -- into it?

Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis From A Grief Observed



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Pastoral Answer?

Job 6:2626Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat the words

of a despairing man as wind?


Pastoral Answer?

John 113So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you

love is ill.” 4But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that

the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days

longer in the place where he was.

14Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you

may believe. But let us go to him.”


Pastoral Answer?

John 1133When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had

come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

35Jesus wept. 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the

eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”


Pastoral Answer?

John 1138Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It

was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”


Pastoral Answer?


Pastoral Answer?

1.God is in control


Pastoral Answer?

1.God is in control

2.Pain is Real


Pastoral Answer?

1.God is in control

2.Pain is Real

3.It’s not only okay, but expected to

weep


Pastoral Answer?

1.God is in control

2.Pain is Real


weep

4.God weeps with you


Pastoral Answer?

1.God is in control

2.Pain is Real


weep

4.God weeps with you

5.You need each other at times like

this


Theological Answer?


Theological Answer?

The Answer given to Job


Theological Answer?

The Answer given to Job

Job 38:1-4(see Job chapters 38-42 for God’s complete answer)

1Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: 2“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without

knowledge? 3Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand…


Theological Answer?

1. The Nature of God - Who is He?


Theological Answer?

1. The Nature of God - Who is He?

Exodus 34:5-75Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to

anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion

and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the

fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:5-75Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him

and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate

and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving

wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the

sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”






1. Good






1. Good2. Loving






1. Good2. Loving

3. Powerful






1. Good2. Loving

3. Powerful4. Wise






1. Good2. Loving

3. Powerful4. Wise5. Holy






1. Good2. Loving

3. Powerful4. Wise5. Holy6. Just


Theological Answer?

2. The Nature of Humankind and this world - Who are we?


Theological Answer?


Genesis 3


Theological Answer?


Genesis 3Romans 1-3

2 Corinthians 4:17-5:417For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in

is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile

we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be

found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed

but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be

swallowed up by life.


Theological Answer?

3. God ALWAYS does what is good and loving


Theological Answer?

3. God ALWAYS does what is good and loving

Romans 8:28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to

his purpose.


Theological Answer?

4. God knows what he is doing when people suffer from tragedy


Theological Answer?

4. God knows what he is doing when people suffer from tragedy

Hebrews 12:7-117Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who

disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God

disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have

been trained by it.


Theological Answer?

5. Bad things happen to ALL people


Theological Answer?


Luke 13:1-91Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus

about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other

Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Or those

eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others

living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”


Theological Answer?


Luke 13:1-96Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig-tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig-tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig

round it and fertilize it. 9If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”


Theological Answer?

6. We ultimately were created for another world

…if I find in myself a desire which no

experience in this world can satisfy,

the most probableexplanation is that

I was made foranother world

Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis

From Mere Christianity



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”


Theological Answer?


Revelation 21:1-71Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new

Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with

them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from

their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed

away.”


Theological Answer?


Revelation 21:1-75He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for

these words are trustworthy and true.” 6He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning

and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he

will be my son.

But pain insists upon being attended to, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. No doubt

Pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only

opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel

soul. If the first and lowest operation of pain shatters the illusion that all is well, the second shatters the illusion that what we have, whether good or bad in itself, is our own and

enough for us. Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything



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is going well with us.

We “have all we want” is a terrible saying when “all” does not include God. We find God

an interruption. As St. Augustine says somewhere, "God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full--there's

nowhere for Him to put it."

Or as a friend of mine said, "We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it's there for emergencies but he hopes he'll never have to use it. Now God who has made us, knows

what we are and that our happiness lies in Him. Yet we will not seek it in Him as long as He leaves us any other resort where it can even plausibly be looked for. While what we call "our own life" remains agreeable we will not surrender it to Him. What then can God do in our interests but make "our own life" less agreeable to us, and take away the plausible sources of false happiness? It is just here, where God's providence seems at first to be most cruel, that the Divine humility, the stooping

down of the



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highest , most deserves praise. We are perplexed to see misfortune falling upon

decent, inoffensive, worthy people--on capable, hard-working mothers of families or diligent, thrifty little trades-people on those who have

worked so hard, and so honestly, for their modest stock of happiness and now seem to be entering on the enjoyment of it with the fullest

right....

Let me implore the reader to try to believe, if only for the moment, that God, who made these deserving people, may

really be right when He thinks that their modest prosperity and the happiness of their children are not enough to make them

blessed: that all this must fall from them in the end, and that if they have not learned to know Him they will be wretched. And

therefore He troubles them, warning them in advance of an insufficiency that one day they will have to discover. The life to

themselves and their families stands between them and the recognition of their need; He makes that life less sweet to

them.



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Clive Staples (C.S.) LewisExerpt out of A Grief Observed

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“Man of Faith, Why?” Physics? “Man of Faith, Why?” Socio-Political-Economics?

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