HOLY SPIRIT

1
THE PROBLEM OF PAIN
The Scream, E. Munch, http//www.ibiblio.org/wm/pa
int/auth/munch/
2
ANGLES OF VISION-But- No Answer
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CHRISTIAN METHODOLOGY 1

• We simply do not possess adequate wisdom to
  fathom Gods mezimmah, the purpose behind our
  afflictions. Wisdom for us, and for Job, is
  limited to fearing God and shunning evil
  (2828), the very qualities that were
  characteristic of Job (11,8). God confronted Job
  with his presence, rebuking Jobs charges at the
  same time as He answered Jobs cry for
  acknowledgement. Yahweh reveals Himself, in the
  end, as the God who keeps evil at bay. God is not
  the enemy, and He will one day restore the
  sufferers to glory beyond measure. Schwab, The
  Book of Job and Counsel in the Whirlwind, The
  Journal of Biblical Counseling (Fall 98) 43.

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CHRISTIAN METHODOLOGY 2

• Let those for whom this seems harsh consider for
  a little while how bearable their squeamishness
  is in refusing a thing attested by clear
  Scriptural proofs because it exceeds their mental
  capacity, . . . . For our wisdom ought to be
  nothing less than to embrace with humble
  teachableness, and at least without finding
  fault, whatever is taught in Sacred Scripture.
  John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian
  Religion, 1.18.4

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CHRISTIAN METHODOLOGY 3a
The biblical doctrine leaves us with mysteries
beyond our comprehension, but these are, as
Laidlaw says, 'solvents, not sources of
difficulty. Into the problem of evil, Scripture
introduces elements of explanation. It accounts
for man's present moral and physical condition,
for the broad phenomena of life and death in a
way that is thinkable and intelligible'. The
humble Christian is content to contain these
unresolved problems. They do not disturb his
peace of mind because, in the last analysis, the
ground of all peace of mind is the conviction of
the sovereignty, justice, goodness of God.
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CHRISTIAN METHODOLOGY 3b
What he cannot resolve he believes God does. It
is the apex of Christian piety to trust in God,
just as it is also the foundation, to say, 'I do
not know, but I do know that God does'. Christian
piety leaves unresolved problems in the hand of
God, remembering that, if we knew all, then we
would be as God, and worship and adoration would
be at an end. Clouds and darkness are round about
him but justice and judgment are the habitation
of his throne. John Murray, Collected Works,
176.
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ANGLE OF VISION GODS GIFT?

• For the painless, danger lurks everywhere. A
  larynx that never feels a tickle does not trigger
  the cough reflex that relocates phlegm from the
  lungs to the pharynx, and a person who never
  coughs runs the risk of developing pneumonia. The
  bone joints of insensitive people deteriorate
  because there are no whispers of pain encouraging
  a shift in position, and soon bone grinds against
  bone. Strep throat, appendicitis, heart attack,
  stroke- the body has no way to announce these
  threats to the painless person. Paul Brand, The
  Gift of Pain, 185-6
• What happens to one who knows no pain from
  suffering in his/her spirit?

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS GIFT?

• In India I found deep contentment in people
  who lived in conditions of poverty that we in the
  West would look upon with pity or horror. . . . I
  also believe that we in the West have something
  to learn from the East about the true nature of
  contentment. The more we let our level of
  contentment be determined by outside factors- a
  new car, fashionable clothes, a prestigious
  career, social status- the more we relinquish
  control over our own happiness. Brand, The Gift
  of Pain, 293

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS GIFT?

• I have observed an ironic law of reversal at
  work as a society gains the ability to limit
  suffering, it loses the ability to cope with what
  suffering remains. (It is the philosophers,
  theologians, and writers of the affluent West,
  not the Third World, who worry obsessively about
  the problem of pain, and point an accusing
  finger at God.) Brand, The Gift of Pain, 187

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS GIFT?

• Just as a society that conquers pain and
  suffering seems less able to cope with what
  suffering remains, so a society that pursues
  pleasure runs the risk of raising expectations
  ever higher, so that contentment lies
  tantalizingly out of reach. Brand, The Gift of
  Pain, 294
• What do we need in order to put our angle of
  vision into clear focus?

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS PLAN

• Psalm 13915-16, My frame was not hidden from
  you, when I was being made in secret, intricately
  woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw
  my unformed substance in your book were written,
  every one of them, the days that were formed for
  me, when as yet there were none of them.

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS PLAN

• Isaiah 455-7, I am the LORD, and there is no
  other, besides me there is no God I equip you,
  though you do not know me, that people may know,
  from the rising of the sun and from the west,
  that there is none besides me I am the LORD, and
  there is no other. I form light and create
  darkness, I make well-being and create calamity,
  I am the LORD, who does all these things.

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS PLAN

• Proverbs 164, The LORD has made everything for
  its purpose, even the wicked for the day of
  trouble.
• Romans 828, And we know that for those who love
  God all things work together for good, for those
  who are called according to his purpose.

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS PLAN

• Ephesians 17-11, In him we have redemption
  through his blood, the forgiveness of our
  trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
  which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and
  insight making known to us the mystery of his
  will, according to his purpose, which he set
  forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of
  time, to unite all things in him, things in
  heaven and things on earth. In him we have
  obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
  according to the purpose of him who works all
  things according to the counsel of his will.

15
ANGLE OF VISION GODS GOAL

• Genesis 5015, When Joseph's brothers saw that
  their father was dead, they said, It may be that
  Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the
  evil that we did to him.
• Genesis 5019-20, But Joseph said to them, Do
  not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for
  you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it
  for good, to bring it about that many people
  should be kept alive, as they are today.

16
ANGLE OF VISION GODS GOAL

• John 91-3, As he passed by, he saw a man blind
  from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi,
  who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was
  born blind? Jesus answered, It was not that
  this man sinned, or his parents, but that the
  works of God might be displayed in him.

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS GOAL

• Romans 917-20, For the Scripture says to
  Pharaoh, For this very purpose I have raised you
  up, that I might show my power in you, and that
  my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
  So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he
  hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me
  then, Why does he still find fault? For who can
  resist his will? But who are you, O man, to
  answer back to God? Will what is molded say to
  its molder, Why have you made me like this?

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS GOAL

• Romans 922-24, What if God, desiring to show
  his wrath and to make known his power, has
  endured with much patience vessels of wrath
  prepared for destruction, in order to make known
  the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy,
  which he has prepared beforehand for glory- even
  us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but
  also from the Gentiles?

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS LOVE

• Isaiah 401-2, Comfort, comfort my people, says
  your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to
  her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity
  is pardoned, that she has received from the
  LORD's hand double for all her sins.

20
ANGLE OF VISION GODS LOVE

• Isaiah 4914-16, But Zion said, The LORD has
  forsaken me my Lord has forgotten me. Can a
  woman forget her nursing child, that she should
  have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even
  these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
  Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my
  hands your walls are continually before me.

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS LOVE

• Hosea 118, How can I give you up, Ephraim? How
  can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you
  like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My
  heart is changed within me all my compassion is
  aroused.

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS LOVE

• Matthew 2337-38, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the
  city that kills the prophets and stones those who
  are sent to it! How often would I have gathered
  your children together as a hen gathers her brood
  under her wings, and you would not! See, your
  house is left to you desolate.

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS MEANS

• 2 Corinthians 13-5, Blessed be the God and
  Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
  mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us
  in all our affliction, so that we may be able to
  comfort those who are in any affliction, with the
  comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by
  God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's
  sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly
  in comfort too.

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS MEANS

• Philippians 411-13, Not that I am speaking of
  being in need, for I have learned in whatever
  situation I am to be content. I know how to be
  brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and
  every circumstance, I have learned the secret of
  facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I
  can do all things through him who strengthens
  me.

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS MEANS

• James 12-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when
  you meet trials of various kinds, for you know
  that the testing of your faith produces
  steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its
  full effect, that you may be perfect and
  complete, lacking in nothing.
  (peirasmoij)

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS MEANS

• 1 Peter 16-7, In this you rejoice, though now
  for a little while, if necessary, you have been
  grieved by various trials, so that the tested
  genuineness of your faith- more precious than
  gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-
  may be found to result in praise and glory and
  honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
• Cf Luke 2228 (peirasmoij)

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ANGLE OF VISION GODS MEANS

• Revelation 213-5, And I heard a loud voice from
  the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of
  God is with man. He will dwell with them, and
  they will be his people, and God himself will be
  with them as their God. He will wipe away every
  tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more,
  neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor
  pain anymore, for the former things have passed
  away. And he who was seated on the throne said,
  Behold, I am making all things new.

28
ANGLE OF VISION GREATER GOOD

• The greater good should be seen, first of all,
  not as greater pleasure or comfort for us, but as
  greater glory for God. DoG, 171
• Unless Gods standards govern our concept of
  goodness, there can be no talk of good or evil at
  all. If there is no personal Absolute, values
  must be based on impersonal things and forces,
  like matter, motion, time, and chance. DoG, 171
• If we are to evaluate Gods actions rightly, we
  must evaluate them over the full extent of human
  history. DoG, 172

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ANGLE OF VISION GREATER GOOD

• God often surprises us by the ways in which he
  brings good out of evil. DoG, 172
• Since the ultimate theodicy is future, we must
  now deal with the problem of evil by faith. DoG,
  172
• Although the greater-good defense is basically
  sound, it leaves us with a sense of mystery. For
  it is hard to imagine how Gods good purpose
  justifies the evil in the world. DoG, 172

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THE PROBLEM OF PAIN
The Scream, E. Munch, http//www.ibiblio.org/wm/pa
int/auth/munch/