Week 2: My Problem With God Is...

Thanks to everyone who filled out the ivory sheet this past weekend and expressed a problem with God. We continue to receive lots of great responses! Robyn will be back this weekend. In the meantime the Leader’s Team is fielding the questions.


Week 2 – July 26 & 27

Maybe I’m the Problem!
Why is There Suffering?
These were two of our most frequently asked topics last week, and this week as well. Seems lots of us struggle with questions about how faithfully we respond to God’s call on us… and how to make sense of the hatred, violence and suffering in the world. If you read further down, to last week’s post, you’ll find our response to these questions.

Organized Religion
My problem is with certain aspects of organized religion. Can’t I love God, and be a good person, without organized worship? We need to return to the roots of Christian worship and away from ‘traditions of man’.

God has problems with certain aspects of organized religion too! Recall the New Testament scriptures where Christ rebukes the Pharisees for their shallow, outward pretenses of religion and their adherence to the letter, and not the spirit, of the law. The Apostle Paul wrote to the different churches and to different people for various reasons. He wrote to some churches to commend them for their good faith and efforts; he wrote to others to correct them on subjects that they had strayed on.

God, through His son Jesus, is pretty straight-forward and unambiguous about His expectations of us – The Great Commandment and The Great Compassion - and the purpose for His church – The Great Commission.

Suicide & Doubt
How can God let people reach levels of hopelessness that they feel death is the only way out? People say ‘God never gives us more than we can handle’, so, if that’s true, how do people reach such despair? Knowing He is holding me in His arms… but wondering if one day He’ll let go… and praying He doesn’t.

We feel compelled to say this up front – If anyone in our congregation feels that they are at an unmanageable level of hopelessness – please call one of our pastors right away. The emergency contact number is 636-328-3132.

God’s promise to us is His presence. Sometimes His presence is in the form of stamina, or perseverance, or wisdom, or discernment. Sometimes His presence is mercy or comfort. When we (all of us) find ourselves in situations where we just can’t handle it by ourselves, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to let go, give up control, and trust God. Trusting God is the essence of faith.

Separating Science from Belief
For example, how science says dinosaurs lived thousands of years before man. What about the Theory of Evolution?

This would be a great topic for a small group discussion! The Bible and science are not mutually exclusive and don’t have to be incompatible. A website you might enjoy is http://www.godandscience.org/ to see how one person’s questions led them to faith. Another website that speaks to the question of dinosaurs and the Bible is http://www.answersingenesis.org/.

There is a lot of ‘black and white’ thinking in the area of evolution. Pure evolutionists believe that evolution lays claim to no God, implying human life is the result of random mutation and that beings evolve and adapt, over time, to their surroundings with no creator & without purpose. Some Creation scientists can’t seem to get past a very literal reading of Genesis. In “Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White”, Adam Hamilton sees evolution as an elegant explanation of the God; His creation of us and the intelligent design for beings to adapt and change, over time, to their surroundings. Another great topic for small groups!

Where does GOD come from?
Robyn will be back next week… punt!

Osama Bin Laden
Why doesn’t God perform a miracle & convert a major terrorist like Osama Bin Laden to Christianity like He did with Paul?

To a large extent, the life and letters of Paul the Apostle shape and define the Christian life. Paul's "Damascus road experience" is seen one example of Christian conversion. Paul’s testimony reveals that he… was confronted by the risen Christ, believed that the experience was genuine, and changed his life from his (Paul’s) purpose God’s purpose. All three elements - hearing Christ, believing Christ, obeying Christ – were integral to his conversion.

We believe Christ’s grace (love) is ever-present and always calling all of us into relationship with Him. Osama, Adolph, you, me. In his book, Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, David Gregory describes the concept of ‘all have sinned and all fall short’ in an interesting way. His imagery depicts God’s grace as tall as the Sears Tower in Chicago, and that the difference between the best of us (Mother Theresa) and the worst of us (Adolph Hitler) is the difference between two business cards laying one on the other at the base of the building. Powerful. The key is that Paul chose to believe and obey Christ. It would be great if Osama did the same thing. Here’s a harder question – what could the world be like if WE heard, believed and obeyed like Paul did?