May I interrupt the suicide and phony love story blogging for a few seconds of pop culture/music?
I “discovered” Coldplay a few years ago. Nice sound, but too hyped. When the new album came out, I avoided listening to it. Why? Kinda juvenile, I guess, but I try to avoid following the crowd. I favor non-hyped-but-should-be-hyped artists (hint, hint). I heard “Viva La Vida” while driving one day but didn’t know it was “Viva La Vida” and said, “I dig it.”
I like the sound of this thing:
Oh, how I wish I’d blogged about the latest literary hoax last week before the publisher canceled the contract! Feet-dragging is a bad habit, boys and girls.
The air’s out of the balloon now. A man named Herman Rosenblat claimed that while he was in a concentration camp, a Jewish girl whose family was pretending to be Christian gave him apples over a fence. One day he asked her not to come back because he had an “appointment” with the gas chamber. He wasn’t killed; he was transferred to another camp.
Years later, he went on a blind date with a woman who turned out to be the girl who’d given him apples lo those many years ago.
Critics cried foul. First, the concentration camp where Rosenblat said he was detained didn’t have gas chambers. Second, the Nazi’s didn’t tell prisoners when they were going to the gas chamber. The point was to trick them into going. Third, there’s no way Herman or Roma could have gotten close to the fence without the guards seeing them. Fourth, it was highly unlikely that a Jewish family who feared the Nazi’s wouldn’t know about their nine-year-old daughter’s daily visits to a concentration camp fence, for crying out loud, or would allow her to continue once they found out. And on and on.
Herman Rosenblat and his wife Roma ended up on Oprah, and Berkley Books offered him a deal for his memoirs, Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love That Survived. And you know Hollywood is partial to Holocaust stories. The book is set to be made into a movie.
A 22-year-old man killed himself because, according to WND, he lost his belief in God after reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Young Jesse Kilgore blew his brains out, convinced that God and faith in God are delusions. (I became a Christian some 10 years ago. Unlike young Christians today, I didn’t have to deal with unbelieving college professors challenging my faith or making me question my beliefs. I was just as much a heathen as they were.)
His father told WND that a biology professor was “really challenging my son, his faith…They didn’t like him as a Republican, as a Christian, and as a conservative who believed in intelligent design.”
First, I take a hard stand when it comes to suicide. It’s the work of inconsiderate and self-centered cowards, whatever the reason. But we’ve all had suicidal thoughts – from mild “what if I just offed myself right now” to actually taking a weapon in hand (bottle of pills, gun, whatever) to attempting suicide and ending up in the hospital. If you say you haven’t, you’re probably lying.
[Update: Did she write "inconsiderate and self-centered cowards"? There I go again, being too harsh. Christians aren't allowed, so I've heard. What about the mentally ill, you ask? Well, if someone isn't in his "right mind" when he commits suicide, I suppose that's a different story. In some cases. Generally, my opinion of suicide, which I've contemplated in my younger years, stands. More sympathy for those left behind, please.]
David Wayne and I go way back. He’s a pastor at a church in Maryland, and his blog was one of my daily reads in the early years. Because of his perspective on political issues, his easy-to-understand exposition of the Scriptures, and his sense of humor, I really enjoyed reading his blog and called him my favorite theologian-blogger.
I finally got to meet “The Jolly Blogger” at a meet-up a few years ago (where I also met the “radical” Carolyn McCulley), and he was just what I thought he’d be…gregarious, funny, kind. We saw each other again at GodBlogCon.
I was stunned to learn, via Twitter of all places, that David has colon cancer. He made the announcement on his blog, and someone linked to the post in Twitter. Here’s the latest:
“I saw the surgeon yesterday and the news wasn’t good. My CT scan revealed not only a large tumor on the colon but a tumor on my liver and 2 nodules on my lungs. Needless to say this was a pretty big blow…The treatment plan as of now is this. I have surgery scheduled for tomorrow – December 24th at 11:00am at Harbor Hospital in Baltimore. After that I am to immediately begin receiving chemotherapy…Don’t know how much or how often I’ll be able to update after this but I will do so as I am able. Please know that I deeply appreciate all of the kind words and prayers.”
What do you say to someone who just found out he has cancer? And at Christmas? You’d think it would be easier to comfort a Christian, who knows and accepts the truth about Christ and forgiveness and salvation and heaven and hell. The Christian knows that God sends trials into our lives to chastise us, teach us, mold us, and make us more Christ-like. We know we’re living in a fallen world in fallen bodies, and those bodies break down. Death and disease are consequences of sin in the world.
Christians know all of that. But I still couldn’t stop myself from being angry. “Why, God?” I asked. “Why him? A man who faithfully preaches the Word, shepherds your sheep…a husband and father with children who still need him. Why?”
Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean pain ends and or that disappointment is a thing of the past. The Christ follower has to live in this world. Heaven comes later. While we’re in this world, we must deal with loss and hardship and heartache. The difference between the believer and the unbeliever is that we are part of God’s kingdom, and we have the privilege of advancing that kingdom.
We advance that kingdom by doing what God commanded: preaching the Gospel. But it’s not just our words that accomplish the goal. How we deal with pain and loss serves as a testimony to the unbeliever and accomplishes God’s will.
I already knew the answer to my question, but that didn’t stop me from asking. The Book of Job provides all the answers we need.
At the beginning of the book, Satan tells God that believers are faithful only as long as they prosper.
“But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has,” Satan said about Job, “and he will surely curse you to Your face.”
But God knew Job, a man he called upright and blameless, a true servant of God who shuns evil. In that moment, God allowed Satan to take away Job’s family, his health, and his wealth. Understandably, Job complains, cursing the day he was born. There seems to be no sense to his suffering, and he questions why he’s been afflicted. It’s important to note that Job remains faithful and loyal to God even in his confusion.
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”
Beginning at Chapter 38, God answers Job’s questions, revealing his omnipotence.
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?…Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.”( I can’t do the passages justice here, so I encourage you to read Chapters 38-41.)
Job was humbled by God’s series of questions, and he realized he was wrong to complain and to question why God allowed him to suffer. In the end, God restored what Job lost.
The Book of Job is a kind of blueprint for believers. Whenever you’re faced with sickness and loss and other disappointments in life, put yourselves in Job’s place. Imagine that God and Satan are having a conversation about you, and God is making your case as Satan accuses you. Which one do you want to prove right?
I don’t need to tell David Wayne about Job. I’m certain he knows. But I want him to know how sorry I am that he has to suffer through this, and I pray for him and his family. May they continue to keep the faith and know that God is with them.
This post is inadequate, and I don’t think I’m being very articulate right now. 
Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Christ, God made flesh, the One who came into the world to suffer for our sins and to redeem his people. No matter what “bad” things we’re going through, take comfort in knowing he came to redeem YOU. Though you may suffer from The Fall’s consequences, there will come a sweet day when there will be no more suffering, no more tears…
