Joni’s story

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Popular, intelligent, and athletic, 17-year-old Joni Earekson had her whole life before her.

Then, one fateful day in 1967, she dived into water that was too shallow, smashed her head on a rock, and broke her neck.

Her sister pulled her out of the water, and she was rushed to hospital.  A doctor with a metal pin kept asking her, “Can you feel this?” But she felt nothing from the neck down.  She was paralysed.

At first, doctors held out the hope that the damaged nerves might heal themselves. …

Ten benefits of suffering

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A Catholic nun named Monica Hellwig proposed a list of ‘advantages’ of being poor.  These have been adapted by Philip Yancey, who has broadened the list to include all who suffer:

1. Suffering, the great equalizer, brings us to a point where we may realize our urgent need for redemption.

2. Those who suffer know not only their dependence on God and on healthy people but also their interdependence with one another.

3. Those who suffer rest their security not on things, which often cannot be enjoyed and may soon be taken away, but rather on people.…

God: all-loving but not all-powerful?

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Shall we argue that God, although perfectly loving, lacks the power to prevent or relieve human suffering?  If we are to take the conclusion of the book of Job seriously, the answer must be, ‘No’.

Philip Yancey writes:

Much has been made about God’s magnificent speech in Job 38– 41. In a passage that could be addressed to the Sierra Club or Audubon Society, God took Job on a verbal tour of all the wonders of nature.…

Claudia’s visitors

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Philip Yancey writes of some of visits that a seriously ill young woman – Claudia – received while in hospital:

The teacher

A deacon from her church solemnly advised her to reflect on what God was trying to teach her. “Surely something in your life must displease God,” he said. “Somewhere, you must have stepped out of his will. These things don’t just happen. God uses circumstances to warn us, and to punish us. What is he telling you?”…

The most dangerous animal in the world

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On June 8, 1963, the Illustrated London News ran the following story about an exhibition at the Great Apes House at The Bronx Zoo in New York City. The exhibit told visitors:

“You are looking at the most dangerous animal in the world. It alone of all the animals that ever lived can exterminate (and has) entire species of animals. Now it has the power to wipe out all life on earth.”

As the visitors peered into the cage they realised that they were, in fact, looking into a mirror.…

Christ’s exaltation

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A summary of chapter 41 of The Fountain of Life, by John Flavel.

“When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3

Christ is described

  • By his essential and primeval glory and dignity, he is ‘the brightness at his Father’s glory’, the very splendor of glory, the very refulgency of that son of glory.
  • By the work he wrought here on earth, in his humbled state, ‘When he had by himself purged our sins.’
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Where is God in a messed-up world?

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Some excerpts from this book of the same name, by Roger Carswell (2nd edition, 2020)

How can God be all-loving and all-powerful?

The Greek philosopher, Epicurus, outlined the dilemma facing the thinking mind: God either wishes to take away evils and is unable; or He is able and is unwilling; or He is neither willing nor able; or He is both willing and able. If He is willing but unable, He is feeble, which is not in accordance with the character of God.…

Ascension of Christ

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The ascension of Christ is the ‘transference of the resurrected body of Jesus from this world to heaven.’

It is described in Acts 1:9–11 (but see also Lk 24:50f), where Jesus is described as being “taken up” and disappearing into a cloud. This event took place near Bethany, on the Mt of Olives.

John’s Gospel records Jesus’ own comments regarding his ascension:

  • he has departed, but he will return (21:22);
  • he cannot be touched, for he must ascend (20:17);
  • many will believe without having seen him (20:29).
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Flavel: the ascension of Christ

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A summary of chapter 40 of The Fountain of Life, by John Flavel.

John 20:17 – ‘Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.’

The persons to whom this message was sent: ‘My brethren’; a sweet term, and full of love.

The message itself: ‘Tell my brethren, I ascend to my Father, and your Father; to my God, and your God.’…

‘Immediately’

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In Jesus, Interrupted (HarperCollins), Bart Ehrman has this to say about the length of Jesus’ public ministry, as indicated in the canonical Gospels:

‘Our earliest Gospel, Mark, does not give an explicit indication of the length of Jesus’ public ministry, but does give some suggestive comments. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, in chapter 2, his disciples are going through the wheat fields and eating the grain, to the consternation of the Pharisees, who believe they are violating the Sabbath.

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