{"id":610,"date":"2013-10-18T10:31:44","date_gmt":"2013-10-18T10:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=610"},"modified":"2014-10-28T17:09:49","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T17:09:49","slug":"going-beyond-thinking-where-is-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/going-beyond-thinking-where-is-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Beyond Thinking\u2026Where is God?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In reading, Theology: A Very Short Introduction<\/em>, I found myself saying: \u201cYes! Yes! Yes!\u201d\u00a0 Yes, because David Ford not only challenges and encourages me to think deeply about theology but also challenges me to go beyond thinking. \u00a0Ford challenges me \u201cto move from thinking about the discipline of theology into direct theological thinking, beginning with God.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

So, what about God?\u00a0 I have been a Christian for over 36 years.\u00a0 But it was about 11 years ago that I began to question the existence of God.\u00a0 Is God real?\u00a0 What happens when the God you once considered active is silent?\u00a0\u00a0 Now, I believe in a God who is merciful and forgiving, love and light, joy and peace.\u00a0 I believe in a God who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.\u00a0 But where is this God in the midst of our personal suffering?\u00a0 Where is this God in a world where suffering touches everyone in some form or fashion?<\/p>\n

I remember reading the book, Night<\/em> by Elie Wiesel.\u00a0 \u00a0In his book Wiesel writes of the hanging of two men and a young boy in a Nazi concentration camp which he and all the other prisoners were forced to witness.\u00a0 \u201cAll eyes were on the child\u2026 \u2018Where is God?\u00a0 Where is He?\u2019\u00a0 Someone behind me asked\u2026the two adults were no longer alive\u2026but the third rope was still moving:\u00a0 the child too light, was still breathing\u2026he remained for more than half an hour lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes\u2026Behind me, I heard the same man asking:\u00a0 \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, where is God?\u201d\u00a0 And from within me, I heard a voice answer:\u00a0 \u201cWhere He is?\u00a0 This is where\u2014hanging here from this gallows\u2026\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Where is God when one suffers?\u00a0 Is God close to us when we suffer?\u00a0 Is our suffering close to God?\u00a0 These are questions we ask ourselves and these are also questions frequently asked in the Scriptures.\u00a0 According to the prophet Isaiah, God is sharing in the suffering of the people:\u00a0 \u201cFor a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you.\u00a0 In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.\u201d [3]<\/a><\/p>\n

A brief moment of abandonment and hiding can seem like an eternity for a person who is suffering.\u00a0 \u00a0This was my reality that led me to ask the question, \u201cIs God real?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Ford outlines the theological implications of five basic forms of prayer.\u00a0 He acknowledges petition as being the fourth form. \u00a0He states that \u201cin the Bible there are very direct encouragements, even commands, to believers to ask God for what they desire, with promises that requests will be answered.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Yet, what happens when that request is not answered?\u00a0 \u00a0What happens when you ask God to heal a loved one, who is devoted to God, who serves God, who is a follower of Jesus and still does not get healed?\u00a0 Why is God silent?\u00a0 Does God not care?\u00a0 Is God real?\u00a0 These were questions I asked and struggled with when my husband died.<\/p>\n

One day while sitting on the floor with tears running down my face and looking through photos, I realized that my husband, who was also a pastor, and I never had our picture taken together in our clergy robes.\u00a0 Perhaps this is not significant, but when you realize that that is no longer a possibility or even a reality, someone is to blame.\u00a0 And for me that someone was God.\u00a0 Yet, how could I blame a God who I no longer believed was close to me or real?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Three days later, there was a knock on my front door.\u00a0 It was the mail carrier delivering a package.\u00a0 When I opened the package and pulled out the content in the package, in my hands I held a photograph of my husband and me wearing our clergy robes!\u00a0 How could this be?\u00a0 This was a manifestation of God!<\/p>\n

God is closed to us in our suffering.\u00a0 And we can see this throughout the Old Testament that the God who suffered with his people rooted in Israel\u2019s experience.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the people of Israel groaned under their bondage, and cried out for help, and their cry under bondage came to God\u2026I have seen<\/strong> the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard<\/strong> their cry\u2026I know <\/strong>their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

God heard, God saw, God knew my suffering.\u00a0 These verbs are powerful for they describe God as one who sees the suffering from the inside, a God who is internally related to the suffering of the people, a God who enters completely into the suffering situation and makes it His own.<\/p>\n

Theological thinking allows me to question, seek meaning, and explore intellectually which then helps to renew my hope in Christ and strengthen my trust in God. \u00a0Questioning God is not a practice that is looked upon favorably in many Christian communities.\u00a0 \u00a0Yet, in the midst of my suffering it gave me freedom and a renewed trust in God.\u00a0 Because of this my faith and trust in God is constantly being challenged, rethought, reimagined, expanded and enriched.\u00a0 \u00a0Theological thinking takes God out of the \u201cbox\u201d and allows \u201cGod to act; Jesus to appear as the content of God\u2019s act; and people to be transformed through the Spirit that comes from the risen Jesus.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 It is a practice that regularly leads to transformations of one\u2019s horizon and unimagined surprises, not least in one\u2019s way of thinking about God and, inseparably, about oneself, others, and the created world.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Ford asks the question, \u201cCan we imagine God concerned with all the details of individual lives?\u201d[8]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0Yes, I can!<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> David F. Ford, Theology:\u00a0 A Very Short Introduction.<\/em>\u00a0 (Oxford University Press: New York, 1999) pg. 30<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[2]<\/a> Wiesel, Elie.\u00a0 Night<\/em>.\u00a0 (Hill and Wang:\u00a0 New York, 2006) pgs. 64-65<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[3]<\/a> New Revised Standard Version (Isaiah 54:7-8)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[4]<\/a> David F. Ford,\u00a0 Theology:\u00a0 A Very Short Introduction.\u00a0 <\/em>(Oxford University Press:\u00a0 New York, 1999) pg. 53<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[5]<\/a> New Revised Standard Version (Exodus 2:23; 3:7-8)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[6]<\/a> David F. Ford,\u00a0 Theology:\u00a0 A Short Introduction.\u00a0 <\/em>(Oxford University Press:\u00a0 New York, 1999) pg. 91<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[7]<\/a> Ibid., pg. 48<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[8]<\/a> Ibid., pg. 53<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In reading, Theology: A Very Short Introduction, I found myself saying: \u201cYes! Yes! Yes!\u201d\u00a0 Yes, because David Ford not only challenges and encourages me to think deeply about theology but also challenges me to go beyond thinking. \u00a0Ford challenges me \u201cto move from thinking about the discipline of theology into direct theological thinking, beginning with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ford","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1945,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions\/1945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}