It is more than the Order of Salvation

A few weeks ago a 23 year old boy was killed. Last week, I participated rather lamely in a discussion on the deaths of six million people and how that informs the psyche of the Jewish religion. And it sits in my gut, what is the answer to suffering in my faith?

An atheist anthropology professor in college said that any good religion has an answer to the question of suffering. For some reason, these threads and actions, and a bunch more stuff, in my life have coalesced into a very strange vortex.

What does Christ have to do with suffering? What does a theology of the Cross have to do with suffering? Why has there not been a systematic theological consideration of the question of pain in the lives of people as addressed from Scripture? There are certainly enough references to pain and suffering across the bible. The hours leading up to the death of Jesus are filled with anguish, with shame, with disgust, with torture, culminating in a horrible death.

Does it sound like a fixation?

Only a little. I know that the glory of the Lord is made manifest in the resurrection of Jesus. But the greater the pain, the greater the glory that follows.

I guess I am tired of theology being so much in the intellectual, the academic realm. It needs to be there, don’t get me wrong. The best and the brightest need to be using the gifts God has given to them to push the edge of what we know about God, about our salvation, about our interpretation of Scripture, about how the Holy Spirit knits together the message of Christ to meet the challenges of a changing world.

But right now, I am in one place, pulling on one thread. Coming to a salvation knowledge of Jesus as Lord and Savior does what to the suffering we endure? The Scripture seems clear that if we are in the faith, we are to endure suffering. Which leads to a sidebar question, if we are not suffering in the faith, are we really pursuing it?

I know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I need to know more completely how that is a benefit for me as pastor and as man when there are times of crisis and pain.

This is not going to be polished prose. This is going to be rough and tumble, explore the bible, pull at the edges of my own heart, hope it gets noticed and pulls in real discussion.