Cliche 4: suffering brings you closer to God
- Will you be closer to God during times of suffering?
The hosts push back on 'during times of suffering, you'll be closer to God': suffering tends to strip away other dependencies and can give perspective, but only if a person consciously turns to God. They contrast Paul's thorn in the flesh with Job's experience of longing for God without finding him, and warn against saying this to grieving unbelievers — citing a funeral example of a grandmother telling a grieving mother it would bring her closer to God. They also dispute the article's claim that Jesus felt forsaken on the cross, arguing he was quoting and singing Psalm 22 as a song of victory and prophecy, with 'it is finished' as a military victory cry.
More on Grief
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Holy Spirit experience: healing, cessationism, and testing the spirits
- Is there a normative experience of the Holy Spirit in the world today?
The central hard question: is there a normative experience of the Holy Spirit in the world today, and what does it mean for a follower of Jesus?
From No. 593 · Do You Hear What I Hear
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Dear LFTP 3: Mom's false teeth
- What should the family do with their late mother's false teeth?
Mike reads the letter: the family found their late mother's false teeth — creepy to keep, wrong to discard?
From No. 590 · Theodore Franco
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Dear LFTP: should I attend my murdered niece's funeral?
- Should I attend my murdered niece's funeral after thirty years of family estrangement?
Mike reads a letter from a woman estranged from her brother's family for thirty years whose niece was murdered by her husband in a murder-suicide.
From No. 587 · Coffee After Sunday
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Dear LFTP: AA member who witnessed a life-support withdrawal
- How do I come to terms with accidentally witnessing a fellow AA member's life-support withdrawal?
An AA member writes that while visiting a hospitalized fellow member with cookies, he arrived at the exact moment doctors withdrew life support and witnessed the family's raw grief; he now fears he intruded and caused harm.
From No. 568 · Like Jesus