Resuming our conversation about suffering, we think through some faithful Christian responses to evil and loss. How can the church reintegrate the deeply Biblical tradition of lament into its corporate and individual life, picking up on the psalms and ultimately Jesus on the cross? And what might a resilient and hope-filled fellowship of believers look like in the light of this?
The problem of suffering has been one of the most intractable and painful theological debates for centuries. But is it perhaps not a problem to be solved, but a deeper mystery to be journeyed through? Is suffering solely a consequence of human sin since the Fall, or were we made to be fragile, dependent and broken? And how does knowing Jesus’s death and resurrection are not simply a response to pain but God’s Plan A from the start change things?
Should I always tithe 10% to my church? What do you think of signing church covenants? I don’t agree with my church leadership on complementarianism, but I love the members - should I stay? Tom answers listener questions on church practise and rules.
If the Universe is so big why did God choose to come to a small hill called Mount Zion? If there is sentient life beyond earth would it need redeeming too? Are the Nephilim evidence of aliens and UFOs? Tom answers questions on aliens and the cosmos!
Were Adam and Eve’s pre-fall bodies like the resurrected Jesus? Was marriage a post-fall accomodation? Why does Genesis say God made childbirth more difficult after the fall? NT Wright answers more questions on the Garden of Eden and the Creation story.