Many people think the adequacy of a theology of providence or a theodicy is dependent on whether it can be “preached at the gates of Auschwitz”. But is that a reasonable criterion? In this video, I suggest otherwise.
providence
Can You Preach it at the Gates of Auschwitz?
COVID-19 and God’s Providence: An interview with my pastor
Actually, God Can: A Response to Thomas Jay Oord (Part 1)
Last week, I posted a review of Thomas Jay Oord’s book God Can’t. While the book was well written with admirable pastoral sensitivity and compassion for those who suffer, I wasn’t particularly taken with the main argument. Not surprisingly, Dr. Oord was not particularly taken with my review and he posted a response here. Since I […]
Should we hope that God has a reason for allowing evil?
Many people find the idea that God has a reason for allowing great evils to be implausible, even offensive. But does that make sense? Should we really prefer that evil occur for no reason at all? Or should we hope there is a reason, even if we can’t understand it? In this video, I take […]
The Questionable Comfort of Impotent Love: A Review of God Can’t
Thomas Jay Oord. God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils. SacraSage Press, 2020. “Why God?” It is a question that has been asked by countless people. “Why did you allow me to get cancer?” “Why do you allow children to starve?” “Why do you allow a pandemic like […]
Does God answer the prayers of nice rich people who want to purchase a new luxury?
Let me tell you about Jones. He’s a very wealthy businessman, a respected philanthropist who has established an effective and impacting charitable foundation for disadvantaged youth, and a generous Christian who tithes north of 10% of his income to the church as well as an NGO that is providing clean drinking water to villages in […]
Is Preachability at the Gates of Auschwitz a Proper Measure for Good Theology?
On several occasions, I have seen Arminians make the following objection to Calvinism: if you can’t preach this to those who suffer, you shouldn’t believe it. Here’s an example from Roger Olson: “Someone has said that no theology is worth believing that cannot be preached standing in front of the gates of Auschwitz. I, for one, […]
Why doesn’t God give everyone a miracle?
Some years ago, a friend of mine told me how, after losing his wife to cancer, he encouraged his embittered young adult children to return to church. On their first visit to a small group, several people shared their recent answers to prayer — miracles, they said — while the two young visitors sat quietly. When they […]
Calvinism and God’s Love: A conversation with Guillaume Bignon
In this article I have a conversation with Guillaume Bignon about Calvinism and the concept of God’s love. Bignon is a French analytical philosopher (yes, there are such things!) and an executive committee member of Association Axiome, a society of French-speaking Christian scholars. He also works in New York in the financial industry. Perhaps most importantly for this […]
God, deliver us from skepticism! (Then again, maybe not.)
The other day somebody on Twitter asked me how I manage to write so many articles. My response included noting the many sources of inspiration … like Twitter. As a case in point, consider this tweet that Michael Brown posted yesterday: When a reliable, trusted friend shares with you how God has worked a miracle […]
Failed Prayer Studies: A Response
The topic of scientific prayer studies recently came up on Twitter. As an outcome of that exchange, I committed to responding to the failure of one particular prayer study to establish a link between prayer and healing. The study in question is discussed in an article titled “Power of prayer flunks an unusual test” where […]
God and the Weather Revisited
Ten days ago I posted an article titled “‘I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth…’ Could God be punishing Texas?” Since then I rewrote and expanded the article and this morning it was posted at Strange Notions as “Does God Punish People Through Natural Weather Events?“
A Case Where I Spend WAY TOO MUCH Time Analyzing a Snide Atheist Meme
Here is a tweet from the folks at “Atheist Republic”. Call it a meme if you want. (Might as well since the word “meme” seems to apply to most anything that gets retweeted.) So here’s the meme: pic.twitter.com/AduwjnloUq — Atheist Republic (@AtheistRepublic) August 16, 2017 I’m not sure what definition of “bullshit” the folks at […]
