Here's some Weekend Away talks I am planning. Happy for feedback- why else does one have a blog?
‘UNSPEAKABLE COMFORT’: The Sovereignty of God and the Christian Life
There is unspeakable comfort – the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates – in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. – JI Packer
While our neighbours talk about luck or destiny, the usual response of Christians to a significant crisis in life is to appeal to God’s sovereignty. We respond to crisis or accident or disease with ‘God is in control’, as if that by itself were a comforting truth.
It is important to know that life is not “just a bunch of stuff that happens”, to use the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson. But if God is remorseless, or uncaring, or - worse – malevolent, then his being in control becomes anything but a comfort to us in affliction. After all, if God is in control, then how do we not blame him for my friend’s depression, or the fatal car accident, or whatever it is?
This series of talks will address one of the Bible’s greatest themes: the sovereignty of God. It will show what it means for us to say ‘God is in control’. We will think about how and where he has shown us this control; and we will see how it changes everything about the way we live.
1. The Comfort of Sovereign Love
2. The Grace of Sovereign Choice
3. The Peace of Sovereign Power
4. The Joy of Sovereign Hope
9 comments:
Happy for feedback- why else does one have a blog?
To convince the world of the rightness of one's opinions and thereby save human civilisation, of course. And to post pretty pictures and funny videos.
On a more serious note, may I suggest you consider the language of "control" and whether it is an adequate metaphor to translate the scriptural images of kingship?
God's sovereignty is a doctrine that can be comforting, terrifying, paralysing, empowering or just plain creepy - depending on the faith and cognitive maturity of the hearer.
And yet, combined with a healthy dose of *analogia entis*, divine sovereignty is all that stands between us and insanity.
divine sovereignty is all that stands between us and insanity.
Do you mean the doctrine or the reality to which it points? If the former, then are you saying that all those who don't believe in divine sovereignty are insane? (And all those who do are not?)
hi mike, so glad to hear today that you are going to do these in a way that doesn't have God underwriting evil or simply 'teaching us something'. Most teaching I hear on this stuff is quite deterministic and grim.
Byron, I mean that confidence in divine sovereignty is what stands between us and insanity. Certainly not the doctrine :-) nor the 'reality' - for which it is a bit of an understatement!! Maybe the 'reality' stands between us and... oblivion!
I certainly don't mean to imply any watertight division of of humanity into sane Calvinists and mad Arminians! Thankfully, most people are far too inconsistent for such categories to hold. I, for instance, profess divine sovereignty, and my unbelief leads me to all sorts of anxiety and turmoil that imply a deep denial of God's sovereignty.
Ah, so confidence in divine sovereignty is not what stands between most people and insanity; it is good old inconsistency that does the trick!
Ahh, of course it is :) Whatever was I thinking!
Would you consider giving links to your talks or posting them. They look like they would be great for your other blog which has been quiet for a long while now.
成功招引朋友，挫敗可考驗朋友........................................
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