{"id":4046,"date":"2014-05-24T00:00:17","date_gmt":"2014-05-24T05:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=4046"},"modified":"2014-05-23T19:25:02","modified_gmt":"2014-05-24T00:25:02","slug":"pastor-turned-skeptic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=4046","title":{"rendered":"PASTOR TURNED SKEPTIC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A short time ago I read an article about a former pastor who became a skeptic.\u00a0 The post 9\/11 world did not make sense to him.\u00a0 He figured there could be no God in such a world.\u00a0 This kind of struggle of course is nothing new.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew Delbanco has famously said Americans went from believing in the providence of God prior to the Civil War to believing in luck after it.\u00a0 Too much carnage took place for one to keep believing in a God who is both good and in control of all things.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I also struggle to make sense of these realities, yet I am perplexed by those who choose to bail on the Christian faith.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bible makes it clear that we are living in a broken world where the most hideous things imaginable will take place.\u00a0 Make sure to digest that important truth.\u00a0 If \u201cdelicate women\u201d will boil their own children for food (see Deut. 28:53-57), we know there is the capacity for all kinds of evil.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Further, if God had not made it clear that I will not understand many things this side of heaven, I also would consider bailing on the Christian faith.\u00a0 However, God has made it clear we will only know in very small part.\u00a0 There is quite a bit in Scripture on this truth (for example Deut. 29:29; Job 38-42; Isa. 55:8,9; I Cor. 13:12)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Luther, like the Psalmists (note plural) struggled with the silence of God, even the God who seems to hide Himself at times. \u00a0We should be glad for the candor of Scripture, but also chastened to remember we only now see in a “mirror dimly.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

So I wonder what Bible the pastor who bailed was reading.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A short time ago I read an article about a former pastor who became a skeptic.\u00a0 The post 9\/11 world did not make sense to him.\u00a0 He figured there could be no God in such a world.\u00a0 This kind of struggle of course is nothing new. Andrew Delbanco has famously said Americans went from believing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,26,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-doubt","category-pastor"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4046"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4048,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4046\/revisions\/4048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}