AUGUST 2005
I was always instructed in Bible class that Jesus was unlike other babies because he did not cry. I tried cross-referencing this information in the bible but I couldn't find anything descriptive. Could you please tell me what you know about this area of Jesus' life?
I don’t recall any reference in Scripture as to whether Jesus cried or didn’t cry as a child. The Bible does say that Jesus cried as an adult, as he wept over Jerusalem and wept outside the tomb of his friend Lazarus. If Jesus was fully human, it seems unlikely that he missed out on that universal aspect of childhood.
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Is believing in Jesus and all the things we Christians say about him always necessary in order to have a healthy relationship to the Father?
Wars have been fought over this question. You will hear vehement and vastly different answers. I will give you my take on it. But I urge you to wrestle with it on your own and within the context of a wise, caring and open-minded faith community.
As I read Scripture, I see people coming to God in various ways. Some knew Jesus directly, some knew about him through Paul and the apostles, some knew little of Jesus but were drawn to the Jesus Movement, later the Church, and some had experience with the Spirit of God. Proponents of each way tended to want to institutionalize it and declare it as the ultimate authority. Meanwhile, the Hebrew people (descended from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob) had their own ways of comprehending God—also various—and the Muslim people (descended from Abraham through his other son, Ishmael) had other pathways to God.
I don’t think any soul has been saved by right-opinion.
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My husband and I have a Bible study in our home each week. We are Christians and attend a Baptist church. One of the ladies in our Bible study is wondering about the difference between the Holy Bible and the Gnostic bible that she is also reading.
The Bible is a collection of books (Latin: biblia). Those books were written over a period of more than one thousand years, primarily by people associated with Judaism and the early phases of the Jesus movement. The Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, covers the period up to the Christian era. The New Testament covers the life of Jesus and the first decades of the Christian experience.
The books take several forms: pre-history, law, history, prophecy, apocalyptic writings, wisdom, poetry or song, legends, “lives” (tales of heroic persons), gospels and letters. Each form has certain conventions and exists to serve certain purposes. Taken together, the books convey a certain people’s experiences of God. The books use many images and tell many stories, some of which contradict one another. Those contradictions and different accounts aren’t unexpected in what was originally oral tradition.
The Bible we receive was put together by religious leaders. Certain books were excluded from the “canon” of Scripture, because they were deemed to lack a certain authority or, as in the case of the Gnostic books, because they contained ways of understanding God that the dominant group found offensive and threatening.
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Who is God, and what are his purposes in the world?
Big questions! To me, God is a living being, the source of life, best known in love, mercy and justice, who stands apart from the world as its Creator and yet engages with the world as Spirit. As a Christian, I believe God can be known intimately through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet I can imagine other ways of knowing God. The Bible contains important words about God, but not everything that can be said. God is both larger than anything I can imagine, and small enough to care deeply about me and you.
God’s purposes concern peace, love, justice, mercy and self-sacrifice. The Church exists to remind us what those purposes are, but in the end we each have to decide whether or not we will align our lives with God’s purposes. In love, God has left us free to make wrong decisions.
No answer is complete without encouraging you to look two ways: first, to look at what God means to you in your life, in your words and understanding; and second, to look at how God seems to be active in the lives of people around you. Such discernment can be hard work.
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I have prayed that God send someone to join me in my life now
that my children are all grown and away from home. I want
someone who loves the Lord as much or more than I do and
someone who will love me. I have been in several bad relationships.
Are praying and waiting all that I have to do?
Praying and waiting certainly are important. I think you also can seek relationships in settings where people like yourself are likely to be. You can become active in a church community, for example, or a mission team (like Habitat for Humanity). Some congregations specialize in singles ministries. Your pastor might know of such a congregation. Finally, before you enter into any relationship, I think it is important that you be at peace with yourself. You don’t want to load too many expectations onto a new relationship. You need to be comfortable being yourself.
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What exactly does it mean when we say, "God is in control''? It seems like things are out of control on this earth.
I don’t believe God is “in control.” Like a parent, God loves people, but doesn’t control how they behave. God created the natural order, but doesn’t control whether a certain cloud yields rain or a certain cell mutates as cancer. God has gifted humanity with extraordinary capabilities, but God doesn’t control whether we use them for life or death, for self or other, for glory or degradation. God has certain desires and purposes, but it is up to us whether we live into those desires and purposes.
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No matter what I do, no matter what I say or think, I don't feel God's love. Can you list ways that I can feel God's love?
Jesus said we are blessed when we know our need of God. One way to know God’s love is to recognize your need for that love. Another is to do something for someone else. Jesus said that when we serve “the least of these,” we are serving him. Many feel God’s love in worship, or in the warm fellowship of a mission team or study group. Many say that the love of God never became real to them until they were in desperate circumstance and God’s people cared for them.
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What are the expectations of Christians concerning the drinking of alcohol? What are the expectations of leaders?
For those who can drink alcohol safely (that is, non-addictively), our norms should be moderation, attention to circumstances (such as driving, children’s needs), and keeping alcohol in perspective. For those who cannot drink safely because of an addictive reaction to alcohol, the only responsible norm is abstinence, sobriety. Leaders need to be aware that alcohol, even in moderate amounts, can impair judgment and response times. Drinking should be a social experience, not a part of business life or meetings where decisions are to be made.
Those are my understandings. Some Christians believe that any consumption of alcohol is wrong, a violation of God’s will.
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I have a deep faith in God and his presence. However, my 21-year-old daughter has been chronically ill for seven years. People say to "give her up to God," but that is so difficult. How can I understand all of this?
Human suffering is baffling, especially the suffering of a child. People want to see some connection between sin and suffering, as if only sinners “deserved” to suffer. They want to see suffering as caused by God. They want God to end the suffering, and they feel abandoned by God when suffering continues. Suffering challenges our belief in a good, loving and just God.
My understanding is this: First, suffering happens, probably to all of us at one time or another. Scripture is filled with examples of suffering, and our Christian heritage is grounded in the suffering servanthood of Jesus. Second, God joins us in our suffering. Third, other people join us in our suffering, too, and in so doing they can mediate the loving presence of God. The tender care of a nurse, for example, can bring God’s love into your child’s life. So can the care of friends. Fourth, I think the power of prayer isn’t to change the mind of God, but to lay our worries and woes before God and to ask for strength to deal with them.
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