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| Open Theism Discussion Board > Public Forums > Let’s solve the problem of evil > Pastoral Response to evil? | Forum Quick Jump
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Empiress
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2002
Total Posts : 363
| Posted 2/6/2002 10:58 PM (GMT -6) |   | Warning: This post contains explicit language in it, please don't read it if this will offend you. Thanks.
A goth friend who suffered severe childhood abuse and neglect recently wrote of her best friend (in a public forum):
"so, when she was dosed and gang raped... i was the first person she thought of to call. and she came out for a week to have some quiet time and be with someone who could listen. and after she'd gone home i spent a good 2 hours sitting with my dad at my kitchen table... telling him how aweful the world was, and asking him naive questions like "how could god let things like this happen to people i loved, hadn't i allowed myself to be dragged through enough disgusting and stupid shit so that the people i cared about didn't have to?"
I struggled with how to respond to her...there's no easy answers. How would you respond? What is the Open theist's "pastoral" response?
Thanks,
~E
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GregBoyd
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 1818
| Posted 2/7/2002 6:39 PM (GMT -6) | | The particulars of the situation dictate when and how and to whom what is said. I recommending incarnating yourself in the situation and following the Spirit. Having said that, as a general word, I would recommend something like the following.
* first, listen, empathize, affirm, let the person vent without comment. (Job's friends did it right for the first six days).
* when/if appropriate, assure them that Christ is with them, hurts with them.
* when appropriate, show that Christ suffered on the cross. Evil is not something God watches from the outside. He takes it upon himself... to redeem it.
* when appropriate, I would explain why people have to be free to make terrible decisions, if they so choose. I would explain why this has to be irrevocable. I would assure them that God hates this more than they do, and that on the cross God suffered because of it too.
* When appropriate, I would remind them that the hope the Gospel offers is a world to come which will have none of the present war zone features to it. In the end, God's will shall be done "on earth as it is in heaven." I would help them get a clear, vivid, picture of the paradise they were created for, and which they shall someday inherit if they will accept Christ.
* When appropriate, I would counsel them that EVEN NOW God wants to "work with them" to bring something redemptive out of this terrible situation. (Rom. 8:28).
* Much later, when appropriate, I would counsel them to receive healing from Christ... a healing that will in time empower the victim to confront (at least in their mind) the victimizers, and ultiamtely forgive (at least in their heart) the victimizers. In Christ, they don't need to live their lives defined by the rapists. They can be defined by their Creator and Savior.
Thanks for asking Empiress.
Blessings
Doc
"Three is the magic number, oh yes it is, it's the Magic Number" - De La Soul | | Back to Top | | |
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Empiress
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2002
Total Posts : 363
| Posted 2/7/2002 7:22 PM (GMT -6) | | | | |
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