I have friends from a variety of theological persuasions – hyper-Calvinists to Open Theologists, Cessationists to wild Pentecostals, some sprinkle babies while others only dunk adults, even a smattering of Universalists and some too eclectic and weird to even label have crept into my circle of amigos. Of course, a midst all these extremes, I am the only “balanced” one. Ha!
The point is that when these folks talk about adversity they adamantly disagree on its source. Some claim God is so “sovereign” He is always behind the troubles in our life. Some believe He occasionally brings it to purify us. Some are repulsed by that idea and say He only “allows” it. Some say all problems are “from the devil” and God is only a God of blessing. Of course the happiest ones don’t even think about it.
My personal stance? I have my opinions (which by the way, are balanced and correct) but basically I just try to deal with trouble as it comes and merrily skip through life trusting God will take care of me regardless the source of my woes. It works for me.
But in this passage in Mark we do see a couple of interesting things. Continue reading