“I think there are many times when people have plenty of faith [when asking for a miracle that doesn’t happen]. The theory that I am proposing here is not a ‘blame the victim’ kind of theory.”
“Almost every scenario I know of in terms of healing, there’s something that’s healed or restored that’s already present, or there’s some kind of growth that occurs over a short period of time.”
“Some people give up on that ‘absolute sovereignty view’ when they encounter horrific suffering. When they get raped. When their kid is killed in a car accident. When their son dies of cancer at age two…but there are other people who, even after horrific suffering, continue to retain that view.”
“The majority of the time, it’s easier to look at someone else’s pain and say, ‘Well, that’s just a part of God’s plan.’ But when you go through it yourself, and you know the circumstances well, it’s harder for most people to do that.”
“I’m proposing a way to think about God that I think is strongly biblical, even if it is new to some people, that gives an alternative to a God that controls things and no God at all.”
“I have a very Christo-centric hermeneutic. In other words, I read the Bible through the lens of Jesus’ love.”
“When the Bible says, ‘God does X,’ do we have to think that God was the only actor? Or can we think that God was the primary actor?”
“I know of no story or biblical passage in the entire Bible…that explicitly says God alone was the actor and there were no creaturely factors or actors involved.”
Mentioned in the Show by Thomas Jay Oord
Hebrews 6:18
James 1:12-14
2 Timothy 2:13
Crossing of the Red Sea
God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils, Thomas Jay Oord
Thomas Jay Oord’s website
The Uncontrolling Love of God: An Open and Relational Account to Providence, Thomas Jay Oord
Connect with Thomas Jay Oord on Facebook and Twitter
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