Tony Campolo on healing
Captain Sensible writes: Does God heal today, and if so, why are some people healed and not others? It's a question that I am at a loss to answer other than with words that seem hopelessly inadequate. That's why I was particularly interested to come across Tony Campolo's take on it - a man I have a lot of respect and admiration for. I think it also applies to healing the pain of singleness and a broken heart.
Here are some extracts, but you can read the whole thing here.
"A widowed mother of six had breast cancer. In the months preceding her death, the members of her church held weekly prayer meetings, begging God to heal her. Twice, all night prayer vigils were held on her behalf, but she wasn’t healed.
"In the face of such a tragedy, you can always count on some well-meaning person to quote Romans 8:28--"all things work together for good"--and to say that the tragedy is something we just have to accept as part of God’s wonderful plan for us. As if that were not enough, they'll imply that God caused what we think is a tragedy in order to achieve some greater good that we, in our limited understanding, just cannot comprehend.
"I don’t buy this kind of talk. To make God the author of sickness and death is to transform God into someone who is difficult to love.
"In a church where I once served, there was a man whose son died of leukemia. The man stopped coming to church. I went to visit him and told him not to stop believing in God because of what had happened. The man responded, 'Oh, I still believe in God. The reason I gave up on church isn’t because I don’t believe in God, it is because I hate him. He could have cured my boy and I begged him to do that and he did nothing…so I hate him.'
"I tried to tell this man that God does not cause sickness and death. I told him that God is constantly struggling to abolish both, and that someday, God will--but that time is not yet.
"That did not help. What did help was this: I told the man that when his son died, God was the first one who cried.
"Those who cite Romans 8:28 in the face of such tragedies need to know that the verse does not say "all things work together for good," even though it reads that way in the King James Version. A more accurate translation of the Greek New Testament reads, "In the midst of everything that is happening, God is at work cooperating with those who love Him, to bring about good." Big difference!"
"In James 5:14 we read that elders of the church should pray over the sick and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. I wish every church would set aside one evening a week to make that kind of healing ministry available. The elders or deacons in churches should put a sign outside the church that publicizes the date and time for the healing services-and announces in bold letters that non-members are especially welcome."
Captain Sensible adds: Unlike most Christians, Tony Campolo is not afraid of unbelievers, or of fragile believers. I particularly like his idea of putting up a sign announcing an open healing evening. The church down the end of my road keeps putting signs up warning passers by that they are going to hell. People give the building a wide berth! I wish they would adopt Tony Campolo's suggestion instead. I also particularly appreciated his better translation of Romans 8:28: "In the midst of everything that is happening, God is at work cooperating with those who love Him, to bring about good." In relation to singleness, we must stop telling people to battle their discontent and how it is God's will and perfect plan for their lives. We must instead battle the causes of it, cooperating with God to bring about an end to protracted singleness. Read the rest of the article here.
Here are some extracts, but you can read the whole thing here.
"A widowed mother of six had breast cancer. In the months preceding her death, the members of her church held weekly prayer meetings, begging God to heal her. Twice, all night prayer vigils were held on her behalf, but she wasn’t healed.
"In the face of such a tragedy, you can always count on some well-meaning person to quote Romans 8:28--"all things work together for good"--and to say that the tragedy is something we just have to accept as part of God’s wonderful plan for us. As if that were not enough, they'll imply that God caused what we think is a tragedy in order to achieve some greater good that we, in our limited understanding, just cannot comprehend.
"I don’t buy this kind of talk. To make God the author of sickness and death is to transform God into someone who is difficult to love.
"In a church where I once served, there was a man whose son died of leukemia. The man stopped coming to church. I went to visit him and told him not to stop believing in God because of what had happened. The man responded, 'Oh, I still believe in God. The reason I gave up on church isn’t because I don’t believe in God, it is because I hate him. He could have cured my boy and I begged him to do that and he did nothing…so I hate him.'
"I tried to tell this man that God does not cause sickness and death. I told him that God is constantly struggling to abolish both, and that someday, God will--but that time is not yet.
"That did not help. What did help was this: I told the man that when his son died, God was the first one who cried.
"Those who cite Romans 8:28 in the face of such tragedies need to know that the verse does not say "all things work together for good," even though it reads that way in the King James Version. A more accurate translation of the Greek New Testament reads, "In the midst of everything that is happening, God is at work cooperating with those who love Him, to bring about good." Big difference!"
"In James 5:14 we read that elders of the church should pray over the sick and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. I wish every church would set aside one evening a week to make that kind of healing ministry available. The elders or deacons in churches should put a sign outside the church that publicizes the date and time for the healing services-and announces in bold letters that non-members are especially welcome."
Captain Sensible adds: Unlike most Christians, Tony Campolo is not afraid of unbelievers, or of fragile believers. I particularly like his idea of putting up a sign announcing an open healing evening. The church down the end of my road keeps putting signs up warning passers by that they are going to hell. People give the building a wide berth! I wish they would adopt Tony Campolo's suggestion instead. I also particularly appreciated his better translation of Romans 8:28: "In the midst of everything that is happening, God is at work cooperating with those who love Him, to bring about good." In relation to singleness, we must stop telling people to battle their discontent and how it is God's will and perfect plan for their lives. We must instead battle the causes of it, cooperating with God to bring about an end to protracted singleness. Read the rest of the article here.
posted by Captain Sensible at 6:13 AM
2 Comments:
The translation Campolo offers of Romans 8:28 is not consistent with the Greek, and the idea that God is "cooperating with" the sinner or "struggling with" eliminating the effects of sin bothers me. A better understanding of 8:28 is the reminder that everything working out for the good is not dependent on everything being good. Christians are too quick to rationalize and imagine that something greater was going to happen through the death of a small child. There are many times we have to just say that some things will be unexplained. We need not conjure up rationalizations, but we do need to trust in the sovereignty and goodness of God. There are certain mysteries we will never know. Christians almost need to have this attitude of "I am grateful for the time given." And often Christians do a greater disservice by opening their mouths. This is true of the stupid explanations they often provide singles and often in how they comfort the widow/ers and parents of deceased children.
Thank you, Anonymous. Yes, I didn’t notice it before, but now that you have pointed it out, I too have a problem with the idea of God “struggling" to abolish sickness and death.
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