What next?! This week we have had one RC tell us that if one goes to Mass every day for three years, then they will hear the entire Bible read aloud,
and later respond to my evidence that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery by charging me with possessing disinformation, and later ignores posts refuting him,
then another RC states the 7 apocryphal books in the Old Testament were the most cited by Christ in those Gospels, and ignores posts challenging him,
then another RC presents Protestantism as being one entity having no answer to a question, except for two which he cares not to document, but which issue he gives a cursory answer against, then complains about a Protestant viewpoint not being objectively established, and ignores posts reproving him,
And now we have another RC poster recommending reading the book “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” by Rabbi Kushner. Which is fundamentally heretical, which they would know if they read evangelical apologetical sites (but most do not as they also reprove Rome).
Where Was God? Article contributed by Stand To Reason
One Wrong Answer
One answer is not going to work: the picture of a broken-hearted God, victimized, agonizing over events that are out of His control.
This “finite God” view is Rabbi Harold Kushner’s answer in Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? Evil is bigger than God whose hands are tied by the laws of nature and the will of man. Limited in power, He weeps with us at a world out of control.
According to Kushner, this should bring us comfort. “God, who neither causes nor prevents tragedies, helps by inspiring people to help,” he writes.1
Clearly, the God Rabbi Kushner has in mind is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the One who brought the universe into existence with a single thought. This is not the God of the Exodus or the empty tomb. A God equally victimized by the march of evil may commiserate with other victims, but He cannot inspire or rescue. He is not worthy of praise, prayer, or trust. Nor is there any real comfort to be gained from one so impotent. - https://bible.org/article/where-was-god
outrageous is the claim of the Rabbi that God is not “all-powerful.” Specifically, he does not “control the laws of nature.” On the contrary, both the Rabbi’s Bible and the New Testament teach that he is all-powerful and does control the laws of nature.
The Rabbi’s Bible (and my Bible)—the only authority he or I have for making any pronouncements about God at all—gives more comfort than the Rabbi is willing to offer. In Genesis 50:20, Joseph explains to his brothers why their murderous treatment of him is not meaningless: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” God did indeed (contrary to the Rabbi’s assertion) have an intention in this evil. “God meant it (the evil) for good.” (See also Genesis 45:7 and Psalm 105:17).
This is the final pastoral comfort, and I do not write this without 30 years of seeing it in people’s lives. From the hundreds that have testified with breathtaking faith, just two weeks ago a woman stood up at the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, NC, during a testimony time in front of 450 people and spoke of throwing herself across the grave of her dead son. With tears, she thanked God that someone pointed her to the sovereign control of an all-wise, all-loving God. Her husband stood with her, and together they spoke of the strength and stability and hope and, finally, the joy that comes from knowing that they are not in a random world, but one where God assures them that the worst things will indeed work for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28). This I have seen in the lives of hundreds of those who have suffered far more than I have.
No, Rabbi Kushner. Your soft words offer no hope in the end. The foundation is false. And the consolation does not satisfy the God-given passions for truth and meaning in the human heart. May the Lord open your eyes to the One who died for your sins and rose again, Jesus Christ, so that if you would trust him, you would be saved from the wrath of God that your blasphemy and my contaminated anger deserve. - John Piper, http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/response-to-rabbi-kushner
Rabbi Kushner’s book is recommended to groups who minister to grieving individuals. It’s a look at grief. Have you read it? If not, then how do you honestly know about it?
On you other questions, please talk to the people who posted those items. I am not the referee here.
Heresy indeed. There is actually a defining movement for this new and pitiful view of God. It’s called Open Theism (closely related to Process Theology). Salvation, my FRiend, don’t take my word for it. Google Open Theism and you’ll see for yourself. It is antithetical to the Christian view of God. Something neither a good Catholic nor a good Protestant should have anything to do with.