Is it possible God is growing and transforming us as fast as He possibly can without exploding us?
and transforming us as fast as He possibly can without exploding us?
There’s a passage about the patience of God in the third chapter of 2 Peter that I love, especially considering it’s in a letter either written by, or named for, the most naturally impatient of the disciples.
“Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8–9, BSB).
Maybe the Ignatian philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin had 2 Peter in mind when he wrote his poem “Patient Trust.”
“Above all,” the poem begins, “trust in the slow work of God.”
… Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
Let’s not mistake God’s patience for inactivity. And let’s remember, in the words of Peter’s friend the Apostle Paul, “that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6). Even if it takes 70 challenging years.
Did you know a bad theory can land followers of Jesus in jail? Consider Edgar Maddison Welch. In 2016 he laid down his weapons and surrendered to police outside Comet Ping Pong, a pizza joint in Washington, D.C. He and many others believed Hillary Clinton used the basement there to run an international child sex ring.
Welch drove almost five hours from his home in North Carolina to rescue the boys and girls. Imagine his shock when he discovered Comet Ping Pong had no basement and that it was only a pizza place. Thankfully no one was injured when he fired his rifle in the restaurant.
Welch, regarded in his town and local church as a faithful Christian, was sentenced to four years in prison. How could he have gotten so caught up in tangled conspiracy theories that seemed to him so relevant to being a Christian in our fallen world?
You might want to reply, “Everybody knows conspiracy theories are false! And they have nothing to do with Christian religious beliefs and religious life.” Well, not so fast.
The leading scholars who analyze conspiracy theories (Matthew R. X. Dentith, Joseph Uscinski, Kathryn Olmsted, for example) contend they are not false simply by definition. In other words a conspiracy theory could be true. Think of Watergate and Richard Nixon as a case in point.
Both true and false conspiracy theories are important because they can lead to tragic realities. Ask Edgar Maddison Welch. Or consider how unfounded views about Saddam
Spain pledges improvements
The United Nations reviews human rights in its member countries every five years and this year Spain was examined. The World Evangelical Alliance made two religious freedom recommendations Spain agreed to address.
The first is the “unreasonably high safety standards for nonCatholic places of worship” in Catalonia. Most can’t meet the restrictions and “face the risk of being closed,” said Markus Stefan Hofer of the WEA.
The other issue is evangelical pastors who served during Francisco Franco’s regime being denied access to the country’s pension system. Their families still suffer from the consequences of these longstanding discriminatory regulations, explains Hofer.