Our connection with cancer and theology
Every week we pray for one another about friends and family struggling with cancer and other illness.
Sunday we spoke of why hurt and suffering happen with faith in a loving God, and we mentioned a book called “Cancer and Theology.” In this past weekend’s conversation we identified 3 sources of suffering:
Natural Suffering- The hurt from natural disasters and starvation due to lack of available resources.
- Response- there are forces in the world that allow the earth to cool and release pressure that would otherwise cause the earth to cease to exist. There are also enough resources for all of us it is an issue of dispersment that would seem to be an issue for us rather than God.
- Freewill Suffering- The hurt that happens from the choices of others that causes friction in our lives of the lives of those we hold close.
- Response- God gives freewill and as a result some (ok, really all of us) misuse this gift. In the misuse we don’t just hurt ourselves but our community as well.
- Sickness Suffering- The realization that our bodies can heal from many ailments, but there are those illnesses that we cannot recover.
- Response- Sickness and death sucks, period. Yet in the sickness God journeys with us. We also have the hope of setting aside our perishable bodies and put on imperishable selves.
During the conversation we made reference to this collection of essays written by theologians and powerful thinkers about cancer and theology. It is a really amazing collection that hits the nail on the head in regards the spectrum of emotion when faced with the sickness of cancer and interruption of this demon in our world today.
Let us know that you think about the book or how you deal with the disconnect between professing a loving God and a world with so much hurt.
Links to check out
Get the book: here
Check out Jake (who ignited the project) here: http://www.jakebouma.com/