Suffering and Christian Hope: III. Where is My Hope?

Where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust? –Job 17:15-16 Job is my favourite character in the Bible, because he has something that I admire but lack, namely, perfect moral integrity. He is someone who can stand before the judgment seat and challenge the justice of God, for though he is blameless, he has endured […]

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Institutes of the Christian Religion: The Origin and Purpose of Doctrine

There is an autobiographical story of how Lu Xun became a writer, which I read many years ago and cannot forget: Lu Xun studied medicine in Japan, and prepared to be a doctor, for he wanted to relieve human suffering. When he saw that patients who nearly died from opium overdose immediately went back to opium after their treatment, he decided to take up writing instead — realizing that healing must […]

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“Night” by Elie Wiesel

A Chinese writer, Lu Xun, writes that comedy is when one witnesses the destruction of what is bad, and tragedy the destruction of what is good. By that definition, this book is the ultimate tragedy, a witness of the utter destruction of many innocent human beings, not only of the body but also of the soul, as people were either mercilessly slaughtered or reduced to mere beasts surviving on instincts […]

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