Bryan L. Fordham

Over the years I’ve been asked a lot of questions about suicide. Unfortunately, recent events have brought all these back up again. So, in order to have a place to point people to, I’ve written up a few of the most common ones, and my answers to them.

You can read it here.

So, Pat Robertson said Haiti made a pact with the devil, and that’s why the earthquake hit. People are denouncing him, and making fun of him. Both appropriately.

The larger issue, here, is that he obviously doesn’t know his Bible. Jesus directly addressed the meaning behind people being suddenly killed in Luke 13:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5)

The point here is simple and clear: The people Jesus is referring to weren’t killed because they were the biggest sinners around. Their deaths shouldn’t make us think we’re better than they are, but should lead us to repent because we are exactly the same as they are. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

We have all sinned, and sin deserved death. God, by his grace, allows us to live. But he owes us nothing.

So what is the Christian response to the disaster in Haiti? Give money. Pray. Go if you can. And be thankful that it was not you, because it just as easily could have been. Next time it may be.

In no particular order:

1. Being in Piper’s breakout session.  He’s been used by God to have a huge impact on me for a number of years now (and I’m certainly not alone in this).  So it was cool to be able to sit in a room and listen to him.  Plus it was nice to see Noel and Talitha.

2. Seeing him preach live. Actually it was in video (2 venues) but still, a few times I forgot he wasn’t actually on stage. Plus, having his sermon after the worship, and surrounded by a few thousand other people, made it quite a different experience from listening to a podcast while running.

3. Seeing some people who had never heard him introduced to Piper’s God-centered theology. The response from those I talked to was pretty universal: “He’s *extremely deep*, gotta listen to the whole thing, but amazing.”  I’m praying especially for the students with us that God sets the roots of this type of thinking deep into their hearts.

4. The college kids raising $668,000+ by Monday night, and then someone saying they would match it.  Absolutely incredible.

5. Meeting Michelle at the Compassion International section. She’s from Manila, and had been a sponsored child. Now she sponsors four kids herself.  She’s finishing her masters degree.  Cool to actually meet someone who has been impacted so much by that ministry, and especially cool that she’s from the Philippines, where my brother lives.

6. Hearing that scholarships from 138 pastors and church planters in the Middle East had been paid for. Hearing it almost made me cry, to be honest.  I wonder how many realize how dangerous life will be for these men.

If you were there, what impacted you?

For a Christian, my life doesn’t show much faith.

I recently listened to the audio version of the book Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. In it one of the questions he asks is, What in your life requires faith? In other words, what are you doing that would be impossible if God didn’t show up?

I was listening to this on the way to Greenville, SC, so I had a lot of time to think about this. The answer I came up with was simply, “Nothing, really.” I do lots of things, but for the most part they are things anyone could do. There’s nothing that particularly marks my life as a life lived by faith.

To understate it: This is a problem.

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit since then. Amber and I have had a couple of conversations about this, and what we can do to fix this lack in my life. I hope to write more about that soon, but for now, I’d like to suggest you ask yourself the same question, and go where it leads you.