Christian Twistings
As a Christian, I twist certain questions into truer questions.
“How can there be a good god and so much suffering?” is twisted into, “Can I really find peace?”
“Is the ability to understand the Bible really only available to certain humans?” is twisted into, “Does the Bible say I can’t access its god directly, one-on-one?”
“What do you think verse x means?” is twisted into, “Do you know the range of historical interpretations of verse x down through history, offhand? If so, can you share it succinctly?”
“You do know the Bible was written by men, right?” is twisted into, “Do you know that I am open to some of what I’ve heard about Jesus, but I feel like a fool for saying so?”
“In Amos, the LORD says that he directly controlled the crops/harvest in order to judge his people, itself in order to call them to repentance. Does that mean if there’s a bad harvest this season, in 2023, the LORD is likewise judging whoever is affected by it?” is twisted into, “Given the empirically grounded interrelatedness of world markets, do you believe the ‘farming’ events recorded in Amos mean that current bad harvests indicate that we are all, always constantly under judgement and a call to repentance?”
Those are the big ones recently on my mind.
Comment below if you have any questions you’d enjoy having twisted into their truer version by a Christian.
The Impression I Get, I Give 
Why do some people die so young? God’s calling them?
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Hey Noelle,
Always fun to hear from you.
I’d twist this into either (or both), a specific question, “Will I always hurt this much (over the recent death)?”
And/or the more general is a repeat, “Is peace available in this world?”
At my job, and surely you have seen death both at work and just with time, I take great comfort in death. Some folks (clinicians in back) get “ate up” with “too soon” or the like. And as clinicians, I think I understand they truly do believe they can save lives. But as a fairly objective observer, I say, “death is the one thing we know for certain, no shadow of a doubt, that happens on time, every time.” I don’t know any reason to view it any other way.
That can sound harsh, but, like I said, I find great comfort in it.
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As I am getting older, I am finding that I do think about death more than I used to and have come to accept that it will happen when the right time comes. I had a good laugh with a friend of mine lately who asked me what I would like to come back as in a second life (if such is the case!). I told her that I would apply to the Naval Academy and get in this time. I was not accepted when I first applied, not knowing they didn’t accept women at the time. She then said she thought I would want to be a physician or a vet. I taught anatomy to med students and have always been surrounded by animals, all sorts. My reply was that I could not accept the loss of any of my patients without great pain, so probably not. You have to be objective and a little thick-skinned for both of those careers, although you should never NOT feel bad about losing a patient because then you have become inured to the humanity of the patient. Oh well, I’m rattling on.
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In Reformed Theology we have that famous acronym TULIP (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints). Of course the most controversial of these (at least in the Evangelical community) is Unconditional Election, also called predestination, wherein some are chosen by God predestined to go to Heaven while others are vessels of destruction.
In Jeopardy format the answer is “God’s pleasure and for His glory.”
The question would be “Why does God choose one person over another?” The best specific example being “Why Jacob and not Esau?” Romans 9:13
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Seems like a sound and clear option/example of one theological perspective.
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The questions that typically follow are:
“Why evangelize if we are predestined?” And “Why pray if God is sovereign and has decided all things?”
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Pretty sure we could recite the answers (however trite) to those as well, no?
My twisting, then, of those two questions is (the question I see behind those questions), “Do I have to put on a bristly personality to be a Bible believing Christian?” Or, “Is there no room in the/my support of the Bible-as-truth for agreeableness?”
Pete
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