Disappointment with God (1988)

Rated: A-

I love Philip Yancy and his theology and journalism. In this book, he answers three questions: Is God unfair? (no, life's unfair, not God). Is God silent? Is God hidden? He provides a practical perspective for believers and doubters. Plus, the book is offers a unique commentary on the Book of Job.

"They had doubted him once, but after the Resurrection they would not doubt him again."

"In his book 'Wishful Thinking', Fredrick Buechner sums up God's speech. 'God doesn't explain. He explodes. He asks Job who he thinks he is anyway. He says that to try to explain the kind of things Job wants explained would be like trying to explain Einstein to a little-neck clam....God doesn't reveal his grand design. He reveals himself.' The message behind the splendid poetry boils down to this: Until you know a little more about running the physical universe, Job, don't tell me how to run the moral universe."

"The same urgent questions torment almost every suffering person: Why? Why me? What is God trying to tell me? In the Book of Job, God deflects those questions of cause, and focuses instead on our response of faith"

"Knowledge is passive, intellectual; suffering is active, personal. No intellectual answer will solve suffering. Perhaps this is why God sent his own Son as one response to human pain, to experience it and absorb it into himself. The Incarnation did not "solve" human suffering, but at least it was an active and personal response in the truest sense, no words can speak more loudly than the Word."

"Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse....trusting God when there is no apparent evidence of him."

"As Rabbi Abraham Heschel observed, 'Faith like Job's cannot be shaken because it si the result of having been shaken.'" ( )

NO OF PAGES: 260 SUB CAT I: Faith SUB CAT II: SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: Philip Yancey searches for answers to the questions we rarely ask aloud - Is God silent? Is God unfair? Where is God in our emotional pain? A searingly honest and powerful book that takes our doubts seriously, yet points to a faith we can live by and hope that will not let us down.NOTES: Donated by Tim Hegg. SUBTITLE: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud

到底對神失望代表什麼呢？打開一本一直擱在書櫃上未曾看的書 ​Disappointment with God，看看有什麼得著。作者 Philip Yancey 在書中問三個問題： Is God Unfair? Is God Silent? Is God Hidden? 作者在書中前半，針對這三個問題，說到在舊約歴史中，神在以色列人前顯現，定下戒命律例典章，並依此施​行各樣獎賞與懲罰。但是，就算神公平、顯現及直接與人說話，但神的子民對神的態度又如何呢？前一刻才剛剛說​完不能造偶像，下一刻就造了金牛犢出來。以色列人沒有因為見到神的顯現、聽到神的說話而變得順服。 作者在​下半部，以約伯記作為討論這題目的題材。舉出例如就像一兩歲的孩童不明白成人的心意一樣，人不能理解神的計​劃；人也不明白在宇宙中自己所擔當的是什麼（約伯不知道約伯記的引子）；又提出父神以聖子道成肉身去承擔世​界一切的罪，比世上任何一切的不公平更加不公平（全然無罪的耶穌去擔當所有的罪）。作者講了很多很多的理由​，那些理由都是充份的，但或者要問的是，這到底對非常失望的人是否相關呢？ 作者提及一個離開了神的朋友，​那人原是一個神學生，對上述的問題，跟作者能有同樣的理解。所以問題到頭來，還是在「信」上：知道的是一樣​，有人會選擇信，有人會選擇不信。問題是，所謂「信」，就是去信一些「要我們相信」的東西。 不過，我想，​對神的失望，並不關乎神的不公平、沉默及隱匿。我覺得更基本的，是我們怎樣理解神（或者說怎樣相信神）。我​們就算清楚明白到我們沒可能明白神的作為，神的道比我們高，那又如何呢？跟我又有何干呢？我們依然可能會失​望。 最近正在看哈巴谷書，先知在書中問神：「耶和華啊！我懇求，你不垂聽，要到幾時呢？我向你呼叫“有狂​暴的事”，你卻不拯救。你為甚麼使我看見惡行？有奸惡的事，你為甚麼見而不理？」「你的眼目純潔，不看邪惡​，不能坐視奸惡；為甚麼見行詭詐的人而不理？惡人吞滅比自己公義的人，你為甚麼緘默呢？」二千幾年前，先知​質問神的，難道跟我們今天有所不同嗎？ 先知最後說：「我一聽見，就全身發抖；因這聲音，我嘴唇震顫。腐爛​侵蝕我骨，我在站立之地戰兢。我靜候災難之日，犯境的民上來。無花果樹縱不發芽，葡萄樹不結果，橄欖樹無所​出，田裡無收成，圈內沒有羊，棚裡也沒有牛，我卻要因耶和華歡喜，以救我的　神為樂。」 連一丁點兒的希望​也見不到，連最微細的徵兆也沒有，但先知依然以耶和華為樂。我想，或者這才是對神失望應有的回應。​

Yancy begins his book with examples of circumstances from several Christians who have suffered greatly and feel disappointed with or abandoned by God. The author chooses the situation of Richard, the person suffering the least of the examples (but a fellow author), to follow throughout the book.

Using OT scriptures, Mr. Yancy tries to explain the mind of God. His attempt actually turns eerie (downright creepy) when Yancy imagines himself as God questioning in his mind whether or not man would obey when created.

It is my opinion that Mr. Yancy conveys the message that those who are disappointed in God are pretenders. They are people who never had “real” faith so they never were true believers. Instead of helping a friend out of a spiritual depression, Mr. Yancy slapped him down and decided he just did not have enough faith.

There was no compassion in the book for the suffering Christian. Mr. Yancy has his own experience being a pretender as he explains in the book that he deliberately pretended to be a Christian in college until one day he began praying out loud and “had a vision of Jesus”. It is also my opinion that Mr. Yancy’s answers in this book are no better than the callous conversations the friends of Job had for his sufferings.

Mr. Yancy’s questions in the book were:
1. Is God unfair?
2. Is God silent?
3. Is God hidden?

My questions for Mr. Yancy are:
1. Are you trying to prove the old adage “Christians shoot their wounded”?
2. Do you have no compassion for a suffering Christian?
3. Did a tree have to die for this book?

I have suffered the worst thing a parent can suffer and I would never recommend this book to a Christian who is going through trials. ( )

Thoughtful and uncompromising work dealing with difficult issues. Yancy works hard and helping us understand the seeming silence and absence of God, especially in times of profound distress. I would like to see Yancy include more of how this issue has been dealt with over they years rather than write as if these were all original ideas. I would also like to see more discipline in his references. And excellent book all around. ( )