A few weeks ago, I announced that I would do a "Question & Answer" sermon on Sunday, July 28th. I asked those who wanted to participate to send me a clear, concise question or a particular passage of scripture.
This is what I received, in the order in which I received it:
Loving everyone is impossible. Please define the word “love.”
(I’ll preach on this within the next 5 months.)
Do United Methodists believe in ‘the resurrection of the body,” as we say in the Apostles’ Creed?
(I’ll answer this in a future Connexion article.)
By using Biblical references that homosexuality is a sin in God's eyes, how can Bishop Shelton, United Methodist ministers and the NC Conference indicate that homosexuality is good and welcomed into the Church or that the Church may not welcome it?
(This isn’t so much a “clear, concise question” as an accusation. I’ve long invited people to come to my office to talk about this issue. This is how I’ll address this as well.)
Why does God (if he wills) allow people from birth to endure a miserable existence?
(I’ll preach on this VERY difficult issue this week!)
Donald Trump claims he escaped his assassination attempt because of “divine intervention.” What do you think about this?
(I answered this in a Facebook post about a week ago.
There are 73 books in the Roman Catholic Bible but only 66 books in the versions accepted by the mainline Protestant churches. Why?
(I’ll answer this in a future Connexion article.)
If you could give some background on the Prophet Zephaniah and his 3 short chapters that would be great.
(I’ll preach on this within the next 5 months.)
THANK YOU all for your participation. I’ll see you Sunday and speak about “theodicy,” the theological discipline that attempts to answer the question of why God allows evil. Keep in mind that this is speculative theology; if we had a definitive answer, people wouldn’t still be asking the question.
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