The Question That Never Goes Away - WHY

Author: Philip Yancey

I have been reading Philip Yancey’s books since my teen years. I happened to come across the first one, ‘The Jesus I never knew’ and found Yancey’s voice as an author, to be restrained in probing profound issues, without offering platitudes or trite responses.

This book, ‘The Question That Never Goes Away’, was published last year as a sequel to ‘Where Is God When It Hurts?’ I was surprised to discover Yancey had written the former book when he was only 27, and marveled at the distinctive message he selected, instead of writing on the easily digestible ‘How to win--- and ‘10 steps to a wonderful life--, themed books, which are more or less the order of the day, even among Christian writers.

I eagerly waited for my copy of the ‘The Question That Never Goes Away’ to arrive from Amazon. It was a sleek, slim hardback; the first thing I was surprised by. Not quite sure why, but I’d expected a thicker textbook format; it was a sequel after all, and should answer more questions now, than were answered the first time around - which brings me to the second reason for my surprise with the book.

The Question is more like a journal and tracks the author’s visits to sites around the world struck by tragedy. He travels to Japan reeling from the aftermath of a giant tsunami, to the city of Sarajevo, the location of a bloody civil war where snipers killed thousands of their own countrymen, and the scene of elementary school murders in Connecticut, where a young boy barged into his school and gunned his classmates at point blank range.

Yancey talks about how people turn to him for answers and ask him to address the issues of suffering, ever since he explored this question in his earlier book, 'Where Is God When It Hurts?’ Yet, he confesses that for him too, just like everybody else, the question never goes away. He calls it a ‘groping toward light while living in darkness.’

Yancey’s writings are not merely to be read, they are to be absorbed. I have found myself going back to passages, marking them out, and re-reading them, sometimes to comprehend the gravity of the suggestions, and sometimes to analyze my own beliefs in light of his understanding.

At once, his books are both easy and hard to read. Easy, because all the questions raised, are such pertinent ones. We wonder over them frequently, without having the confidence to articulate them in public. We think of ourselves as having strong faith and do not want to belie this impression that we have of ourselves and present to others.

Hard, because he does not offer very many solutions. If you go looking for a uber-practical check-list that you'd want to hit the ground running with, you will be disappointed.

There is a rediscovery of striking ‘solutions’, actually responses to the problem of pain and suffering, brought forth by the men and women who’ve gone before and just like us, travailed in their spirits.

Yancey rephrases that age-old question to ask instead, ‘Where is the church when it hurts?’ If the people of God respond with Christ-like compassion, people would not torment themselves so much wondering where God was. They would know that God became manifest and visible, through His people.

The book does not close with a remedy for suffering, but presents the fact that it will be ‘redeemed’ if not removed.

Terry Waite, an English author, who was taken hostage in Lebanon and released after 4 years offers an approach to suffering, which gave me comfort and a reason to draw closer and never away, from God. “I have been determined in captivity and still am, to convert this experience into something that will be useful and good for other people. It seems to me that Christianity doesn’t in any way lessen suffering. What it does is enable you to take it, to face it, to work through it, and eventually to convert it.”

Another beam of hope is presented through Dietrich Bonhoeffer's words, a German theologian who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp for resistance to the regime, who is quoted as saying, “I believe that God will give us in each state of emergency as much power of resistance as we need. But he will not give in advance, so that we do not rely on ourselves but on God alone. Through such faith, all anxiety concerning the future should be overcome.’

So, The Question still remains. However, as the book points out, Jesus Himself, never spoke-down to people or lectured them in complex theological tones, but had compassion, and turned around and healed them. The God of the universe did not eliminate suffering, but became flesh, 'moved into our neighborhood' and shared it with us. And he does so, even today. 

This is our great consolation, as we wait for the final restoration on that glorious day. 

Prayer, O. Hallesby

Author: Ole Hallesby (5 August 1879 – 22 November 1961) was a Professor in the Independent Theological Seminary at Oslo, Norway. He was an outspoken opponent of the Nazi occupation of Norway, was arrested and detained at Grini concentration camp for two years (until the end of the war). [Source: Wikipedia].

When I picked up this slim paperback from my Father’s library, I didn't realize this nondescript handbook was a treatise. Neither did I realize how old it was, until I came to a section of the book describing a treatment for tuberculosis, the modern world had long progressed beyond. It prompted me to look up the year of the book’s publication – it was 1931. The only older books I’d read that came to memory were Brother Lawrence’s 17th century book, ‘The Practice of the Presence of God’ and John Bunyan’s timeless classic published in 1678, ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’.

‘Prayer’ acknowledges that no Christian would deny the vitalness of prayer, yet we all find it so difficult to pray. The palpable beauty of the book lies in its outlining of the laws governing the prayer life, and simultaneously making the reader realize that prayer is equally remarkable in its simplicity. In Biblical language, prayer is to ‘sup’ with Jesus, conveying the design of prayer as intimate and joyous fellowship between God and man.

Because it’s difficult to adequately review this book and capture its profundity, it will be useful, I think, simply to lay down quotes from its lessons.

What Prayer Is: Prayer is a definite attitude of our hearts toward God, an attitude which He in heaven immediately recognizes as prayer, as an appeal to His heart. Whether it takes the form of words or not, does not mean anything to God, only to ourselves.

The results of prayer are, therefore, not dependent upon the powers of the one who prays. His intense will, his fervent emotions, or his clear comprehension of what he is praying for, are not the reasons why his prayers will be heard and answered.  No! God be praised, the results of prayer are not dependent upon these things!

Difficulties in Prayer: Practice and perseverance. Without practice no Christian will become a real man or woman of prayer. And practice cannot be attained without perseverance.

Prayer as Work: We are inclined to think that when we are real busy in the work of the kingdom of God, then we can without danger spend less time in prayer. It is, therefore, necessary for the Spirit of God to burn into our hearts this mystery, that the most important work we have to do is that which must be done on our knees, alone with God, away from the bustle of the world and the plaudits of men.

Wrestling in Prayer: We are on the whole disposed to emphasize activity in prayer too much. From the time we begin and until we have finished, we are busily engaged in speaking with God. And we feel almost as though there is something wrong or something lacking in our prayer if we do not talk continuously to God.

In the quiet and holy hour of prayer, we should also be still and permit ourselves to be examined by the Physician of our souls. We should submit to scrutiny under the holy and penetrating light of God and be thoroughly examined, spiritually fluoroscoped and X-rayed, in order to ascertain just where our trouble lies.

The Misuse of Prayer: Do you pray for God's guidance in arriving at a decision in accordance with His will? But then you discover that your prayers after all, were not concerned about ascertaining the will of God, but, on the contrary, about getting God's will and blessing to coincide with your own will and purposes in the matter.

The Spirit of Prayer: You will begin to realize more and more that prayer is the most important thing you do; and that you can use your time to no better advantage than to pray whenever you have an opportunity to do so, either alone or with others, while at work, while at rest, or while walking down the street. Anywhere!

We can make use of our time in no better way.

(A free e-version of 'Prayer' is easily available online)

The Racketeer, John Grisham

John Grisham is one of my favorite writers in fiction. His plots always seem to be within the realm of reality, and his characters usually believable, relatable and gritty.

The first Grisham book I read was ‘The Firm’ while in junior college. At a time, when Sidney Sheldon was all the rage among college girls, I found his writing refreshingly mature. ‘The Street Lawyer’ settled it; his writing was nuanced and empathetic and he celebrated the seeming ordinariness of his protagonists.

The central character in ‘The Racketeer’, Malcolm Bannister, is an average bloke, whose life changed in the blink of an eye. He’s a small-town lawyer, merely getting by, when he gets caught in a web of someone else’s greed. He is convicted for a crime he didn’t commit and is sent away to prison for 10 years. He loses his family - his wife tired of waiting for him, walks away into another marriage, and he’s torn from his only son without the assurance that he will ever see him again.

Shattered by the vicissitudes of life, he spends his time plotting revenge and an escape. I thought Grisham could have done much more with this character, and sketched his bitterness in depth. I was disappointed to not see more profundity shine through from Malcolm Bannister’s protracted, uncertain and melancholic journey.

The stranglehold that bitterness is, it’s the rare man who refuses to let it shape his identity. But, I digress.

The protagonist does however, pummel his situation with humor, which makes following his exploits a good read.

The book is critical of the American incarceration system and its wastefulness; Grisham himself being an ardent advocate of prison reform. There are scathing references to arbitrary convictions and egregious wrongdoing on the part of law-enforcement agencies and other administrators of justice.

The pace is fast and there isn’t a single dull moment. Page after page, you find Bannister’s enemies and friends alike, playing into his hands. One of the most hilarious moments occurs in the latter half of the book, when Malcolm writes a ‘Dear FBI’ letter and castigates his self-important offenders with a ‘shame on you’. Sidesplitting.

The plot as it unravelled, kept gathering more and more steam, until you became convinced that this story could have no other ending but a conveniently happy one. There are far too many moving parts, far too many collaborators and one too many lucky breaks. Stay away if you cannot suspend disbelief and tend to feel agitated by loopholes or unexplained questions.

The Racketeer, then, is for the die-hard Grisham fan. By his own admission, this one is more of a work of fiction than his previous books. Strict accuracy was evidently not a priority.

I’m confident this isn’t Grisham resting on his accolades and the laurels bestowed on him by a loyal fan base. He might have dismissively attributed not steeping this book in research, to laziness, but boy, can he tell a good story.

Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead

I’ll admit I watched the TED talk delivered by Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook only recently. No, I haven’t been living under a boulder. I avoided the clip; being simply wary of what I presumed would be another ‘feminist’ voice urging women to be men.

Her talk was titled, ‘Why we have too few women leaders’, and turned out to be an impassioned plea to women for “sitting at the table”, “not leaving before you leave” and leaning in by asking for, and then making the most of opportunities.

One of the most thought-provoking ‘revelations’ in her bestselling book, Lean In, was an insight from an experiment conducted by a professor on perceptions associated with gender. A case study on a woman entrepreneur, Heidi Roizen, was circulated amongst business school students which drew on the professional accomplishments of the central character. This case assigned to 2 sets of students, had only one crucial difference; Heidi’s name was changed to Howard in the study handed out to one of the groups.

Thankfully, students found both Heidi and Howard to be equally accomplished and competent. However, Howard was the one they ‘liked’. The impression Heidi engendered was not of likeability, even if she was considered competent.  Sandberg reflects on how as a child growing up, she was teased by her siblings and acquaintances, as being too “bossy”. Leadership and assertiveness weren’t considered as feminine qualities and she states how a woman often is at the receiving end of comments deeming her as not enough of a team player, despite being comparable in her ‘people-skills’ to a male colleague.  

She posits that men are rated on their potential while women on their past achievements. She cites studies to demonstrate how women underestimate their own ability while men almost consistently overestimate theirs. She writes about the 2012 study of thousands of political candidates where men were 60% likelier than women to say they were “very qualified” to run for office. Another survey among medical students, showed women giving themselves lower scores than their male counterparts, although faculty evaluations gave the women higher points. (Women, think of your self-evaluations during performance appraisals).

Sandberg also touches on the prickly issue of compensation and apprises why women don’t negotiate as hard with prospective employers. Stepping off the wagon for a bit here; but I recall a study published by the Harvard Business Review that confirmed what women in corporate jobs implicitly know. The study unveiled interviewers’ biases by revealing that they viewed women who don’t pull punches in salary discussions, far more negatively than men adopting similar stances.

It’s bold writing, albeit tempered by candor and an open admission of personal failings. What is impressive and what sometimes tends to get lost in the clamor of raucous feminist voices goading women to be more aggressive in voicing and driving their career aspirations, is her acceptance of the fact that an assiduous, relentless climb, up the corporate ladder may not be every woman’s desire, whether she is educated and savvy, or not. And that is OK.

A woman may consciously choose to lay aside her corporate ambition, in exchange for personal pursuits or to devote herself to home. This is not necessarily a step-down.

As well, Sandberg exhorts men to bear their load of household responsibilities and treat their partners’ careers with as much importance as their own.

Men’s identities are closely tied to their professional success. They tend to draw their sense of self-worth and accomplishment from work-related achievements; unlike women, who reach toward multiple sources for personal affirmation, both within and without.

It’s striking to see how open to criticism and correction, Sandberg is, as a professional. Her teachability is a reflection of her self-belief and an honest management of insecurities.

In conclusion, Lean In, is substantive in research but unified in its scope. Recommended reading for women irrespective of whether they're homemakers, in a "jungle-gym" or in typical corporate jobs. 

I’m richer for having read it. 

The Bible

So, I was mulling over what the very first book I review on my blog, ought to be. A lot of names popped into my head; names of books I’d read over the years. And then tremulously, I wondered; well, how about the Bible - the classic among classics, the all-time best-seller, the eternal Word of God? I brushed it away; of course, it would be akin to an ant attempting a tome on astronomy. But I plied it out of my head again. Granted – “who am I” to ‘review’ a book that claims to be God’s revelation to man. And yet, for that reason alone, “who I am”; I felt thrilled at penning down a brief sketch on the book, that I turned to everyday, for an affirmation of my identity. The preamble is to let you know, I do not take this lightly; and so, here goes…

66 books. Spread across the Old & New Testaments. Written over a period of 1500 years. Most of the writers were not contemporaries; none of them foresaw how their piece fit into the grand whole of Scripture. Yet, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is a collection of records that fall into their rightful places like the links of an everlasting chain.

There are scholars far better qualified than I, who have made expository and incisive analyses of the writings of the Bible. Much has also been written on the times, places, characters, historical authenticity and prophetic fulfillments documented in the Bible. Hence, let me dwell on what I find awe-inspiring; the amazing and merciful dichotomy found within the Bible.

1. That the God of the universe who created everything that has breath, should condescend to winning the heart of his creation.
2. That the God whose wisdom knows no bounds and who cannot be grasped, should reveal his thoughts for the benefit of man.
3. That the God who is a consuming fire, should demonstrate his compassionate long-suffering on a daily basis.
4. That He surely realizes how quick we are to blame man’s wickedness and evil on Him, but slow to attribute his ingenuity and skill to the same God.
5. That He be so sovereign as to hold the heavenly bodies in their orbits; and so sovereign as to control the fall of a hair strand.
6. That He be all-knowing, yet treat us with new mercies each morning.
7. That His anger lasts for a moment, but His favor a lifetime.
8. That a father God, should also be a friend.
9. That God be God, while choosing to become man.

Let me conclude. This is what the Bible declares about the Bible – that it’s God-breathed and hence living and active. A book wouldn’t talk back to you or attempt to establish a dialogue. It couldn’t. Even if it tried.

It’s why one can read the Bible every day, and look at a verse read a hundred times before, and still be shaken & struck, like it were the very first time.

Grab your copy today! It might just be that it can’t wait till tomorrow.