- Activist Feedback
- Looking for CVA Members in Your Area
- Essay: Job and the
Theodicy Problem, part 3
- This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and
Mary Hoffman
1. Activist Feedback
Leafleter
extraordinaire Rick Hershey reports on his experience at a recent
Hillsong concert:
I handed out 1075 CVA booklets this evening
at the Independence Events Center in Independence, MO. About 40%
of the people were teenagers and 60% adults.
Upcoming
Outreach Opportunities
10/3 NY
New York City LaCrae
Unashamed Tour
10/5 VA Roanoke
Extraordinary Women Conference
10/5-6 WI
Milwaukee Women Of Faith
Conference
10/5-6 OR Portland
Women of Faith Conference
10/6-7 CA San Francisco
TABLE World Vegetarian Festival
10/7-8 PA
Philadelphia Women of
Faith Conference
10/11-13 CA San Jose
Joyce Meyers Christian Conference
10/12-13 FL Orlando
Women of Faith Conference
10/12-13 TX San Antonio
Women of Faith Conference
10/14
IN Anderson David Crowder
Band Concert
10/19-20 MS Southaven
Extraordinary Women's Conference
10/21
FL Miami
LaCrae Unashamed Tour 2012
10/25-26 NC Raleigh
FREE Benny Hinn Miracle Service
10/27-28 MA Boston
TABLE Vegetarian Food Festival
10/12-13 CO Colorado Springs
Hearts at Home Western Women's Conference
10/13
FL Tampa
TABLE VegFest
11/17
NY Albany
TABLE NY's Capital Region Vegetarian Expo
2. Looking for
CVA Members in Your Area
Periodically, we list people who are
looking for like-minded CVA members in their area. Please respond to
this e-mail if you would like to be listed. We’ll need a first name,
city, state, and e-mail address, which we will list in an upcoming
e-newsletter.
3. Essay: Job and the Theodicy Problem,
part 3
This essay continues an exploration of God’s goodness
as depicted in the Book of Job. Job has suffered immense personal loss
and then he suffers from painful sores over his entire body while his
three friends sit quietly with him to grieve. After the requisite
period of mourning, they commence conversing with Job.
A
central theme of the series of the lengthy discourses is whether Job
has sinned and deserved his ill-treatment. The friends are convinced
that God is good and just, and thus Job must have sinned. Job responds
forcefully that he has not sinned, and increasingly Job is determined
to hold God to account for Job’s suffering.
Perhaps the
friends have a point. Though the text records God declaring to Satan
that Job is blameless (Job 1:8), let us consider how Job might be
blameworthy. Job is determined to prevent misfortune from befalling
himself and his family, going so far as to offer sacrifices on behalf
of his children lest they commit a transgression. If Job is righteous
in order to please God and thereby gain personal wealth and
contentment, then Job is missing an essential component of righteous
behavior – service to others. We are social creatures, yet we find
ourselves in conflict with each other when we come together. If we are
to live peaceable among each other, we must strive to serve each
other, not just ourselves. If we are righteous towards others only to
please God, then we will be inclined to cease being righteous when we
experience misfortune, which is inevitable, because suffering and
death are inevitable.
Whether or not Job is blameless,
nonhuman beings who do not understand morality cannot be worthy of
punishment. Yet it seems that God stands by while billions upon
billions of innocent creatures are abused and murdered every year in
the United States alone. Many advocates have difficulty reconciling
the mistreatment of nonhumans with the notion of a good and active
God. I think this reconciliation can be done, which will be focus of
my upcoming essays on the Book of Job.
Stephen R. Kaufman,
M.D.
4. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary
Hoffman
Jesus, Son of David, Have Mercy on Me!