[July 2001 journal entry]
The 16 July 2001 issue of Time included an article entitled ‘When God Hides His Face’. The subtitle – ‘Can faith survive when hope has died? The Guthries think so.’ The Guthries live near where we live in Franklin, are active members of Presbyterian PCA church, and are employed in businesses that commercialize Christian ‘religion’ (Mrs. Guthrie being a publicist for Christian literature authors). The Time article focused on the Guthries’ response and their church’s response to their having two successive pregnancies (the first died after eighteen months, the second conceived a few months after the death and not yet born at the time of publication) with the infants afflicted with Zellweger syndrome (a syndrome that spreads destructive/deadly entities called peroxisomes in every cell).
The article’s author makes an observation that -- “Along with everything else, Job’s friends eventually turn on him. By contrast, the group of fellow believers with whom the Guthries have met every Sunday night for seven years has been an unfailing pillar of strength. . . .” The article’s author seems to miss the obvious – i.e., the group has not failed the Guthries because the Guthries have not challenged the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm as did the ‘scrapheap’ Job.
Though Mr. Guthrie comes across as a bit more cautious than Mrs. Guthrie, their responses and those within the Sunday night group unequivocally affirm confidence (1) that ‘God’ is all powerful and in complete control of all life events and (2) that ‘God’ is just and purposeful in controlling all life events. The ‘religious’ T/O paradigm could hardly be more completely presented. One of the Sunday night group members is quoted as saying, “At a time like this, you either believe or not. The group finally concluded that we will go down with the ship, believing in our hearts that God is in control.” The article’s closing includes this very revealing exchange –
(Mr. Guthrie) Without a couple of bedrock assumptions, none of this makes sense to anybody. You take them away and, boy, it is . . .
(Mrs. Guthrie) . . . bitter.
(Mr. Guthrie) It’s all bad.
