When it comes to relationships there’s nothing more important than getting your facts straight. The story is told of the wedding where everything was going smoothly, until the priest asked if anyone knew a reason in law why the couple should not be married. At this exact moment a young woman carrying a baby rose from the back of the church, and made her way to the front. The groom turned red; the bride burst into tears and ran from the church; and the bride’s mother fainted on the spot.
The priest who was starting to panic asked the woman, “Is there a problem?” to which she replied, “Yes, we can’t hear at the back.”
I’m sometimes asked how I can believe in a God who is so angry and judgemental and who allows suffering. The question reveals all sorts of assumptions about the character of God, that don’t stand up to scrutiny if we’re prepared to take seriously the claim of Jesus to be the Son of God and the perfect image of God’s character on earth.
The question is whether we’ll stick around to find out, or whether like the bridal party, we’ll leap to the wrong conclusions and head for the hills!
