If trifles are vital parts of divine providence, what of evil? Evil is often vastly significant. The most important event which ever occurred was, in one aspect, horribly evil. The crucifixion of Jesus from the standpoint of the crucifiers was grotesquely wicked. Yet, even though the killing of Christ was atrocity itself, what event was so vital and its effects so beneficial as the death of Christ? If God’s providence does not include evil, it does not include the most important event which has ever taken place.
— John Gerstner (1914–1996), Theologe
Topics: Suffering & the Question of God, Grace & Redemption, God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit
Occasions: For Reflection
John Gerstner
John Gerstner (1914–1996) war ein US-amerikanischer presbyterianischer Theologe und Kirchenhistoriker, der über mehrere Jahrzehnte in Pittsburgh lehrte. Er wurde als führender Experte für Jonathan Edwards bekannt und verteidigte eine rationale, an der calvinistischen Tradition sowie der biblischen Irrtumslosigkeit ausgerichtete Apologetik. Während seine kompromisslose Kritik am Dispensationalismus und an liberalen Tendenzen scharfe Kontroversen auslöste, bieten seine Schriften bis heute Orientierung für ein historisch-reformiertes Schriftverständnis.
All quotes by John Gerstner (35)
In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.
Henri Nouwen
Ultimately mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of One who can heal.
Henri Nouwen
C.S. Lewis
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.
Henri Nouwen
He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.
Joni Eareckson Tada
Etty Hillesum
God writes straight even on crooked lines.
Paul Claudel
God lets us walk no path that he himself has not walked, and on which he does not go ahead of us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer