Category: Suffering

Book Briefs: “Samuel Rutherford (Bitesize Biographies)” by Richard Hannula

~ Bob Hayton ~ 7 Comments

Samuel Rutherford (Bitsize Biographies)Samuel Rutherford is perhaps the best known Scottish Puritan. But his life and history seem not to be as widely remembered as other Puritan ministers. Rutherford’s legacy lays chiefly in collections of his profound and moving personal letters.

Richard Hannula brings renewed attention to Samuel Rutherford in his contribution to the “Bitesize Biographies” series from Evangelical Press (2014).

Rutherford had humble beginnings and even a possibly scandalous start to his ministry. He ended up resigning his post at the University of Edinburgh after some possible impropriety with his fiance. This may have been just an ill rumor, and Hannula doesn’t take pains to sort out the facts too closely, but moves on in his simple and straightforward account of Rutherford’s life.

The next chapter of Rutherford’s life finds him as a humble pastor in Anworth. And there he labored in preaching and declaring the loveliness of Christ. His life was caught up in the perils of Scotland’s church, and his Reformed stance eventually landed him in exile 200 miles to the north. And it was this exile that may have birthed his precious letters. He wrote to his flock at Anworth and encouraged them to remain true to the Reformed faith.

Eventually when the Reformed party was in ascendancy, Rutherford was appointed as a professor against his will, in the University of St. Andrews, where he would serve for the remainder of his life. Rutherford’s scholarship was important and his devotion for Christ was unquestioned. He was needed to help shape the future pastors for Scotland. And so he did.

Rutherford was influential as a member of the Scottish delegation to the Westminster Assembly in London, which gave to the church the most enduring English confession, the Westminster Confession of Faith. He played a part in its shape, defending a Presbyterian form of church government. He also helped work on the catechisms.

This story includes the founding of the National Covenant in Scotland and the various wars against Charles I, and the eventual betrayal brought by Charles II when Scottish Covenanters unwisely accepted his promises in exchange for help. The intricacies of Scottish history still baffle me, but the phrase “for Crown and Covenant” has new meaning for me. Ultimately, the Crown was restored and went on to persecute the Reformed branch of the Church of Scotland mercilessly and again Samuel is found writing letters of encouragement to ministers who will soon lose their lives. Rutherford himself would have faced a martyr’s death but for his own sickness that eventually took his life. After his death, Rutherford’s letters were collected and published, and they continue to be widely readable and an enduring devotional classic.

This little book is not a true biography and includes no end notes or footnotes at all. It does recommend works for further study. It is a sympathetic biography too. And further, it is packed with quotes from Rutherford’s much prized correspondence and so it is part biography, part devotional classic in itself.

A few snippets from Rutherford’s letters may encourage my readers to pick up this book and learn more:

I find it a sweet and rich thing to exchange my sorrows with Christ’s joys, my afflictions for that sweet peace I have with Him.

Believe Christ’s love more than your own feelings.

Your heart is not the compass that Christ sails by.

O if you saw the beauty of Jesus, and smelled the fragrance of His love, you would run through fire and water to be at Him.

It is not I, but Christ; not I, but grace; not I, but God’s glory; not I, but God’s love constraining me; not I, but the Lord’s Word; not I, but Christ’s commanding power in me!

You must in all things aim at God’s honour; you must eat, drink, sleep, buy, sell, sit, stand, speak, pray, read, and hear the Word, with a heart-purpose that God may be honoured.

Woe unto us for these sad divisions that make us lose the fair scent of the Rose of Sharon!

When the head is filled with topics, and none of the flamings of Christ’s love in the heart, how dry are all disputes? Far too often, fervour of dispute in the head weakens love in the heart.

Glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel’s land. [Rutherford’s last words]

(pp. 64-65, 106, 115-116, 132)

The work makes for a quick read, but many of the quotations merit contemplation and extended meditation. In fact, this book makes me want to get a copy of Rutherford’s letters to read the quotes in their fuller context. I recommend this book for those looking to learn from the spiritual journey of a man whose writings continue to bless the Church as a whole. It is an admirable introduction to Rutherford’s life and a testament ultimately to God’s grace.

Pick up a copy of this book at any of the following online retailers: Amazon, Monergism Books, or direct from EP Books.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

About Book Briefs: Book Briefs are book notes, or short-form book reviews. They are my informed evaluation of a book, but stop short of being a full-length book review.

American Christianity and the “Martyr Complex”

~ Bob Hayton ~ 14 Comments


A headline from USA Today grabbed my attention this weekend: “Religious family abandons U.S., gets lost at sea.” Yep, you don’t see that one every day. It feeds right into the media frenzy about Christians being crazy freaks. But that isn’t how I was thinking about this news item. Let me quote from the article before I give my thoughts.

A northern Arizona family that was lost at sea for weeks in an ill-fated attempt to leave the U.S. over what they consider government interference in religion will fly back home Sunday.

Hannah Gastonguay, 26, said Saturday that she and her husband “decided to take a leap of faith and see where God led us” when they took their two small children and her father-in-law and set sail from San Diego for the tiny island nation of Kiribati in May….

Hannah Gastonguay said her family was fed up with government control in the U.S. As Christians they don’t believe in “abortion, homosexuality, in the state-controlled church,” she said.

U.S. “churches aren’t their own,” Gastonguay said, suggesting that government regulation interfered with religious independence.

Among other differences, she said they had a problem with being “forced to pay these taxes that pay for abortions we don’t agree with.”

The Gastonguays weren’t members of any church, and Hannah Gastonguay said their faith came from reading the Bible and through prayer.

“The Bible is pretty clear,” she said….

Hannah Gastonguay said the family will now “go back to Arizona” and “come up with a new plan.”

This family’s foolish escapade provides the perfect illustration of the “martyr complex” that seems quite prevalent among American Christians.

Christians think we have it so rough in America. It is unjust that the government permits homosexual marriage or allows abortions. The government requires building permits and safety codes, and encroaches on our liberties in other ways, too. What makes this especially difficult is the perception that America was once a truly Christian nation.

Now, I’m not trying to belittle abortion and the marriage issue. These are important concerns. But do you think that Paul and the early Christians might not have chafed at the treatment they received from the hands of Nero? Were there calls for Christians to vacate Rome? Now, in the face of actual persecution with actual deaths and severe punishments being meted out, I definitely think we have to allow for the “get out of Dodge” option. But American Christians today, for the most part, know nothing of that sort of real persecution.

The mention of persecution, however, brings up a great point. Jesus promised us that in the world we would “have tribulation” (John 16:33). He said we would be “hated by all for [His] name’s sake” (Matt. 10:22). Paul promised us that “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). The word wasn’t to flee for your lives but to stay and “endure to the end.”

It is far easier to set our hopes in a Christian “Geneva,” so to speak. To aim for a “holy huddle till the rapture,” and find solace in a counter-culture society that some might call a cult. It’s easier if everyone you have to interact with thinks like you do, and looks like you do. That’s much nicer than having to deal with the ugly realities of being a light in a dark world. It’s easier to tuck tail and run. But we aren’t called to that. We are called to: “be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom [we are to be shining] as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life” (Phil. 2:15-16).

I don’t have time to more fully develop these thoughts, so I’ll encourage you to read other similar posts on this topic. But while I’m at it, what are your thoughts on this question? Do you feel the urge to hunker down and hide? Is that right or wrong? Am I too harsh on this poor family from Arizona?

Thinking Biblically about Tragedy

~ Bob Hayton ~ 7 Comments

How can one process utter tragedy, such as the loss of dozens of lives in Moore, Oklahoma from yesterday’s monster tornado? How can we respond with grace and not despair? How can we still believe in an awesome God who is love, and see evidence of such apparent random carnage coming down from the sky? Where was God? Where is He?

Some will blame God, and others will say He couldn’t have stopped this and hurts as much as any of us over this loss. Either response is unbiblical, and doesn’t correctly assess the true nature of our great God. I shared the following thoughts in a post that I put up following the tragic massacre of children in Newtown, Connecticut last year.

Scripture’s teaching on evil and suffering is that God permits it, and works behind it, to accomplish His purposes. For those who love God and believe in Him (the elect), God works everything together for their good (Rom. 8:28). And ultimately, God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). God “does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Dan. 4:35). He “has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (Prov. 16:4). And Amos 3:6 declares soberingly, “Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?”

If God is truly sovereign, then, why did He choose to allow such sin and suffering in this world?

I go on to quote Jonathan Edwards on the problem of evil in that post, and I encourage you to read the whole post.

But such manifestly biblical teaching can sometimes seem chilling and unfeeling in light of tragedies such as the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. How are we comforted in knowing that God was not surprised by what happened in Moore? And how should Christians respond and think about such natural evil as terrible twisters that leave carnage and destruction in their wake?

Sam Storms, a pastor and writer in Oklahoma, has a response which I commend to my readers. His post is titled “Tornadoes, Tsunamis, and the Mystery of Suffering and Sovereignty.” It’s worth a quick read on a day like today. May you read it and contemplate how to respond biblically to tragedy.

Jonathan Edwards on the Problem of Evil

~ Bob Hayton ~ 5 Comments

With the recent tragedy at Newtown Connecticut, the problem of evil is on everyone’s mind. How could such an evil act be perpetrated? How could God allow such evil? Would a loving God really allow the deaths of 20 innocent children?

Tragedies like this, and the questions it raises, lead meany people to blame God. Others point to this problem as evidence that a true God does not exist. Or they reshape their thoughts about God. He is nice and helpful and all, but limited. Like an old grandfather, he is saddened by our losses and didn’t want this to happen. He was just unable to prevent it – or worse, he didn’t see it coming.

In contrast to such man-centered thoughts, the Scripture’s teaching on evil and suffering is that God permits it, and works behind it, to accomplish His purposes. For those who love God and believe in Him (the elect), God works everything together for their good (Rom. 8:28). And ultimately, God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). God “does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?'” (Dan. 4:35). He “has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (Prov. 16:4). And Amos 3:6 declares soberingly, “Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?”

If God is truly sovereign, then, why did He choose to allow such sin and suffering in this world? Theologians refer to this as “the problem of evil.” Why does evil exist, in such poignant and powerful measure as displayed so chillingly just this last week? This question is not merely for theists. What explanation can atheists give to this puzzling question? They would have to explain how evil, as a category, can exist without a holy God. If there is no God, than who’s to say what evil is?

Ultimately, Jonathan Edwards has perhaps the clearest answer that I have found. I delve into his thought a bit in this article, but here I want to share a quote I recently included in my SS class this past Sunday. May it help clarify your thinking on this point, and see how truly great and glorious God really is.

God’s awful majesty, his authority and dreadful greatness, justice, and holiness… would not shine forth as the [other parts of divine glory] do, and also the glory of his goodness, love, and holiness would be faint without them; nay, they could scarcely shine forth at all… There would be no manifestation of God’s grace or true goodness, if there was no sin to be pardoned, no misery to be saved from. No matter how much happiness he might bestow, his goodness would not be nearly as highly prized and admired…. and the sense of his goodness heightened. So evil is necessary if the glory of God is to be perfectly and completely displayed

[quoted in Chosen for Life by Sam Storms (Crossway, 2007), pg. 186-187]

As a follow up to this thought, here are some earlier articles of mine along these same lines.