| It's Monday, our 16 th wedding anniversary. Not that | | | | Words have meaning, and the words of theology are |
| this has anyting to do with the subject of this article. | | | | no exception to the rules of diction. Resurrection |
| Okay, I'm driving our 14-year-old daughter and | | | | means rising from the dead; dying and staying dead |
| 12-year-old son to school. And as I normally do on | | | | cannot mean the same thing as being raised back to |
| school days, the radio is set to a Christian station | | | | life. Healing has a meaning, and it does not mean the |
| with Focus On The Family as the program. This | | | | same as death. Why do we even have to point that |
| morning Dr. James Dobson, the psychologist, | | | | out? |
| best-selling author, and traditional evangelical leader | | | | As Christians, our theology of pain and suffering |
| was interviewing Christian music artist Steven Curtis | | | | should remain rooted in the Scriptures, and the Bible |
| Chapman, the repeated Dove Award winner who has | | | | is no book of denial. It features real people, real |
| sold more than 10 million records. | | | | events, real experiences. |
| For the program of the morning, Steven Curtis | | | | Beginning with the teaching of Jesus Christ, death is |
| Chapman was discussing with Dr. Dobson the recent | | | | spoken of in the New Testament as "sleep". When a |
| loss of Steven's adopted daughter Maria Sue. Mr. | | | | believer died, the first-century Christian community |
| Chapman described how faith in God has helped his | | | | would say the person had "fallen asleep". But that |
| family cope with the tragedy. On May 21, 2008, the | | | | "sleep" was a euphemism for death. |
| little Maria Sue died when her 17-year-old brother Will | | | | Also, the language of sleep underscored the belief |
| Franklin ran over her in the family's driveway with an | | | | that for the Christian death has lost its painful sting; |
| SUV. Maria had just turned 5 on May 13 th. | | | | death has become as calm as falling asleep. |
| Steven Curtis narrated how he prayed, seeking to | | | | Furthermore, the sleep imagery summed up the early |
| change the forecast of dark cloud that was | | | | Christians' hope of resurrection, that the Christian |
| descending over the Chapman family. He said, "I | | | | would literally rise from the dead at the end of this |
| heard myself praying over and over again all the way | | | | age, when Jesus Christ returns to planet earth. Never |
| to Vanderbilt Hospital, 'In the name of Jesus, breathe | | | | did the early Christians or the New Testament ever |
| life.'" That was the shortened version of the prayer | | | | portray the experience of dying and death as healing |
| Steven began praying in the driveway as the medical | | | | or as rising from the dead! |
| team was working on Maria. Dad kept believing that | | | | The early believers would reject the denial theology |
| God was going to breathe life back into his precious | | | | that has become so rampant, coming even from the |
| girl. | | | | lips of famous Christian leaders. There are many |
| As that awful day unfolded, Steven Curtis prayed | | | | Scriptures we can use to comfort people without |
| some more, "In the holy name, in the worthy name, | | | | resorting to the crude denial of death and disease. |
| breathe life. God, I know You can do this. You've | | | | A clergyman recalls how he was tempted to use |
| breathed life into dead bodies before. I know You | | | | denial theology as a cheap, watered-down way to |
| can do this... Jesus, breathe life into Maria... God, I'm | | | | comfort a young lady whose baby had died before |
| gonna trust You, I'm gonna bless You even in this." | | | | delivery. He had considered cheap comfort, because |
| Dad had a sense that he was breathing for Maria. | | | | he really didn't know how to help this young lady. It |
| "In my mind, I was preparing myself to go in and | | | | would have been far better for the minister to keep |
| pray for Maria to be raised from the dead", Mr. | | | | silent than give the girl some of the cliches that denial |
| Chapman said as he neared the hospital. "I'm gonna | | | | theology is famous for. |
| go and bolt the door, and they can come in and call | | | | The grieving mom asked the minister to do a funeral |
| me crazy and say whatever they want to, but I'm | | | | for her stillborn baby. It was the preacher's first time |
| gonna pray and just trust that God can raise her | | | | conducting such a funeral, and he has never done |
| back up..." | | | | one like it ever since. Frankly, the man of God really |
| At that point, Dr. Dobson, perhaps feeling helpless | | | | did not know how exactly to comfort that young |
| and uncomfortable about the level of pain in his radio | | | | woman and somehow ease the pain of her acute |
| guest's voice, gently interrupted Chapman to set the | | | | grief. Finally, he shared the story of King David and |
| singer straight. You know how Christian musicians | | | | Queen Bathsheba whose baby had died, regardless |
| some times have a twisted theology, based on a | | | | of the fact that David had prayed and fasted, asking |
| poor knowledge of the Scriptures? Except that in this | | | | God to spare the life of the innocent infant. Using |
| case, it was not the singer but the doctor who | | | | that biblical account, the minister told the mother and |
| needed a theological fix. | | | | the sympathizers present something like this: |
| Dr. Dobson told Steven Curtis and the radio audience, | | | | "None of knows why God allowed your innocent |
| "In fact He (God) did, He did, because we know | | | | baby to die before birth. Our faith in the God of the |
| where she is". Not surprisingly, Steven Curtis | | | | Bible tells us that there are some things we will not |
| abandoned his line of what really happened and | | | | be able to understand or explain in this lifetime. All we |
| agreed with Dr. Dobson that "in fact" God did raise | | | | Bible believers know for sure is that the human race |
| Maria from the dead, since the little girl is now at | | | | lives in a fallen world, an imperfect world, and in such |
| home with the Lord. | | | | a world bad things do happen to innocent people, |
| "And my son Caleb said it at the memorial service," | | | | even to innocent babies like your little one. To |
| Steven Curtis continued. "He said, 'God did heal Maria. | | | | continue to believe and trust God in spite of our |
| He answered our prayers for Maria. He healed her, | | | | inability to comprehend such a reality is the essence |
| but He didn't heal her in the way that we like very | | | | of true faith. You can still trust God, even though He |
| much right now..." | | | | did not answer your prayer for your baby's life, even |
| So, according to these two Christian men along with | | | | though you do not know or understand why your |
| Steven's son Caleb, God "in fact" did two things for | | | | child did not live." |
| Maria Sue: | | | | Does Dr. James Dobson not know this? Of course, |
| - God raised Maria from the dead. | | | | he does. After all, Dr. Dobson wrote the book, When |
| - God healed Maria of the coma. | | | | God Doesn't Make Sense, wrestling with the subject |
| Denial theology! That's exactly what that sounds like. | | | | of theodicy (the issue of evil in lieu of God's |
| That's what it is. Denial theology confirms the charge | | | | existence). So what are we to make of Dr. Dobson's |
| that so many non-Christians levy against religious | | | | preference for denial theology in his interview with |
| people: that we use faith to hide from reality. This is | | | | Steven Curtis Chapman? One can only guess that the |
| the kind of faith that cannot be defended with | | | | lapse was due to the psychology major's |
| reason. Thus it portrays our faith as illogical. This kind | | | | well-meaning effort to sympathize with Mr. Chapman |
| of religious jargon attracts the label of "blind faith", | | | | and relieve the still fresh memory of the intense grief |
| and it should. | | | | that Marie Sue's death must have brought upon the |
| The fact, the truth, the reality is that in May of 2008, | | | | Chapman family. |
| a 5-year-old girl named Maria Sue Chapman died. God | | | | But even at that, Dr. Dobson still came across as a |
| did not raise her from the dead. If Jesus had | | | | typical denial theologian, who seems to trivialize the |
| breathed life back into her, Maria would physically be | | | | mentally demanding question of 'why bad things |
| a part of the Chapman family today. The truth is | | | | happen to good people'. Denial theologians tend to |
| that God did not heal Maria Sue of the coma from | | | | throw trite answers at the deep questions of |
| which she never returned. The reality is that God did | | | | theodicy, the presence of undeserved evil in a world |
| not answer the prayers of the Chapmans and the | | | | governed by the hands of a sovereign God, a deity |
| thousands of believers who prayed with them, asking | | | | whom believers know to be omnipotent (all-powerful |
| the Lord to preserve little Maria's young life. | | | | and beneficent (good, kind, loving). |
| We play ostrich to stare such a devastating reality in | | | | There is much hope that denial theology shall not |
| the face and stick our theological necks in the sand | | | | continue to rule the thinking of the faith community. |
| and come away spewing such piety as, "God did | | | | How can we be so sure? Because left to sort out |
| raise her to life. God did heal her." We can believe | | | | their own experiences in light of their faith, ordinary |
| Maria is in Heaven, but that is not the same as her | | | | religious people will express views that resemble |
| being resurrected or resuscitated. Not recovering | | | | realty theology. That was exactly the way Steven |
| from the trauma of coma is not the same as being | | | | Curtis Chapman was narrating his story, until Dr. |
| healed of coma. | | | | James Dobson stepped in to save the day. The good |
| Denial theology does not serve the Christian faith | | | | doctor should have left Mr. Chapman alone, so he |
| well, or any other faith for that matter. It mocks | | | | could continue to sort out his very own theology of |
| true faith, which keeps on believing and trusting God, | | | | pain and suffering, rather than stuff him with a loaf |
| even though Maria died, even though Maria was not | | | | of cookie-cutter denial theology. |
| healed. | | | | |