One question that many "Christians" run into that trips them up is when people ask "Why does God allow bad things happen to people?" Instead of giving a Biblical answer people say what they think. Thing like "Bad things happen as a punishment by God." This always begs the question, "what about when Christians suffer?" This dialogue has been waged for centuries. It's recently come to light again for me today from reading an article on G4TV's blog. The author is not making a theological argument so I don't know where he stands. He is instead talking about the views of Jack Thompson who sent an e-mail to Dennis McCauley in which he states that the Video game company Take Two stocks plummeted because it was being punished by God. I will post the e-mail exchange as G4TV did, but I need to provide some background so you know who these people are. Jack Thompson is a lawyer who has been crusading against the violence of video games. He was recently disbarred in Florida for the following reasons:
The Florida Bar filed the disbarment proceedings against him over allegations of professional misconduct. Mr. Thompson has a history with others who file claims against him for defamatory, false statements with attempts to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them.Here is the e-mail exchange
I don't know if Jack Thompson was rightfully disbarred or not. What I do know is that you can't talk about suffering is such simplistic terms. He in-effect says that if Christians suffer it's persecution and if non-Christians suffer it is the Judgment of God for the sins they commit. I agree with him that God's promises are for his people and not everyone else, but you can't say someone else isn't or is or will never be one of His people. It embarrasses Christians and the Gospel we are supposed to spread by giving such a non-answer. What I know for sure is that such an explanation does not explain Job's experience in the Book of Job. Job was perfect. God said so. Yet he suffered and it had nothing to do with what he did or said. The book of Job is the best apologetic to explain suffering. Of course, no human being really likes the answer God gives us but we do have an answer. There is no formula to explain it. There is no chance of "calling God down to the Carpet" and expect him to answer to us for the circumstances we find ourselves in. Besides for about 90% of the crap we find ourselves in is self-inflicted anyway.--------------------------
From: Jack Thompson
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 6:44 AM
To: Dennis McCauley
Subject: Spin this, Strauss...
GOD STRIKES TAKE-TWO DOWN
Take-Two dropped $2.35 to $9.72 in extended trading after the announcement and fell as low as $9.60. The shares... have declined 35 percent this year. The results contrast with comments Zelnick made in an interview on Nov. 3, when he said sales of the company’s video games hadn’t been hurt by the recession...
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From: Dennis McCauley
To: 'Jack Thompson'
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 6:52 AM
Subject: RE: Spin this, Strauss...
So, if T2’s business reverse was God’s vengeance, does that mean that God struck you down too when you were disbarred?...
--------------------------
From: Jack Thompson
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 9:10 AM
To: Dennis McCauley
Subject: Re: Spin this, Strauss...
...If you had any understanding of the Bible and of God you would understand that persecution comes Christians' way, and we are blessed by it. There is no blessing for Zelnick, who is not a Christian, when he gets what he deserves...
---------------------------From: Dennis McCauley
To: 'Jack Thompson'
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 6:54 AM
Subject: in relation to your Take-Two shareholder revolt...
...Are you saying that problems for Christians are blessings, while problems for non-Christians are vengeance from the Almighty? Also, how do you know what Zelnick’s religion is?---------------------------
From: Jack Thompson
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 7:11 AM
To: Dennis McCauley
Subject: Re: in relation to your Take-Two shareholder revolt...
Here's another passage of Scripture that you don't understand and never read: "All things work to the good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose." That group would include me and not Zelnick. Zelnick is not a believer in the Gospel. How do I know? Because the man who got us together [secretly in Manhatten in 2007] is a Christian, with a massive ministry in Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment industry. It was because of the spiritual aspect of this struggle that he got the two of us together, and Zelnick failed the test.If you knew anything about the Gospel, you would understand further that Paul, whose writings are considered part of the canon, tells Christians, not unbelievers, that we are to "count it all joy" when trials and tribulations come our way.
I have been persecuted for my faith, not because I did anything wrong, by those committed to evil. Glad to clear it up for you. And as it now stands, Mr. Zelnick's problems at Take-Two are minuscule [sic] compared to the eternity of punishment that is coming his way unless he repents and accepts Christ as I did 32 years ago this month. You might do well to read the Gospel of John yourself. Come to think of it, I'll write Strauss about all this and send you a copy...
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As for Thompson's views on video games. I disagree. I agree with Adam Sessler when he said that violence in video games can not be fully correlated with violence in the real world. I mean there was horrendous violence well before movies, television, and video games. Face it, video games are violent because the world is violent
Here is a video from G4TV's show X-Play that explain how the show views Thompson. In order to reach people we have to provide better answers by rooting what we say in Scripture.
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