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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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'Glorious Ruin' Book Discussion: Chapter 2
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This thread is for the discussion of chapter 2 of Glorious Ruin by Tullian Tchividjian. The page numbers referenced are those in my book. Your page numbers may differ.
Tulian starts off the chapter with a story of a co-worker who didn’t like him. It bothered Tullian that this person didn’t like him, so much so that he kept trying this and that to change his co-worker’s opinion. Try as he might, Tullian could not change the man’s mind. This known dislike from his co-worker caused Tullian to suffer. (Remember, we shouldn’t minimize suffering.) Through his attempts to change this opinion, Tullian tried to cure his suffering. On page 54, it says that we often look at suffering as “a problem to be solved”. How have you typically looked at suffering? Have you tackled it as something to be solved? Do you have an example of when you have and/or when you haven’t?
A large section of this chapter is about both Law and law (God’s law and the other little laws, see section ‘Law Beyond the Ten Commandments’). What purpose does the Law hold? What power does it hold? What about the little ‘l’ laws? What do they do?
Finally, Tullian talks about grace, and how all of this relates to suffering. Personally, I found the following quote on page 69 to be comforting. “[God] is interested in much more than improvements in your personality or circumstantial happiness; He is interested in *saving* you. He is more than your Helper; He is your Redeemer” (emphasis original). It makes me look back at the times I’ve tried to improve but failed, and it takes that burden, that suffering, away. God isn’t keeping score of how many times we’ve succeeded (or failed) at improvement or happiness. Sure, he’s for improvement and happiness, but those are like perks, bonuses, gifts, blessings from God. He cares much more about wiping away our tears, sitting with us, and taking away the punishment we deserve.
Is there anything that speaks to you in this chapter? Is there anything comforting? Is there anything freeing? Is there anything that brings joy to your heart or makes you smile? Please share it with us.
I hope everyone has a good week!
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Ruin Explorer 02/23/2014 19:48 |
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Ruin Explorer
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03/02/2014 20:58 |
Hi everyone. It looks like it's been hard for people to find time to post to this discussion. I've talked with the people I originally planned this with, and we've decided that we are going to discontinue the discussion for now. We may try again this summer when people have more time to read and discuss more actively. I will post a new thread if we start back up again.
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