Comments on: From Tears to Laughter

By: Jean

Jean — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 03:14:39 +0000

I just deleted my personal experience as a child growing up in the city during WWII.
I found myself remembering too vividly the sadness and sense of loss I felt as each day we were very aware of young men whose families hung the Crepe Memorial Wreaths on the apartment windows and doors. My twin Sister and I were 7 years old, and Cliff , my Brother was 8. Dad was overseas in Japan. I have a picture in my phone of my beautiful Mother. It was professionally photographed to send to my Father. She was 28. I was always drawn to the new students who arrived from overseas who taught me so much about loss and renewed hope.! Poland, Germany, Russia, China, England, Turkey, Greece, Italy. The “hidden curriculum”. A Father taken away by the Secret Police, Jewish children taken in by relatives having lost family, a girl my age with numbers on her arm! English War Brides , Armenians starting over after homes and families destroyed. Somehow I knew God was “letting me know” He cared for all of us!
God was in every experience. Healing the broken hearts, consoling, encouraging, restoring. Dad finally came home, a long with wounded cousins, and Uncles! I appreciate your Books! You have a remarkable gift for putting into words what so many of us have and as Jurgen Moultmann has, discovered, The Way from Good Friday to Easter ! In just two months I will be 87. I am so thankful for Gods endless patience as I approach a reunion with my dear Sister who passed a month before our 9th Birthday and my dear Father who was only 52 years old when he passed. My Brother and Mother. My “kid” Brother (10 years younger) and I enjoy the Journey!

By: Yet Hay Ann Yeo

Yet Hay Ann Yeo — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 02:46:16 +0000

Thanks for sharing this moving, inspiring story! Only Father can do this amazing turnaround; from ashes to beauty, from grave to garden. Yes, our God is with us in our sufferings, and one day we will share His glory which will be forever and ever; no more tears, pains, diseases, loneliness, sorrow, and death.

By: Mikhail

Mikhail — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 07:27:27 +0000

Actually I find it ironic that many people get reputation, fame, money by explaining to us why the world is a broken place and why we can not be happy. This very situation is itself a true sign that something is wrong with this world.

By: Mikhail

Mikhail — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 06:31:21 +0000

In short: life is a mess and the world is a terrible place. Only when we die and go to Heaven, everything will be fine.
The “God is suffering with us” idea is getting popular. I think it is the only way we can address the “silence of God” problem.

By: Linda K Bridges

Linda K Bridges — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 17:56:43 +0000

Dear Philip, thank you for writing this heart-warming, as well as ‘thought-provoking’ piece. I wept, thinking of the wars in Israel and Ukraine. How devastating is war–to all who participate in it and particularly for those who do not know our God–I can only imaging how hopeless the reality of life is for them. I am just beginning to scratch the surface of the big topic of suffering and redemption in and through it. Moltmann’s life is a beautiful story of God redeeming a such a life lost in sin and despair caused by the war and aftermath–and how that redeemed life has become a beacon, holding out that redemptive hope to others. l pray many will your post and also be blessed with hope. Thank God for saving Moltmann.

By: Treyeshua

Treyeshua — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 05:39:47 +0000

Thank you for sharing such a wonderful story!

By: Lynnette Missiuna

Lynnette Missiuna — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 23:14:54 +0000

This was just what I needed this evening. Thank you again for your hope and grace filled gentle words. I love the Moltmann quote…

By: Peter Hiett

Peter Hiett — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 14:56:10 +0000

Dear Philip, as you know, pastors and churches in Evangelical America have paid a steep price for sharing in Moltmann’s hope that God would in fact, as promised in Revelation 21:5, “make all things new.” In almost all “evangelical” denominations this hope is seen as heretical and Grace is only amazing for those inside a particular box defined by the institution. Do you have hope that we, the American “Evangelical” Church, might be on the verge of embracing Moltmann’s theology? I hope so. It seems that we are being unmade and I continue to pray for a reformation. Thank you so very much for writing this blog.

By: Tim Reside

Tim Reside — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 20:58:42 +0000

Love the Moltmann quote! Just finished reading your revised edition of “What’s So Amazing About Grace.” Read original 25 years ago. Have 12 of your books in my library. I am almost 74. I consider you one of my spiritual formation life mentors. THANK YOU SO MUCH – FOR SO MUCH!

By: David Wilson

David Wilson — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 20:36:52 +0000

A truly up-building blog with God’s view of history and the back-story of Moltman of which I was not aware. Truly a feast for the soul. Thank you.