You express the dichotomy very well. I completely agree with the value of a statistical approach, and Peter Singer makes a strong case for the great good done by charitable work by the Gates Foundation and Warren Buffet. Yet we dare not lose the supreme value of every human life, and it’s a slippery slope to mathematically determine which diseases or disabilities are “worth” addressing over others. Thank you for the redress.

Wonderful expression of forgiveness. Lewis Smedes wrote an entire book about the difference in forgiving and forgetting (Forgive and Forget). I also highly recommend Miroslav Volf’s The End of Memory.

Also, off the subject, I have just started rereading your book, “What’s So Amazing About Grace.” It reminded me of something God did for me over 40 years ago. I discovered that God can give us answers that others may not get. I was devastated by the backstabbing by friends at the time. God kept bugging me to forgive them. I was certain I couldn’t. It took me some time to do it. But I was absolutely shocked. I have always wonder how God could forget our sins when He had perfect memory. But I found out. I never forgot what they did to me, but when I told God I would forgive them, the most wonderful thing happened. He took all the pain away and, though I could remember it, there was just happiness. I stayed casual friends with them, but all the pain was gone. Since that time, forgiveness has come so easily to me. I have had very few times to forgive much because God had given me a wonderful answer. Grace does work in different ways for different people, but each solution is wonderful.

Am I misreading this blog, or are you falling prey to a false dichotomy? It would seem that you are conflating the rigid approach, on the one had, of Mr. Singer’s attack on the extravagant inefficiency of seeing-eye dogs with a more nuanced approach: that of using the God-given tool of mathematics to take dominion over a fallen creation, while admitting to God’s care for each human, not only humans in aggregate. In fact, as we all know, statistics have been a tool for immeasurable good: public-health initiatives; mental-health funding; and, my personal favorite, scientific advancement. As you pointed out, statistics have also helped us in missionary endeavors. They have been used (for good or ill, depending on your perspective) in church-growth models, and in feeding the hungry and eradicating disease. Statistics are currently being used to address the soul- and body-crushing poverty in undeveloped nations. Ought we to stop? Ought we to disparage and discourage our mathematically-equipped brethren, and redirect them into sacrificial lives spent one-on-one with the dying? Ought we to redirect the Missionaries of Charity into addressing the root societal and governmental problems which lead to untouchable poor in Kolkata? Does the existence of mathematical models of ministry exist as an attack on ministries like Mother Teresa’s?

These rhetorical questions brought to you by one who never liked the popular parable of babies in the river, and the “obvious” choice to defer pulling babies out downstream in favor of finding who upstream is tossing them in. What is Jesus’ call on my life? Both.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Latimer

This is exactly the sentiment that was echoed in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, so that whomsoever believed in Him may not die but have eternal life.” Many people have no trouble believing this verse that “God so loved the world”. Yet that very same people struggle when they were asked, “Do you believe that God so loved YOU?”. God’s love is widespread, and at the same time it is personal. He loved the world, and He loved you.

God’s love is not statistical. Powerful truth. Thanks so much Philip.

And yet Jesus says things like, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened” (Matthew 11:28 NIV). Would good soil feel weary and burdened? Or “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). Is He really saying that the sick and the sinners are the good soil that He’s looking for? How do you grow fruit in that kind of dirt? (Adapted from my blog at https://thosewhoweep.blogspot.com/2019/03/good-soil.html.)

I love this God whose love is not statistical, who reaches out to those that I prefer to pass by, not just those that I would consider worthy. I know He’s real because none of us would or could invent such a God.