When The Stars Disappear

Mark and Karl—"KJ"—Johnson review the centrality of stories in our lives and begin to discuss how Adam and Eve's disobedience to God's command not to eat from the forbidden tree, as the first great turning point in human history, opened the door to human suffering.

Mark and KJ discuss how human suffering is the spoiled fruit of Adam and Eve's fall into sin and how that means that God is not to be blamed for our suffering, as well as the vast differences between "top-down" and "bottom-up" explanations of human life.

Mark highlights the full Christian story by reading John Julian's hymn, "Hark! The voice Eternal," and then reflecting on human history's central turning point: Jesus' resurrection.

Mark offers a way to characterize all kinds and degrees of human suffering and then explores with KJ how this can help us to live better, more deliberate, and more courageous Christian lives.

Mark explains how his suffering prompted him to depend more on God, and then discusses with KJ whether some of our Lord's words in the Sermon on the Mount suggest it is misleading to talk about "Christian flourishing" in this life.

Mark and KJ examine a second way in which suffering—and especially profound suffering—affects us by disrupting our stories and thus blotting out virtually all of the stars we have been relying upon to guide us in life’s way.

In this episode, Mark and KJ discuss how Robert Dabney and C. S. Lewis maintained their faith in the midst of profound suffering and then turn to consider what Psalm 90 can teach us about life’s frailties caused by human sin.

After Mark suggests that the language of Scripture should become so familiar to us that we naturally speak it back to God in prayer, he and KJ then go on to discuss how the book of Ecclesiastes can help us to understand and endure our suffering.