Daily Devotion for October 26

INTRO

This Sunday is All Saint’s Sunday. At each service we will remember loved ones who have passed away. I find this service difficult but at the same time restorative.

We will begin the worship service with a scripture reading to prepare us for the Passing of the Peace.

PASSING OF THE PEACE

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 6:5

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

QUESTION: How bad is the world?

(not at all, a little, moderately, a lot, completely?)

JOHN WESLEY

John Wesley used the above verse for his sermon on Original Sin. Commenting on the above verse John Wesley said the following:

How widely different is this from the fair pictures of human nature which men have drawn in all ages! The writings of many of the ancients abound with happy descriptions of the dignity of man; whom some of them paint as having all virtue and happiness in his composition, or, at least, entirely in his power, without being beholden to any other being; yea, as self-sufficient, able to live on his own stock, and little inferior to God himself.

QUESTION: Do you agree or disagree?

What is your description of the world?

Gottfried Leibniz

The German philosopher Leibniz said in the 18th century when observing the world and the problem of evil said that this is the “best of all possible worlds.”

QUESTION: Agree or Disagree?

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

The French philosopher Voltaire disagreed with Leibniz and made fun of his position in his book Candide.

Adult Sunday School (8 a.m. in the library)

In the Adult Sunday School we have been wrestling with this issue for the last three months and have a couple more months.

SCRIPTURE TO PONDER

And we know that in al things God works for the good of those who love him...”

Romans 8:28