Why does God let people die?

   I am compelled to write about a difficult topic: death.  This is a hard piece to write.  A few weeks ago as I was looking forward to Easter, I learned Easter is on April 16, 2017, which will coincide with the ten year commemoration of the 32 people murdered at my Alma mater Virginia Tech.  It will be a day where Christians need to proclaim the life available from Jesus, the One who rose from the grave.

   Having grown up in a TV generation, early on there was exposure to the reality of death, but it was not personal.  Gradually through my early years, death became a reality to face.  My first close confrontation with death was when I was a sophomore in high school.  There was a student in my Algebra class my freshman year who was a truly nice guy, and we were casual friends.  One day after school our sophomore year, he went to his friend’s house and smoked much pot.  Then he told his friend he was going to borrow his mini-bike.  The friend told him “no,” stating he was in no condition to ride it.  But he insisted, wrestled the motorized vehicle away, and went riding.  Going down a street perpendicular to my house, he ran into a poll at top speed.  I was doing homework, and I heard an ambulance.  When I went out, paramedics were frantically doing things huddled over his body.  He died on the way to the hospital within the hour.  Weeks of mourning followed at Falls Church High School.

   Also at my high school, there was a teacher I liked who died of cancer.  Yet during my four extremely active years at Virginia Tech, death seemed distant.  Yet even at Tech, a haven for me in sense, death did not disappear into history books.  For example, a fellow Resident Advisor’s dad died.  That same year a freshman died in a caving accident two days before I was scheduled to give a talk on caving safety.

   I will not get into my testimony here, however I want to state it was less than one year after graduating from Virginia Tech when I received Jesus, truly believing He had been resurrected from the dead, and that He was the way to everlasting life.

   Since becoming a follower of Jesus, having been far more involved in the lives of people, I have been exposed to many friends and church family members physically dying.  In my first church, Kathy was a person everyone loved.  She was in our church singles group.  She and I once attended a baseball game, and I had such a fun time.  In April of 1996, only in her late twenties, she died in a plane crash overseas.  I had so much trouble doing work the next day.
   I could continue on regarding the death of friends and family members.

   Why does God allow people to die?  Why does God allow such tragedy?  From the start, death is not what God wanted for people.  The first two people God created had the opportunity to choose the “tree of life.”  God gave them a complete invitation to eat the fruit of that tree (Genesis 2:16).  However they disobeyed God.  They indulged in the fruit of the one tree which they were unable to handle, the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” which God had forbid them from eating from.  Know that the sin of Adam and Even had nothing to do with apples or sex.  The Bible does not say what kind of fruit was on the trees, and there was a spiritual nature to those trees whatever fruit was on there.  And the tree was not a metaphor for sex.  God had given a general blessing after His creation of human beings to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28).  Multiplying involves you know what.  The sin was the disobedience to God by Adam and Eve.  Disobeying God, they brought about the separation between God and people, and the result of being separated from the Creator of all things is not only physical death, but also spiritual death.  Death is not what God wants for people, yet God granted Adam and Eve free will to obey or disobey Him.  Their disobedience brought about a state of hardship, pain, and physical death for the history of human beings to the present.  Yet God started working immediately to save people from spiritual death.

   Thus we all have the opportunity to make a choice today regarding having spiritual life.  All people still physically die, with few exceptions such as Elijah.  Yet eternal life is offered by Jesus, and any person can receive or not.  Jesus made eternal life possible by dying on a cross.  Seems odd a death would bring an opportunity for life.  Brace yourself for this: Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us.  Trinity is the term we use frequently today, a term which identifies Jesus for who He is, God the Son.  Being divine, God the Son allowed Himself to be crucified!  Death was experienced by Jesus, who never had to die.  Jesus willingly suffered death to be the substitute for people.  The consequence of sin is death, yet Jesus willingly took our place, because He loves all people.  Jesus died physically and spiritually, and it is the Sacrifice of all history for the spiritual salvation of people.

   Even when a follower of Jesus dies, we can still mourn.  For example, after the Virginia Tech murders, I cried and wailed.  God never desired death; it goes against the creation of God.  And even if the person is in heaven, we will miss them for a short period of time.  Yet when someone has been saved by Jesus, we can have the assurance the person is not dead, rather in heaven with God.  In 1996 was the only time I was with someone who died, and it was my dear friend, Grandma.  I had done much to help Grandma in the last five years of her life.  My grandma went much of her life not opening up to Jesus, yet in her 70’s, in the wake of my grandpa’s death, Grandma believed in Jesus.  I have never seen Jesus change someone so much in a short period of time.  When she passed away, I was the only other person with her besides God.  During her final minutes here, I held her hand and sang a song to her about how we would meet in heaven.  Once she was physically dead, I cried hard.  I even mourned in my heart for several months.  Yet deep in my heart I had the peace she is in heaven.

   Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins.  God the Son, Creator of the universe and the entire spiritual realm, died, yet there was a purpose in His death.  He was the substitutionary atonement for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  And then He was resurrected and is alive in heaven today.  If you believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life.  You will still physically die, if Jesus does not return first, yet your soul will be immediately ushered into the kingdom of God, and you will be with our loving God for all eternity.  Jesus Christ is Risen!  He wants you to join Him for all eternity.  You need to believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

Hunter Irvine

A pastor

   Searching for a pastor position this past fall and winter I had interviews with three churches, (one in person and two on the phone), but I did not get the position in any of the three.  Questions asked of me were drastically different in all three interviews.  I started to ponder, “What questions would I ask if I were interviewing a pastor candidate?”

   First, in seeking a pastor, a suitable doctrinal fit is crucial in my view.  I would request a “faith statement” be included with the resume packet.  This does not mean every single interpretation of the Bible needs to be a match.  That is never going to happen even among long time members of a non-cultish church.  Yet “primary” doctrine needs to be determined, and the candidate needs to be in agreement, and even passionate about his or her doctrine.  Keep in mind there is the need for all of us to keep learning from the Bible.

   Second, there needs to be a vision.  For me vision includes what is termed “The Greatest Commandment,” based on the teaching of Jesus recorded in Matthew 22:34-40, and “The Great Commission,” based on Jesus’ statement recorded in Matthew 28:18-20.  All followers of Jesus should be carrying out both, and pastors should be in the lead.  I have always considered my primary duty as a youth minister to love God and to love people.  Loving people can be expressed in countless ways, yet it should be rooted in obedience to Jesus, who commanded us to tell the Gospel, baptize, and teach everything He commanded.

   Character is of upmost importance, since someone struggling with sin is hampered in loving people.  Stipulations for a pastor are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-9, and 1 Peter 5:1-4.  For starters, a pastor is to be an example and to live a life of holiness!  Truthfully, we are all called to a life of holiness as is stated in 1 Peter 1:15-16.  We are all called to be like Jesus.  Pastors must be examples, yet realize even pastors sometimes make mistakes, at least I do anyway.  Some of the prohibitions are a pastor is not to be power hungry, not to be devoted to money, and not to be recently born again.  But for a successful interview, I think the character of the candidate should be learned ahead of time.  References are the best source for learning about the character of a potential pastor, and they should be questioned before an interview.

   Also, in addition to getting a doctrinal statement up front and talking with references, the candidate’s ministry education should be investigated ahead of time, and finally, whether in search of a head pastor, associate pastor, youth pastor, or deacon, everyone on the committee should have carefully read his or her conversion testimony.  Then members of a committee are prepared to interview.

   In an interview, I would want to know a key question: “What are your gifts?”

   Some churches come up with a big list of things they want the pastor to do.  The problem is, if by slim chance they are able to find a person who can do that long list, they are probably hiring a poor leader.  A big lesson I learned in Scouting was that no person can do everything, rather success comes when a group works as a team.  A great leader is someone who is capable of delegating roles to the proper people.  Ministry work should be team work, and a pastor needs to be a leader.

   Thus if I interviewed someone, I would want to know what his or her gifts are!  I would look for someone whose gifts fit the major duties of the pastor which would not be delegated.  And I would be searching for someone who can work successfully with brothers and sisters of the congregation.

   Also in an interview, I would want to know if the person is going to be able to make himself or herself at home in the church and community.  If a move is involved, there needs to be consideration about whether it will be a culture shock, and whether the candidate, and their family, if they have a family, will thrive in the new place.

   After such pondering, I developed seven questions I would ask a potential pastor candidate in an interview after a character inquiry was completed.  Granted if the search committee was large, each committee member would probably only get to ask several questions, yet my questions then would be ones which I felt had not been addressed by other members of the committee.

1.   When was a recent occasion you told someone the Gospel?

2.   If you could only do one thing as a pastor, what would it be?

3.   A follow-up: What are some other gifts you have?

4.   If you were able to preach a sermon in one week, what passage of Scripture might you preach about?

5.   If you could change one aspect of your current worship service, what would it be?

6.   What is your favorite thing about our city/town/area?

7.   When was a recent time you laughed with someone doing ministry work?

   I hope this pondering might be of benefit if a reader happens to be on a pastor search committee one time in the future, and I hope I get asked some of these questions in an interview real soon.  After doing ministry work for many years in ministry positions and as a “volunteer,” I have learned the only way I can be a good pastor is to keep relying on the Chief Shepherd.  May you and I rely on Him even today.

Hunter Irvine