Mind Games

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I'd like to focus a bit on the moment when Rodrigues is forced to see Garrpe and Monica drown at sea. There is no doubt that Rodrigues is going through a lot mentally, especially when the interpreter blames him for their deaths, saying that if he had renounced his faith in the first place, none of this would've happened. I doubt that would've been true, but it really got me thinking. This book being named Silence posed a few things in my mind. The first thought was, how would I react in a time like this? I know we are called to have faith and trust in God through moneys such as this, but to consider this scenario I know that it would be a difficult position to be in for me as well. Second, when God is silent in our lives, is he really being silent, or am i trying to hard to yell and scream and command my life and circumstances to be the way I think they ought to be. Ive never experienced persecution before, living in a country like America, and still find myself complaining and running around without God as my first priority. This book shows such a broken down man that is holding onto God as best he can, and I am humbled and thankful that God's mercy and love is here to guide us through times such as this. 

This is a sad freakin book

P.S. I commented on Noah's and Sophia's posts

Comments

  1. Phillip VoMarch 12, 2018 at 11:26 PM

    This is a really good post fam. I can definitely relate in that this book has made me examine my own life and how I respond to even the slightest discomfort or adversity in my faith journey. To think that through it all, one might have to experience anything even close to what Rodriguez has experienced is frightening, but I do think we have to consider what we would do if faced with it and if it is what God would call us to.

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  2. Noah PalframanMarch 12, 2018 at 11:38 PM

    This is one of the thoughts that I'd love to be able to say with 100% conviction in my voice, but the truth is I don't know if I would be silent either in that situation. We love to think highly of ourselves and we look down on others who renounce their faith as though they were the scum of the earth. I've done it, and I've always felt sure of myself if I were to be in the same situation. However, I think if I were held at gunpoint to renounce the faith or die...it might be a different story. Now I will consistently say that I will never renounce my faith because I believe Jesus Christ as the true Son of God who sacrificed himself to save me from my sin... but I have yet to be in a situation such as this scene.

    In regards to your comment if God is silent or are we overshadowing His voice with our own, I believe in most cases we are ignorant to what He is telling us. He tells us "these events happen for My good and My plan" but we always want to re-avert our focus to "what about me, God?" It's all about us, and I think this is the main factor that plays into the renouncing of one's faith. The individual thinks at that moment they must save themselves from "death" because God obviously won't (and in the end they have forgotten that Jesus has already saved them from death).

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