Status Updates From Silence and Beauty: Hidden ...

So many bangers this chapter!
Here's one:
"Evil is not a very good teacher. Some Christians promote the idea that evil and suffering exist as mechanisms to teach us to trust God or to become better human beings. I disagree. Evil is a parasite; it lurks just beyond what appears to be good and noble, and will take advantage of our propensity to trust."
(Pg 168)

I feel like this should be a textbook for all intro to missions or cultural college classes. His nuance into the difference of culture and communicating the gospel to that culture is profound.

A Flannery O'Connor AND a Graham Greene AND To Kill A Mockingbird shoutout in the first chapter?! This is already good, I can tell.

Dove deeper into Christ and his sacrifice through the fumi-e, trauma, and suffering in Japanese culture through silence written by Endo and his life. That out of brokenness and an outcasted identity that Christ’s love uniquely still reaches and can become something that is beautiful as we count His cost to meets us where we are in our sin and failure which is met with forgiveness and not shame.

“Rarely do we encounter art that gives attention to the complexity, paradoxes and mysteries of life without falling into the abyss of despair…If we care to embrace hope despite what encompasses us, the impossibility of life and the inevitability of death, then we must embrace a vision that will endure beyond our failures.” p.167