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Gene C · (This post was last modified: 08-27-2012 12:19 AM by Gene C.)

(08-26-2012 07:26 PM)Rob Wick Wrote: I think he probably blamed God for the tragedy he had seen in his life. To not do so would, I think, require super-human strength that no one possesses.

I can agree with your assessment above. As a young man I can understand him blaming God. I think this blame turned into questioning God, "why"? I'm not sure he ever got the answer he wanted. This may have contributed to his melancholy and depression.

From "The Religion of Abraham Lincoln" by William Wolf, p 144-145
"There is testimony to the effect that Lincoln found the book of Job a source of strength in the White House. That ancient patriarch (Job), stripped of possessions, family, health,dared in dialogue to challenge the Almighty. Out of the whirlwind God replied that the mystery of suffering was too great for one as finite as Job to grasp, but if he could not understand the divine answer he was at least blessed in his resolute faith, which had retained its fidelity and intergrity when all outward supports had been smashed. (Job 38-42)

"Undoubtedly Lincoln resembled Job in being a wrestler with God. The match, however, was of a different order. Lincoln never questioned the ultimate justice of God. That was a settled convictin that gave his struggle a different twist than Job's. Lincoln's battle was to read "the signs of the times", to learn what the will of God actually demanded in the confiliting events of his day. Lincoln did not question the supremacy of the God before Whom "the nations are as the small dust of the balance." He questionedf how to know that divine will in the day-to-day responsibilities of a nation at war with itself. He sought to avoid both the futility and the rebellion of opposing God's purposes in history."

This is an interesting study, one I have not focussed on in the past. Seeing how our own faith and beliefs progress over time as did Lincoln's, is something we can have in common with him.

Rob, I will be looking forward to you comments about the new book "Lincoln's Battle With God"