February 21, 2007 · 11:19 am

Ponder the effects of hidden sin


Consider Zophar’s description of how a secret sin turns sour in the stomach. While Zophar’s speech making and judgement against Job was completely out of place and later rebuked by God [note: a warning to us counselors that we can be completely right about something and yet deliver the wrong message to the wrong person. Scary!], his description still helps us see how giving in to “sweet nothings” entraps and kills us. 

Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him. He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up. He will suck the poison of serpents; the fangs of an adder will kill him. He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading. For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build. Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure. Job 20:12-20

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February 20, 2007 · 4:33 pm

What is your pattern of addiction?


Everyone, everywhere has had struggles with being enslaved to something (a thing, idea, habit, etc.). One of the first steps to doing violence to such a problem is to understand the pattern in your life. When we first become aware that something has us, grips us, we often are not fully aware of how we cycle through the pattern. Here’s how I help people identify the cycle of their addiction. Some of my material came from Patrick Carnes work. Continue reading →

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February 19, 2007 · 12:37 pm

Science Monday: is the APA afraid of internet porn?


This week my students are exploring the world of addiction. In prep for class, I did a little search on PsychARTICLES regarding Internet over-usage/addiction and pornography usage. PsychARTICLES contains a full-text database of 60 APA peer-reviewed journals from the 1870s to the present. As of February 2007, it contained 121,000 articles. Here’s what I found. NOTHING. Continue reading →

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February 16, 2007 · 6:53 am

Black History Fact 2


Here’s a fact I found on www.blackamericaweb.com. We’ve come a long way in the last 41 years. And yet not nearly far enough. Why do I say not far enough? Notice the overreaching of Tucker Carlsonto try to disparage Obama’s church connection. He attacks Obama’s church for its racially exclusive theology (which is clear they do not espouse). The problem here is that a black church can’t talk about black pride but Carlson doesn’t own that white churches have been racially exclusive (not in their words per say but in their power structures) since forever.  

——-


Sammy Younge
In 1964, Sammy Younge, a Tuskegee Institute student, helped form the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League and participated in boycotts and campaigns to integrate local restaurants and public pools. In the summer of 1965, Younge was among the group of students who were beaten while trying to attend a white church in town.

In 1966, at the local service station, Younge was killed by the white attendant. The murder touched off immediate demonstrations, including rallies, protests, and riots amongst the students at Tuskegee and people in the community.

The man who shot Younge was found innocent by an all white jury. He claimed he shot him in self-defense after an argument over the restroom. The threat of further violence finally forced Tuskegee’s Black leaders to act. They won a city ordinance banning discrimination in hotels and restaurants.

In the fall of 1966, they elected Lucius Amerson the first Black sheriff in the South since Reconstruction, despite the lack of support from Tuskegee Black leaders who felt a Black sheriff could not be elected.

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February 16, 2007 · 5:43 am

Ponder this view of what changes people


“It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting.”

Attributed to Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity by this site.

Isn’t this true when we consider how we do violence to anxious, depressed and angry ruts in our lives?

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February 15, 2007 · 9:17 am

Back to Volf


Sorry for the long hiatus from Volf. The semester is heating up and some knucklehead agreed to several outside speaking engagements this spring. Ugh. Anyway, Volf starts provides a good reminder of where he is at the beginning of chapter 9 of End of Memory:

My thesis is the third part of this book has been simple: memories of suffered wrongs will not come to the minds of the citizens of the world to come [when they get to that world!], for in it they will perfectly enjoy God and one another in God….Indeed, the offender ceases to be an offender, for non-remembrance has taken away the very being of the offense… (177)

So, he is interested in thinking about the “transition from the world as it is to the world of perfect love…” (178) He starts by reminding us that on the final judgment, our sins against God and neighbor must be brought to light in a social event before we are freed from our guilt and finally transformed. He goes on to suggest that each person will “joyfully appropriate the results of the judgment.” I think he means those who are on their way to heaven.

Its here I want to stop and consider two points. (1) Most of us do not want any, much less all, of our sinful actions against God and neighbor to be brought to light, and (2) many of us do not want offenders really released from all guilt. But I think it will be much like Aslan’s dealings with various individuals. We will be so focused on God’s grace and mercy that our shame will be short lived and we will have no time to even consider someone else’s wrong doing. We will be healed of all jealousy and bitterness and second-guessing.

Can’t wait for that!  

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February 14, 2007 · 5:10 am

Ponder this thought on anger


Buechner has a delicious quote…

Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back — in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.

you can find this here: http://www.wisdomquotes.com/001444.html

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February 13, 2007 · 5:24 am

Are you angry at God? Is that okay?


Most people who go through horrific experiences wonder what God is up to, if he really cares, and why he didn’t protect them from the pain they endured. Many also find themselves blaming God, refusing to believe in God, angry at God for the situation they find themselves in. Evangelical authors have responded to these questions and feelings in two general ways. (1) Anger at God is misplaced at best, sinful at worst, or (2) Expressing anger at God is good, honest, and part of the healing process. “He can take it, He’s God.” Let’s look at each view for a moment. Continue reading →

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February 12, 2007 · 1:48 pm

Can you be a Christian and a homosexual?


Okay, I may regret this… (that should probably be a warning to me to stop now) but here’s a quote taken from a newsletter I got in the mail today. I’m NOT interested in blasting anyone nor am I interested in fighting, arguing, debating with readers whether homosexuality is a sin or not. Save that for a different blog please. But, I WOULD be interested in how you would lovingly respond, as a Christian, to this quote should the author have made it in your presence.

“I fully understand that a person who IS a homosexual (lesbian) or effeminate IS NOT a Christian no matter how passionate his or her claim.”

How might you respond? What questions would you want to ask? How might you challenge this thinking with Scripture?

It would seem to me that if you followed this quotation to its logical end, you would have to say that anyone who is a gossip, who is a cheat, who lusts, who is embittered, who struggles with any sin pattern is not a Christian.

The author also assumes effeminate means wrong. So, the guy who hates sports, doesn’t like beer, likes to garden, is quiet and introverted is living sinfully?

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Filed under biblical counseling, sexuality

February 12, 2007 · 5:30 am

Science Monday: Is anger something to be managed?


This week in class I’ll be exploring anger, from explosive to silent, from holy to sinful. Simple definition of anger: We want something, don’t get it, and feel wronged for not getting it and justified for feeling and acting the way we do. In this sense, anger is neutral–neither good nor bad. Except one small problem, the people who get angry aren’t neutral. Seems most popular writings on anger either focus on the sinfulness of it or on the healthy expression of it. The scientific study tends to focus on the best steps to managing it (STAR: stop, think, act, review).

In a 2004 article in Psychotherapy(41:2, 161f) Andrew Rothman asks if anger is something to be managed. Good question. Continue reading →

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