Psychology. What a loaded word! To some people, the word draws up images of great progress in the understanding of human behavior and cognition about which the ancients could never dream or of which they could never conceive. To others, ‘psychology’ is tantamount to idolatry and synonymous with ‘secular.’ Similarly, when people hear the word counseling, they may imagine anything from the psychoanalytic couch, to a group intervention with a drug addict, to an awkward conversation with a well-meaning pastor or mentor. What is psychology? Is it biblical? Are there many definitions of the term? Should biblical counseling draw upon the insights of contemporary psychological studies?
Substance Use Disorder, the technical name for addictions in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual published by the American Psychiatric Association, lends itself to presenting the view that addiction is a disease much in the same way that a bladder infection is. Of course, it is acknowledged that beliefs and emotions play a larger role in addictive behavior than they do in a bladder infection; however, the predominant way of framing addictions is as a disease with some special caveats regarding the cognitive and the affective. Those with substance use disorder (SUD) are viewed as victims and as those suffering from an illness.
College of the Ozarks, a Christian liberal arts school in Missouri, filed a suit against the Biden administration. The lawsuit seeks to challenge the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rule which, if followed, would force Christian universities colleges to act against their beliefs….”The fight to protect our religious freedom has just begun."
The Church of Sweden, the former state church of Sweden, recently released a letter apologizing for the way Christians have treated those who identify as transgender. Furthermore, the letter said that the Church of Sweden now describes itself as “trans.” The letter was signed by near 1,000 people including priests, deacons, and laymen.
As unpopular as it may sound, Traditional Denominationalism is a position which guards against the errors of separationism and ecumenicism….[D]enominations promote believers who share great amount of agreement to be united in social and general theological activism while allowing different theological nuances to be expressed without persecution.
As Christians, we know we aren’t supposed to fear. “Do not be anxious about anything…” Paul writes in Philippians 4:6. And such admonitions are found throughout Scripture…. Fear that results from not trusting the LORD is indeed sinful. All fear provides an opportunity to trust God even if the cause is physiological…. So, fear can be sinful. It very often is sinful. But it is not ALWAYS sinful. Now, the causes of fear are complex and multifaceted. However, there are four things the believer can do whenever fear strikes.
Modernity has brought with itself a craving for entertainment. Since the turn of the 20th century, technological advances in fields such as audio and video recording meddled with the already present western proclivity for theater and music.
We live in an age of increasing pseudo-spirituality. As atheism leads eventually to nihilism, many in the postmodern West have opted to cling to a sort of spirituality. However, this pop spirituality is not biblical spirituality. Following is a brief compare and contrast of pop spirituality and biblical spirituality. Spirituality itself must be defined. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, spirituality is “the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.”
Paul the Apostle makes an interesting statement regarding biological Israel, his brothers according the flesh. This statement also raises an interesting, although very hypothetical, ethical dilemma. While discussing divine election, God’s will, and the future of biological Israel, Paul says regarding his unbelieving kinsmen: “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh…”
Since the rise of Modernism and Liberal theology, Conservatives have fought tooth and nail for the authority of the Bible. The Bible has been the core of every theologically conservative worldview. One practical use of the Bible is Christian counseling. However, Conservatives themselves differ over which counseling approach(es) are most appropriate.
