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The Nature of Joy in the Bible

06 Friday May 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Joy

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Biblical Counseling, joy

Sometimes we speak about “joy” as if it were something the Christian was just “supposed to have”. We tell people to be joyful. We speak about “joy in the Lord.” Then we say something along the lines of, “Joy can be independent of circumstances.” But I do not think that is a fair statement of the way “joy” is discussed in the Bible.


The trouble with that statement is that it fails to account for the fact that our circumstance may be complex: there may be multiple frames of reference.


Hebrews 12:2 speaks of Jesus enduring the cross: that is was not “joyful”. That is one frame of reference. But there is a second frame of reference, what would come after the cross, “the joy set before him.”
The encouragement to joy in the midst of difficulty (1 Thess. 1:6) is not because the immediate circumstance does not bring sorrow or pain, but rather that the immediate circumstance is not the only circumstance.


The encouragement to joy does not deny the immediate pain which may be present, “Weep with those who weep.” Rom. 12:15 Your companionship in another’s loss is part of the ground for their ability to find a second context for understanding their present circumstance. (Personal friendship and love is not at all divorced from joy; it is often a basis for it.)


Joy is not divorced from circumstance: it is because of circumstance. But the most immediate circumstance is not the full story. “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Ps. 30:5 Your presence with another in their sorrow is a basis for their hope and thus their joy.

joy

The references to joy typically come in the context of convent fulfillment: (a) The rescue God had performed (such as bringing them into the land, or the delivery from an enemy); or (b) The rescue God will perform. The nature of this delivery changes somewhat at the inauguration of the New Covenant. 

Below, the verses are quoted with reference. Beneath the quoted verse, there is a brief comment.

Deut 16:15
For seven days you shall keep the feast to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.
This is a celebration of the Feast of Booths. Notice the reason they are to rejoice: “Because the LORD your God will bless you.”


Deut 28:47
Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,
The failure to fulfill the covenant, which includes rejoicing. Cf. Rom. 1:21, they did not give thanks.

Judg 19:3
Then her husband arose and went after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father’s house. And when the girl’s father saw him, he came with joy to meet him.
The joy at military victory and a safe return home.

1 Sam 18:6
As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.
Military victory

1 Kings 1:40
And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise.
This was a short-lived joy.

1 Kings 8:66
On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.
God keeping his covenant with Israel & with David.

1 Chron 12:40
And also their relatives, from as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came bringing food on donkeys and on camels and on mules and on oxen, abundant provisions of flour, cakes of figs, clusters of raisins, and wine and oil, oxen and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.
The enthronement of David.

1 Chron 15:16
David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.
The Ark being brought to Jerusalem.

1 Chron 16:27
Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place.
This is a song of praise for the Lord who has kept covenant, created the world, and rules over all.


1 Chron 16:33
Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
To come to judge the earth.


2 Chron 7:10
On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity that the LORD had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.
Keeping is covenant with David and with Solomon (because you have not asked for ….)

2 Chron 20:27
Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies.
Military victory

2 Chron 30:26
So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.
Celebrating Passover: God’s rescue from Egypt.

Ezra 3:12
But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy,
Returning the people to Jerusalem, as God as promised.


Ezra 3:13
so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.
Same

Ezra 6:16
And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.
Same.

Ezra 6:22
And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
Same.

Neh 8:10
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
Same. Also reading the Law (the terms and content of the Covenant)


Neh 12:43
And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.
This is the dedication of the wall around Jerusalem.

Esther 5:9
And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.
He thinks he is going to have victory over his enemy.

Esther 5:14
Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.
Same.

Esther 8:16
The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.
Victory over their enemies.

Esther 8:17
And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.
Same

Ps 4:7
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
Delivery from enemies.

Ps 5:11
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.
Refuge

Ps 16:11
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Eschatological: with you.

Ps 19:5
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Metaphor

Ps 20:5
May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!
Receiving from the Lord salvation. Verse one: delivery and protection from enemies.

Ps 21:6
For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.

Eschatological
Ps 27:6
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
Triumph over enemies.

Ps 30:5
For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Eschatological

Ps 32:11
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Forgiveness of sins.


Ps 33:1
Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
Praise for creation and God’s rule over the world.


Ps 35:27
Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
Victory over enemies


Ps 43:4
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
Verse 1: vindicate me.


Ps 45:15
With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.
The establishment of the victim and the presentation of the bride. Typologically, this is eschatological

Ps 47:1
Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
God’s victory over all his enemies.

Ps 48:2
beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.
Eschatological/covenantal.


Ps 51:8
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Forgiveness of sin.

Ps 51:12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Forgiveness of sin.

Ps 63:5
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
Rejoicing in the promised delivery of God.


Ps 63:7
for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
Same
Ps 65:8
so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
Joy at God’s rule over the earth.

Ps 65:12
The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,
Same

Ps 65:13
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.
Same

Ps 66:1
Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
Joy for God’s rule and victory over his enemies.

Ps 67:4
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Joy in God’s judgment; eschatological.


Ps 68:3
But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy!
v. 1, “His enemies shall be scattered.”


Ps 71:23
My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.
Rescue

Ps 81:1
Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
Rescue

Ps 84:2
My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Rescue; eschatological

Ps 92:4
For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
v. 1 “Oh LORD, God of vengeance.”
Ps 95:1
Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Delivery

Ps 95:2
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Delivery.


Ps 96:12
let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
God’s rule. “He will judge” Eschatological

Ps 97:11
Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.
God will triumph over his enemies. V. 10, he will delivery his people.

Ps 98:4
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
The Lord has and will judge his enemies.


Ps 98:6
With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!
Same


Ps 98:8
Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together

same
Ps 100:1
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Covenantal/eschatological

Ps 105:43
So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing.
Delivery


Ps 107:22
And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
Delivery

Ps 119:111
Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
This is part of a prayer for deliverance. (v. 107) It is personal but it is also covenantal.

Ps 126:2
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion” v. 1 Delivery, covenantal

Ps 126:5
Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!
same

Ps 126:6
He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
same.

Ps 132:9
Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy.
This is a prayer for delivery, based upon the covenant with David. We will rejoice when you fulfill your promise.

Ps 132:16
Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy.
Same

Ps 137:6
Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
A prayer for delivery.

Ps 149:5
Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds.
v. 4, “He adorns the humble with salvation.”


Eccles 2:26
For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
It is a gift.


Eccles 3:12
I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;
To be thankful.

Eccles 5:20
For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
A gift.

Eccles 7:14
In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
Joy is a property of prosperity.

Eccles 8:15
And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.
Thankfulness

Eccles 9:7
Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.
Thankfulness

Isa 9:3
You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
Delivery.

Isa 12:3
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Delivery.

Isa 12:6
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Delivery


Isa 16:10
And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting.
Joy is a gift; therefore, it can be taken away. This is sorrow at a loss.

Isa 22:13
and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
A foolish joy.

Isa 24:11
There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished.
No joy.

Isa 24:14
They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the LORD they shout from the west.
Delivery.

Isa 26:19
Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
Eschatological

Isa 29:19
The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
Delivery.

Isa 32:14
For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;
Ironic.

Isa 35:2
it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.
Eschatological.

Isa 35:6
then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
Eschatological.

Isa 35:10
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Eschatological.

Isa 42:11
Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Because God will conquer his foes.

Isa 48:20
Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
Delivery

Isa 49:13
Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
Delivery.

Isa 51:3
For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Delivery

Isa 51:11
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Delivery

Isa 52:8
The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion.
Delivery; covenant.

Isa 55:12
“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Because of God’s victory.

Isa 56:7
these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
Eschatologial

Isa 60:15
Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age.
Eschatological


Isa 61:7
Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.
Eschatological.

Isa 64:5
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
Eschatological delivery


Isa 65:18
But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.
Eschatological: I will create a new heavens (v. 17)

Isa 66:5
Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy’; but it is they who shall be put to shame.
A false joy.

Isa 66:10
“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her;
Eschatological delivery

Jer 8:18
My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me.
Lost joy

Jer 15:16
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.
Hope for delivery.

Jer 31:13
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
He will deliver them in the future.

Jer 33:9
And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.
In the future, I will deliver and rebuild.

Jer 48:33
Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab; I have made the wine cease from the winepresses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; the shouting is not the shout of joy.
There is no joy when you have been conquered.

Jer 49:25
How is the famous city not forsaken, the city of my joy?
Loss has no joy.

Jer 51:48
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, declares the LORD.
Joy at victory over an enemy.

Lam 2:15
All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”
Lost joy

Lam 5:15
The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.
Lost joy.

Ezek 7:7
Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting on the mountains.
Lost joy.

Ezek 24:25
“As for you, son of man, surely on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their soul’s desire, and also their sons and daughters,
Lost joy

Ezek 36:5
therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey.
Ironic


Joel 1:16
Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
Lost joy

Hab 3:18
yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Delivery

Zech 8:19
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.
Kept covenant, delivery.

NOTE: WITH THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, THE NATURE OF THE DELIVERY AND HOPE CHANGE SOMEWHAT. RATHER THAN IT BE NATIONAL ISRAEL CONQUERING AN ENEMY; IT IS LARGELY A SPIRITUAL DELIVERY A DELIVERY FROM SIN; WITH A HOPE OF THE ESCHATOLOGICAL KINGDOM. BUT THE JOY IS NOT ABSTRACTED FROM HOPE; NOR EVEN THE COVENANT (NOT THAT THE MESSIAH IS A PROMISE OF THE DAVIDIC AND NEW COVENANTS)

Matt 2:10
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
The coming Messiah.

Matt 13:20
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,
Because it is good news.

Matt 13:44
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Normal emotion.

Matt 25:21
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Eschatological.

Matt 25:23
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Eschatological

Matt 28:8
So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Resurrection.

Mark 4:16
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy.
Because it is good news.

Luke 1:14
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
The birth of a promised child.


Luke 1:44
For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
The Messiah is here!

Luke 2:10
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Delivery, covenant promised fulfilled.

Luke 6:23
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
Eschatological.

Luke 8:13
And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.
Good news.

Luke 10:17
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
Delivery over demons.


Luke 15:7
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Joy in heaven.

Luke 15:10
Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Joy in heaven

Luke 19:6
So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.
Jesus is here.

Luke 24:41
And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
Resurrection

Luke 24:52
And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
Resurrection,

John 3:29
The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.
The Messiah is here.

John 15:11
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
It is a promise of delivery and perseverance through trial: you will abide.

John 16:20
Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
Resurrection.

John 16:21
When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
Personal joy.

John 16:22
So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Because delivery is certain; death has been overcome.

John 16:24
Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
The promise has been fulfilled.

John 17:13
But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
The promised delivery.

Acts 8:8
So there was much joy in that city.
Good news had come.

Acts 12:14
Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate.
Personal joy at Peter’s delivery.

Acts 13:52
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
At the work God was doing.

Acts 15:3
So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.
Good news.

Rom 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
What causes this joy in the Holy Spirit? It is being contrasted with the conflict between the people over food. It is the in-breaking of an eschatological kingdom.


Rom 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Joy tied to hope

Rom 15:32
so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.
The joy of personal greeting.

2 Cor 1:24
Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.
His goal is their joy.

2 Cor 2:3
And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.
Joy of personal relationship.

2 Cor 7:4
I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.
The joy is based upon hope.

2 Cor 7:13
Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
The joy in personal greeting – there is also thanksgiving.

2 Cor 8:2
for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
Hope.

Gal 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
It is a work of the Spirit.

Phil 1:4
always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,
Because God is working: delivery and conquering have moved from

Phil 1:25
Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
Eschatological perseverance,

Phil 2:2
complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Phil 2:29
So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men,
Personal greeting

Phil 4:1
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
Because of what God has done for them. In 4:4 “rejoice always” has content and basis. V. 3, your name is written in the Book of Life (eschatological delivery). V. 5, “the Lord is at hand.”

That God has delivered them from their former life. The working out of God’s sanctification is fitting them for an ultimate delivery. “The phrase reminds the readers again of the imminent coming of the Savior from heaven to transform humiliation into glory.” (Hansen). “AMBROSIASTER: “The Lord,” he says, “is at hand.” They must be prepared and wakeful in prayer, giving thanks to God and putting away every worldly care, so as to hope and have before their eyes what the Lord promises. What he promises is, as he teaches, the reason for giving him thanks.”

That joy is the product of a deliberate eschatological posture

Col 1:11
being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;
This joy is pointed toward the end and is based upon the delivery. You have been rescued by God and are being brought to Eschatological Kingdom.


1 Thess 1:6
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
This is probably the most on-point verse when it comes to joy in the midst of suffering. But notice the context: It springs from their salvation: they have been delivered from their bondage to sin. V. 9, you turned from idols. V. 10, you now are eagerly expecting the victorious return of the Lord. Notice the language of delivery, “Who delivers us from the wrath to come.” The OT language of delivery from an enemy is picked up, and interestingly, the ultimate enemy will be God coming in judgment.

The Thessalonian believers were undergoing persecution at this time and are here assured not only of their own liberation (1 Thess. 5:9) but also of the judgment of God that will come upon those who afflict them (2 Thess. 1:6–10). Whatever the agony and shame of the present, in the end God will reverse their fortunes. Those who are without power now will participate in the final victory, while those who have power over them now will have to meet the Judge, the God of the Christians

Gene L. Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos, 2002), 111.

1 Thess 2:19
For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?
Eschatological

1 Thess 2:20
For you are our glory and joy.
Personal and eschatological

1 Thess 3:9
For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God,
Personal and eschatological
2 Tim 1:4
As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.
Personal

Philem 7
For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Personal

Heb 10:34
For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
Because of what will happen.

Heb 12:2
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Eschatological delivery – after loss.

Heb 13:17
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Personal

James 1:2
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
Because it will bring about spiritual transformation

James 4:9
Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Loss of joy in repentance.

1 Pet 1:8
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
Eschatological,

1 John 1:4
And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
The advancing of the Kingdom.

2 John 12
Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
Personal

3 John 4
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Personal; the Kingdom’s advance.

Jude 24
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,
Eschatological

Recent Study: Antidepressant Drugs of

21 Thursday Apr 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Psychology

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Anti-depressants

On average, 17.5 million adults were diagnosed with depression disorder each year during the period 2005–2016. The majority were female (67.9%), a larger proportion of whom received antidepressant medications (60.5% vs. 51.5% of males). Although use of antidepressants was associated with some improvement on the MCS, D-I-D univariate analysis revealed no significant difference between the two cohorts in PCS (–0.35 vs. –0.34, p = 0.9595) or MCS (1.28 vs. 1.13, p = 0.6405). The multivariate D-I-D analyses ensured the robustness of these results. 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0265928

Antidepressants and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for patients with depression: Analysis of the medical expenditure panel survey from the United States “Despite the empirical literature demonstrating the efficacy of antidepressant medications for treatment of depression disorder, these medications’ effect on patients’ overall well-being and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) remains controversial. This study investigates the effect of antidepressant medication use on patient-reported HRQoL for patients who have depression.” journals.plos.org



In English, no significant improvement. “People who use drugs intended to treat depression long-term do not see improvements in their overall physical and mental well-being compared with those who avoid taking antidepressants, a study published Wednesday found.”https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/04/20/depression-treatment-prescription-drugs-study/1101650468658/

An observation on “A Neuroscientist Prepares for Death”

10 Monday Jan 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Apologetics, Psychology

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Apologetics, Argument, logic, Neuroscience

In a recent article in The Atlantic, A Neuroscientist Prepares for Death, a poor man who has learned he will soon die from cancer of the heart provides his philosophical reflection concerning the possibility of an afterlife. Using his expertise as a scientist, he makes a series of three unwarranted jumps to deny an afterlife.

Lut us begin with the scientific proposition, “Now we know that rather than merely reacting to the external world, the brain spends much of its time and energy actively making predictions about the future.” This statement is metaphysically loaded, because it attributes all thought to a physical process, “the brain.”

His conclusion about the “brain” as opposed to a mind goes well beyond anything in observational science. The fact that certain brain functions are associated with a particular mental state does not mean the brain processes are that mental state. The mental state is itself unobservable, it can only be subjectively experienced. The relationship between a brain state and a mental state is a matter of tremendous dispute, but it is simply lazy to collapse thought into synaptic firing.

The second error in his argument comes when concludes that since we anticipate the near future, we cannot anticipate not anticipating the future. “And because our brains are organized to predict the near future, it presupposes that there will, in fact, be a near future. ” But this conclusion actually goes beyond the observation that the brain works to predict the future. There is no reason that the brain could not predict its demise. Our inability to imagine the future cannot be explained simply on the basis that the “brain” makes predictions about the near future.

From the observation that we do not imagine our non-existence, a state he refers to as a “widespread glitch”, he makes a theological/philosophical observation. The widespread religious belief in an afterlife is simply the result of a cognitive glitch which itself results from the mental action of anticipating the future.

But this last step is as lacking in necessary inference as the previous steps. A. The argument also entails a number of other unstated propositions. For instance, the argument assumes that there is no such a thing as an afterlife, and thus the belief must be explained by some material process.

B. The fact there are physical processes consistent with a particular belief does not make the belief untrue. Why would a religious belief have to be inconsistent with physical function to be true? There is no necessity that a religious belief be inconsistent to physical function.

C. Our inability to imagine our nonexistence does not make belief in an afterlife false. The argument that “belief in an afterlife cannot be true because it is comforting” is simply false. When I am ill, I believe that I will recover. On all prior occasions in which I have been ill, I have believed that I will recover–which is a comforting thought. And it was a true comforting belief: I have always recovered.

He ends with the observation that he is not adverse to the existence of an afterlife with those whom he loves.

What then is the purpose of an essay like this? We must remember it cannot be for career advancement, he will die soon. I can’t imagine that the prestige of writing for The Atlantic is sufficient as an explanation.

I think it is to deal with the fear of death. But in what way? His argument is that because I’m a scientist I know there is no afterlife. Why would he need to convince himself (an essay like this is an argument to convince you so that I feel more comfort in my belief) there is no afterlife?

As a Christian, I take it as a given that human beings fear the judgment which lies beyond death. If there is no continuation of life, there is judgment day coming after death. And so he strings out this rather insufficient argument to prove to himself there will be no future.

Hebrews 2:14–15 (ESV)

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Do I Really Need to Concern Myself With the Law

21 Saturday Aug 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, law

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Biblical Counseling, law

I am finishing up what will be a book on “intersection” of legal issues and pastoral counseling. One question I have received has been the extent to which government may seek to regulate biblical counseling, whether by state mandate or by private lawsuit (which is in effect a petition to the government to exercise its power in a particular instance). Below, is a draft Preface to answer that question.

Yes. If you do not, you will not be able to minister well to others. Some counselees will be involved in legal disputes, divorces, criminal proceedings; you will need to understand their circumstance to help them.

But you also need to concern yourself with the law because the culture is changing: And as the culture changes, so does the law. The relatively amicable relationship Christian ministry in general and Christian counseling in particular had with the culture and law is changing: quickly and fundamentally. 

The first thing we need to understand about the law is that the law is an expression of culture. If we return a few decades in our history, homosexual conduct was a crime in the United States. In Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a law prohibiting sodomy. Yet, less than 20 years later in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003), the same Court found such laws to be unconstitutional. 

The words of the Constitution did not change between 1986 and 2003, but the culture did change.  When we think about the law, we need to realize that the law is an expression of the culture. If the culture changes, the laws will change. 

So, when we think about the law, we need to think about the law as it relates to the broader culture. We need to understand where the law stands today, but we also need to be prepared for the where the law will be tomorrow. 

A detailed consideration of the culture and the legal system would be well-beyond the scope of this work. Yet, there are some things we must consider. In 2013, Albert Mohler wrote of “A Moral Revolution at Warp Speed.” (Albert Mohler, Jr., “A Moral Revolution at Warp Speed,” Albert Mohler, December 11, 2013, https://albertmohler.com/2013/12/11/a-moral-revolution-at-warp-speed-now-its-wedding-cakes.) That moral revolution has been moving steadily through the legislatures and courts. 

As this book is being finalized, decisions in the federal courts and decisions in legislatures are finding that “erotic liberty” (to use Dr. Mohler’s phrase) is of more social value than First Amendment rights to speech or religion. I have spoken with some of the most well-informed attorneys as to First Amendment law who are dumbstruck at what has been said and done. 

There are well-known cases of Christian wedding photographers who have asked to be exhibited from being coerced to participate in same-sex weddings. A wedding (as opposed to a bare marriage license) for a Christian is a religious rite which serious theological consequences. In the recent decision of 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, et al, _____ F.3rd _____ (10th Cir. 2021) the appellate court found that the law which prohibited a Christian wedding photographer from refusing to photograph a same-sex wedding was a content-based restriction on speech and that compelled speech by the photographer.

Only in the most extraordinary circumstances have the courts permitted such laws to stand. Under the law, the most-vile racist speech and pornography is protected. But in this decision, the 10th Circuit held that erotic liberty of same-sex couples was such remarkable importance that the state could compel the speech of a Christian to approve of the marriage, “we hold that CADA satisfies strict scrutiny, and thus permissibly compels Appellants’ speech.”

Think for a moment. We allow “conscientious objectors” to avoid war – which can entail the very existence of the nation – to refuse on the ground of a religious objection. We cannot compel a Nazi to speak well of Jews. But the government can compel someone to approve same-sex marriage. 

You may think, “Yes, but the government will not try to concern itself with what is done in a church.” In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School (6th Cir. 2010) 597 F.3d 769, the appellate court found that an ordained minister had the right to make a complaint to the EEOC and the church which fired the plaintiff was not permitted to rely upon the “ministerial exception.” When the church appealed the decision, the United States government argued that the state had the power to determine whether there really was a proper basis to fire the minister. The Supreme Court overturned the Sixth Circuit, but the federal government was on the other side. 

There are well-publicized instances of the state taking a child away from a parent who wished to protect their child from what is called “transition,” but is sterilization and amputation of healthy body-parts, the poor child believes the body to not be who they “really” are.

You may think, “Yes, but I am a biblical counselor in a church, not a photographer at wedding, I’m not making a hiring decision, I’m not a parent who has lost her child to sterilization.”  If this begins to sound like Martin Niemöller’s famous lines, “First they came for the Communists …,” you should realize that they are not that-far from you.

Consider this: There are state laws which prohibit licensed therapists from counseling minors against same sex attraction and behavior.

As will be discussed below in chapter 2, the activity which you undertake in providing counsel is functionally identical to conduct of a licensed counselor. I want you to imagine that a high school student, the child of a family in the church is brought to you, unwillingly, by the parents of a child. The parents ask you to “fix” their child. You gently and patiently explain to child that the Scripture has very clear instructions on sexual behavior. You explain that a very strong desire to do something, even an inability to not understand how one could not desire to do a thing, does not make a thing right in the eyes of God. You sympathize with the difficulty this will be for them, but counsel against this sin.

This teenager, who already resents his parents, goes to the local “human rights” attorney, who then sues you for (1) practicing psychotherapy without a license, and (2) violating the fundamental policy of the state. You will be brought before a judge, who must be re-elected to maintain her pension, and a jury who belongs to the culture at large and which thinks you at best outdated. Your scriptural counsel will be called hate speech. 

Wait, you will say, the government will not concern itself with what a pastor says to his congregation! This would ignore instances, such as the mayor of Houston (through an outside group) subpoenaing the texts of sermons of local pastors to look for “troublesome” language.

And so, you lose at the trial court. You then bring your case to the 10th Circuit, say (who already believes Christians must be compelled to approve of same-sex marriage). 

We need to understand where the law is today, and where the law will likely be tomorrow. There are many fine attorneys who have advocated on behalf of the freedom of religion. Some of those attorneys have contributed to this book. We know that God is sovereign. 

However, we also know that God expects us to exercise wisdom. “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” (Prov. 22:3) This book is not meant to cause fear, but rather is a call for the exercise of wisdom. Since most biblical counselors will not have legal experience, we written this book to give what we have experience.

New Creatures in an Old Creation

25 Tuesday May 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Mortification, Uncategorized

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Biblical Counsleing, Identity, Mortification, New Creation

All human beings are born into the wrong world. As we look more closely and consider the particulars, we see we are born into the wrong time and the wrong place; the wrong city and the wrong century. Sometimes it seems we are born into the wrong family and are born with the wrong skin.

This is the trouble of the Fall: We were created for a Garden, but we were born into a wilderness. We created with dominion over creation, to keep and care; but we are born under domination, in world of dominion run amuck. We were created royalty and live as serfs. We were created to live forever and born with a body programmed to fail. Everywhere, the cosmos may have space for us to live, but at the same moment contains snares which catch and kill. Even the sun and the water present danger as we need them both.

If the trouble were merely external, perhaps we could bear it with equanimity. But we are born subject to irrational, deceitful desires:

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 

Ecclesiastes 9:3 (ESV) 

There is the default to human existence. You need do nothing to achieve madness, or sorrow, or death. As Ms. Dickinson wryly wrote:

Because I could not stop for Death – 
He kindly stopped for me 

It takes no effort to die.

There is no solution to this trouble within the scope of this creation. The brokenness of the creation cannot be mended from the inside. It as if one is an ancient wooden ship in the heart of the sea while the hurricane roars and the planks break and the water charges in. How will you mend the breach? You cannot come to shore and prepare the wood and patch the break.  You will be able to make planks from water as you will be able to remedy the world. 

The One who has cursed the whole is greater than all the creation besides. The certainty of the end will not be moved. 

And us, we cannot look to us to escape this doom. The insanity of my heart will never be repaired by my insane heart. The efforts of your insanity will not cure me. How will the mad ever cure the mad?

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.

“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”

“How do you know I’m mad,” said Alice.

“You must be, said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

And the enemy Death stands as the absolute bar. It will not be avoided. Even if someone managed to drag their corpse 1,000 years into the future, Death would still be waiting. At 1,000 years more, Death would have been there first. 

And what of those 2,000 years? Will the depraved heart be avoided? Will time finally make you good and wise? Will you rise above the common lot of humanity? 

Since no one here gets out alive, the only solution must be to somehow find a door out. The Creation being under a curse; the sentence in stone, irreversible.  As Thomas Brooks wrote centuries ago, “This world at last shall be burnt for a witch.”

No remedy could come from ourselves, we being too weak, too contingent, too mad. The remedy of God is not spare the present evil, but to rescue us from the same:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 

Galatians 1:3–4 (ESV). We receive papers to become citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20). We are made “new creatures” and are reconciled to God in this new identity:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 (ESV). And we, as new creations, reconciled to God, bearing the righteousness of Christ await the New Creation, the New Heavens and the New Earth where sin, sorrow, death have been forever put away. “Behold,” says God “I am making all things new.” (Rev. 21:5)

And yet, despite such good news, a difficulty remains. We are rescued, but not yet. We are bound for the Promised Land, and we are living in the wilderness. We are made new creatures, but at present hold an earnest expectation of our full inheritance. A now which tarries over a “little while” (and O how that “little while” can seem), we are grieved with various trials.

We are going to the New Creation, but we are present in the Old. The scent of death still clings to everything we possess. The Creation is doomed and everywhere shows signs of groaning, as it too awaits its redemption.

That is a trouble indeed, but it is not the worst trouble we face in our new status. We are new creations, and yet seemingly not. It can seem more that we have awakened to a heightened sense of trouble, rather than having been delivered. As Thomas Manton wrote, “We are not yet out of gunshot till we come to the end of our race, and are conquerors over all opposition.” (Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 20 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1874), 79.)

Think of this more carefully. We are plainly said to be set free from sin:

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 

Romans 6:5–10 (ESV) Here he says that we have been set free from sin. And in just another few sentences he will write, “For sin will not have dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Rom. 6:14) We look to John’s first letter and read, “By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” (1 John 2:3)

And it seems by logic that being a New Creature, I should look the part. And yet, John also writes, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8). If we have no sin upon salvation, then why the detailed instructions to all the churches? Why are we told that if we confess our sins, we will be cleansed? 

Perhaps we need to stop and consider the utter depth and persistence of sin. Someone may consider themselves to be freed from sin. Have you avoided even the thought of lust or anger? Can you say that you have loved God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? And what of enemies? Do you love them. Do you pray for them? Do you bless them?  And have you done this utter humility without the tinge of pride? Has all been for God’s glory, alone?

You see, sin sticks more closely to the new creature than may have at first seemed possible. This is why the Scripture records sin even in the best of saints. Luther in his first Thesis wrote, “The whole life of believers should be repentance.”

How then has this serpent managed to find his way into the life of the New Creature? Where does this monster make its den? Paul says it clings to us as flesh. And what could be nearer than flesh? James shows the danger in our own desire:

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 

James 1:14–15 (ESV) And so, Paul writes to the Romans whom he said were freed from sin to murder sin:

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 

Romans 8:12–13 (ESV). This whole thing becomes seemingly more confused. How will this take place? There are myriad of issues and errors which can arise as we contemplate this instruction. But there is one which I particularly wish to consider: We cannot put sin to death without a change of identity.

Let us ignore for a moment the many things which are present in this command and look carefully at this element: The death of sin is not merely the death of this or that desire, this or that behavior. It is not as if a perfect being will be revealed if I merely scrub off the mud. 

Sin is far more dangerous and damaging than that. To be this New Creature means something far more profound that teaching me manners and buying me new clothes. It means becoming someone else — and yet to become whom I was created to be. It means to shed sin and shame in a manner for more fundamental than can easily be understood. 

The Scripture uses words life-death, resurrection and burial, renewal. Look at these seemingly simple words:

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:9–10 (ESV)

You could read this and see the old self is put off, the new self is put on, I now just need to tidy-up. But look more carefully at verse 10: to be the New Self is to be in the process of transformation. The New Self in possession today is not the end but the beginning. The mortification of sin, the forgetting those things which lie behind and pressing on, is a process of becoming something else. 

If you come to grips with this idea, it is disorienting. Perhaps we think of the person who has led a dramatically chaotic life who comes to Christ, gets a job, and gives to others and marries and raises children. Certainly, there is a radical-change, and we all appreciate it and give God glory for such a thing. 

But what I am saying here is that the depth of the change is far deeper than giving up the most damaging of overt behaviors. We must give up an idol of self which is more fundamental in our thinking than we easily understand.

We give up this self, we crucify this self – not in the self-abnegation of mysticism, but in the utter transformation of new life in light of the Resurrection of Christ. 

I have seen that one reason mortification is so impossible and some much good counsel goes to waste and so many believers struggle dejectedly with sin is that we seek to mortify sin without mortifying self; we seek to remain ourselves and merely shed our sin. But we are called to become something new.

Go back to that language of New Creation. It is not a promise that we will be ourselves with a ticket to the Promised Land. It is a promise that we are and will become something which we were not before. 

And so rather than simply seek to hammer away at persistent sin by resistance, we are called up to become someone for whom such sins are unthinkable. Sin should be as strange to us as cuddling a porcupine or drinking lava.

How then is this new identity – because it is nothing less than a new identity – formed?

George Swinnock, The Christian Man’s Calling, 1.4b

25 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in George Swinock, Preaching, Rhetoric

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Exhortation, George Swinnock, godliness, Preaching, Rhetoric, The Christian Man's Calling

This is a continuation of working through George Swinnock’s The Godly Man’s Picture. The previous post on this may be found here. In this post I primarily look at the introductory exhortation to pursue godliness with industry. It is a remarkable rhetorical exercise, demonstrating a great mastery over language. It is the sort of language which would make someone from a far future culture wonder if this constitutes “poetry”, in that the language is so compressed and controlled. Not only do I find such control of language fascinating, I also think that a great deal of preaching and teaching in the church would be improved by a greater ability to express propositions not merely with theological accuracy, but also with a passion which matches the content and helps the listener both understand and apply the exhortation. When the expression of the truth contradicts the purpose and content of the truth, we actually make it harder for the turth to have the desired effect. Yes, God can use the most incompetent speaker; but there is no reason we should strive to maximize our incompetence.

B.        Pursue Godliness With Industry:

1.         He is laborious in his efforts

2.         He takes advantage of all opportunity to be godly.

Secondly, To make religion one’s business, containeth [includes the concept] to pursue it with industry in our conversations. 

He then follows this proposition up with an expansion of the concept. I have broken it down by clauses and grouping so that the overall structure of this exhortation can be seen clearly. I will note the rhetorical elements below

A man that makes his calling his business 

is not lazy, but laborious about it; 

what pains will he take! 

what strength will he spend! 

how will he toil and moil at it early and late! 

The tradesman, 

the husbandman, 

eat not the bread of idleness, 

when they make their callings their business; 

if they be good husbands, 

they are both provident to observe their seasons, 

and diligent to improve them for their advantage; 

they do often even dip their food in their sweat, 

and make it thereby the more sweet. 

Their industry appears in working hard in their callings, 

and in improving all opportunities for the furtherance of their callings.

The rhetoric. This passage is extremely well constructed. He uses a variety devices to make the exhortation stirring and interesting. He does not over use one device. As you will see, he doubles but does not triple. We will start at the first stanza:

A man that makes his calling his business 

is not lazy, but laborious about it; 

The first line: Alliteration: man … makes . It is also iambic a MAN that MAKES. 

There is then the repetition of the his in parallel phrase “his business his calling” 

The second line is structured like a line of Anglo-Saxon poetry: there is a major break in the line. One either side of the break there is a strong accent which is matched by an alliterative strong accent on the other side of the line: is not LAZY, but LABORIOUS. The line is further helped by the lack of an “is” before Laborious. A perfectly parallel line would read, “is not lazy, but is laborious”. By dropping the “is”, the line gains speed and power. There is then the near rhyme: laborious about it. If you drop the “l” is it aborious about it. There is finally the “b” which marks the two line end words: “business/about”

Second stanza:

what pains will he take! 

what strength will he spend! 

how will he toil and moil at it early and late! 

The first two lines are near repetitions:

WHAT pains WILL HE take

WHAT strength WILL HE spend. 

Note also that “p” “t” are both plosives. Thus, will note a strict alliteration, it does create a parallel sound.  In the second line we have an alliterative “s” with a reversal of the order of the plosives. Note the structure of the sounds in the words which were not duplicated:

P   – T

ST- SP

In the third line we read:

how will he toil and moil at it early and late! 

Moil is a now-archaic word, which means work or drudgery and was common in this stock phrase, “toil and moil”. Looking at the Google N-gram, the word was quite rare in 1800, being primary found in dictionaries. By 1820, the word seems to have disappeared altogether. 

This third line repeats and rephrases the previous two lines in concept: the laborer will work very hard. But here he balances the line by means two stock phrases “toil and moil/early and late”. By running out this longer line and adding in the stock phrases, he slows the entire movement of the passage down. It has the effect of giving the reader’s “ear” a rest. 

In the third stanza he creates an “if-then” structure:

if they be good husbands, 

they are both provident to observe their seasons, 

and diligent to improve them for their advantage; 

they do often even dip their food in their sweat, 

and make it thereby the more sweet. 

The “then” conclusions are each a pair of clauses, both of which are marked with a “they”: they are both/they do often. The “if” clause likewise pivots on the word “they” If they be.

they are both provident to observe their seasons, 

and diligent to improve them for their advantage; 

they do often even dip their food in their sweat, 

and make it thereby the more sweet. 

The first of these paired clauses are both three beat lines: provident-observe-seasons/diligent-improve-advantage. The opening beat: provident/diligent rhyme which further strengths the parallel.

The second then clause: What is most striking if the near-rhyme: sweat/sweet. I don’t know precisely how Swinnock would have pronounced these words, but it is possible there were even closer in sound when he spoke them. In the first line there is the repeated “d” including the addition of the unnecessary “do” they DO often even DIP their fooD.

The final stanza is not nearly so musical as the previous stanzas: the lines are longer the effects are less. These two lines are marked by concluding both lines with the same phrase “their callings” (I have not named all the various effects. This particular device is called “epistrophe”. The names and uses of these devices can be found at the excellent webpage: http://rhetoric.byu.edu)

Their industry appears in working hard in their callings, 

and in improving all opportunities for the furtherance of their callings.

Developing Theological Tools for Biblical Counseling to Evaluate Psychological Propositions

09 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Journal of Biblical Soul Care, knowledge, Presupposition, Theology

(The following is a draft introduction for an article for the Journal of Biblical Soul Care.)

An underlying issue when considering the application and usefulness of any proposition or theory from what is called “psychology” lies with the nature of the theological commitments which make possible or which are inherent in any such proposition of theory. By means of this essay, I hope to begin to provide some tools for the analysis of psychologies. 

To take the simplest example, one must begin with some rather remarkably non-Christian presuppositions and commitments to hold that the psychology of Freud or Jung constitute accurate views of the human being. Indeed, both Freud and Jung (to cherry-pick two examples) require explicit commitments about God to be received as accurate theological constructs. Merely read Freud’s The Future of an Illusion or anything by Jung on the collective unconscious and you will see you are in the midst of a fundamentally non-Christian worldview.

One could easily contend that I do not need to swallow whole Freud’s wish-fulfillment theories of God to find his discussion of the unconscious useful. Nor must I follow Jung into his introduction to the Tibetan Book of the Dead to find something useful in his consideration of the shadow-self and the integration into wholeness. 

But to think that I can lay hold of one proposition and not drag along other commitments is naïve. It is like picking up a twig tangled in web with a spider and her eggs hitching along for the ride. This is not to say that we can never consider an observation made by a non-Christian. But such an interaction requires substantial nuance. 

From a biblical perspective, there must be biblical justification for the use of such “foreign” doctrines.[1]

There are a couple of theories which have been advanced to support such interaction. One theory has been reliance upon the supposed scope of common grace. However, as I have demonstrated in the prior to essays, there is no basis from common grace to support a wholesale appropriate of assured results of modern academic or clinical psychology broadly stated. I proposed a three-tiered structure of various types of psychology, ranging from physiological, sociological observation, and finally clinical theories. I proposed varying degrees of use we could make of this work.

The other major justification for integration[2] is based upon the example of Solomon who unquestionably interacts with traditional wisdom form Egypt in the book of Proverbs.[3]

This interaction of Solomon with non-Israelite wisdom has been raised specifically as a point in the discussion of the “integration” of biblical counseling and secular psychologies. John Hilber, having reviewed the use of “foreign” sources of wisdom in the drafting of his proverbs, made the following conclusions: 

The implications of these examples for the question of integration in counseling are significant. First, some situations call for expertise from specialists within the covenant community, namely, professional counselors. Second, wisdom is creative and often unconventional. Methods of counseling intervention are not limited to those techniques that can be derived explicitly from Scripture. Third, the use of the Bible in counseling is not mandatory in order for the counseling to be “biblical.”[4]

The argument that Solomon’s usage justifies any usage I determine to make is problematic, because it presumes that I have the wisdom of Solomon so as to know what and how to proceed.  Here is selection from another Egyptian sage, what should a wise Christian do with this?

    Trust not a brother, know not a friend,

    Make no (5) intimates, it is worthless.

    When you lie down, guard your heart yourself,

    For no man has adherents on the day of woe.[5]

Do I accept it? Do I reject it because it contradicts the Bible elsewhere? If I reject because it contradicts the Scripture, then what do I do with propositions which are ambiguously related to Scripture. But perhaps this example from Charles Dickens will make the matter more clear. Solomon compares the diligent to the ant. What about bees? Bees certainly are a good example:

‘Thankee, sir, thankee,’ returned that gentleman. ‘And how do YOU like the law?’ ‘A–not particularly,’ returned Eugene. ‘Too dry for you, eh? Well, I suppose it wants some years of sticking to, before you master it. But there’s nothing like work. Look at the bees.’

‘I beg your pardon,’ returned Eugene, with a reluctant smile, ‘but will you excuse my mentioning that I always protest against being referred to the bees?’ 

‘Do you!’ said Mr Boffin. 

‘I object on principle,’ said Eugene, ‘as a biped–‘ 

‘As a what?’ asked Mr Boffin. 

‘As a two-footed creature;–I object on principle, as a two-footed creature, to being constantly referred to insects and four-footed creatures. I object to being required to model my proceedings according to the proceedings of the bee, or the dog, or the spider, or the camel. I fully admit that the camel, for instance, is an excessively temperate person; but he has several stomachs to entertain himself with, and I have only one. Besides, I am not fitted up with a convenient cool cellar to keep my drink in.’ 

‘But I said, you know,’ urged Mr Boffin, rather at a loss for an answer, ‘the bee.’

‘Exactly. And may I represent to you that it’s injudicious to say the bee? For the whole case is assumed. Conceding for a moment that there is any analogy between a bee, and a man in a shirt and pantaloons (which I deny), and that it is settled that the man is to learn from the bee (which I also deny), the question still remains, what is he to learn? To imitate? Or to avoid? When your friends the bees worry themselves to that highly fluttered extent about their sovereign, and become perfectly distracted touching the slightest monarchical movement, are we men to learn the greatness of Tuft-hunting, or the littleness of the Court Circular? I am not clear, Mr Boffin, but that the hive may be satirical.’ 

‘At all events, they work,’ said Mr Boffin. 

‘Ye-es,’ returned Eugene, disparagingly, ‘they work; but don’t you think they overdo it? They work so much more than they need–they make so much more than they can eat–they are so incessantly boring and buzzing at their one idea till Death comes upon them–that don’t you think they overdo it? And are human labourers to have no holidays, because of the bees? And am I never to have change of air, because the bees don’t? Mr Boffin, I think honey excellent at breakfast; but, regarded in the light of my conventional schoolmaster and moralist, I protest against the tyrannical humbug of your friend the bee. With the highest respect for you.’[6]

You see, it is not so simple as it may seem.  

Beginning in this essay the goal will be to take a closer look at the propositions of “psychology” broadly stated and provide tools for detailed evaluation. The criteria I proposed for reliance upon common grace as a basis for interacting with secular psychologies, while useful (I trust) is not sufficient. 

It is the thesis of this examination that our utilization or examination of any “secular” proposition begin with the nature of the theological commitments which make the proposition possible. If that is unclear, and I admit it will take some unpacking, I trust the actual work of examining theological commitments will be made plain as we work through the types of information offered to us by “psychology.”

In proceeding with this examination I will assume familiarity with the previous two essays as proceeding chapters in a long argument concerning the relationship between Biblical Soul Care and the work of other men and women having been done concerning what can broadly be stated as psychology. “Psychology” includes far more than the work of modern “scientific” psychology, and entails a great deal of work done by explicitly Christian thinkers pertaining to pastoral work and theology.

I will examine psychology under the three-tiered categorization which I posited in the previous essay (fully granting all of the limitations of a broadly stated categorization) and will examine the theological commitments in the following areas: Epistemology, Anthropology, Teleology, and Methodology.  The last three make a neat acronym, ATM. I could offer “TEAM”, but that acronym does not follow the levels of analysis which are necessary to make this work properly. The best I could do is EAT’M,  which one can use if it helps!

The Importance of Understanding the Theological Basis for Facts and Observations

Facts are not merely about to picked-up as so many pebbles on the beach. The very decision to look for facts, what facts to look for; the determination of the beginning and ending of a fact as a segregable unit of information; et cetera are all determined by some prior commitment. 

As a practical matter, we rarely consider the nature of our knowledge. We look at the world, draw conclusions, et cetera without intensive thought on the matter. Unless and until we need to communicate with someone who operates on a different basis and with a different set of presuppositions, we do not even need to consider the nature of our knowledge. 

The scope of commitments and the nature of knowledge is not perfectly identical between any two human beings. However, the difficulty in communicating in most instances amounts to slight “misunderstandings.” As we expand the number of differences between any two humans, the degree of difficulty increases. The task of “translation” needs to be further formalized.

We understand this need for translation when it comes to language, moving between Spanish and English, for instance. But we are also aware of the need to engage in the task of cultural translations. 

What I am proposing here is the work knowledge translation as move between a biblical and a non-biblical worldview. If we were to reject every instance of  information which was not expressly derived by those holding a biblical understanding of reality, it would be impossible to function in this world. Yet, if we unquestionably receive all “so-called knowledge” without critical analysis, we will find our souls poisoned by the rankest heresies. 

The Four Basic Issues of Knowledge:

In the essay, “Epistemology and the Mirror of Nature,” Michael Williams lists out four perennial issues concerning the nature of knowledge:

1. The analytical problem. What is knowledge? (Or, if we prefer, what do we, or should we, mean by “knowledge”?) For example, how is (or should) knowledge be distinguished from mere belief or opinion? What we want here, ideally, is a precise explication or analysis of the concept of knowledge.  

2. The problem of demarcation. There are two sub-problems here. The first concerns whether we can determine, in some principled way, what sorts of things we might reasonably expect to know about? Or, as is sometimes said, what are the scope and limits of human knowledge? Do some subjects lie within the province of knowledge while others are fated to remain in the province of opinion, or even faith? Since the aim here is to draw a boundary separating the province of knowledge from other cognitive domains, we call this the “external” boundary (or demarcation) problem. But there is also an internal boundary problem. We may wonder whether we should think of knowledge as all of a piece Or there importantly different kinds of knowledge: for example, a priori and a posteriori knowledge?

3. The problem of method. How is knowledge obtained or sought? Is there just one way, or are there several, depending on the sort of knowledge in question? (Here the problem of method interacts with the internal demarcation problem.) Furthermore, can we improve our ways of seeking knowledge? 

4. The problem of skepticism. Given the existence of seemingly intuitive skeptical arguments, why suppose that knowledge is even possible? 196

We cannot deal with all of these problems in these essays. But what you must understand is that even the very fact of knowledge has become an increasingly difficult problem for everyone.  

Some Examples of How Presuppositions Effect the Content of Knowledge

Let us we perform an experiment and we consider only are searching for something which we can see with our eyes. We flip a switch; a light goes on. Since we have not utilized any mechanism which can “observe” electricity, we have no fact of electricity. And thus we conclude that some magical substance which does not move through physical space causes the light to go on when we flip the switch.

The example is obvious, because we “know” what we are looking for – electricity. But that is the point; it is only when we know what to look for that we can find a thing. A thing which is not sought will not be found. 

Or what of this example involving Jesus:

14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”

Luke 11:14–15 (ESV). Much of the original audience for Jesus’ miracles had difficulty knowing what to make of this man. The fact of the exorcism was not in dispute – the understanding, the meaning of the event was profoundly disputed. In order to understand the event which everyone observed, one must begin with some other body of knowledge, presuppositions which underlay the observed event. Understanding those presuppositions is critical if we are to evaluate the meaning of a report from this exorcism.

Let’s take a look from the perspective of Michael Williams’ four question: If I have been present at the event, what “knowledge” do I actually possess. How can I go about determining what there is to know about this strange circumstance? Do my senses provide sufficient knowledge? How and should expectations or presuppositions fill out my “knowledge.” Should I consult such expectations or should use some other skill? What is the beginning and ending of the “facts” at issue?

Imagine speaking to two different observers. One person says God has visited Israel in the work of this prophet Jesus of Nazareth (his Divinity being an even more difficult matter to comprehend). Today this prophet cast out a demon. A second observer says that Satan is deceiving the people through all manner of lying miracles. If we imagine a more skeptical observer we would have this report: Today a person suffering from a psychosomatic psychological delusion immediately snapped out of his self-inflicted insanity at the suggestion of a remarkably persuasive man.

The different events were the result of three different sets of presuppositions.[7]

Consider this example draw from psychology. A study determines that Finland is the happiest country in the world, and that some aspect of Finnish society causes this happiness.

Happiness is certainly not contrary to the Scripture or orthodox Christianity. Now consider these remarkably different understandings of happiness. The Puritan Thomas Manton writes:

Christians, a man that flows in wealth and honour, till he be pardoned, is not a happy man. A man that lives afflicted, contemned, not taken notice of in the world, if he be a pardoned sinner, oh, the blessedness of that man! They are not happy that have least trouble, but they that have least cause[8].

Christ, in the Sermon on the Mount, begins with a series propositions of what makes a person “blessed” (supremely happy): poor in spirit, meekness, sorrow, hunger and thirsting after righteousness, being persecuted. Compare those prerequisites for happiness with this academic conclusion from John Reich, Emeritus Professor at the University of Arizona:

Based on clinical interviews and self-report measures I’ve initiated and studied, I believe that happiness is being aware not only of the positive events that occur in your life but also that you yourself are the cause of these events–that you can create them, that you control their occurrence, and that you play a major role in the good things that happen to you.[9]

I am not here to contend with Dr. Reich. What I merely mean to underscore is that Jesus and John Reich have fundamentally different understandings of what constitutes and causes “happiness.” Thus, when I consider the Finnish report on happiness, I need to understand the basis of what is even meant by “happiness.” 

Or consider perhaps the clearer example a dinosaur bone. In recent years, much to the surprise of the paleontologists who have found them, dinosaur bones and fossils have shown up with remarkably well-preserved soft tissue. In some cases, proteins have been retrieved from the remains. That is the fact. But the meaning of the fact is a point of some contention. Does this mean that the bones are not 65,000,000 years old; or does it mean that the mechanics of tissue preservation have been wrong and that such tissue can does resist the grinding of time? The answer to that question rests upon other foundations and presumptions.[10]

Thus, when we consider some proposition from academic psychology or therapy, we cannot start with the ultimate proposition. Rather, we must understand the theological cradle in which that fact was laid. To start with the wisdom of Amenemope does not help us understand what that wisdom means or even what sayings of the dead sage or even wise. 

We need not necessarily shy away from consideration of the Egyptians’ learning; but also need to as wary of their words as we would a serpent in our arms.

One further example may help here. 

The Arians and the Son is Like the Father: The whole history of this matter can be found any competent church history. Briefly, there were those in the early church (the heretics later known as Arians) who held the Son was like the Father. In Greek, the pertinent word was homoiousios. The church however, at the Council of Nicea, concluded this was wrong: The Son was the same substance as the Father, homoousios. 

For the average pastor busy dealing with the troubles of a congregation the difference between the two: like and the same, separated by a single letter, likely seemed insignificant. Of course the Son is like the Father, it is the nature of sons to be like fathers. But the real issue was whether the Son and the Father were of the same “ousia” (and so that I do not take a topic from which I may never return, I will leave the matter there and direct you to competent theologies). The “average” pastor would most likely not known what he was dealing with. The Arians, who supported the Son is like knew better. As Church historian Jaroslav Pelikan writes: 

In many ways Arianism was more aware of the nuances of the trinitarian problem than its critics were. It compelled them, in turn, to avoid the oversimplifications to which church theology was prone.[11]

If an average pastor accepted the language of like rather than same, he had set his theology on a disastrous trajectory. The Arians knew what they were doing; but it took work to teach the orthodox what was at stake.[12] A similar problem presents itself when dealing with non-biblical accounts of human psychology. We need to understand precisely what we have before us.

Before we can take hold any “fact,” “conclusion,” or “study,” we first need to understand precisely the nature of what we have before us.


[1] From the perspective of biblical soul care, the counseling of a fellow human being is not merely the mollification of emotions, the easing of pain, the relief of depression. We are not in the therapeutic business of helping people feel better as an end in itself. We have the overarching duty of making disciples. All other things must be subordinated to glorifying God and enjoying him forever. A psychological practice that ameliorated the troubled conscience of an adulterer and left him without repentance would be good therapy and a disaster for soul care. Thus, when we make use of some proposition beyond the bible we must be careful that we do engage in syncretism. 

[2] One could simply decide they would integrate non-Christian and biblical principles into counseling without any particular theory or justification. But, should one seek to justify that use from a biblical perspective, the two options are common grace or the example of Solomon. I have seen variants, but in the end these variants are simply restatements of either of these theories.

[3] See discussions regarding the Proverbs of Amenemope, and Prov 22:22–24:22. See, e.g., “Discovery and Debate Over the Relationship to Proverbs” Richard Halloran, “Amenemope, Instruction of,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016);” Rowland E. Murphy, Proverbs, vol. 22, Word Biblical Commentary, “Excursus on the Book of Proverbs and Amenemope” (Dallas: Thomas Nelson, 1998), 290;  John W. Hilber, “Old Testament Wisdom and the Integration Debate in Christian Counseling,” Bibliotheca Sacra 155 (1998): 411.

[4] John W. Hilber, “Old Testament Wisdom and the Integration Debate in Christian Counseling,” Bibliotheca Sacra 155 (1998): 420 (fn. omitted).

[5] Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973–), 136.

[6] Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend. 

[7] Another way in which we could think of these circumstances is under the rubric of “social imaginary,” a term coined by Charles Taylor. He defines this briefly as “the way that we collectively imagine, even pre-theoretically, our social life”. Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007), 146. As he develops this concept it comes to mean that which could conceive to be possible.  My great grandmother, an American Indian born in Texas, taught me that if you cut your hair while the moon was waxing it would grow back better than if you cut your hair when the moon was waning. I cannot even conceive of that being potentially true, but my great grandmother could not conceive of the world operating otherwise.

[8] Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 2, “Twenty Sermons” (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1871), 188.

[9] John Reich and Ed Diener, “The Road to Happiness,” Pyschology Today, July 1, 1994, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/199407/the-road-happiness.

[10] For a discussion of such issues, begin here: David F. Coppedge, “Evolutionists Gloss Over Implications of Dinosaur Tissue Remains,” Creation Evolution Headlines, December 22, 2020, https://crev.info/2020/12/evolutionists-gloss-over-implications-of-dinosaur-tissue-remains/.

[11] Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600), vol. 1, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600) (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), 200.

[12] A similar sort of naivety is apparent in the relationship of contemporary Christians pastor when they interact with not merely psychology of various sorts, but the contemporary espousals of “critical theory” in its various forms. Even the supposedly well-informed make statements that are either foolish, overly simplistic, or simply cynical deceptions. 

Philip Rieff, The Triumph of the Therapeutic 4.4 (with some notes on current Church)

29 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in Apologetics, Psychology

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Apologetics, Christ and Culture, Philip Rieff, The Triumph of the Therapeutic

The pervious post in this series concerning Rieff may be found here: https://memoirandremains.com/2020/08/28/philip-rieff-the-triumph-of-the-therapeutic-4-3/

In the remainder of the book, Rieff is going to examine what various disciples of Freud did with Freud’s original work. Thus, we will examine Jung, Wilhelm Reich, and D.H. Lawrence. But before he turns to these men who developed the ideas of Freud in strikingly different directions, Rieff considers those who make up the mass of psychoanalysts. In the main, Rieff has little good say about such practioners.

The fault, as I read Rieff, is that the analysts follow Freud so well. The practice of psychoanalysis is not to construct some new culture but rather to free one from the symbolic world which they have internalized. As such, it is a sort of indefinite project, but the world which followed Freud domesticated it, Freud “could cope with his enemies; his friends defeated him.” (85) 

Those who take up the practice have attended “trade schools” (89) who wish to take up a quiet, stable, “suburb[an]” life.

The need for conflict with opposing structures is necessary to keep the disciple alive, “As an ultimate rule of organization, honesty is death to organization itself. Reticence, forbearance, tolerance – these civilities and hypocrisies are necessary to organized life.” (91)

To that extent his epilogue is of little interest except as an observation. What I do find interesting is an observation he makes early in this section. He notes that orthodoxy is sharpened in conflict: which is a point Harold O.J. Brown made in his work Heresies.

It is at this point he makes a point which may be of some encouragement to Christianity at this point in the West, “Nowadays, the world is full of tame Christians; in consequence, the churches are empty of life, if not of people.” (84) The Church seems to suffer worse from excess of ease than even trial (which seems to be true for us personally as well).  Thus, our current conflict may be of use by putting the church into a position where it may critique the culture rather than be overly at home. 

While there are various positions which have been offered by many, such as Niebuhr’s Christ & Culture, (Christ Against Culture, Christ of Culture, Christ Above Culture, Christ and Culture in Paradox, Christ the Transformer of Culture), Luther’s Two Kingdoms, and so on. All of these positions have shown themselves to be useful at some times and places, and disastrous at others. 

When the Netherlands can elect a Kuyper as Prime Minister, Christianity is a position to influence culture in a way that the Baptist in the Gulag of A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich could never dream. When being an influence entails comprising, then the church must take a prophetic stance. There are issues on which the church has no dogmatic position (should the capital gains tax be 15% or 20% on securities held over five years but less than ten?). But there are issues where the Church – if it has a public voice, cannot remain silent.

There are issues of wisdom: At what point does one confront the state; at which point should the church retreat? The church in the West (this is not to prioritize the Western church, nor to ignore the very real troubles faced throughout the world; it is simply I know far more about where I live and what I experience than things which I learn secondhand. I simply wish to avoid speaking where beyond what I could reasonably know) is coming to face increasing troubles from a direction it did not expect. 

In the early 20th century, the church on one-side retreated from intellectual engagement with a hostile culture. Another element of the visible compromised. The space of engagement deepened theological positions in many areas and gave us an apologetic and social voice. 

Now we are facing an entirely new challenge for which the church broadly is not ready. Even the previous secular adversaries of the church have little idea on how to respond. But as Rieff noted in connection with Freud’s tame disciples, conflict can deepen and sharpen our thinking. Let’s pray that God gives us the wisdom for our age.

The Unique Challenges of Managing a Church (or other Christian organization)

27 Wednesday Jan 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in Ministry, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Church Administration, Church Conflict, love

This is an early draft of the introduction to a series of courses which will cover issues related to Church Administration. In this section I try to explain why church management face issues which simply are not present in any other equivalent enterprise. If anyone has a comment or correct on the direction which I intend to develop the course work, please comment. I am attempting something I have not seen dealt with elsewhere in this manner:

INTRODUCTION

Having spent decades sorting out conflicts within and between businesses, families, landlords and tenants; and having had decades experience within multiple churches (inside leadership and with outside counsel), I have concluded that the complications and difficulties faced by the one who “runs” a church organization are far greater and often more insolvable than the problems which face the CEO of a corporation or the manager of an apartment building.

These difficulties lie in the seemingly inconsistent obligations which confront the church as a public entity, as an internal structure, and which arise in leadership. 

Some of these problems can only be faced and resolved when they arise. Some problems “come out of nowhere” and cannot be anticipated. (We will speak about how to prepare for the unavoidable and unforeseen problems during this coursework.)

We cannot prevent the unavoidable; but we should avoid “self-inflicted wounds.” Many of the problems faced by a church were problems built-into the original formation of the church. Churches begin as some sort of “plant.” The planted church must make a number of decisions. Often these decisions are made without much thought and without any training. 

The pastor who plants the church approaches this task with a seminary degree which has prepared him with an overview of church history, doctrine, and certain practices such as prayer, preaching, evangelism. He has been trained to do the primary task of shepherding, but comes to the work with little or no knowledge of business formation, managing employees, leasing a building, or responding to threats of lawsuits based something said from the pulpit. 

This understandable ignorance leads to poor decisions which create future problems. The lack of knowledge in these areas will lead to poor responses to arising problems. The result will be new problems. And because these problems arise in a church, the latest management advice cannot be received and implemented in the same way it could be used in a hardware store. In fact, many churches have failed because the leadership ran the church as if it were any other business. (And other churches have failed because they ignored the very same issues.)

We are going to provide you guidance through these troubles. We will start at the beginning with business formation issues. We will also try to provide some direction about how to restructure and resolves issues which are present at an existing organization where you have come to work. 

Up until this point, I have spoken of problems in the abstract. If you have experience in the leadership of a church, you have already begun in your mind to list problems you have experienced (and if you have been the leadership of a church for any length of time, you have unquestionably faced serious questions). If you are new to church leadership, you had best be prepared for sorrow.

Some years ago, I was speaking with a pastor friend who was facing a problem which threatened to destroy the entire congregation. He was looking for help with this problem. He said the problem was so bad, that he was looking for a Clint Eastwood character from a spaghetti western with a scar on his cheek and an ammunition belt slung over his soldier. 

There will be days when it seems that only such a character could help. But we trust when you complete this coursework, you be able to avoid the need for such extraordinary efforts. 

A Quick Overview of the Problems Faced by Church Administration

The problems faced by every organization

There are legal and financial duties owed to the various levels of government where you work. It will not be unusual if you must consider differing obligations to the city, the county, the state, and the federal government. These obligations begin with the business structure you create. And, as you will learn, that if you try to avoid this problem by merely starting a congregation without making a formal decision about business structure, you have actually made a decision about business structure. 

You will owe tax records to the state and federal government, and you must prepare tax records for all employees, independent contractors, and donors to the church. 

You will need to make contracts, whether for purchase or lease of real property. If you meet in a home, you will need to consider laws and general obligations respecting permissible conduct in residential locations. 

This course is being written well into the Covid Crisis, which caused churches to face extraordinary public health restrictions which baffled the best Christian minds, brought out a variety of responses, and even resulted in sharp critique of one-another (even conflict) between those who came to differing decisions. 

You will owe legal duties to your employees. The employee duties and obligations within a church are similar and very different than those owed by secular organizations. You provide a working environment which must comply with some standards for all businesses; and you must provide an environment which comports with your duties as Christians generally, as leaders specifically, and as a church. 

You will have the problems faced by every “business” which is open to the public – except that you will be open to and have oversight over infants and octogenarians. There are very few businesses which provide toddler care and instruction, while also providing food to the poor, solace to the wounded, correction to the wayward, instruction to willing. A private day school for 3-year-olds has no duty to care for the child’s great grandmother. 

Those Problems Unique to a Church

The leadership of church cannot be measured on the same ground as business tycoon. Consider the following obituary of the CEO of Scott Paper and Sunbeam:

Swagger, arrogance, ego, “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap had them all. 

The corporate raider — turnaround specialist, if you prefer — boasted about laying off workers. He blasted his corporate brethren’s incompetence for necessitating his slash and burn tactics. He’d name names. 

Hot tempered, he was known to yell at subordinates. 

“If you want to be liked, get a dog,” he was fond of saying.[1]

While this may have made for a good CEO, it would make a failed church leader.

Christians must live with one-another in love:

34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 

John 13:34–35 (ESV). In the “High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus recorded in John 17, the Lord prays:

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

John 17:20–21 (ESV) . These are not abstract principles or bare aspirations. It is a duty incumbent upon every Christian and a duty which adheres peculiarly to the Church as a witness to and in the world. Francis Schaeffer explained the importance of this duty in work The Mark of a Christian:

The church is to be a loving church in a dying culture. How, then, is the dying culture going to consider us? Jesus says, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” In the midst of the world, in the midst of our present culture, Jesus is giving a right to the world. Upon His authority He gives the world the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our observable love toward all Christians.

That’s pretty frightening. Jesus turns to the world and says, “I’ve something to say to you. On the basis of My authority, I give you a right: you may judge whether or not an individual is a Christian on the basis of the love he shows to all Christians.” In other words, if people come up to us and cast in our teeth the judgment that we are not Christians because we have not shown love toward other Christians, we must understand that they are only exercising a prerogative which Jesus gave them.[2]

If we professing believers do not demonstrate visible love to one-another we give the world the right to (1) say that we are not Christians, and (2) say that Jesus was not sent by the Father. In short, if we who lead churches or professing Christian institutions and do not exhibit love we have failed. No CEO has ever been judged a failure because he did not love the sales staff, or accounting, or the administrative assistant. He may have been thought a jerk, but he still could be revered and honored.

Look at the kind of love we must show, “as I have loved you.” John 13:34.

You may think this is going far afield from what is entailed in Church administration: I need to know how to form a non-profit, how to file tax returns, create an employee manual, et cetera. And all those things you must do. But all of those tasks must be completed with the end to fulfill the duty of being a Christian and being a public congregation of Christians[3]. 

We as Christians, and peculiarly as Christians gathered and presented to the world, have a duty not merely stay open and “make money” (which is the duty of a “normal” business). Christian organizations have a duty to act as a witness to the world. This duty involves demonstrable, actual love among the members of the organization. No CEO has ever been presented with the obligation of seeing to it that all the employees love one-another. 

I want you to consider these words on “love” which Paul addressed to the Church at Corinth. But as you consider these words, I want you to note that the first three verses each list some element of public display which someone could raise as proof that their Christian ministry was a success, and to note that these marks of success mean nothing without love:

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 (ESV).  We could add, If I publish and distribute 6,000 books a month and have conferences attended by 10,000 people a quarter and have not love, I am making a lot of noise and collecting a lot of money – but I am nothing. 

Now, I want you to seriously consider the following words and realize that the operation of your church ministry must not only be efficient, professional, effective (as must all businesses), but it also be operated in such a way that it exudes this sort of conduct:

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 (ESV). Or look at the words which Paul addresses to the assembled congregation of Colossians:

8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put-on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 

Colossians 3:8–14 (ESV). These are characteristics which must in the “culture” of your leadership and the culture the employees. It also must be the culture which you must engender among your “customers”. No manufacturer of glass bottles ever had the duty to encouraging meekness among its customers. 

You must understand that as we work through the issues raised in the various employment, financial, and legal matters which we will address throughout this course work, that we must keep in mind the aim of each of these tasks. Paul in his church administration instruction to Timothy wrote that the end of work is to be “love that issues from a pure heart.” (1 Tim. 1:5). 

When you work through materials on non-profit corporations, you will not find instructions on love.

This is what makes Church administration different from running a small business or even managing a non-profit. You will have to do all of the things which are required of any business owner or charity manager. But you also must do this with an eye toward the goal of being a witness to Christ.

The CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation does have the duty of making sure his employees avoid “foolish talk” (Eph. 5:4) or “slander” (Col. 3:8) or “gossip” (2 Cor. 12:20). But we do. No District Manager has ever been written up for failing to make disciples of the Lord (Matt. 28:18-20), but that is our job description. 

If we fail in this, we at the very least face the prospect that all our work will be “burned up” on the Day. (1 Cor. 3:12-15).

Our goal in this course work is to train you in the dual responsibilities of operating within the law of the state, but also to comply with the law of God. These are not things which you will learn from the Nolo Press book on “Non-profit Corporations” nor from a community college course on accounting. 

This course work is unique, and we trust it will be valuable to you.


[1] Brink, Graham. “Remembering ‘chainsaw’ Al Dunlap, Ruthless Corporate Cost Cutter and Big-Time Fsu Donor.” Tampa Bay Times, January 29, 2019, www.tampabay.com/business/remembering-chainsaw-al-dunlap-ruthless-corporate-cost-cutter-and-big-time-fsu-donor-20190129/.

[2] Francis A. Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview, vol. 4 (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982), 187.

[3] By referencing “public congregation of Christians”, I mean to include not only churches proper, but para-church ministries such as apologetics ministries, teaching ministries of various sorts, services provided under the promise of being a “Christian” practice. 

Offering Counsel to One Troubled by “Conspiracy Theories”

12 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

anxiety, Biblical Counseling, Conspiracy Theory

A theory is an explanation for a series of facts: these are ways to connect various facts into a comprehensible whole. The theory is useful because it makes sense of the world; it reduces anxiety at one level – but it also refocuses the anxiety on some appropriate response (usually a political response). 

If you confront the theory directly, then the discussion becomes whether the theory is true or false. That will (1) prove to be next to impossible; (2) completely sidetrack your counsel.

Let us assume that this theory is true, and there are nefarious forces at work in the world and that such forces have power. That is nothing new in the history of the world. We do live on the planet that murdered Jesus. What do we do? What is the solution?

When we break this down in terms of the elements of the theory the counseling responses are something you already know. First, there is response to anxiety. Rather than trying to figure out the precise evil machinations of evil people (we know the trouble of the human heart), we should remember the goodness, knowledge, and power of God. Paul wrote about contentment while imprisoned by Rome. Thinking about the theory only causes greater anxiety. Yes, we should be wise, but it is not wise if it creates sinful fear and unnecessary preoccupation of our attention. Phil. 4:8-9

Second, the theory suggests a future course of action. While not counseling complete passivity in response to political problems and while being thankful for common grace means to restrain evil, we need to realize that these responses are at best provisional and limited. Putting more effort into trying to get wild boars to behave like bunnies will always ultimately fail; it will never resolve the anxiety nor fix the world. Yes, we should work for good in the world, but always remember the fixed limitations.In the end only the change of a heart of stone for a heart of flesh will change one. If you are worried about the evil in the world, then we should use those tools which respond to evil. 2 Cor. 10:1-7.

Finally, always be careful to show grace to someone who is deeply concerned about the wrong in the world. They are fearful; you bring comfort. And teach them useful hymns

This is my Father’s world:

O let me ne’er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the Ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world:

Why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!

God reigns; let earth be glad!

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