A wounded spirit who can bear?

18 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Proverbs

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Biblical Counseling, Broken Spirit, proverbs, Proverbs 18:14, Sermon Outline

Proverbs 18:14 (KJV)

¹⁴The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?

Original

14 רֽוּחַ־אִ֭ישׁ יְכַלְכֵּ֣ל מַחֲלֵ֑הוּ וְר֥וּחַ נְ֝כֵאָ֗ה מִ֣י יִשָּׂאֶֽנָּה׃

Ruach of a man. The spirit of a man.

[Distinctions between rûaḥ and nepeš: rûaḥ is the principle of man’s rational and immortal life, and possesses reason, will, and conscience. It imparts the divine image to man, and constitutes the animating dynamic which results in man’s nepeš as the subject of personal life. The distinctive personality of the individual inheres in his nepeš, the seat of his emotions and desires. rûaḥ is life-power, having the ground of its vitality in itself; the nepeš has a more subjective and conditioned life. The NT seems to make a clear and substantive distinction between pneuma (rûaḥ) and psychē (nepeš). G.L.A.]

Payne, J. Barton. “2131 רִיַח.” Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, edited by R. Laird Harris et al., Electronic ed., Moody Press, 1999, p. 837.

’ish, man can mean a human being or a male as opposed to a female, a husband rather than a wife.

יְכַלְכֵּ֣ל

Contain, sustain, endure. The root idea is to hold, take hold of something. The spirit of a man can endure. Could we say “hold it together”/ “not fall apart”?

מַחֲלֵ֑הוּ

His (the man’s) sickness, infirmity

וְר֥וּחַ נְ֝כֵאָ֗ה

But a spirit broken/cross-references
The HALOT gives all the uses:
נָכֵא: נכא: cs. נְכֵא, fem. נְכֵאָה: defeated, רוּחַ נְכֵאָה Pr 15:13 17:22 18:14 (:: לֵב שָׂמֵחַ); נְכֵה־רוּחַ broken in spirit (Gesenius-K. §128x) Is 66:2, 1QIsa pl. נכאי (כאה, see Kutscher Lang. Is. 200), cj. Ps 109:16 נִכְאֵה לֵבָב rd. נְכֵא/ה var. †

Proverbs 15:13 (KJV)
13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Proverbs 17:22 (KJV)
22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Isaiah 66:2 (KJV)
2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Psalm 109:16 (KJV)
16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.

Interesting thing as a tentative notice: A broken spirit is something which a human being cannot bear. But, it is simultaneously that which renders one to become a object of God’s mercy.

מִ֣י יִשָּׂאֶֽנָּ

Who can bear/carry?

The spirit can bear infirmity.
But an infirm spirit can bear nothing.

Van Gogh Old Man in Sorrow

Some commentators:

The body can, as it were, fall back upon the support of the spirit, when it is distressed and weakened; but when the spirit itself is broken, grieved, wearied, debilitated, it has no resource, no higher faculty to which it can appeal, and it must succumb beneath the pressure. Here is a lesson, too, concerning the treatment of others. We should be more careful not to wound a brother’s spirit than we are to refrain from doing a bodily injury; the latter may be healed by medical applications; the former is more severe in its effects, and is often irremediable.

Spence-Jones, H. D. M., editor. Proverbs. Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909, p. 350.

Verse 14 points out that one’s attitude, for good or ill, is the single most important factor in confronting adversity.

Garrett, Duane A. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993, p. 165.

STRENGTHEN YOUR SPIRIT (18:14)

That this proverb makes a true observation, few would doubt. “What can you do when the spirit is crushed?” (THE MESSAGE) “Short of outward resources, life is hard; short of inward, it is insupportable.”9 The purpose of 18:14, however, goes beyond mere observation to help the reader avoid a crushed spirit. God has designed the way of wisdom to bypass problems. The more we walk in this path, the less chance of having our spirits crushed. Broken hearts do happen, sometimes by our mistakes and sometimes through no fault of our own. Knowing this, God endowed others with the capacity to bring us joy (see 17:21–22; 12:25).

Lennox, Stephen J. Proverbs: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. Wesleyan Publishing House, 1998, p. 185.

It is unusual that the word “spirit” appears twice. In v 14a it stands for the strength and determination of a person that can deal with physical sickness. In v 14b it is a “crushed spirit” that is so far depressed and shaken that it simply destroys a person. The phrase “crushed spirit” occurs in 15:13 and 17:22, where the contrast is with a joyful heart. Here the contrast is with the normal drive for life that anyone would usually have in confronting illness or adversity; the situation may be difficult, but one can recover; cf. Prov 12:25. However, the effect of the rhetorical question in line b is to throw doubt on the possibility of recovery, when one’s courage fails.

Murphy, Rowland E. Proverbs. Thomas Nelson, 1998, p. 136.

Wouldst thou have a sound body; then see to it that thou hast a joyful heart and a good courage, a heart which is assured of the grace of God and well content with His fatherly ordaining.—[T. ADAMS (on ver. 14): The pain of the body is but the body of pain; the very soul of sorrow is the sorrow of the soul.—FLAVEL:—No poniards are so mortal as the wounds of conscience.—WATER-LAND:—On the misery of a dejected mind].

Lange, John Peter, et al. A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Proverbs. Logos Bible Software, 2008, p. 169.

Bear up patiently (18:14). “The spirit of a person will sustain his infirmity.” Willpower and determination can counterbalance physical weakness and enable a person to win the day. On the other hand, “a broken spirit who can bear?” If the willpower is undermined, a person cannot endure. He must surely succumb and suffer defeat. In the first clause the term “spirit” is masculine, in the second feminine. The change of gender suggests that the manly quality of the inner person has become weakened through affliction. The implication is that believers should be as reticent to wound a brother’s spirit as they would be to injure his body. The latter may be healed by medical treatment; the former is more severe in its effects, and is sometimes irremediable.

Smith, James E. The Wisdom Literature and Psalms. College Press Pub. Co., 1996, p. 596.

A man’s spirit will endure sickness: TEV has interpreted spirit as “[your] will to live” and translates endure sickness as “can sustain you when you are sick.” In some languages if this model is followed, it will be necessary to say something like “desire to go on living” or “desire to stay alive.”
But a broken spirit who can bear?: A broken spirit renders the same Hebrew expression translated by RSV in 17:22 as “a downcast spirit” meaning “discouragement” or “despair.” However, TEV makes spirit refer to the same “will to live” as in the first line: “but if you lose it.…” Bear renders a word meaning to carry a load. In this case the burden is the emotional one of despair. Stated as a question we may ask “Can anyone stand it?” “Who can bear up under it?” or “Who is able to carry on?” Since the question is rhetorical, it may also be put as a statement; for example, “No one can bear it.”

Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. A Handbook on Proverbs. United Bible Societies, 2000, p. 389.

Yet there are bounds beyond which a man cannot go, without almost miraculous assistance. The spirit, like the body, may be borne down by a weight beyond its strength: and when the spirit, which ought to support a man under all his other trials, is itself broken, he must fall of course.

Now there are many things which inflict so deep a wound upon the spirit, as to destroy all its energy, and incapacitate it for its proper office: and that we may provide an antidote against them, and afford some consolation under them, we will,

Simeon, Charles. Horae Homileticae: Proverbs to Isaiah XXVI. Holdsworth and Ball, 1833, p. 193.

Simeon lists 4:
Nervous disorders, bodily ailments.
By great and long-continued afflictions
By guilt upon the conscience
By violent temptations/trials
By spiritual desertion

He then lists three remedies:

There is no affliction which is not sent by God for our good—
[Afflictions, of whatever kind they be, “spring not out of the ground:” they are all appointed by God, in number, weight, and measure, and duration
Our afflictions, of whatever kind they be, will endure but a little time

Simeon, Charles. Horae Homileticae: Proverbs to Isaiah XXVI. Holdsworth and Ball, 1833, p. 196.

There is in Christ a full sufficiency for every wound

The Lord Jesus “will not break a bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax, but will bring forth judgment unto victory;” and, if we confide in him, “our heaviness may indeed continue for a night, but joy shall come in the morning.”]

Simeon, Charles. Horae Homileticae: Proverbs to Isaiah XXVI. Holdsworth and Ball, 1833, p. 197.

Cross References:
See broken spirit HALOT, above.

There are a few ways to take this spirit:

Body vs. soul/spirit. The spirit can hold up a broken body. But a broken spirit leaves no remedy.
As a matter of self-control/self-will/courage. Sort of a stoic, Kipling’s If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
As just an observation: If your crushed in spirit, you cannot survive
As pointing to something beyond the immediate verse.

a. First look at the cross-references
b. Second consider the issue of overwhelming grief and trial generally (as Simeon does. He may have gotten here from cross-references, but if so, he doesn’t show his work).
c. What do we find?
i. The unusual phrase broken spirit is used three times in Proverbs as something one cannot bear.
ii. But it is used twice outside of Proverbs as a predicate for the mercy of God. If take the phrase more broadly to include smashed/shattered we get these verse:
Psalm 51:17 (KJV)
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Isaiah 61:1 (KJV)
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Psalm 34:19 (KJV)
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
Psalm 147:3 (KJV)
3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
iii. A very clear pattern is seen: There is a brokenness which overcomes a human being, a degree of suffering which shatters one heart/spirit. It cannot be overcome
But, this very same irremediable trouble is something which makes one the peculiar object of God’s mercy and grace.

iv. This when thought of more broadly opens up to those passages
a. Rom. 5:1-5

Romans 5:1–5 (KJV)
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

b. James 1:2-3
James 1:2–3 (KJV)
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Conclusion: We could look at weakness as something to avoid at all costs. Our weakness is something we cannot bear. We then look at God’s help as something which rescues us and puts back on our own feet. But that is not what the texts when taken together tell us. If gaining God is a good which we should seek, then weakness is not an evil but a good for us. We glory in our weakness because our weakness makes us dependent upon God.

Another conclusion: When come to speak with, to counsel and encourage another who is broken in spirit, we should realize they actually cannot bear the trouble they face. They are weak, and that is not bad. An attitude of, “Why don’t you trust Jesus, buck-up” is cruel and harmful. If we are coming in the Spirit of Christ, we should come with the attitude, that you cannot bear this burden and you should not expect that you can. While this is exceptionally painful, it is not bad. This is for your good. God uses this to conform you to the image of the Son:

Romans 8:28–30 (KJV)
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

There is no other way to this end without the benefit of being crushed so that what we now have will give way to what He will give.

A tentative consideration of repentance and abuse

23 Sunday Oct 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling

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Abuse, Biblical Counseling, forgiveness, Repentance

I present this with great trepidation. The issues involved are complex and sensitive. My thoughts here are tentative, and will without question involve further development. Yet, I present them for two reasons. One, writing helps me clarify my thoughts. Two, perhaps someone will be able to offer critique and nuance which I have missed.

The repentant abuser presents a very difficult problem for the counselor. [We will stipulate that the fact of the sinful conduct is unquestioned and concerns a significant mistreatment. This is not a questionable case.] Like the trolley problem, one is faced with seemingly irreconcilable choices.

On one side there are the commands respecting love, forgiveness, and the continuation of marriage. We are to love even our enemies (Matt. 5:43), that we forgive lavishly (Matt. 8:21-22), and that we forgive others as Christ forgave us. (Eph. 4:32)

In some situations, the cost of forgiveness will be some-thing which is of spiritual benefit. Learning to forgive and love is critical to our spiritual maturity. Sometimes the cost of forgiveness will be a loss of pride, or giving up my “right” to revenge. Sometimes the cost will be trusting God to make the necessary judgments and mete out the proper response.

Loss of material goods may be more difficult but may be necessary. We must have a willingness to perhaps be defrauded to protect the reputation and unity of the church. (1 Cor. 6:7)

But in matters of “abuse” the troubles involved become more complex. First is the nature of the injury: there is a loss to the body and the mind. It can be far easier to recover from a financial loss than a loss of trust between spouses, or between parent and child. Second, there is the question of restoration which is more urgent the closer the relationship between the two. A financial transaction may entail a relationship with two people only slightly related. But the betrayal of a friend, or a harm within a family forces the question of reconciliation and restoration.

Third, the decision of one person can affect the good of another. A parent who “forgives” a spouse may endanger the children.

At this point, we must consider the significant biblical demands of persistence of the marriage and the abhorrence of divorce. We cannot take lightly the importance of maintaining the relationships between parents and children. In fact, we cannot ever completely eviscerate the fact of parent child relationship because parent and child are defined by the fact of the other and the fact of the relationship. I cannot not be the son of my father.

So, when we consider the potential of abuse within the scope of the family, the complications are at their height. Familial relationship are both more intimate and more persistent than other relationships. Forgiveness among relative strangers is easier to negotiate, because the restoration requires little. Forgiveness and restoration within a family, cannot be collapsed into the model of a personal slight among relative strangers within a congregation.

However, there are countervailing demands. First, there are commands to protect the weak. The counselor is in a position where such requirements are required. Second, we must recognize that for the abuser, the day-to-day life in the relationship as parent or child actually constitutes a temptation to sin. The duty to avoid occasions for sin applies here. To put the abuser into the relationship is thus a danger to the abuser and those who have been abused.

When confronted with the apparent repentance of an abusive spouse/parent, how do we weigh the seemingly contradictory considerations.

Too often, counselors resolve the conflict by simply favoring one command over another. The marriage must be maintained. The weak must be protected. When the counselor takes one set of considerations over the other, the counselor has become a participant in sin.

The resolution of this seeming quandary is not to ignore some biblical injunction in favor of another but rather to understand more fully the importance and nature of repentance.

While repentance entails at the very least a show of remorse and a request for forgiveness, it is also true that talk can be cheap. False repentance, cheap grace, and easy believism are condemned from the pulpit, but too often accepted in the counseling room. This is especially to be weighed when we know from experience that abusive parents and spouses often present elegant apologies replete with biblical injunctions. Abusers are often charismatic and charming. Those injured are often frantic, fearful, angry, distrustful.

A better understanding of true repentance in practice, a knowledge of those fruits of repentance, would help greatly here. A truly repentant spouse/parent would be deeply considerate of the fear and distrust of those who were hurt. Rather than rushing to be back in the house, the truly repentant spouse would be cautious and wanting to make the spouse or child felt safe and loved.

The thief in Mosaic law was required to include tangible restoration as part of his repentance. But when it comes to the injury wrought by one who has misused the trust and dependence of a family to cause injury, it has been too common to settle merely for words without tangible repentance.

I do not presume to have a sure-fire litmus test for judging repentance in such situations. But what I have seen as a too common carelessness in judging repentance.

I conclude with the hesitation I raised at the first. This is not a final or definitive statement, but rather a preliminary and cautious ask for comment.

Why we should not integrate therapies.

21 Friday Oct 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling

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Biblical Counseling, Psychology, Therapy

The manner in which Biblical Counseling as a discipline should interact with the discipline of “psychology” is a matter of great interest to me. I use quotation marks because the word refers to a bewildering number of concepts and theories, all of which more-or-less concern what a human being is, how a human being knows, how human beings change, and what end they should change toward. Psychology is a science at times, a religion at times, a moral theory in other places.

In a series of articles being published in the Journal of Biblical Soul Care, I have been offering my thoughts on how we Biblical Counseling should interact with psychology. (The series begins here.) I do not think it best to either appropriate whatever “works”, nor to simply ignore it. In fact, I do not think it possible to ignore it altogether. Therefore, we have to learn how to handle this most pressing understanding of our day. In general, I think we should examine psychology with all the care one would use to pick up a porcupine.

That project will take years to complete. In the interim, I would like to offer this caution: it is one thing to read a study which reports on the stress effects of long-distance driving on truckers. It is another thing to import a therapy because it “work”. I would like to offer some cautions on why we should not simply use a therapeutic technique in BC.

Point One: It exceeds our job description. Biblical counseling is direction in Christian discipleship. We help people put Christian theology into practice. There are any number of things, good and bad, which lie beyond the scope of our work. If you are an accountant and you are acting as a counselor, be a counselor. Even the good work of offering tax advice is something other than biblical counseling. Stick to your job description. The box boy might help me to my car, but it’s not his job to rotate the tires.

Point Two: You need a license to conduct therapy. Psychotherapists constitute a licensed profession in the United States. They are governed by very specific standards and must pass certain requirements in each state. If you engage in therapy and you do not have a license, you are violating the law. The laws may be ill-informed and not in the public good, but they are the laws. A Biblical counselor does not need to be licensed, because we do not engage in therapy. We train in the Christian religion.

Point Three: Not all help is help. A common argument is that we are called to “help hurting people.” Some therapy is said to help people. Therefore, we should use that therapy. The trouble here is with the word “help.” Therapy is an amoral procedure whose primary end is for the client/patient to feel better. If one feels happy, calm, well suited to one’s situation, everything is fine.

We do believe that as a general matter, living in accord with Biblical principles will result in a better, more satisfying life. But as we look through the text of Scripture, we see instances where living as God calls us will result in our happiness. Does the unremitting pain of the psalmist in Psalm 88 need therapy? Jesus’ agony in the Garden and then the escalating pain and sorrow of the Cross show that God may call his most highly esteemed servants to suffer tremendous sorrow.

Sometimes sorrow and pain is good because it leads us to repentance. Psalm 32 describes the pain felt by one who is living with unrepentant sin. The pain of the unrepentance was meant to drive David to repent. Should David have merely learned some breathing techniques and used valium?

This is not an exhaustive example of when sorrow or pain are not be avoided. But it is sufficient to prove that not all pain is something which should simply stop, and it is not always “help” to help someone avoid sorrow or pain.

Point Four: a therapy is the rite of a foreign religion. All forms of beliefs and actions will have effect of changing people. Even ineffective therapy will change a person, however slight the change. When you use a therapy, you instructing in hope (this will help you feel better). You giving instruction in what a human being really is, what is the point of a human being, and who how human beings change.

A therapy is not some neutral procedure which has the moral content of a hydrogen bond in a chemistry experiment. A therapy comes out of a complex understanding of a human being and seeks to change a human being in the direction of and consistent with that understanding. When you import a therapy, you are importing rituals of a different religion.

This last point may be the most difficult to understand, and it could bear more explanation. Perhaps in another place I will draw that assertion out in greater detail.

Slander

28 Wednesday Sep 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling

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Biblical Counseling, Slander

I am working on something new about Slander. Here is a draft of a chapter:

The Fact of Slander

Did God actually say?

-The Serpent

The first recorded words of any creature are found in Genesis 3:1, “Did God actually say ….” And so, the like the trouble at the beginning of a movie, the plot of history was set into motion.

All our history begins with slander. It’s right there in the Book. And so, it is strange that we fail to understand its danger. It comes so easily to us, that often it seems invisible. Therefore, our first task will be dig it up and drag this slimy beast into the light and look upon its glistening, hideous form.

God create the earth, the sun and moon, the stars also. God created a universe of unimaginable beauty which stretches out in space and time beyond all comprehension. We assign numbers to the years and the numbers to the distance which those with knowledge have sought to calculate, but those number cannot mean anything real to us. We can understand a mile, a year. But who knows what it means to say millions of miles, which can get us to the Sun. But what if you merely wished to go to the nearest star beyond the sun Alpha Centuri, which (I am reliably informed) lies 4.37 light years away. A light year being 5.88 trillion miles. Do the math, it’s a big number. But it means nothing real. What is a trillion in reality? There are more than 3,000,000 seconds in a year. A billion is a thousand million. So, it would take nearly 32 years to reach a billion seconds. A trillion is a thousand billions.

The universe is unimaginably large. And everywhere we look, it is drawn with colors and shapes which make the most ragged galaxy torn to shreds by an unseen vortex of gravity a sight of beauty.

Yet, we do not live among the stars. We live on earth. And earth once was a place unimaginable perfection. God planted a garden, the Garden. Water flowed always into this place, drawing from the fount of Eden itself. The Garden must have been a profusion of beauty and well of delight. The ground which now grows rank with thorns then blossomed with fruit.

Look where you will and there was life and hope and peace and joy.

And we were not alone. Our parents lived with that perfect person we flatter ourselves to be, to deserve. There they stood, the image of the very God who laid out the stars in their course, shining with the glory of that God. There were our parents in a world which displayed in every place the glory of God without hint of sin or judgment.

Yet, that world for all its beauty is not ours today. We no longer live in that Garden, even though the recollection of that Garden continues to haunt our world. The memory is there, in dust, persisting. Even Death Valley, that blistering gouge which runs through the desert beneath the mountains and on the edge of the Great Basin, even that land of rock and merciless sun contains a memory of Eden. When the rain comes after a decade of absence, the valley floods with flowers, yellow and white and purple and red raised upon green stalks pushing through the sand and rock, making a stand for a few, too few days.

But death returns, the flowers wilt in the sun, the stalks crumble, and again there are miles upon miles of crushed rock in every direction.

We are no longer there. But the memory of that world persists in our imagination just as it does in the ground. Why else do we long for a world we have never seen? We are we shocked when we hear of death, when what is more certain than death? Why are we stumbled to learn that the entire universe is becoming unwound, when all that we know from experience is that all vain, all is futile, all is always coming undone.

Why do we look for love in a world which turns most easily to hate? Why do we wish so badly to be remembered, when we ourselves forget a friend who has merely moved to another city? Why do we look for friendship on a world where even Jesus was betrayed?

Why did God put eternity in our hearts? Eccl. 3:11.

How did we suffer such loss? To fall from the universe being our dominion, to creatures who are felled by a virus we cannot see? A scratch can kill us with infection. A fall can break our bones. How did creatures made to display the image of God turn so quickly to image our bitter, selfish fears and lusts?

What did we do to suffer such loss. What crime could upend the very creation? What act, what words could institute a reign of confusion, a world so upside down that even the “just and righteous” Job would complain

The arrows of the Almighty are in me

My spirit drinks their poison

The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

Job 6:4.

Adam you will say, and so we lay blame. But Adam had already sought to foist his guilt onto our mother Eve. And Eve in turn pointed to the Serpent. What then did this Serpent do? Surely, he performed some extraordinary action.

He talked.

The only thing the Serpent did was talked.

Something in those words packed enough power to upend the order of creation. Something in those were the lever which moved the seemingly unmovable good and happiness of the Garden. Think of this: the sorrow of all history began here. When we stand near a bed and hear the wheezing gaping for air of someone we love not gaining another breath, that sorrow began here.

Why? How did this set all our sorrow into motion? Why does the wicked live a life of ease and the child who does not good or bad dies in the arms of his mother?

The Serpent spoke.

Parade every evil, every loss, ever tear, every sleepless night of anxious watch, every horror, every soul crushing depression, every prisoner, every betrayal, every crime, every every every grief.

At end of King Lear, the foolish king has come to see that he understood the world all wrong; that he had believed the lies told by his daughters and had believed a lie about his sweet Cordelia, when he holds his daughter who has died because he believed a lie, he says

No, no, no life?
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou ’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never.—

There is a lie in the heart of sorrow. There is a seed which grew into the hideous beast of human suffering. Ask the slave from where comes his sorrow. Ask the kidnap victim from where comes her fear. Ask the child who father lies dead in the rubble of battle, a bullet in his head, where comes your life without his care?

What we always hope to do is to turn our face from looking at these things. But for now, grab ahold of your own sorrows, your own fears, and ask firmly, where did all these monsters come from? What pit spewed this rancid mess upon life?

And then ask why do I still sometimes hear the murmuring song of Eden? How can life be such a mix of sorrow and hope? If Eden is true then whence comes this pain? Here is the event”

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Genesis 3:1–7. What in this story starts the ball rolling downhill? Slander. The first recorded words of any creature a simple slander,

Did God actually say

We will get to his slander of God, but the Serpent begins with the slander of Adam. Slander is a simple shiv that goes between the ribs of friendship and separates the bonds of love.

God had told Adam, before Eve had been given to the world, that one tree was to be God’s alone and that Adam was not to eat from it. Adam must have told Eve out of his love for her and his obedience to God. She knows the command and repeats it to the Serpent.

And so the Serpent’s first words are, Look at that man, Adam. Is he telling you the truth? Did God really tell him about this tree? Can you really trust him? He lied to you. Eve puts a protest, but it is too late. She has listened.

Slander is a vicious thing. Should it enter the ear, it will slide into the heart. You cannot stop it. Like a malignant parasite it will fasten on your thoughts and suck dry the lifeblood of your home. It will burrow into the recesses of your mind, it grotesque claws, and blind eyes will see a way to unnerve your friendships.

It is a thief so subtle that it will steal the treasures of a lifetime, and you will fill the thief’s sack and his slobbering jaws beg for more. Mesmerized you will say to him, “Take my wife, my child, my husband, my cousin, my father, my mother, my friend, my job, my trust, my hope, take all of my love and all that I have spent my life building, take them all for you know best.” We will exchange the truth for a lie, we will empty our soul of all friends to satisfy a slander.

Oh, and slander is a clever devil. It begins here, wearing the badge of simple desire for truth. The Devil did not begin, God lied. The Devil began, Did God really say? Did Adam really get this straight? The con does not begin with send me all your money. The con always begins with trust me.

The door having been cracked on, slander marches on. Eve repeats to the Serpent the command she heard, but it is changed. The command was not eat, but she adds, “nor touch.” Perhaps that simple addition was not Eve thinking hard thoughts of God, but it does signal a shift. A brick has been displaced even if the tower has not yet fallen.

But there is something even worse which has taken place: Eve listened. Eve is considering the words of the Serpent.

Had Eve stuffed her ears and rejected the Serpent she would have been safe. Like Joseph, she should have darted from temptations presence. But she did not. And when temptation makes its way past the door, the damage is underway:

¹²Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James 1:12–15. When slander slides into the heart it sets up its desire, and that desire now leads you along.

Think of it: You have heard a rumor, you have been asked a question, you begin to distrust. How that distrust eats at you. The poison of those first words will rot out friendships, ruin marriages, destroy homes.

The poison of the Serpent’s first words have destroyed our world.

The Serpent moves from the subtly of questioning to the outright slander of lies:

You will not surely die.

You think you can hear the slander and digest the slander and live out the slander and you will be unhurt. Slander certainly cannot hurt you, by just hearing. Jesus draws a bright line from the Devils lies to the murder of humanity:

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44. To be a liar and to be a murderer: there is slander. It is the murder of another. It is nothing less.

The Serpent says you will not die. And so the Devil murders Eve. And Eve and then Adam turn the knife upon themselves and murder themselves and cast themselves away from their dearest friend and benefactor, the God who made them.

You have lost a friend. You know those who have lost friends. You have believed untruths about others. You have spoken untruths about others. You have not been careful with the reputation of others, when you listened to something spoken from cruelty (even when spoken to be just or right or helpful or whatever other miserable excuse you concoct). When you listened, you had blood on your hands. When you spoke, you had innocent blood on your hands.

When Adam took from Eve and ate, he believed the slander of God and killed himself. This archetypal sin is etched into our hearts always too quick to bend to sin.

John Climacus on the Character of a Pastor

25 Sunday Sep 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Ministry

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Biblical Counseling, character, Classic Pastoral Care, John Climacus, Passions, Thomas Oden

John Climacus

The second source cited by Oden is from “John Climacus, St (c. 570–c. 649), ascetic and writer on the spiritual life, so called after his famous ‘Ladder’ (Κλῖμαξ). ..He arrived at Mt *Sinai as a novice when he was 16; after his profession he spent some years as an *anchorite and was later Abbot of Sinai.”

F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 894. His major work, The Ladder, concerns among other topics passion/dispassion. Since this is an aspect of the work quoted by Oden, we can start with a brief look at John concerning dispassion (apatheia, from Step 29 of the 30 steps in the ladder)

1. Here are we who lie in the deepest pit of ignorance, in the dark passions of this body and in the shadow of death, having the temerity to begin to philosophize about heaven on earth.

2. The firmament has the stars for its beauty, and dispassion has the virtues for its adornments; for by dispassion I mean no other than the interior heaven of the mind, which regards the tricks of the demons as mere toys.

3. And so he is truly dispassionate, and is recognized as dispassionate, who has made his flesh incorruptible, who has raised his mind above creatures and has subdued all his senses to it, and who keeps his soul in the presence of the Lord, ever reaching out to Him even beyond his strength.

4. Some say, moreover, that dispassion is the resurrection of the soul before the body; but others, that it is the perfect knowledge of God, second only to that of the angels.

5. This perfect, but still unfinished, perfection of the perfect, as someone who had tasted it informed me, so sanctifies the mind and detaches it from material things that for a considerable part of life in the flesh, after entering the heavenly harbour, a man is rapt as though in Heaven and is raised to contemplation. One who had experience of this well says somewhere: For God’s strong men of the earth have become greatly exalted. Such a man, as we know, was that Egyptian who prayed with some people for a long time without relaxing his hands which were stretched out in prayer.

6. There is a dispassionate man, and there is one who is more dispassionate than the dispassionate. The one strongly hates what is evil, but the other has an inexhaustible store of virtues.

7. Purity too is called dispassion; and rightly, because it is the harbinger of the general resurrection and of the incorruption of the corruptible.

It is possible to understand dispassionate as being without all affection, desire; a sort thinking stone and utterly unconcerned. But John does not seem to be making such an argument (I am no scholar of John Climacus). He seems to mean, by passion, a desire for the purely temporal, “who has raised his mind above creatures and has subdued all his senses to it” (3) and an ignorance of the life to come: “Here are we who lie in the deepest pit of ignorance, in the dark passions of this body and in the shadow of death.” In no. 2, there is a reference to “beauty” and one’s focus being upon the Lord, “who keeps his soul in the presence of the Lord, ever reaching out to Him even beyond his strength” (3) It is a perfect desire, being “rapt” (which is hardly the state of a stone) in the presence of the Lord, “This perfect, but still unfinished, perfection of the perfect, as someone who had tasted it informed me, so sanctifies the mind and detaches it from material things that for a considerable part of life in the flesh, after entering the heavenly harbor, a man is rapt as though in Heaven and is raised to contemplation.”

This understanding is important, because a qualification for being a pastor is to be dispassionate. In his very short work, “The Pastor [or as Oden has it “The Shepherd”]. An English translation appears here, https://bpotto.github.io/Undusted-Texts/treatises/climacus_001.html. It is in volume 88 of Migne at page 1162.

John begins with a definition of the pastor,

He is properly a pastor who brings the lost rational [logika: rational, spiritual] sheep back to life through guilelessness, through his own eagerness, and through prayer, and who is able to set them straight again. He is a pilot who, having received noetic [noeran, Latin, intelligendi] strength from God and from his own hardships, is able to draw the ship back, not only from the triple wave, but even from the abyss itself. He is a doctor who has acquired an unsickened body and soul, and is not lacking even a single plaster for others. He is truly a teacher who, provided with the noetic tablet of the knowledge of God by a finger, or rather, by the energy of illumination from Him, through himself, and not lacking other books.

He writes of the pastor as a doctor who has medicines to heal. He writes of the pastor as one able to lead others to the presence of God:

Great is the shame of the leader asked to give something to his subordinate which he has not yet acquired. As those who have seen the king’s face, and have been given his friendship, are therefore able to let all his ministers, and those ignorant of him or his enemies, whomever they so will, to enjoy his glory, so also should you think about the holy things: friends reverence and obey the most intimate friends.

And then on how the pastor ought to be devoid of passions. The English translation online ends here:

Perfectly ought the doctor to strip off these passions, so that, at the proper time, he might be able to explain some, then others, and especially wrath. For unless he thrust them away to the utmost, he will not be able to plunge into them passionlessly. I saw a horse, still little, serving without training, who, led by a bridle, and bearing it silently, suddenly overthrew his lord, he having relaxed the bridle a little;

The copy of Migne available from Google is exceptionally difficult to read in places, the copying not have been done well. I have been unable to find the precise section quoted by Oden; it appears to be in the illegible page of my copy. The section quoted by Oden explains that one should not seek to counsel others until he has thoroughly examined his own soul and has found out his passions/anger. And ends with this advice, “See that you are not an exacting investigator of trifling sins, thus showing yourself not to be an imitator of God.”

This instruction reminds me of something from Sibbes:

The second point is, that Christ will not ‘break the bruised reed.’ Physicians, though they put their patients to much pain, yet they will not destroy nature, but raise it up by degrees. Chirurgeons* will lance and cut, but not dismember. A mother that hath a sick and froward child will not therefore cast it away. And shall there be more mercy in the stream than in the spring? Shall we think there is more mercy in ourselves than in God, who planteth the affection of mercy in us? But for further declaration of Christ’s mercy to all bruised reeds, consider the comfortable relations he hath taken upon him of husband, shepherd, brother, &c., which he will discharge to the utmost; for shall others by his grace fulfil what he calleth them unto, and not he that, out of his love, hath taken upon him these relations, so thoroughly founded upon his Father’s assignment, and his own voluntary undertaking? Consider his borrowed names from the mildest creatures, as lamb, hen, &c., to shew his tender care; consider his very name Jesus, a Saviour, given him by God himself; consider his office answerable to his name, which is that he should ‘heal the broken-hearted,’ Isa. 61:1.

Richard Sibbes, The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 1 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; W. Robertson, 1862), 45.

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

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.3^rd _____ (10^th 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 10^th 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 10^th 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.

Offering Counsel to One Troubled by “Conspiracy Theories”

12 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling

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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!

He is well aware, after all, when is the time for what is causing us depression to be removed

14 Wednesday Oct 2020

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling

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anxiety, Biblical Counseling, Depression, John Chrysostom

Let us not take this with a grain of salt; instead let us learn also from this the highest values, and when we fall foul of some disaster, even if we are suffering grief and pain, even if the trouble seems insupportable to us, let us not be anxious or beside ourselves but wait on God’s providence. He is well aware, after all, when is the time for what is causing us depression to be removed—which is what happened in her case as well.

It was not out of hatred, in fact, or of revulsion that he closed her womb, but to open to us the doors on the values the woman possessed and for us to espy the riches of her faith and realize that he rendered her more conspicuous on that account.… Extreme the pain, great the length of grief—not two or three days, not twenty or a hundred, not a thousand or twice as much; instead, “for a long time,” it says, for many years the woman was grieving and distressed, the meaning of “for a long time.”

Yet she showed no impatience, nor did the length of time undermine her values, nor the reproaches and abuse of her rival; instead, she was unremitting in prayer and supplication, and what was most remarkable of all, showing in particular her love for God, was the fact that she was not simply anxious to have this very child for herself but to dedicate the fruit of her womb to God, offer the first fruits of her own womb and receive the reward for this fine promise.

John Chrysostom Homilies on Hannah 1.

John R. Franke, ed., Old Testament IV: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1–2 Samuel, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 195.

A comparison of Plutarch and Paul

15 Tuesday Sep 2020

Posted by memoirandremains in Plutarch, Romans

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Biblical Counseling, Law on the Heart, Plutarch

The brilliant moralist and essayist Plutarch (born AD 49 and thus his life overlapped with St Paul who died around 65/66 AD) raised an issue concerning a good ruler – which was also a concern of Paul: the law written on the heart. But they came to rather different conclusions on the matter:

Who then shall have power to govern a prince? The law, without doubt; which (as Pindar saith) is the king of mortal and immortal beings; which is not written without in books nor engraven on wood or stone, but is a clear reason imprinted in the heart, always residing and watching therein, and never suffering the mind to be without government. The king of Persia indeed commanded one of his lords that lay in the same chamber to attend him every morning, and to sound these words in his ears: Arise, O king! and take care of those affairs and duties that Oromasdes requires of thee. But a wise and prudent. prince hath such a monitor within his breast as always prompts and admonishes him to the same effect.

The law on the heart is a peculiar attribute of a good ruler. The law restrains the prince: it is knowledge which governs the governor. If the knowledge is present will effectively direct reason.

Paul raises the same issue of the law written on the heart in his letter to the Roman Church:

12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Rom2.12-16

The law is present upon every heart. But the law does exactly govern although it does judge. The law sets up as tribunal and gives a judgment. This judgment of the law proves the law has been written on every human heart. It also acts a warning of the greater judgment to come.

This law is different than Plutarch’s version because it belongs to all – but more importantly it gives judgment but does not convey the power to conform:

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Rom3.19-20

This perhaps demonstrates the fundamental similarity and distinction between a worthy moralist such as Plutarch and Paul.

In the Bible the fault is far deeper than knowledge. Reason also does not restrain desire; and twisted desire brings madness:

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Rom1.28

The prophet Jeremiah in a vivid section describes sin against known law so:

23 How can you say, ‘I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done- a restless young camel running here and there,

24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness, in her heat sniffing the wind! Who can restrain her lust? None who seek her need weary themselves; in her month they will find her.

Jer2.23-24

And so the Christian can not rely upon education alone because the fault is worse than ignorance.

I think history demonstrates that even the wisest rulers have made spectacularly poor decisions when driven by foolish desire. And thus the judgment for depth of treatment and accuracy of human nature go to Paul.