The Scriptures brim with all kinds of metaphors, similes, and word pictures to describe God and His work. God has designed us to resonate with imaginative ways of describing reality. We feel God’s unshakable strength as He compares Himself to immovable rock. We feel the deep guttural rumble of God’s power as He calls Himself a lion. We feel His tenderness when He comforts us with rod and staff. Continue Reading →
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Certain points of argument seem to be quite evergreen within the church. Does God choose us, or do we choose Him? How is the church’s government supposed to be structured? What’s going to happen at the end of all things? Some of these conversations are certainly more important than others. Another question that comes to the surface time and again is of significant importance. Is all sin the same before the Lord? It’s a genuine and good question, and one that impacts how we approach counseling relationships in which abuse is present. Continue Reading →
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When you’re a pastor and have been terminated or forced to resign, most often, there’s no category of life that isn’t significantly affected. Sweet friendships may turn sorrowful. The Scriptures may go silent. Worship songs and hymns that used to uplift your soul may evoke harried memories. Terminated pastors are psychosomatic unities, and the suffering experienced involves both body and soul. Good and wise care will engage both the physical and spiritual difficulties. Continue Reading →
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This small article zeroes in on Powlison’s writing on the relationship between divine revelation and secular psychology. What should biblical counselors do with the reams of secular knowledge about human beings possessed by those whose frameworks for counseling differ so vastly from our own? Time and again, he would return to this theme, seeking to build a theory of counseling that would rightly map the shaky ground between theology and psychology. Continue Reading →
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A few months ago, I was enjoying lunch at a conference when one of the participants (a Presbyterian) turned to me (a Baptist) and said, “Our Presbyterian system of church government makes abuse almost impossible.” This was followed by the rationale that because there is a governing body (the presbytery) that exercises oversight, abusive pastors will be identified and corrected or brought to justice, and they can’t simply skip on to the next church. Continue Reading →
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