I have heard of spiritual abuse but haven’t had a clear idea what it was or wasn’t. However, after reading these two articles today: “Poets Will Save the Church” and “‘Don’t Talk About It’: Reflections on Spiritual Abuse“, I believe I have a significantly better definition for it. Spiritual abuse is using God, the bible,
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Manipulation and Control: Matthew 7:1-12
Jesus makes a number of statements in Matthew 7:1-12 which at first glance seem to be unrelated. Yet on closer examination, I believe we can see how these tie together. Jesus begins this section by stating “do not judge…”. It is important to understand that the kind of judgement Jesus is talking about here is
Unforgiven? Matthew 6:14-15
“If you don’t forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.” (Matt. 6:25, HCSB). This is another passage that people wrestle with. However this is a good example of how individual passages need to be understood and interpreted in light of the whole bible. Is Jesus saying that our sins won’t be forgiven and
Matthew 5:48 Be Perfect?
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (NIV). This is another challenging statement which Jesus makes in the “sermon on the mount”. However I think there are a few things which shed light on this statement. Often, words in other languages have different shades of meaning which can’t be exactly translated. As I
Shane Claiborne on Singleness, Marriage, and Community
…our deepest longing is not for sex but for love and that what we really long for is community. You can live without sex, but you can’t live without love… I still believe there is tons of work to do in the Church—and the world in general—to support celibate singles. So many champions of our
Understanding Matthew 5:31-32: Divorce
One passage of scripture that people struggle to understand is Matthew 5:31-32 where Jesus states: “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries
Expressing Love Outside of Romance
This post is part of the February Synchroblog “Cross Gender Friendships”. Those of you who have followed me for a while will remember that I did some writing about friendship between men and women. I reviewing those posts, I realized that I had not as of yet done a good job of explaining the subject
Music Review: The Choir – De-plumed
For those unfamiliar with The Choir, they are a rock band which has been together for approximately 30 years. Over the last several years they have been actively recording and performing their music. In between two album releases of new material, they put out a CD called De-plumed in 2011 (Yes, I’m a bit behind).
Faith is a Journey
(I was asked to write out my reasons for believing in God. I imagine that the person asking the question was thinking more in terms of a rational, intellectual argument. But the following is what came out. I think I agree with a friend of mine who holds that belief in God is more contingent
Book Review: Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus
“Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus” is the best book I’ve read this year. Author Lois Tverberg does an excellent job of taking her years of study of Judaism and applying it to Jesus. In this book she unveils layers of meaning behind many of Jesus’ words. Passages that were once opaque in meaning