Apologetics

The New Scandal of the Cross
John F. Bettler  - Blog Post  - Aug 10, 2011

Christianity scandalizes the world. The cross offends (1 Cor. 1:23). But as the world changes, the cross shocks in different ways. To the Greeks, the idea that a dying man could save the world was foolishness. For the Jews, death on the cross was cursed by God. In medieval times, the idea of total forgiveness through the cross without meritorious works was unbelievable. To the modern man, it is simply irrational and unprovable.

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Debts to Jay Adams
Ed Welch  - Blog Post  - Jun 02, 2011

Nothing is new. Your creative spark simply means that the people who provoked it have been assimilated into the way you think and live. “New” and “different” are forms of amnesia. The truly creative are merely dabbling with a puzzle, for which all the pieces are already on the table, and trying to find a piece that fits. We get excited that someone found a missing piece, but, in time, we will notice that the edges don’t match and somebody else will have to remove that piece for one that fits better.

I know some of the people who have put out the puzzle pieces I play with. An important person has been Jay Adams. I suspect a lot of what I do is just examine and rearrange what he has laid out, and, no doubt, someone will soon come along and correct some of my mistakes.

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Biblical Counseling's "Dirty" Words
Ed Welch  - Blog Post  - May 04, 2011

Biblical counseling has a history of being picky about words. Sometimes it sounded as if we had our own version of George Carlin’s dirty word list. For example, off limits were terms like: self-esteem, needs, psychological, or any psychiatric diagnosis unless you were going to critique it a bit first.

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Spiritual Doubts and What to do About Them
Ed Welch  - Blog Post  - Jun 17, 2010

And what if the Bible is a myth, like all other speculation about the unseen? Or, as someone said to me this week, “What difference does it make? Pray, don’t pray – Is there really a God who hears?” After all, we can’t actually see Jesus.

We are people who can doubt. I can, this man had his doubts, and I suspect we aren’t alone. A curious feature of hard times is that they bring out both the inner theist in people, as in “Why did God do this to me?” and the inner atheist, as in, “Where is God? Does he even exist?” They can even make their appearance simultaneously.

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Puritan Resources for Biblical Counseling
Tim Keller  - Web Article  - Jun 01, 2010

SUMMARY

The works of the Puritans are a rich resource for biblical counselors because:

  1. The Puritans were committed to the functional authority of the Scripture. For them it was the comprehensive manual for dealing with all problems of the heart.
  2. The Puritans developed a sophisticated and sensitive system of diagnosis for personal problems, distinguishing a variety of physical, spiritual, tempermental and demonic causes.
  3. The Puritans developed a remarkable balance in their treatment because they were not invested in any one ‘personality theory’ other than biblical teaching about the heart.
  4. The Puritans were realistic about difficulties of the Christian life, especially conflicts with remaining, indwelling sin.
  5. The Puritans looked not just at behavior but at underlying root motives and desires. Man is a worshipper; all problems grow out of ‘sinful imagination’ or idol manufacturing.
  6. The Puritans considered the essential spiritual remedy to be belief in the gospel, used in both repentance and the development of proper self-understanding.
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Judging Others: The Danger of Playing God (Part 1)
Ken Sande  - Web Article  - Aug 18, 2009

Part 1 of 3

“As we interact with other people, we must constantly make judgments about their words and actions so that we can respond to them appropriately. But the Bible warns that we are prone to look for the worst in people at times, and we judge them more critically than they deserve. This article by Ken Sande provides practical ways to guard against this tendency and to follow Jesus' example of making accurate and charitable judgments about others.”i

I Knew It!

“I knew he was too proud to take criticism,” thought Anne, “and now I have proof!”

On the previous Sunday, Anne had dropped a prayer card in the offering plate asking her pastor to stop in and pray with her when she went to the hospital for some minor surgery. When he failed to come by, she called the church secretary and learned that her pastor had already been to the hospital that day to see another church member.

“So he has no excuse!” she thought. “He was in the building and knew I needed his support, but still he ignored me. He’s resented me ever since I told him his sermons lack practical application. Now he’s getting back at me by ignoring my spiritual needs. And he calls himself a shepherd!”

After brooding over his rejection for three days, Anne sat down Saturday evening and wrote a letter confronting her pastor about his pride, defensiveness and hypocrisy. As she sealed the envelope, she could not help thinking about the conviction he would feel when he opened his mail.

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