The Roar
We are yearning
Our hearts are burning
And the world keeps turning day by day.
We are aching
Hearts are breaking
And its taking all we can do to say
Lord help us obey, Lord we pray
Show us your way.
We pray that youll restore
Make a way, open the door
We ask and seek and knock
And we enter in once more.
And once we enter in
Let us be done with sin
In your presence there is glory in our core
Replace our cries with the overcomers roar!
Forgive our trespasses and heal our diseases
A wayward heart does as it pleases
We are on a path
Where well either seek your love
Or see your wrath
Purify us with your fire
And make us new
Provide us with the faith that you require
So we may do what we must do.
We are not merely sinners
We are indwelt by Gods Son
We are more than we seem to be
By His blood we overcome
And though were meek and lowly
We have glory at our core
For we are the new creation
Hear the overcomers roar!
Anthony Foster
October 29, 2006
Happy Reformation Day!
I was in the Lifeway bookstore the other day
and the guy at the counter was talking about their "raffle"
for the Martin Luther bobble-head doll. One of his co-workers
QUICKLY jumped in and corrected him: "It's not a raffle!"
Ha! Not in a Baptist bookstore anyway. Hope everybody had a good
Reformation Day with or without a bobble-head...
Speaking of bobble-heads...
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Night of the Crash Test Dummy
No, this is not my Halloween costume, it's just
how I have been feeling lately. Just the other day I had a prof
say something about my church having an "impactual role"
in my family's life and this is what sprang to mind. Everything
is new new new lately and it makes me wonder whether the God-sent
tests are benefitting me... then I heard this message today by
John MacArthur, who spoke at SBTS on Reformation Day, and all
the silliness and me-ness came into perspective... listen
to the message.
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Web
science represents "a pretty
big next step in the evolution of information," said Eric Schmidt,
the chief executive of Google, who is a computer scientist. This kind
of research, Schmidt said, is "likely to have a lot of influence
on the next generation of researchers, scientists and, most importantly,
the next generation of entrepreneurs who will build new companies from
this."
Among my Borders movie specials,
8 Women, 12 Monkeys, The Slaughterhouse Five and Fahrenheit 451.Where
oh where be the Partridge in a Pear Tree?
The Nexus of Psychology and Christianity
Following from my presupposition that all truth is God's Truth, I am
cautious but open to the possibility of integration. However, there
are points at which I define Psychology and Christianity as on parallel
tracks and therefore not readily integrated. There are points at which
Psychology presumes to take on a redemptive character wherein I believe
danger lies. "Without the blood there is no remission of Sin";
this is a hinge-point for any discussion of integration. I am opposed
to the trends that psychologize the faith and the pop psychology that
seeks to supplant the Word of God, especially in regard to the reticence
to speak of repentance and redemption in so many pulpits.
I see value in integrating "working tools" into our quest
to understand human behavior in more than a reductionistic way. The
complexity of human suffering demands this I think, but we must never
forget the ultimate source of the suffering. I am cautious in the sense
that I am not able to keep abreast of the advances in the science of
Psychology in any satisfactory way, and therefore ascertaining the inherent
presuppositional problems becomes a full time job. I am especially interested
in empirical research and the ways in which advances in understanding
DSM III disorders have yielded means by which to treat organic maladies
and chemical imbalances which at one point in history would have been
relegated to the madhouse or the exorcist. (Not to say that I do not
believe in demon possesion). I see in the various models of "Christian
Psychology" some promise, but see no unified theory as yet.
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I would surmise that theology is an umbrella
construct that touches all of life wherein psychology intersects
at various points, especially in the areas of of anthropology and
hamartology. When psychology is invested with redemptive constructs,
the waters are muddied. I ask, "How does psychology operate
and what truth does it presume to uncover?" |
When addressing the complexity of human suffering,
treatment of psychological symptoms my be the entry into a conversation
about spiritual problems of sin. I think it is important to take leads
in regard to a high view of Scripture from the models of Biblical psychologies(Adams,
Powlinson, et. al) and Christian integrationists (Collins, et. al.),
but the fact that so many in the Nouthetic /Biblical camp have a near
absolute aversion to science is problematic for me, given the presupposition
I led with. Thankfully that view has matured and is less strident today.
One must filter any attempt at integration through
the presupposition of the inerrancy of Scripture, but one must not ignore
the possibility of integration. Let's filter psychology through theology
as a paradigm and, in some cases, for purposes of instruction and honesty,
I think our perceptions of the Scriptures may be filtered through psychology
to test whether, by comparison, we are psychologizing the scriptures,
or applying biblical truth in a self-serving way. Do our beliefs stand
such scrutiny?
On a sidebar, (I only get 4 paragraphs) I must say that I think that
personality theory in particular is more fraught with problems as (from
my exposure to it) it is typically Jungian in nature, and the (mis)-use
of personality indicators is one of my pet peeves. First, they are indicators,
not tests, and should not be accorded such status. This is common practice
in popular Christian circles and is more than problematic in my view-
it can be dangerous. Personality theory has other issues attached that
I am sure we will address this semester, and I am looking forward to
finding coherence in what I have been exposed to in the six or seven
psychology courses I have taken in various contexts.