The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart This is a gut-wrenchingly honest piece. It’s hard to read because it claws at the carefully-armored defenses we’ve erected around our human hearts of flesh. But this–THIS–is why so many people walk away from the church. How could God (fill in the blank)? And how could Christians, or any person who claims to have a conscience, be okay with that? Friends: are you willing to wrestle honestly with God about these issues, or are you going to resort to trite scriptural sound bytes?
But the questions that have weighed most heavily on me these past ten years have been questions not of the mind but of the heart, questions of conscience and empathy. It was not the so-called “scandal of the evangelical mind” that rocked my faith; it was the scandal of the evangelical heart…
When theology and doctrine become separated from emotion we end up with something dysfunctional and even monstrous. A theology or doctrinal system that has become decoupled from emotion is going to look emotionally stunted and even inhuman… Even theologically sociopathic.
When You Feel You’ve Lost Your Voice A great piece on moving forward after heartbreak and setbacks.
It happened to me. And, I suspect, to many of you. Over small moments, and tragic happenings, and things that felt out of control in our lives. Maybe it was a loss of some sort: a job, a dream, a loved one. Maybe it was something that broke right before your very eyes: your marriage, a friendship, a goal you’d been working towards. But, it blindsided you. Left you standing in its wake. Confused, hurt . . . and speechless…
So, how do you get a move on with moving on? How do you restretch those vocals and prepare to share your voice again?
A Roomful of Yearning and Regret This was a breathtaking look at the emotional impact of marital infidelity, written from the perspective of a woman who both had an affair and was the victim of one. She lays out the hurts and justifications on both sides, and comes to a conclusion that many people in our throwaway society could stand to hear. Go read it. This is one choice you won’t regret.
From the Archives: When Women Snap: The Good, the Bad, and the Preventable
The problem is widespread, but we don’t really talk about it. Especially not in church. We all know women who are stumbling under burdens that are too heavy for them, but most of us have no idea what to do. We stand by helplessly as our sisters come apart at the seams, offering the occasional meal, Bible verse, or snippet of trite advice. Maybe we try to shame them or scare them into acting normally, because we’re scared, too. Scared for their families, scared for ourselves, but mostly, scared for them. We want to help, we want things to be right, but we feel impotent against the forces that are tearing us apart.
Monday’s Equally Yoked post is from Gerald Ford, a retired pastor and a Marriage and Family Therapist at the Houston Center for Christian Counseling. You are not going to want to miss this practical, down-to-earth advice on how to address the underlying cause of many issues plaguing Christian marriages.
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So, what have you been reading?
Great articles, Jen!
Glad you enjoyed them!
I enjoyed Rachel’s article on The scandal of the Evangelical Heart. I have been pondering the same idea after hearing Ravi Zacharias pose the question, “How do you reach a generation that listens with its eyes and thinks with its feelings?”
Good question to ponder in a time where moralistic therapeutic deism and Orthodoxical reclamation seek to coexist.
A struggle Margaret Thatcher illustrated in a quip in The Iron Lady. “Don’t ask me what I’m feeling…one of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas. That interests me. Ask me what I’m thinking.”
It’s good to read that Rachel and Ravi view the question from different perspectives but see a common answer.
http://www.rzim.org/just-thinking/think-again-the-gentle-goldsmith/
Thanks for posting it!
Interesting connection between Rachel’s piece and Ravi’s. I think what it comes down to in many cases is that many Christians claim to believe some doctrinal (or social) tidbit without having engaged with it at a deep level, pondering the logical implications of what they say they believe. Which isn’t awful (none of us can get everything figured out), until we seriously botch personal interactions or social issues because of our immature, simplistic view (our understanding of the view, not necessarily the view itself–although sometimes the view itself needs rethinking). Then we can come across looking either ridiculous or hard-hearted, particularly if we insist on focusing more on our view than we do on the human beings it impacts. I think American culture needs to re-learn how to listen attentively to others who are different in some way–that would be a good start!
I suspect also, that too often we have heard another’s viewpoint and taken it as our own. I believe we really need to get back into the Bible to study what it says… not what someone else has told us it means.
Very thoughtful overview. In my own book I touch on similar – however this is a different vantage point and very life-giving; thank you!