Byron Smith on why compulsary voting and preferential voting (as practiced in Australia) is the best electoral system. What do you think?
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Month: May 2010
Jonah song [Thawed out Thursday]
"God Said Go - Jonah Song" DOWNLOAD
Chords: Em7 G A
End of verse: E G A C D D#m E
In between verses: E G D E G D
And here are the words - the kids sing (shout!) all the bolded words:
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Verse 1:
God said ‘GO – to Nineveh
All those baddies I want to win-over.’
Jonah said ‘NO – not Nineveh
All those people are terrible sin-lovers.’
God said ‘GO!’
Jonah said ‘NO!’
The storm went BLOW
Jonah said ‘THROW!’
And down he GO!
Into the Depths of the Sea!
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Verse 2:
God said GO – to a giant fish
Save my prophet before he gets smelly
The fish said OH what a lovely dish
Swallowed him whole so he lived in his belly
God said GO!
The fish swam LOW
Through the FLOW
Jonah said WHOAH!
And down he GO!
Into the belly of the fish!
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Verse 3:
Jonah said OH – what a mess
I’ve done things my way I must confess
I’m so LOW – I could die
But even now God hears my cry
Jonah said ‘OH
You’ve brought me LOW
I’m sorry SO
Save my SOUL.’
And up he GO
Spat up onto the beach.
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Verse 4:
God said ‘GO – once again
Nineveh needs your word to repent.
Jonah said ‘OH – alright
I’ll tell them there’s Woe if they don’t get it right.’
So Jonah said WOE,
Cos God says ‘NO’
The people went ‘OH!
We’re sorry SO
Save our SOUL!’
And God saved every one!
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Verse 5:
Jonah said ‘NO – I guessed
God would have mercy if they confessed.
‘God’s so SLOW to judge
He loves to forgive, never bears a grudge.’
God said ‘GO!’
Jonah said ‘NO!’
But God changed ROLE
He washed their SOUL
Whiter than SNOW
Cos God’s the best preacher of all!
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You’re not a bag of protoplasm
Sometimes I'm asked whether we should spend time entering into non-Christian "world-views" to expose their internal inconsistencies.
Sure - if you do it like this. But then, if you do it like this (and do listen to the song) you're not seeking to convict them of a logical contradiction but an existential one. The former contradiction can be solved by conversion to Aristotle. For the latter, only Jesus saves.
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You're not a bag of protoplasm
Sometimes I'm asked whether we should spend time entering into non-Christian "world-views" to expose their internal inconsistencies.
Sure - if you do it like this. But then, if you do it like this (and do listen to the song) you're not seeking to convict them of a logical contradiction but an existential one. The former contradiction can be solved by conversion to Aristotle. For the latter, only Jesus saves.
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Pray for Bobby
Bobby's the blogger who got me blogging. Man of a thousand theoblogs - some of which he hasn't deleted ;-) and three of which are linked in my sidebar (a record).
He goes into surgery tomorrow to remove a cancerous tumor (more details here). Please pray they get the whole tumor, that minimal (ie no) damage would be done in removing it and that it will never return! The surgeons are called Dr Kevin Billingsley and Dr Greg Moneta. His wife's called Angela please pray for her and the kids too at this time.
Go on, spend a minute now asking the Father to give this piece of bread to His precious children.
UPDATE: Good news on Bobby's surgery
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Is it cos we’re Arians?
Yesterday I heard yet another talk on 2 Corinthians 5 in which it was simply assumed that 'the judgement seat of Christ' (v10) is a believer-only judgement. Now certainly the "we" includes believers - but why is it so rarely taught from this verse that the whole world is brought before Christ's throne? Surely that's the context in which we evangelize the world (v11ff).
Instead I've heard many a time that Christ's judgement seat is the living room of His discipline rather than the court room of God's wrath. It seems to be assumed that Christ's judgement seat is a rap over the knuckles for Christians. (And this is our motivation for evangelism, rather than the world-wide fiery judgement of the living and the dead). By implication do we think "God's judgement seat" would be the really scary one? If Paul said "God's" instead of "Christ's" would we so readily take this as some form of 'judgement-lite'? In short: is it cos we're Arians?
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Is it cos we're Arians?
Yesterday I heard yet another talk on 2 Corinthians 5 in which it was simply assumed that 'the judgement seat of Christ' (v10) is a believer-only judgement. Now certainly the "we" includes believers - but why is it so rarely taught from this verse that the whole world is brought before Christ's throne? Surely that's the context in which we evangelize the world (v11ff).
Instead I've heard many a time that Christ's judgement seat is the living room of His discipline rather than the court room of God's wrath. It seems to be assumed that Christ's judgement seat is a rap over the knuckles for Christians. (And this is our motivation for evangelism, rather than the world-wide fiery judgement of the living and the dead). By implication do we think "God's judgement seat" would be the really scary one? If Paul said "God's" instead of "Christ's" would we so readily take this as some form of 'judgement-lite'? In short: is it cos we're Arians?
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Overheard at a Large Christian Conference
Alistair Begg has just finished a lengthy exposition of 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 at "Bible by the Beach." The whole thing was a plea to avoid the cult of personality preaching, to follow unimpressive Paul and shun the wise and persuasive words of the shiny "communicators".
And at the end of the session I overheard one couple behind me...
- We need Bible by the Beach every month. It's great spiritual input.
- We get it every week. It's called church.
- Yes, but not every preacher is an Alistair Begg are they?
So that's a lesson well learnt then!
CBT Luther style
Luther has said:
“The Holy Spirit knows that a thing has only such meaning and value for a man as he assigns to it in his thoughts.”
The lens through which we view our experiences of the world are all important. Suffering could either be a catastrophic blow or the opportunity to know Christ and fellowship more deeply in His sufferings. My sins could cause a ‘spiritual sulk’ and extended dry-ness or a deeper appreciation of the blood of Christ and His cleansing. It all depends on the meaning I assign to these things in my thoughts.
CBT is not so good at showing how these thoughts flow from our hearts (Mark 7:21). But Luther knows how to preach to the heart such that our perspective is shaped by the gospel word. And in his Galatians commentary, Luther puts this idea into practice. Not only is the truth of the gospel proclaimed but the Christian is exhorted to speak this truth again and again into the deepest recesses of the heart. When the truth of the gospel shapes our thinking more fully, then we will be able to stand up against the devil’s accusations.
Click here for extracts from Luther’s Galatians where he shows us how to preach to ourselves.
Here's just one example from Galatians 1:4:
You will readily grant that Christ gave Himself for the sins of Peter, Paul, and others who were worthy of such grace. But feeling low, you find it hard to believe that Christ gave Himself for your sins. Our feelings shy at a personal application of the pronoun “our,” and we refuse to have anything to do with God until we have made ourselves worthy by good deeds.
This attitude springs from a false conception of sin, the conception that sin is a small matter, easily taken care of by good works; that we must present ourselves unto God with a good conscience; that we must feel no sin before we may feel that Christ was given for our sins. This attitude is universal and particularly developed in those who consider themselves better than others. Such readily confess that they are frequent sinners, but they regard their sins as of no such importance that they cannot easily be dissolved by some good action, or that they may not appear before the tribunal of Christ and demand the reward of eternal life for their righteousness. Meantime they pretend great humility and acknowledge a certain degree of sinfulness for which they soulfully join in the publican’s prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” But the real significance and comfort of the words “for our sins” is lost upon them. The genius of Christianity takes the words of Paul “who gave himself for our sins” as true and efficacious. We are not to look upon our sins as insignificant trifles. On the other hand, we are not to regard them as so terrible that we must despair. Learn to believe that Christ was given, not for picayune and imaginary transgressions, but for mountainous sins; not for one or two, but for all; not for sins that can be discarded, but for sins that are stubbornly ingrained. Practice this knowledge and fortify yourself against despair, particularly in the last hour, when the memory of past sins assails the conscience. Say with confidence: “Christ, the Son of God, was given not for the righteous, but for sinners. If I had no sin I should not need Christ. No, Satan, you cannot delude me into thinking I am holy. The truth is, I am all sin. My sins are not imaginary transgressions, but sins against the first table, unbelief, doubt, despair, contempt, hatred, ignorance of God, ingratitude towards Him, misuse of His name, neglect of His Word, etc.; and sins against the second table, dishonor of parents, disobedience of government, coveting of another’s possessions, etc. Granted that I have not committed murder, adultery, theft, and similar sins in deed, nevertheless I have committed them in the heart, and therefore I am a transgressor of all the commandments of God.
“Because my transgressions are multiplied and my own efforts at self-justification rather a hindrance than a furtherance, therefore Christ the Son of God gave Himself into death for my sins.” To believe this is to have eternal life.
Let us equip ourselves against the accusations of Satan with this and similar passages of Holy Scripture. If he says, “Thou shalt be damned,” you tell him: “No, for I fly to Christ who gave Himself for my sins. In accusing me of being a damnable sinner, you are cutting your own throat, Satan. You are reminding me of God’s fatherly goodness toward me, that He so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In calling me a sinner, Satan, you really comfort me above measure.” With such heavenly cunning we are to meet the devil’s craft and put from us the memory of sin.
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CBT from a Christian perspective
Here's excerpts from a longer paper on my website appraising Cognitive Behavioural Therapy:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a
- short-term,
- practical,
- client-based,
- collaborative,
- problem-solving,
- life-skill learning
‘talking therapy’ which has had excellent and well documented success in alleviating certain emotional problems.
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CBT represents a small number of different counselling schools which understand the process of change to involve the re-habituation of thoughts and (secondarily) behaviours. The underlying assumption is that faulty emotions and behaviours flow from faulty thinking.
Thoughts => Feelings => Behaviours
These thoughts are themselves the result of faulty beliefs which underlie them and need to be confronted and changed.
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The chief benefit of CBT for the church is perhaps the myriad tools that have been developed to uncover faulty thought patterns and beliefs.
Christians have always known that beliefs and thought-patterns are life-altering, but three or four decades of clinical practice at ‘digging down’ into the beliefs of counsellees has produced very useful tools which can also be used by the Christian.
Identifying Negative Automatic Thoughts (NATs)
- Ask directly – What are you telling yourself when you feel X…
- Guided discovery (ask around the issues, get them to unearth)
- Note emotional change as they speak – these are ‘hot cognitions’
- Worst consequence scenarios – What would be so bad if…?
- Imagery (some NATs are images) – Do you have a picture of yourself or of your environment when this is happening?
- Exposure exercises – go to uncomfortable situations either physically or in your mind. How are you now thinking?
- Offer multiple suggestions of what the NATs may be
- Offer suggestions opposite to client’s expected response. They will usually say ‘No, no, I’m telling myself X’
Question the assumptions underlying the NATs:
- What would be so terrible about X?
- What would it be like for you not to do or feel X?
- What does it say about you that you have done or felt X?
- Are there verdicts being passed on you from God, the world and yourself associated with X? What are they? Could you put them in words?
- On what basis are these verdicts being passed?
- On what basis are you believing them?
At this stage, CBT identifies the faultiness of such thinking as certain cognitive errors:
- Arbitrary inference: e.g. ‘I was much happier when I happened to be X, therefore I must regain X’
- Selective abstraction: e.g. ‘X (and nothing else) is what makes me special.’
- Over-generalisation: e.g. ‘Everyone who has X is happier and more successful.’
- Magnification (of the bad) and minimisation (of the good): e.g. ‘I may have Y and Z, but that’s nothing. X is everything.’
- Personalisation: e.g. ‘My performance of X wasn’t bad, I was bad. Everyone must hate me.’
- Absolutist, dichotomous thinking: e.g. ‘It’s black and white, all or nothing. Either I’m X or I’m nothing.’
- Mind reading: e.g. ‘I know what they’re all thinking…’
- Crystal ball: e.g. ‘I know what’s going to happen now…’
- Catastrophizing: e.g. ‘It’s all over now. X is out of the bag, all hell will break loose.’
- Emotional reasoning: e.g. ‘I feel X so strongly, therefore it must be a fact.’
- Self-labelling / blame: e.g. ‘X makes me an idiot!’ ‘X makes me ugly!’
Beneath these faulty cognitions are the schemas or core beliefs that feed such thinking. CBT also offers helpful techniques in bringing these to the surface.
To identify core beliefs, look for…
- ‘If…, then…’ statements: ‘If I’m X, then I’m a failure.’
- ‘Shoulds’ and ‘Musts’
- Themes in the NATs
- Family sayings, mottoes, memories
The CBT practitioner should then get the counsellee to put this core belief into words. Make them identify it as a rule: e.g. “I need everyone in my environment to be ok with me or else I will be destroyed.” Simply the process of articulating this rule – exposing it as the dominating force in a person’s every decision, act and feeling – is incredibly powerful. In Christian contexts it should lead to heart-felt and deep confession.
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[Summary of intervening points] In John 16:9 Jesus identified the criterion by which the Spirit would condemn the world for its sin - "in that people do not believe in Me." Through loving Christian community, the tools listed above can be a means of the Spirit uncovering those false faiths.
A key verse in Christian counselling is Proverbs 20:5: "The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters but a man of understanding draws them out." When I encounter a Spirit-filled 'man of understanding' in these circumstances I am exposed for my sinful beliefs and purposes - not simply my behaviours - and therefore may be brought to a broken and contrite heart.
I say may because it is always the Spirit's work to convict me of sin - never simply the work of logic. More on this below...
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Perhaps the chief criticism that could be levelled at CBT from a Christian perspective is this: It is not wise and persuasive words that are required but a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.
At the core of CBT is the challenging of irrational beliefs with logical standards. However the deceitful and unfathomable heart will take more than good reasoning to shake it from its madness. The truth of God’s gospel must be driven home to the counsellee with living power by the Spirit. Faith does not come by reasoning but by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Therefore there ought to be a healthy dose of proclamation to pastoral counselling, a worshipping community to surround it and the regular table fellowship of the Lord’s Supper. All the means of grace ought to be employed by the Christian counsellor. This goes far beyond pointing out faulty cognitions!
It is not our intellects that need changing but our hearts. The heart is the centre of a person according to Jesus and the source of our thoughts and actions. Our true hope is in the change of hearts. This means:
a) we will not look for non-rational means (the heart is not an anti-intellectual concept in the Bible)
b) we will employ emotional, artistic, sensory means also
c) true change is ultimately the work of God
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The whole article, including a potted history of the development of CBT, can be found here.
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