What Is the Theology of Self-Care?
Body
“If we’re not careful, we can buy into a kind of modern-day gnostic heresy, where we deny the value of the body and the reality of our need to care for it.” - Christian Leaders
Image Bearers: Ways You Are Made Like God
No, you are not omnipotent, and you never will be. You are not a god, and you cannot ascend to that level. That’s been tried, and the devil and his angels got condemned forever for it. Yet, God made you like Him. You bear the image of God.
Genesis 1:26 records how God created human beings: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’” By design, God purposely made us like Him. But how? What does it mean to bear the image of God?
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Mental Health Problem or Sin Problem? Wait—Can’t It Be Both?
Problems in our behavior can be both mental health problems and “sin problems.” Part of the confusion on the topic of mental health among conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists is the assumption that a life problem has to be one or the other.
Consider a physical health analogy: Suppose I lose a leg in an accident. Because it’s a lot harder to walk now, I lay on the couch excessively, experience a lot of unhealthy weight gain, and neglect important duties.
Discussion
“Like the ocean, there’s always so much more to a person than can be seen on the surface.”
Body
“It’s easy to confuse brokenness or weakness with sinfulness….. Bad grades, tantrums, disorganization, inappropriate comments, relational conflict, and irresponsibility may all be because of willful sin, but they may also be due to human limitation or fallenness.” - TGC
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The Truth Is Timeless. And God Is Still There
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“For all I might achieve, heal, and strengthen, perfection, full integration, and wholeness will always be unattainable. The world tells me otherwise — every day, in fact. But if I don’t accept this truth, I will spend a lifetime shoving reality aside.” - Common Good
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How To Ask So People Will Talk
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“All of us are interviewers. We also can’t escape being interviewed, either formally or informally. Good questions and answers are some of the building blocks of God-honoring conversation.” - Ref21
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What Do Secular Studies on Happiness Have in Common with the Bible?
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“modern happiness studies demonstrate that wealth, success, power, and popularity are not predictors of happiness. People who choose gratitude and engage in respectful, others-centered relationships are happier than those who are self-focused and driven by feelings of entitlement.” - Randy Alcorn
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As fewer profess faith, research shows religion and spirituality improve well-being, mental health
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“Decades of data gathered in a single study released last fall shows that a relationship with God improves mental health and well-being, the study’s creators said Wednesday during the fourth annual International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C.” - Deseret News
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Is ‘Gentle Parenting’ Biblical?
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“If gentle parenting were just a mood board for solving parenting difficulties in nonconfrontational ways, I’d have nothing to say against it. But when you dig more deeply…you find at least two that stand opposed to the Bible’s teaching about parenting.” - TGC
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Tim Keller Meets Thomas Aquinas: Common Grace, Human Nature and the Question of Non-Christian Virtue
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“As we have seen, Keller did indeed break with Augustine and Calvin here, who held that the doctrine of original sin makes non-Christian virtue impossible.” - London Lyceum
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