November 29, 2005 by iMonk
I come to my last post in this series: What does the Gospel say to the mentally ill? What does it say to all human beings about the mentally ill? What does their presence among us tell us about ourselves? How is mental illness related to “true humanity?” [Continue reading]
November 28, 2005 by iMonk
What is the church’s responsibility to the mentally ill? I have concluded that mental illness, despite the potential baggage of the worldview of psychology, is inherently a truthful enough category to be useful in describing a phenomenon in the real world. While there are very controversial and ongoing conversations regarding the Biblical analysis of mental illness and the interpretation of Biblical passages about mental illness, we cannot reasonably deny that mental illness, as a human experience understood today in the language of medical diagnosis, did exist in the Bible and is all around us today. [Continue reading]
November 28, 2005 by iMonk
Real Live Preacher penned this short piece in July of 2005. It’s typical of why I admire RLP as one of the finest writers in the Christian blogosphere.
“There’s Something About The Way You Use The Bible.”
Thank you, Gordon.
November 28, 2005 by iMonk
The following essay comes from December of 2004. It is copyrighted, and may not be used except by permission and in its entirety.
Do our individual stories matter? It’s an important, humanizing question that I believe Jesus answered profoundly in his ministry.
November 27, 2005 by iMonk
An Incomplete list of “Confessional Essays” published at Internetmonk.com.
“The things I thought were so important – because of the effort I put into them – have turned out to be of small value. And the things I never thought about, the things I was never able to either to measure or to expect, were the things that mattered.” -Thomas Merton
November 25, 2005 by iMonk
Is there mental illness in the Bible? This question seeks to move us toward the question of mental illness and the Gospel.
The focus of the Bible is Jesus Christ. When we talk about anything else as it is presented in the Bible, we must be aware that no matter important it might be to us, it is not the main concern of the Bible itself. [Continue reading]
November 24, 2005 by iMonk
Is the Christian view of mental illness to categorize mental illness as the activity of demons and/or the result of sin?
This question really goes past a discussion of mental illness into questions of Biblical interpretation that have increasingly troubled Christians in the past century. The seeds for this controversy were sown as Protestant Christians expounded the doctrine of Sola Scriptura in their confessions. In order to keep Biblically authority sufficiently high to battle liberalism, words and concepts were applied to the Bible that have become more and more troublesome when the Bible interacts with secular ways of seeing the world. These claims for the sufficiency and inerrancy of the Bible inevitably come into conflict with the vocabulary and truth claims of science and medicine. [Continue reading]
November 24, 2005 by iMonk
Because the Bible is authoritative in Christianity, it is often difficult to come to terms with forms of knowledge that ignore the Bible, and especially difficult to deal with systems of knowledge that threaten to transcend or neutralize the Bible. In America, this tension did not fully dawn until the fundamentalist-modernist controversies of the early twentieth century. While Darwin continues to get most of the attention, it is more likely Freud who has created the most perplexing tensions for Christian believers.
Psychology does not appear to be an immediate frontal assault on the Christian view of truth. Many Christians, especially in more moderate communions, have been open to psychology as a way of compassionately understanding human beings. More recently, however, psychology has met with sterner opposition from many evangelicals, who have become aware that the discipline was atheistic, even religiously hostile, from the outset, and that its ways of explaining, understanding and helping human beings have potentially dire consequences for the Christian view of truth. [Continue reading]
November 23, 2005 by iMonk
Several times a week, I have to read folders containing psychological evaluations of prospective students. They are often quite daunting and detailed. The stories range from ordinary to nightmarish and disturbing. I must read and review the psychiatric evaluations and counseling histories of all students who are seeking admission to our school. After reading, I make a recommendation as to their appropriateness for us. In some cases, I do an additional interview, and make an evaluation based on the interview and the information. [Continue reading]
November 20, 2005 by iMonk
BHT reader Bob Myers sent me the text to this article from Banner of Truth Magazine. It is by Westminster West professor Peter Jones, and recalls a meeting some years ago with a certain Vatican Cardinal named Joseph Ratzinger. IM readers who have appreciated my essays on the Roman Catholic Church will enjoy this hopeful and constructive piece. Apologies if I’m breaking any major laws in republishing.
Any time I can catch Calvinists doing things that some would find disturbing, I want to publicize the mischief 
Thanks Bob [Continue reading]
November 19, 2005 by iMonk
Sitting about a foot away from me, next to my desk, is a green suitcase containing 22 small notebooks, each one full of pages of handwritten notes. The notes are my childhood pastor’s sermon notes; notes spanning more than 30 years of ministry and many different churches. They were given to me as a gift, to do with as I choose.
In the closet at the end of the hall is a box of ancient reel-to-reel tapes. The tapes contain approximately ten years worth of sermons preaching through the Bible, Genesis to Revelation, by a Baptist pastor almost 50 years ago. The sermons were preached by the founding pastor of a church I served in the early 80’s, and were given to me as a gift. [Continue reading]
November 16, 2005 by iMonk
I’ve been teaching the Bible to high school students for 13 years, and hope to do so for many more. In that time, I’ve been looking for a particular resource, and I’ve never found it…until now. Ryken’s Bible Handbook has impressed me more than any Biblical introduction I’ve ever seen. I am enthusiastic about recommending the book, and no one gave me a free copy along the way (though I’ll gladly take one.) [Continue reading]
November 16, 2005 by iMonk
*Music Up….swells….Voice Over*
It’s VAN TIL LIVE! The Internet Monk Radio Network Presents The BHT’s Magic Tail-Chasing Dog, Van Til, in Hippy-Emergent Christianity’s Favorite Interview and Entertainment program…..VAN TIL LIVE! And now, broadcasting live from the Boar’s Head Tavern in downtown St. Sadies, Maryland, it’s Vaaaaaaaaan Til!! [Continue reading]
November 15, 2005 by iMonk
Adrian Rogers, longtime pastor, preacher and denominational leader in the SBC, passed away today. A faithful Gospel warrior, he fought the good fight.
But according to Paul Proctor, another deceased Southern Baptist pastor, Kyle Lake, was probably killed by God to send a warning of his judgement to the emerging church. [Continue reading]
November 14, 2005 by iMonk
Get Religion covers the latest fad in Lewisania: speculation that a young Lewis had premarital sex with his longtime housemate, Mrs. Moore. (yawn.)
London newspapers have been teasing this stuff for a week and now the New York Times is in on the act. American media only know that Lewis is popular with evangelicals and therefore must be a hypocrite, television evangelist or pervert. When they discover that Lewis haters like A.N. Wilson and Phillip Pullman are already talking about ol’ Jack the kinky boy, expect the two and three column stories to appear with regularity. [Continue reading]
