What is Really Behind Your Anxiety and Depression?

Pardon my recent lapse from writing. It seems that I can’t devote my energy to two things at once. Lately I have been focused on a lot of Bible reading—like finishing the Bible in 3 months (I’m only 15 days in). It has required reading anywhere from 10-15 chapters per day. This has resulted in some early mornings and/or late nights, but it has been so beneficial and refreshing to my soul. It has really allowed me to see the Bible as one large story instead of a collection of individual stories, and some of the infamously difficult passages are not that intimidating after all (think Numbers 31:17-18). You should try it.

Anyway, I came across this passage this morning in Deuteronomy 28 and I just couldn’t pass up writing about it:

⁶⁵…there the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. ⁶⁶ You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.

This passage is a warning to Israel of their mental anguish if they choose not to trust the LORD and disobey his commands.

These verses explain everything from the middle school boy who has low grade nervousness in gym class, to the high school girl who cuts herself, to Caitlyn Jenner. On some level, this list of mental distresses grips us all. Our society chalks it up to mental disorders and chemical imbalances. But God teaches us that it’s a result of putting our faith in things that fail us. I’m not dismissing the validity of mental illness and chemical imbalances, but spiritual problems can often lead to physical ailments. We ought not settle for a self-help book, a pill, or gender reassignment to help us feel better. Here is one of the great lies of our culture: Our anxiety, depression, fear, etc. is not a spiritual issue. It is physical in its entirety and should be treated the same as cancer, a broken bone, or the common cold.

*For clarity, I’m not opposed to prescribing medication for depression, anxiety, etc. I am opposed to accepting that medicine is the go-to fix for mental anguish.*

3 Things Every Person Needs and 1 Thing You Only Think You Need

This list is not going to be shocking to anyone. Its contents are simple. The reason that I’m bringing attention to this very elementary list is because of our propensity to feign needs in our lives. What we really need is actually pretty primitive. Are you ready?

1. Things to eat.
2. Things to drink.
3. Clothes to wear.

Do you agree? If not, that’s OK. The idea of need is a fluid one anyway. You could make an argument that we need money. In today’s world, it’s hard to get along without it. You could argue that people need relationships. We were certainly created as relational people, so people certainly live healthier and more productive lives if they have someone to share it with. But what’s of equal importance than what is on this list is what is not on this list. When Jesus (yes, Jesus!) made this list in the Sermon on the Mount, he left something off that the world wants you to believe you need. Notice, there is no mention of sex.

It seems that everywhere, from magazines in the checkout isle to medical professionals to counselors, sex is depicted as a biological need. You need a good sex life for a healthy marriage. You need a sexual outlet to deal with stress and cope with life. Casual sex is praised and encouraged as an aspect of life that is fun, healthy and beneficial in every way. But are these assertions true? In order for me to have a healthy, fulfilling life, do I need sex?

Let’s look at some implications for our lives if this claim were true:

1. If sex were a legitimate, biological need, it would be hard to fight sexual temptation. In fact, it would be unfair even to be asked to fight sexual temptation. In our sexually saturated world, it’s difficult enough to resist this temptation. It’s everywhere. If it were something that our bodies needed for health and well-being, it would be impossible. But it’s not a need. We can say no.
2. If sex were a legitimate, biological need, no single person would be able to keep God’s command for sexual purity. Not even Jesus. Jesus is 100%  (but not only) human. We share with him the need for food, water, clothing, etc. Jesus never married, yet he lived a life of sinless purity. Therefore sex is not a need.
3. God provides all of our needs (Philippians 4:19), yet many men and women live faithful, godly lives without sex. If sex were a legitimate, biological need, this would be impossible.

The truth about sex is that it is a beautiful, good gift that God has given us to enjoy within the context of marriage. It brings joy, intimacy, and pleasure. But don’t believe the lies. It is not a need.

What are your thoughts?

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Much thanks to J. Alasdair Groves for teaching me these truths in his article, Exposing the Lies of Pornography and Counseling the Men Who Believe Them in Volume 27:1 of The Journal of Biblical Counseling (2013).

A Slightly Aggressive Plan to Read the Bible

Today a friend and I began a three month Bible reading plan. That’s right. Three months to read the entire Bible. To me, that seems fast. Really fast. But there are more aggressive plans out there. I spoke to someone who read the Bible in one month and I saw another plan that could be completed in 3 weeks. The three month plan estimates about 30 minutes of reading per day, but to complete the first day’s reading took me about 40 minutes. Not too bad.

Anyway, after doing a little bit of Googling, it seems that the average person can read the Bible in anywhere from 54-72 hours at a speed of 250-400 words per minute. There are approximately 800,000 words in the Bible (with some variation depending on the translation).

It should be a good experience. And just think how familiar you can be with the Bible if you read it four times in one year.

Do Memorial Day Well

Memorial Day has a lot of perks for us today. An extra day off from work, family cookouts, pool parties, the unofficial start of summer. But let’s not forget what Memorial Day really is. You can enjoy those things because countless men and women laid their lives down on the battlefield to secure your freedom. Tedashii captures this well in this video. Check it out.

A Perplexing Excerpt from C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet

In true C.S. Lewis fashion, Out of the Silent Planet is wrought with philosophic conundrums. Not only do I try to pay attention to the worldviews of works in their entirety (and I urge you to do the same), I also try to identify the worldviews of individual characters in media. One character in Silent Planet is Weston, a physicist who has kidnapped the protagonist Ransom and is taking him to another world. Here is one exchange that has me puzzled in nailing down Weston’s worldview:

“As it is, I admit that we have had to infringe your rights. My only defence is doing what has never been done in the history of man, perhaps never in the history of the universe. We have learned how to jump off the speck of matter on which our species began; infinity, and therefore perhaps eternity, is being put into the hands of the human race. You cannot be so small-minded as to think that the rights or the life of an individual or of a million individuals are of the slightest importance in comparison with this.”

“I happen to disagree,” said Ransom, “and I always have disagreed, even about vivisection. But you haven’t answered my question. What do you want me for? What good am I to do you on this—on Malacandra.”

“That I don’t know,” said Weston. “It was no idea of ours. We are only obeying orders.”

“Whose?”

There was another pause. “Come,” said Weston at last, “there is really no use in continuing this cross-examination. You keep on asking me questions I can’t answer: in some cases because I don’t know the answers, in others because you wouldn’t understand them. It will make things very much pleasanter during the voyage if you can only resign your mind to your fate and stop bothering yourself and us. It would be easier if your philosophy of life were not so insufferably narrow and individualistic. I had thought no one could fail to be inspired by the roles you are being asked to play: that even a worm, if it could understand, would rise to the sacrifice. I mean, of course, the sacrifice of time and liberty, and some little risk. Don’t misunderstand me.”

Sometimes worldviews are hard to pin down. Rarely are they formulated enough to fit into one worldview category. Often they are a potpourri of different beliefs. Weston here is no different. His morals seem to be derived from some sort of nihilistic thought. He asserts that individual lives or even the lives of millions have no significance. Yet he acknowledges that Ransom’s rights have been violated and he claims that it is good for Ransom to sacrifice time, liberty and safety for the cause of science. If Ransom’s life held no significance, then he has no rights of which he can be stripped and the loss of time, liberty, and safety does not qualify as a sacrifice. Does this contradiction stem from a contradiction in thoughts of the author, or are Weston’s inconsistencies written into his character to demonstrate the inconsistencies of naturalistic/nihilistic thought? Given Lewis’ propensity to philosophy and apologetics, my guess is the latter.

What do you think about Weston’s statements and worldview?

100 Posts and Counting!

This is my 100^th post! It has taken me a while to get here. I’ve been on a roll lately, but I don’t get to post as much as I would like. But that’s ok. I have things in my life that carry much greater eternal significance than writing, so this is usually the first thing to take the backseat. Nevertheless, I’m excited about my blog, I’m happy with the direction it’s going, and I’m grateful for you, my readers. Both of you. Hi Mom!

To commemorate my 100^th post, I’ve decided to lay out a couple of Top Tens. Here are my Top Ten most popular (and sometimes controversial) posts and their view count as of 5/20/15:

1. 3 Reasons People Believe Homosexuality is Not Prohibited in the Bible (135 views)
2. (Almost) Everything You Need to Know About Breakthrough Weekend (Breakthrough Weekend is an event we do with the Middle/High School students at church, 92 views)
3. My Apologies to Richard Sherman (62 views)
4. Applying the Blood of Christ to our Clothing (49 views)
5. Four Reasons Why I Know God is Real (41 views)
6. An Excellent Wife Who Can Find? (41 views)
7. 4 Reasons the #BBN Should Cheer for Wisconsin (38 views)
8. What Should We Really Think of American Sniper, Chris Kyle? (38 views)
9. Esther; Two Types of People God Uses (37 views)
10. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge; A Different Approach (37 views)

Here are my Top Ten favorite posts, regardless of view count (excluding those that have already been listed):

1. Faith Like a Child; The Night God Saved My Son
2. Why We All Want to be Like Wolverine
3. Behind Bars; Observations of a Quasi-Serious Cyclist
4. End of the Road; Saying Goodbye to the Wildcats
5. Molders of Men; A Night at Home with the Boys
6. Recounting a Loss; UK v. South Carolina
7. Divorce; Did Jesus Teach an “Exception Clause”?
8. The Uncanny (and Progressive) X-Men
9. Parents, Who is Teaching Your Kids?
10. Aronofsky’s Noah; A Boatload of Imagination

Do you have a favorite or something you would like to see me write about more? Let me know in the comments.

Reflecting on God’s Grace; Family, War, and UK Football

There was a two week period in the fall of 2007 that was one of the most fun times in my life. I was at home on leave during a 17 month deployment with the Army National Guard (5 months at Fort Dix, New Jersey and 12 months in Afghanistan). My leave fell during my wife’s birthday so I got to celebrate with her as well as see a lot of my family and friends. For the lamenting UK Football fan, there aren’t many special moments. But two of my favorite UK Football moments came in that two week period. The first was a triple overtime win over #1 LSU and a narrow loss the following week at the hands of the 14^th ranked Florida Gators. On October 13, the first Saturday of my leave, we had my dad and step-mom over to watch the LSU game. It was one of those scenarios in which I hoped the Wildcats could make a good showing, but let’s face it; it’s the #1 team in the country and for us to come out with a victory, we would have to play a near flawless game. I don’t remember many details about the game, but as the Wildcats and Tigers traded blows in 3 overtimes, I was exhausted from nearly 4 hours of anxiety that this game had produced. UK made its final stand and kept LSU from scoring one last time for the victory and a final score of 43-37.

One week later, my wife surprised me with tickets to the UK/Florida game. Now ranked #8 in the nation, confidence in the football program was the highest that it has been in my lifetime. The game was another shootout, but the Cats fell to the Gators 37-45.

The end result of the game did little to my jovial demeanor during those two weeks. I was at home with my wife and I only had 5 short months left before I could return home for good. My time in the military was good. It was a time of challenge and growth. Our marriage blossomed. But I was eager to leave that chapter of my life behind, finish school, and start a family. By God’s grace, he has allowed me to do all of those things.

How and Why Did God Create Us?

The catechism question that my wife and I are working on with our sons has become vitally important today. Frankly, the fact that we’re teaching them a truth that lays the groundwork for something that is now counter-cultural is a bit overwhelming. But as parents we have a choice: do we teach truth to our children or do we stick to the easy stuff? Here it is:

Q: How and why did God create us?

A: God created us male and female in his own image to glorify him.

Why is this so counter-cultural? First, it’s becoming increasingly taboo to distinguish between male and female. A host of implications comes from this distinction: gender identity, traditional marriage, marital roles, etc. All of these things have lost traction as being healthy aspects of relationships. Second, because we’re made for someone else. We are made to serve and glorify our creator. That alone makes the self-proclaimed autonomous man cringe.

5 Passages for When You Fail

1. John 10:28-30

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.

2. Romans 5:1

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Romans 8:32-39

³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

4. Colossians 1:20-22

²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

5. Hebrews 10:17

then he adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

 

Two Former Wildcats Fight for Their Playoff Lives

Two former Kentucky Wildcats face elimination from the NBA Playoffs tonight if they can’t figure out a way to extend their series to seven games. The Cavaliers will travel to Chicago to take on Nazr Mohammed and the Bulls at 8:00pm ET on ESPN and Terrence Jones and the Rockets will visit the Clippers for a 10:30pm ET tipoff, also on ESPN.

Nazr and Lebron aren’t the best of friends.

Nazr Mohammed is playing less than 6 minutes per game and averaging only 2 points, but still, how can you not root for a Wildcat? Besides, after 17 years in the NBA, how many more chances can the 6’10’’ center have?

Terrence Jones however, has become a major contributor for the Rockets. Playing over 24 minutes per game, the 6’9’’ forward is averaging over 11 points per game.

It may be an uphill battle, but I believe they can get it done. Bring on game seven. Go Cats.