Internet Monk Radio Podcast #125

podcast_logo.gifThis week: A Note from God, and the iMonk goes a bit nuts over legalism.

Our sponsors are: 60 Ways to Leave Your Mother…Alone. A comic by Michael Buckley.

New Reformation Press. Download new teaching by Dr. Rod Rosenbladt.

Zaccheus Press– Fine Catholic Books, including Priestblock 25487.

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Spiritual Depression and the Search For the One True Church (I’d like to hear the opinion of the room.)

The following comment appeared in the Losing God comment thread. Please read it, with special consideration of what is said, not the person saying it (whom I don’t know and neither do you.)

I do not struggle with “Is Christianity true?” vs atheism, Islam, Hinduism etc.

My “spiritual depression” is caused by the continual dueling (in my mind) of the various theologies within Christianity: Reformed, Wesleyan, Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox, and on and on.

How can I know which, if any, are truly true? All have scads of brilliant and holy adherents. Is it all subjective? Just close my eyes and pin the tail on the donkey? As Lewis said, we cannot live in the hallway (mere Christianity.) We must choose a room.

To continue to study systematic theologies only seems to drive me further into “depression.” Yet it is like an unbreakable addiction.

Since my wife’s move to the RCC was related to her own healing from depression, I’m quite interested in this topic.

I’d like to invite the comments of those who have a thoughtful response to make to this person. I will not post anything other than serious and mature comments. I realize that most commenters will have made a denominational choice, but this is not the post on which to sell your church as the winner.

What I want to know is….

1) Why does this search matter so much? Is there some question of the availability of Jesus?

2) Why is this related to depression?

3) Why, for some people, is this search so compulsive and addictive?

Recommendation and Review: Losing God by Matt Rogers

Comments are moderated. Be patient.

UPDATE: Trevin Wax, who recommended the book to me, is reviewing it today as well.

Matt Rogers has written a book on the Christian experience of depression and doubt. Losing God is a brief, but intensely honest first person account of Rogers’ own battle with depression, a battle that took up years of his life in college and after.

Losing God may be of special interest to a many of the IM audience because of the interaction of his depression crisis with the Calvinistic theology he heard from college friends, ministers and Christian teachers. To anyone familiar with the history of Calvinism, it will not be a surprise that some persons are terrorized by the doctrines of election and predestination, or that some of these persons “lose God” for a season in the process.Continue reading “Recommendation and Review: Losing God by Matt Rogers”

iMonk 101: “Mr. Spencer, How Would You Like Your Crow?”

UPDATE: Read how Obama and Warren defied the culture war, from the current Christian Century.

Here’s a reposting of my official withdrawal from the ranks of predictable critics of Rick Warren. I was wrong, and I said so. This first appeared at IM November 1st, 2007.

BTW, I think more highly of Warren now than when I wrote this, but I still think he gets theology a bit muddled in print and interviews. That may be the unpardonable sin for the discernablog set, but it’s a human error. Warren can preach in my chapel anytime.

crow.jpgI haven’t blogged all that much about Rick Warren in the 7 years I’ve had this web site, but the times I have- which amount to a couple of essays and a lot of asides, comments and occasional references- it’s generally been negative.

Some of that has been deserved- such as my essay prompted by Warren’s declaration that we shouldn’t “criticize what God is blessing” or his contention that musical style is the key element in a church plant- and I don’t regret or apologize for my opinions at all.

I have, however, reconsidered my evaluation of Rick Warren and I think it’s time to eat a plate of well cooked crow.

I’ll admit seven things up front:Continue reading “iMonk 101: “Mr. Spencer, How Would You Like Your Crow?””

Thinking Differently, Disagreeing Charitably

I was recently reading a book of Catholic apologetics that wanted to illustrate the insufficiency of sola scriptura. For an example, the author selected some issues about which evangelicals feel strongly, but which the author believed are not specifically spelled out in scripture to the extent that evangelicals claim.

One of the issues was polygamy. Another was abortion.

Yes, I said abortion. This Catholic apologist felt that Protestants are mistaken to say they can prove their pro-life position solely from reading the Bible.

No one can possibly fault the Catholic Church for its consistent and well-articulated stand on pro-life issues, but evangelicals would be cautious about the assertion that the Bible alone isn’t the sole sufficient source for shaping a position on abortion.Continue reading “Thinking Differently, Disagreeing Charitably”

The Lessons of Two Prayers: Warren and Robinson

UPDATE: Lauren Green on the two prayers.

Bishop Gene Robinson- who needs no introduction, does he?- prayed at an Inaugural event over the weekend.

Bishop Robinson got the gig not because he is a spiritual leader or is looked up to by Christians, but because he is the first openly gay bishop in the ECUSA. He has become the lightning rod that has split worldwide Anglicanism. He has a way of turning up wherever the issue of gay marriage is on the agenda. He was hanging around the media rooms at the Lambeth Conference, just in case anyone wanted his opinion. And when Rick Warren was asked to pray at the Inauguration, Bishop Robinson’s angry friends- offended that Warren was a supporter of Prop 8 in California defining marriage traditionally in that state- got him the job of praying at this event.

The Bishop didn’t miss a beat in saying he was appalled by the distinctively Christian prayers that had dominated Inaugurations in the past, and he would not pray in the name of Jesus.Continue reading “The Lessons of Two Prayers: Warren and Robinson”

Holes in the Soul

Back in the day, I got a psych major in my undergrad work. That’s pretty ironic, believe me, in more ways than you can imagine.

I can’t say I learned a great deal, but I did begin a lifelong journey of making observations and drawing tentative conclusions about myself. If I would have paid attention to all I’ve discovered about myself, I’d have a very different life. Some psychologist can tell me why I routinely ignore the lessons I’ve learned and repeat all the same mistakes.

One thing I’ve learned is that I’ve got some holes in my personality that go a lot deeper than I can understand. They are caverns in my self-understanding; potholes in the soul, so to speak. Like a series of tunnels that connect with points in my past and experience, these dark places are imperfectly mapped, sometimes frightening and very, very real when you fall into one.Continue reading “Holes in the Soul”

New Rosenbladt Available at NRP: “When Fathers Die It’s Always Too Early.”

nrp_buttonthumbnailNew Reformation Press is working hard to get quality Lutheran and Reformation theology products to the IM audience and I want to thank all of you who have visited the site and made purchases. Now NRP has something new that I know many of you are waiting for: a new set of teaching from Dr. Rod Rosenbladt, theology professor and outstanding co-host of the White Horse Inn.

Dr. Rosenbladt has a pastor’s heart combined with a theologians insight, and you’ll hear both on display in these excellent presentations on the Fatherhood of God and the experience of being an earthly Father. How many of us need to hear that kind of teaching? Yes, me too. You can hear a sample at the web site and hopefully you’ll get all 4 mp3s.

I recommend NRP without reservation. They are worth visiting and recommending to others. If you haven’t gotten their great new t-shirts, you should stop there as well. Look over all their products.

Riffs: 01:18:09: Are Southern Baptists Getting It? Maybe.

An IM reader sent along this piece from the Nashville Tennessean newspaper on the current decline of the Southern Baptist Convention. There’s some rare honesty in this piece, and I hope SBC leaders are listening.

For example, Bill Leonard, one of my favorite professors from seminary days, talks about the SBC’s changing demographics. This really is the key to a lot of the story of post-war SBC numerical growth, and Southern Baptists need to stop avoiding this simple truth. I’ve never been a part of an SBC church whose primary source of baptism was anything other than the families of their own members.Continue reading “Riffs: 01:18:09: Are Southern Baptists Getting It? Maybe.”