Evil, Sin & Suffering

We deal with evil, sin & suffering every day of our lives.  Some of us have been exposed to the most terrible evils and sin is certainly a part of all of our histories.  And I think I have more questions than I have answers.  When I consider this topic my mind is drawn to 2 Corinthians 1:3-11.  If you don't know this passage you need to click this link and read it for yourself, especially verse 3 where God is called "the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort".  As you read on Paul says that through Christ our comfort towards one another "overflows".  But in order to have a comfort that overflows I must also participate in suffering (an experience I don't like to claim).  If I move ahead in this letter of Paul I begin to see this progression of metaphors.  In chapter 2 he says we are the "aroma of Christ".  I think the idea of "the comfort that overflows" is the theme that follows through here.  Then he goes into chapter 3 and says we are a letter written on the heart.  Its something others who are going through suffering want to read because how I respond to suffering is more important than anything else.  Chapter 4 recalls how I am a vessel or jar and the litany of stress that I experience and how God can shine through that.

But chapter 5 he changes the metaphor again.  Now we're a tent.  "We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.  Meanwhile we groan..." It's hard to get past those words - meanwhile we groan.  It's part of the deal.  Paul emphasizes here that we're going to groan and suffer in life and even adds that God made us for this very purpose so that "what is mortal may be swallowed up by life".

I've been contemplating this subject a lot lately.  As a counselor, I am working with some people who are going through some issues that seem unbearable.  As a dad, I'm watching my children grow up so fast and I realize how few answers I have for them to answer the many questions they have about sin, suffering, and evil.  I'm witnessing my Grandmother - who has always been such a vital connection in my life - decline without dignity.  My dad just had quadruple bypass surgery.  My wife sometimes cannot stand because her back hurts so intensely.  And I am so inadequate, so often counterproductive in helping the people I care for the most.

One of the things that I have noticed as I reflect on the problem of suffering is that I am quick to attribute the providence of God to the things that are good in my life - the stuff that prevents my suffering; the stuff that relieves my suffering.  For instance, my dad's surgery was preceeded by the smallest of symptoms.  Normally he ignores this sort of stuff, he's physically fit, he's not a complainer but this time he listened to his body and it turned out to be "just at the right time."  What an amazing coincidence some would say.  God's definite intervention would say others.  It was definately a phenomenal thing to catch these major blockages before something dreadful occured.

But then I remember a scene when I first moved to this corner of the universe.  Not long after I got to Dothan, a sweet lady who attended our church, Martha Mitchell, died in an auto accident.  I'll never forget arriving at the hospital that day and finding one of our shepherds holding a man sobbing like a baby.  That man was Huey, her husband.  Huey had blood smeared on his face where he must have been leaning in close to his wife as she died on that gurney in the emergency room.  It was a man in the deepest of pain; a man whom I had never met before but for whom I had the deepest feelings of compassion.  More than that I felt a great sense of admiration for Doug - one of my shepherds - who stood holding Huey like his own son.  But it's a moments like this that I'm left wondering at why God's providence is so wonderful for some and then seems so distant from others.

I can't put it out of my mind.  It's easy to attribute God's providence to the good but think of all those who have not had the "providential" care that we might experience.  My wife comes home the other night  and tells me about a mother who lost her baby that day.  Traci, my wife, delivers babies and sometimes the worst possible scenario occurs.  It will make your heart ache to hear a nurse describing how she holds a baby in her hands that is "not viable" and for which no extraordinary measures will suffice.  It is born too early.  It cannot live even with the most expensive neo-natal ICU care.  It will die choking for its breath.  No providence.

I think we have to be so careful here.  As one who has witnessed my own dad escape death by what seems providential intervention; I really struggle with why God doesn't intervene elsewhere.  And I've come to a conclusion.  Unless we understand that God's providence is involved in both the good and the bad that comes in our life, we don't have a proper understanding of where God is coming from.

Here's what I mean.  In that passage in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says that God has made us for this purpose - what purpose? - to groan!!  So that we can be swallowed up by life.  What is he saying.  I think he's saying that in order to make sense of suffering we can't just look at the cross.  That is we can't just look backwards.  We've got to look ahead with hope in what He is doing and will do.  Here's how God deals with it.  He says that he, "has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."

You see, the mystery lies in what is to come.  And that's why we can't solve this mystery so easily.  I do know this.  God allowed me to witness something awesome with that man I had never known - Huey Mitchell.  The day I met him Huey was far away from God.  But instead of driving him into the darkness, the death of his beloved wife drew him again into relationship with God.  He saw the hope that God gave and felt the love of his family.  Huey died only a couple of years later.  He had cancer and battled it to the end but did it all the way holding onto the hand of God.  I beleive he knew what it meant when Paul said God gives us the Spirit as a guarantee.

LOVE IS GOING TO WIN.  Jesus' resurrection is a promise that evil will not triumph forever.  Hope knows that in the final chapter that only God will make things right in this world.  If you are going through a valley right now.  Hang on because we can be confident that God will make things right, if not in this body certainly the next. 

This is my only comfort.  I take no comfort in the belief that God is hurting someone or judging someone.  I take comfort in the fact that God is going to make it right!!!

A Mind That Won't Quit?

As an individual who has lived with anxiety I can relate to people who struggle with repeated doubts - Did I leave my door unlocked? - a need to have things in a particular order - Isn't it a law that the toilet paper is supposed to unroll from the top and not the bottom? - or even unwanted imagry - I hate billboards and checkout line tabloids. Enough said.  We all struggle with these things from time to time.  Maybe you don't struggle with them to the point of needing professional help.  But there are few things as rewarding in my work with people as helping an individual cope and overcome these obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

How common is this problem.  Clinically speaking, about 1 in 40 people in the US have a diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  The interesting thing is that it often goes undiagnosed for a long time.  The average person may see 3 or 4 professionals and go undiagnosed for as long as 7 years.  That's about 2-3% of our population.

So what's the difference between a person who is a perfectionist and someone who has an actual diagnosis of OCD?  True obsessions in the clinical sense are unwanted thoughts or images that just torment the individual.  It's not being obsessed with work or obsessed with football.  Instead it is a thought or image that just "comes out of nowhere to torment you.  Usually it causes enormous anxiety.  The second component of this disorder is compulsive behavior.  These are things one might do in response to their obsessive thoughts.  Some people may hate the thought of coming in contact with germs or dirt.  An obsessive-compulsive person is driven to avoid contact with these things and may compulsively wash their hands or avoid normal encounters with people to prevent "contamination".

With Christians I see people who obsess with whether or not they are actually saved or whether they may have committed the unpardonable sin.  For Christians there seems to be a lot of misinformation including attributing this problem to the wrong cause.

There is certainly no doubt among professionals that this is a biological issue.  Research shows that it is a problem that is about 60% genetic.  There's lots of research in this area among Christian and secular psychologists to back this claim.  Abnormalities in the basal ganglia part of the brain and seratonin imbalance are clinically proven causes of this disorder.  Stress exacerbates this problem but at the core is a neurological problem that needs some medical attention.

The good news is that there is help for this problem and most people (90% or better) respond to treatment with medications like SSRI's and cognitive behavioral therapy.  If this is a struggle you are experiencing give me a call or check with a licensed Chrisitian counelor in your area.

Addiction - A Sin or A Disease???

     In Mark 7:15 Jesus said, “Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.” If Jesus is right in this passage, why are so many families and churches characterized by a “barriers” approach to preventing “defilement?” That is, telling people how bad it is for them to drink this, eat that, or go there, making a rule against it, and then trying to make them good rule-followers.
     Granted, Galatians 6:7 reminds us of the Law of the Harvest. “A man reaps what he sows.” However, this healthy teaching can be quite unhealthy without the balanced approach that Scripture provides as a whole. Identifying the problems and ignoring education on healthy lifestyle decisions represents such an inadequate view of health. Just because a person avoids or stops using chemicals and goes out for football or band does not mean he or she is a healthy person. Attending a worship assembly instead of the local bar is not the same as health either. Yet so much of the effort put forth in families and churches is toward extinguishing one behavior and rewarding another.
     Jesus’ statement confronts all of our efforts to solve or prevent problems by avoiding something that doesn’t have the power to cause the problem in the first place. What a waste of time! This approach urges us to define health in terms of outside behavior instead of inside fullness. It provides no help or support once a person has broken through the barrier. It simply does not address the cause of the problem.
     So what is the cause? Environment? Environment can contribute to the problem, but it is not the cause. Poor choices? People’s poor choices contribute to the problem. So does lack of healthy past and present relationships. Shame contributes, as does ignorance, self-righteousness, dishonesty, and denial. But what is the cause?
     At first glance, my answer to that question might seem so “religious” as to be of no use at all. This is hardly the case. The truth is that this concept, which we have too long seen as purely theological, has many very practical ramifications in our lives. I believe that at the heart of all harmful dependencies is the issue of idolatry. A grasp of this concept is essential as a foundation for understanding the processes of chemical dependency and codependency, or any unhealthy dependencies.
     Remember the account of the Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis? It tells of God’s creation of Adam and Eve. God was their source and sustainer. He placed them in relationships (with Himself and each other) and in an environment in which all of their needs were met. This is much of what I believe God meant when He said, “This is very good.” There was a tree in the garden which was off-limits. Even to touch it meant death. Genesis 2:17 says, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” They ate and they died.
     There have been volumes of books written and thousands of sermons preached about what occurred that fateful moment when Adam and Eve ate from the tree. At a Christian Counselors’ conference I attended in Atlanta Drs. John Townsend and Henry Cloud summarized it well from their book, How People Grow. God’s original design included an unbroken relationship with Him and among men. When man colluded with Satan this design was turned upside down. No longer does man’s nature acquiesce to the God of heaven and earth. Now man’s nature says, “I will judge life. I’m the source. I’m independent.” This is idolatry. It is worshipping at the throne of self. What did man get when he disobeyed God? “You shall surely die,” warned God. And it was so. But getting death is not getting anything; it is losing something. Death literally means separation. Man was separated from eternal life in the Garden of Eden.
     Understanding death and life is not really so difficult. It is like darkness and light. Darkness is not the opposite of light; it is the absence of light. The way to be in the light is not by trying hard not to be dark. It is by coming into or turning on a light. Death is not the opposite of life; it is the absence of life. The way to have life is not by trying hard not to be dead. It is by coming to what can give life.
“I have come that they may have life” (John 10:10); “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48); “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25); and “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Why did Jesus come offering life? Because we did not have it!! Romans 5:12 says that “death came to all men, because all sinned.” To argue whether we are dead because Adam sinned or because we sin misses the point. The point is that we lack life.
Excerpted from Idolatry of Addiction by Eric Greer.

Ann Varnum Show

You have made it to the "Big Show" in LA (Lower Alabama) when you appear on Ann Varnum's Show.  Well, I've made a couple of appearances already but one was in a full suit of medival armor as "Sir Read-A-Lot" to promote a literacy campaign in Houston County.  Tomorrow morning I will be taping a show with her on a more serious issue - Sexual Addiction and Child Predators.  I am excited about the opportunity to share how the church is involved in helping those who are struggling with sexual addictions and protecting our children from predators.  Through the work of esteemed people like Dr. James Dobson we can see the debilitating effects of addictions to pornography.  However, we need to be careful not to assume that an individual who struggles with this sort of addiction will automatically become a predator.  Predatory behavior is linked closely with Anti-Social Personality Disorder and I will discuss how we can identify individuals with these characteristics and what is taking place in our society to treat these individuals as well as what we see taking place in our crimnal justice system to keep them off the streets.

Welcome to Twice Pardoned

Welcome to my blog.  Why "Twice Pardoned?"  Because I recognize that many Christians can identify with the feeling of freedom experienced with a new found relationship with Christ that is lost when you remain shackled to addictions or behavior patterns of the past.  Yes, there are many who find freedom in Christ who have yet to live fully in that freedom because they are still stuck fast to the "old man."  The apostle Paul wrote about this in Romans chapter 7, "I keep doing the stuff that I don't want to do and don't do the stuff I want to do" (Eric's version of Romans 7:15).  My second pardon - I'm using that word in a very loose theological sense - came when I began to bring my addictive behaviors to the foot of the cross and invite God through His son Jesus to deal with them.  I envision this blog to be a place where I can interact with those who can identify with that very same struggle and who may have begun to experience the same victory I describe or who would like to try on this idea and see if Jesus is up to the test.

Eric