Do not believe that events which upset History must always begin with serious causes.

More than one king fought the war because he fell in love with some lady or conquered an country because he loved a woman who was living there.

A woman is hidden behind each great character. Women are constantly present in the History: they made the kings, offered their crown to them or made them lose it. They encouraged kings to conquer countries, destroy cities, build castles, appreciate artists…

During the Vth century, France was still a Barbarian country. The worship of several Gods was its people religion at that time. Christianity had not joined us yet.

In the year 492, Clovis was King of the Franks and only 25 years old and was looking for his second wife – his first wife was a Scandinavian princess. His emissaries were seeking through Europe the most beautiful woman.

In these times, an important character did not that kind of task by himself.

The beauty of a person being a personal appreciation, we wonder whether if indeed Clotilde was beautiful, but the continuation of the story will prove that the King of Barbarians fell in love with her.

Clovis emissaries found “the most beautiful woman in the world”: Clotilde – Chilperic’s daughter (King of Burgundy) which reigned in Lyon before being assassinated by his brother. Clotilde was 18 years old and lived in her uncle Gondebaud’s castle when she was distinguished by the emissaries. Clovis charged his friend Aurelius to obtain Clotilde and Gondebaud’s assent. Clotilde accepted immediately. Gondebaud was shocked but did not refuse.

Thus Clotilde and the objects constituting her dowry went away towards Clotilde’s fiance.

The run wasn’t calm: Gondebaud having meanwhile changed his opinion, he wanted his niece returns and the poor one, to escape to him, had to give up her dowry, jump on a horse and leave the limits of Burgundy.

Once arrived in the city of Senlis she married Clovis who, apparently, did not like to wait.

Clotilde, helped by Saint-Remi, wanted to convert Clovis to Christianity. He adored the Barbarian Gods. Disavowing his fathers Gods was a great risk for him and his authority.

Indeed, Barbarians were descendants of the Gods and to convert to Christianity was deprive himself of his right to reign. However, Clotilde obtained that their first child, Ingomir, received the baptism.

Unfortunately, the baby died a few days later and Clovis blamed it on the Christian religion. Their second child was called Chlodomer and baptized according to the Christian rite too.

Clovis agreed to convert and in Christmas day of the year 496, he accepted the baptism in Rheims. This conversion had very important consequences in the Gallic policy. Clovis was recognized as chief by millions of Catholic in Gaule.

Thus was born the dynasty from “the Catholic Kings”. And it is thanks to Clotilde, a woman. Without the love Clovis had for her, he never had converted.

After the conquest of the Visigoths, Clovis and Clotilde settled in Paris and made their capital of this town.

Clovis died november 27th in the year 511 and Clotilde retired in Tours at the time of her widowhood. She died in the year 545.
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Once upon a time there was a young man who felt called to become a Pastor. He went to a Christian college where they taught him many wonderful things…how to love people and teach the Bible and win people to Jesus. But when he entered his first church he realized there was a big difference between what he was taught and the skills needed to run a dynamic congregation. So he read books and attended conferences and sought advice from consultants, and sure enough, his church began to grow. New people were coming to Christ like never before. They needed more worship space and parking so they ran a capital campaign. More people were baptized, their offerings grew and they added new staff. A few years later people took note of the growth of his church and he found himself in the interesting position of being looked to for advice. But the pressure of leading a growing church began to take its toll. Endless staff meetings. Long nights. Weekly anxiety over whether or not they would meet budget. Management issues. Architects. Piles of phone calls and emails to return. Systems. Planning. Paperwork. Requests for counseling. Inability to go anywhere in his community without being recognized.

Deep down he wondered if this was all worth it. But he persisted. He shoved any disapproving voices in his soul farther and farther away. “I’m doing this for the kingdom,” he reminded himself. “Besides, I’ve gotten them too far in debt now to leave.”

Years later his church had grown beyond anything he ever imagined. He had book deals and endless speaking requests. People lauded him as someone to model their ministry after. In other pastor’s eyes he had achieved it all. But personally his soul was smaller now than it had ever been before. Late one evening after a discouraging meeting with his Finance manager over sagging contributions, he walked into the staff office bathroom, stood in front of the mirror, and slowly slapped water on his face. He starred at the person he was forced to become to maintain such growth. With every new building built, and with every new staff member added, and with every capital campaign administered he felt like a little bit of his soul shriveled up and died. He felt numb. He mumbled something almost inaudibly at first. Then he repeated it again. “Is this what I signed up for when God called me into the ministry?”

One of my favorite rock bands, Coldplay, released a song a while back called “Clocks” that immediately hit the top of the charts. Buried in the middle of that song is a little question that flies by so fast you almost miss it unless you are listening closely.

The song asks, “Am I a part of the cure, or am I part of the disease?”

As of late I can’t get that question out of my head.

Four years ago my wife, kids and I moved to the suburbs of Philly to launch a new church for a heavily unchurched area. In just four short years we’re popping over 800 and getting ready to break ground for a multi-million dollar complex.

People would say things are going great.

But the larger this thing gets, the more unhappy I become.

Why?

It’s that question.

I keep wondering if this thing we’ve just created, this entity, this land consuming, staff adding, money raising, people churning, numerically and financially growing conglomeration of people…I’m wondering if it’s part of the cure or part of the disease.

By now you can probably tell where I’m leaning, so let me explain…

I don’t like what I’ve become

A while ago I asked a nationally recognized Pastor and author to give me some direction. To be honest, I was pretty surprised that he was willing to come and consult with a scrub like me, but he graciously did. I had a long list of questions that I needed help answering, but top on my list was the question, “How can I sustain this for the long haul?” When his plane landed we spent two days together driving around our area talking and praying. Do you want to know what his first words to me were? “Brian, it takes a pretty unstable person to lead a church from 0 to 500 in 3 years.” I said, “Ummm, thanks, I think.”

I don’t like what I’ve had to become to lead, manage, catalyze and propel this ever-growing mass forward. In his book, Organizing Genius, Warren Bennis says that “Great groups are full of indefatigable people who are struggling to turn a vision into a machine and whose lawns and goldfish have died of neglect.”
My problem is that I want out of the machine building business. In fact, I never wanted to be in the machine building business in the first place.

The sheer weight of the burden on my shoulders never leaves. Money. Meetings. Planning. One friend of mine in a similar situation calls himself “the weeping prophet,” not because of his passion for the lost, but because of the misery of running the machine. In fact, almost every mega-church pastor I have ever talked to, and I mean almost every one, has whispered behind the scenes, “This is hell. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.” To lead a growing church you have to become a workhorse (and lead a team of exhausted workhorses). The problem is when I do this I become a hypocrite. There is a disconnect between the life I’m leading and what I’m teaching our people. Rest, peace, freedom from anxiety, and contentment…are words that cannot cross my lips with any amount of authenticity when I’m running the machine.

My question is “Why isn’t anyone warning upcoming pastors about this?” If we are a fellowship of churches with endless numbers of congregations looking at the 1,000 mark in their rear-view mirrors, does anyone else see a problem? How can this be a part of the cure when the people leading these entities are miserable?

I don’t like what my calling has become

In the 1920’s a team of archaeologists excavating a section of a city called Dura-Europas in western Syria uncovered a spectacular find-the first known dedicated church building. Dated to roughly 231 a.d., it was a house converted into worship space, including a tub for baptisms. Over this tub they found a beautiful mural of a young beardless shepherd carrying a lamb on his shoulders.

While I am jazzed by the nature of this archeological discovery, I am also saddened. Unlike me, for the first 100 years of its existence, kingdom leaders were focused on people—reaching them, baptizing them, teaching them, and starting new fellowships for them. That was their calling. And this is what I thought I signed up for. They didn’t see building buildings as part of their mission. The only collections that they had were for the poor. There were no budgets. No Capital Campaigns. Church leaders didn’t worry about things that consume our time like programs and systems and mission statements and strategic planning. There was a small group of people that met in a home. That’s it. New Testament scholars all agree these small fellowships were no more than 25 to 50 in size, and the Apostle Paul seemed quite content with that.

I feel at times like the leader of a spiritual institution…like a regional manager for a Wal-Mart or YMCA. Of course I am passionate about reaching people for Jesus, but I also constantly need money to keep this thing going. People are needed, not so much to become disciples but to lead and administer and fill up programs. People in the hallway are immediately sized up in my head, “Potential leader…contact. Whiner…avoid. Sharp couple with great giving potential…connect.” I despise this. I can’t imagine this is the vision Jesus had for his new community.

So What’s The Answer?

This past summer I had a chance to visit a booming mega-church in the west. It had just completed its billionth capital campaign and had it all: new state of the art buildings, acres and acres of land, surplus parking, a spacious bookstore, snappy graphics and lots of happy, carb-counting worship leaders. It even had the coolest coffee bar I’d ever seen in a church lobby. Walking into the worship center with my wife, I stopped mid-stride, threw up my arms and said, “I don’t want to do THIS anymore.”

She said, “What?”

I said, “THIS. All of this. Every last bit of it. Giving my life to THIS is shrinking my soul a little bit everyday. If I keep it up nothing will be left.”

I guess what I allowed myself to articulate for the very first time was that I wanted out of the machine building business.

Machine building is part of the disease.

I want to be a part of the cure.

I don’t want to be 55 years old, looking in the mirror and mumbling to myself, “Is this what I signed up for when God called me into the ministry?”

The only problem is I don’t know what the cure looks like.
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ABC’s Desperate Housewives 4/18/2008 episode is packed with spiritual content and faith filled heartfelt discussions.

Like clockwork on Sunday the faithful emerged from their homes wearing their Sunday best with Bibles in hand as they headed off to their various places of worship. Passing by a certain non-believer who had never taken an interest in their ritual, but on this day, Lynette Scavo for the first time in her life was awakened within with divine inspiration.

Persuading her hubby to forego watching the Pistons so she could go to church to get some of her questions answered about God and Jesus, Lynette and family got dressed to go to attend church.

Upon walking outside, her neighbor Bree immediately commented on how pretty Lynette looked and asked her what she was all dressed up for? Lynette said, “I decided I should go to church today. …Since you’re the most religious person I know I was wondering if you would take us to your church?”

Once in church together, the scene changes to the Pastor’s sermon wherein he says: “And this is what should bring us peace in our hearts. The blessed knowledge that God’s love for us is as sure as the sunlight and that it is always shining. We only need to see it.”

Lynette being a bit puzzled, raises her hand in church to ask a question.

Bree who is running for the chair of the women’s auxilliary terrified that she’ll be utterly humiliated and ruined asks: “What are you doing?”

Lynette: “I’ve got a question about the sermon.”

Bree: “Please! We don’t do that here.”

After a heartfelt discussion during the week, Bree convinced Lynette that interrupting the Pastor and asking questions isn’t typical for their church. In fact Bree advised Lynette to explore other churches perhaps more suitable for her.

The following Sunday, Pastor Sykes greets Bree as she enters the church saying: “So is your delightful neighbor coming? The one with all the questions?”

Bree: “Delightful? Heh, I thought she annoyed you?”

Pastor: “No, I found her refreshing. It’s like I always say. Church is not a place for answers. It’s a place for questions.”

This dialogue goes to show you the many misnomers, false presumptions, and erroneous beliefs we have about God and church. Jesus interacted with His disciples freely and wholeheartedly.

The word “sermon” is not in the Bible. This is clearly a creation of man-made religion and church, which tends toward ceremony, to constrain mankind and keep them quiet. True spirituality consists of meaningful dialogue and interaction, not merely a monologue that puts people to sleep.
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And why are they so backward nowadays? Same with Egypt, Ethiopia and Greece. Once great and progressive, now backward and third-world.
Apologies to Grecians
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The above verse is yet another foundational Holy Scripture that is not understood by mainstream Christianity, otherwise known as the delusional Christian Religion.

This article is about the confusion that exists within mainstream Christianity between belief and faith, although most would not admit that they are confused. It’s also about them thinking that it’s their faith that saves them and this idea, of course, goes hand in hand with their other erroneous idea of them ‘accepting’ the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. You see, everything they do in terms of salvation is ‘down to them’; the Father does not feature in their salvation at all. How can He when salvation is on their terms of acceptance? As I describe elsewhere in my articles, this is a “tail wagging the dog” scenario.

With the above in mind, this means we often hear a term that they use with great regularity, especially within Anglicanism/Episcopalianism, and the term is: “I have a faith”. Now what, exactly, does this expression mean and what do they have a faith in? Well, we don’t know, do we, for they do not tell us and they do not tell us because they do not know themselves!? The correct expression should be “I have faith in God the Father” or “I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” which automatically tells us that he or she is trusting or putting their faith in the Godhead, but to just say “I have a faith”, tells us nothing. It could mean they have faith that night will follow day – so what, even the lost can do that!?

We also hear another expression from them, not dissimilar from the one above, i.e. “I have a saving faith” or even the question “Do you have a saving faith?” Again what, exactly, does this term and question mean? Quite plainly it means that they think that their faith is related to or directly connected to their salvation or that their faith is the determining factor in their salvation. Well I have news for them; their faith has nothing to do with it, it has nothing to do with their salvation at all and to prove it, I will turn to the book of James. There we read the evidence that faith without works is dead:

James 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

So, from this, we can easily deduce that our faith is not something we can have or express without effort or action on our part – it doesn’t even exist until we do something. This proves it is something we can bring to life and/or display or prove, by our actions or acts of faith – known Biblically as “works”. Abraham showed his faith through action or with works when he offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice, but we never heard him say “I have a faith” or “I have a saving faith.” In reality, these terms are just churchianity or mainstream Christian jargon and the next time you hear them say these things, ask them what they have faith in and then for them to show you their works to prove it is real. You won’t be very popular, but then nor was the Lord Jesus Christ when He walked this earth. You could also ask them who gave them their ‘saving faith’ but don’t hold your breath while you wait for their answer.

So then, moving on, this leads me to ask the question: Is belief, faith? No and yes is the answer to this question. Belief can mean acknowledging something or someone is true or real just like the demons do:

James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God (i.e. the Godhead is number one and therefore all powerful); thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. (Brackets mine).

Here we can see they believe there is a Godhead that’s number one and all powerful but that’s it, (to say that oneness causes them fear is utter nonsense) all they have to show for it is a dreadful fear due to their fear of the Power and Awesomeness of God. There is no faith, exercised with works, by these demons and it would be impossible for them to show faith anyway for fear kills faith just as fear kills love.

So does belief become faith? Yes, if you keep on believing and/or remain trusting and faithful; this is where the two come together, for continued belief whilst suffering trials and not giving up in this life when the going gets tough, shows faith, especially in times of persecution. When we do this, all we are doing is exercising the faith we have been given. Our faith, though, comes into its own when we take a leap of faith like doing something risky that may involve sticking our necks out, so to speak. So if you haven’t, as yet, done so then go on, what are you waiting for!?

Now bearing all this in mind, what is faith, for Our Lord specifically asks if He will find it on the earth when He returns:

Luke 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Notice, He is not going to ask if any of them or any of us are believers, why would He? He gave or has given us the ability to believe at the point of our calling, i.e. when we were saved and when The Father drew us to His Son. Once we are baptised and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit we are given faith and thereby the ability to believe. This is all part of the free gift along with His Glorious Grace. Once the Father God makes us aware of His presence or the fact that He exists we are without excuse so we must believe, we have no choice – how can we not believe and how can we not answer His call?

Now from here on in is where the real mainstream Christian errors kick in and cause so much trouble and confusion for them.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”

Now, believe it or not, it’s from this very verse that most of mainstream Christianity thinks they are saved by their faith. They accept that grace is a gift from God but not the faith part too. So if the faith part of this gift is not ours, whose is it? Come on, think about it, you know very well whose faith it is – The Lord Jesus Christ’s faith, who else!? Do you not know that it took immense faith for Our Lord to go to the cross and die for us? This is what “and that not of yourselves” is referring to, IT IS NOT OF US!! Do you understand this very basic and fundamental Truth, I hope so, because this is real fundamentalism of the True Christian Faith, not that fear based meaningless, Bible bashing variety? Now mark, learn and inwardly digest this crucial point, for not only is grace a part of this free gift but faith is as well – the Lord Jesus Christ’s faith, it’s not our faith. Both His Grace and His Faith make up the wondrous free gift of salvation and we must take this fully on board or our Christian walk will be forever half baked or even dead. Why? Why, because as long as we think it is our faith that determines whether or not we are saved we will always have doubts about our salvation. This cataclysmic error is what the ‘salvation by works’ system of mainstream Christianity is based upon, it is founded upon not realising that faith is part of the gift of salvation.

Now just for the sake of this study, let’s put it from another perspective. OK, so it’s not our faith; what’s the point you’re trying to make I hear some of you say? The point here is this; if we claim that all faith is ours then what we are really saying is we are involved in our salvation and it’s all down to us when, quite clearly, it is not – we play no part in it at all. All we do is answer the Father’s call to His Son and receive His wondrous free gift, that’s all there is to it – nothing else. We have no part in the process of our salvation – none!

So what are you saying – what about our faith I hear you say again? Are you saying our faith has no role at all! Good questions, and what about our faith? Well, as I have clearly shown, to begin with, we don’t have any faith of our own; it’s given to us in order to redeem us and then it’s dead until we do works: the Lord’s Faith has done its job and saved us, but all it is, is faith alone.

James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

There we have it; our faith is dead if it does not have works and yet we still have faith and is here called ‘faith alone’. This is like a business man receiving an interest free loan; he now has the money for free which will enable him to set up his business. He is now officially a business man (saved), but how he utilises this wonderful gift of free money (faith) will determine whether he is a successful business man or an unsuccessful businessman – a good and faithful servant or a bad, slothful lazy servant. Please read the parable of the talents for the Lord’s explanation of this arrangement.

This is the point mainstream Christians misunderstand from the bad teaching they receive on Ephesians 2:8. If our salvation is dependent upon our faith, and that faith, in turn, is then enlivened or made real by works, then we automatically have a part in our salvation and we can literally lay claim to it for it is our works that have made our faith alive. Furthermore, we can even boast and pat ourselves on the back because our works are now involved; we could even say “I have a saving faith,” for it’s all mine. Now most, if not all mainstream Christians, will admit that we cannot earn our salvation by works, but at the same believe in just that – salvation by works. Is it any wonder why many of them are confused? You see if we believe that all faith is ours and that it is enlivened by our works and is a catalyst in our salvation then, by default, our works must feature in our salvation and yet at the same time we all know this is nonsense and a blasphemy.

So, if our faith has nothing to do with our salvation, what is the point of our faith, what use is it and what does it achieve for us? Well I’ll tell you straight it doesn’t save you that’s for sure but what it does do is this, it proves and it rewards. It proves we are true believers because we remain believers through thick and thin; through trials – faith becomes a verb instead of a noun and hopefully we keep on believing right to the end of our lives, but be warned for this is the minimum requirement. Moreover, when we display faith in action as well, though risky living and/or stepping out in faith, it scores and stores us rewards or treasures in heaven which we will receive when Our Lord returns to set up His Kingdom here on this earth. As I have already mentioned, this is what the parable of the talents is all about in Matt 25:14-30. We all have God given talents of some description or another so we are literally without any excuse if we say we have nothing to offer our brothers, sisters and fellow man. The Father God gives us the basics or foundational building blocks of salvation through His grace and faith and it is up to us to build upon what we have and what we have been given. Here though is a warning. Whatever you do, do not bury or hide your talents for, whatever you were given will taken from you and given to those who showed that being the recipients of that free gift of faith they put it to good use and displayed it by the results of their works.

Please note, acts of faith do not have to always be ‘good works’ or do-gooding charitable actions alone. For example, as mentioned earlier, starting a new business as a believer takes immense faith as you are not trusting in yourself alone for its success. As a son or daughter of God you are in partnership with your brother The Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what you do, and you will rely upon Him for your business success. When you succeed you will then give Him the praise, the honour and the glory. From the other perspective, a worldly businessman will do none of these things apart from swagger, boast, pat himself on the back and order himself a Mercedes Benz. I know, because in the past as a lost soul, I did all these things, but they didn’t last!
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Our laws are clearly failing the people who create music for a living. I recently learned that a friend’s music has been offered at dozens of sites around the world for free without his permission. In this case, my friend followed all of the proper steps for protecting his music through the US Copyright Office, but the current laws in the US and abroad do not provide sufficient protection from piracy. There is noble intent within the laws that are designed to protect intellectual property, but there is no adequate provision or remedy to really prevent or to discourage piracy. In short, the current laws have no teeth.

While the Digital Millennium Copyright Act seems to support the owner’s rights, it also limits the liability of the internet service providers who offer the means to distribute pirated materials. While I am not an attorney, it is clear to me that the burden of responsibility is 100% on the owners to pursue each violation. For each violation, the owner may issue a Cease and Desist letter, but must file a lawsuit within 14 days for each venue or the violator is allowed to put the material back up. In reality, there are so many violators that it is impossible to shut them all down by the time an illegal digital file is distributed online. I know the debate continues and new laws are being discussed, but time is running out for the vast majority of artists who are unincorporated and without sufficient funding to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, people seem to be increasingly indifferent to the impact this phenomenon has on the lives of innocent people who rely on their music for survival. Actually, it is the very same indifference that looters feel when the plate glass windows of a store are smashed during riots. That is, the numbers are generally in favor of the looters as the streets are temporarily outside of the control of law enforcement. It is the same because people know they risk very little (actually nothing) when they steal from their fellow man in the privacy of their homes. The reality of the actual crime is conveniently tucked away while they casually download songs from P2P sites. Indeed, many seemed to celebrate as the businesses who lived in excess during the 80′s and 90′s fell victim to the new music free for all. However, few like to think about the actual people who are now struggling to survive while their products are given away at the speed of light.

Well, in this case, I happen to know the victim. He lives in a small town in Germany with his wife and his 3 year old son. Their son recently returned from the hospital after being treated for pneumonia. Their home is very nicely furnished, but it is very small, particularly by American standards. The home is very old, so it is also very cold in the winter. Despite the difficulty of their situation, they are very happy people and they love to spend time together as a family, sometimes going for walks together. Going to a McDonald’s is a very special treat for their little boy, but it is a rare treat. Perhaps they can go one time over a period of three or four weeks.

My friend has been writing songs for several years, but his professional music career as an engineer and performer spans 15 years. He is one of many talented artists who hopes to be discovered by a large publishing company or label. But he, like many others, must work to promote his own music or work with smaller indie labels. He does not have a team of lawyers to help him protect his music. He has 24 hours in a day, studio time, rehearsals, gigs that are sometimes hundreds of miles away, and bills to pay. He expresses his feelings in his music, but he is always cheerful, particularly around his young son. My friend is a modern day Bob Cratchett and ordinary citizens who demand their music for free are the modern day Ebeneezer Scrooges.

Most people recognize the need to live by a set of basic standards that we call law. Yes, we complain and make fun of those who practice law, but in reality, we do enjoy many of the benefits of a civilized society. We are able to live, work, play, and worship as we choose. However, we like to believe that we would remain civilized and respect the rights of others in the absence of law. As we are witnessing, this is clearly not the case. We can say there are laws to protect us from piracy, but laws that are not practical and do not protect people have little value. Therefore, we have ironically moved forward in our technological development to a new period of lawlessness. Perhaps it might help to consider what life might be like when people compare it to a world in which the results of their own work is offered for free.

Finally, I hope that most people realize the value of music in our lives. If not, perhaps one might think what life would be like without music in our lives. Of course, that must be very difficult because nobody seems to have the capacity or the time or the motivation to imagine such a thing. However, the idea that music is free is not sustainable over any appreciable length of time. How long will artists continue to produce music if there is no benefit or appreciation for their time and for their art? It is not surprising that children now do not understand the concept of music costing money. To them, it is like turning on the water faucet in the kitchen, except their parents pay for the water each month. I sincerely believe something will be done eventually, but the time to act is now.

We need effective international laws that will punish anyone in the chain of distribution in direct proportion to the level of the crime. I know, for example, that I have downloaded some files from P2P sites. While I am not proud to have been a part of this mess, I proudly offer to return this money tenfold to a fund that would benefit those who worked to create this music. However, rather than normal prison time, I recommend that we put the more serious offenders to work in camps to repay their debts by the same sweat and effort that was given away in equivalent dollars at the expense of the artists. I can hear the sites shutting down at the very prospect of placing violators under the jurisdiction of criminal law.
About the Author:

1) Describe how you integrate psychology with theology/Christianity, both in theory and practice.

As a psychologist-in-training I view psychology and theology/Christianity as fields that have common concerns, and elements of focus such as: humanity, purpose, meaning, the human soul, emotions, the mind, reasoning, human behavior, philosophical perspectives on suffering, goodness, badness, and human potential. As a Christian, I am not concerned with the question of whether it is right to try to integrate my theology with psychological theory and findings; instead, as a Christian, I find that I can not in good conscience divorce my faith from my practice of psychology. As a Christian psychologist-in-training it is important for me to find ways to think about how I can integrate my faith with the practice of psychology, to continue to grow in my faith and as a professional in the field, and to find ways to communicate in an intelligent way with other professionals as well as laymen about integration.

I am committed to integration and appreciate what I can draw from both theology and psychology, and what both fields have to contribute to the world. I believe that we can draw from Scripture, and theologians’ teachings, both Catholic and Protestant, to inform us about the care of the soul, the human condition, and how to operate in this life. I believe that we can also draw from the many branches of psychology to inform us about the mind, human behavior, emotions, mental illness, disabilities, human potential, relationships, resiliency, and healthy living. I believe that each field can inform the other, and that writings, teachings, research, and other clinical applications of integration are a move in the right direction. We as humans will make mistakes along the way, in the integration enterprise, but I believe it is important for dialogue to exist between fields regarding integration, and that each field be open to gleaning what it can from the other. Theology, and Scripture have much to offer to shed light on the human condition and on human psychology. We don’t want to have a soul-less or God-less psychology, and vise-versa; as Christians (or as theologians) we can draw from what some refer to as the general truth revealed through research and the study of humans in the field of psychology, while not letting the general truth override, overtake, or take precedence as the final authority over the revealed truth from Scripture. Theology, is man-made and therefore not without error, and so is psychology. I think it is important though that Scripture, God’s revelation to us through the Scriptures, always take precedence over general truths discovered in the field of psychology through research, experience, or observation.

When working with clients, although I have only worked in secular institutions where I was not encouraged to address faith unless the client explicitly expressed that he or she would like to discuss it, my faith still influenced my practice. When working with clients, I hoped to be a Christ-like model, showing acceptance, compassion, kindness, and listening to them. My counseling approach was informed by my clinical psychology training as well as by my theology. During therapy I would sometimes share biblically-based concepts that could be applied by anyone.

In the introductory sessions with clients, along with a number of questions I asked to learn about their background, I often asked clients about their religious background and whether they embrace a particular faith tradition, and find help from God in their life. If a client expressed that he/she was Christian, and also expressed an interest in discussing faith, then I would have the freedom to discuss biblically-based principles with this person. There were times when working with non-Christian clients or clients who didn’t adhere to any faith tradition, that I would mention to them that some people find support from a church community and their relationship with God, along with mention of other means by which people might find support.

When working with clients, I hope to embody some of the characteristics, values, and qualities of Christ. I want my clients to experience me as a supportive, empathetic, compassionate, trustworthy, honest, ethical, just, realistic, balanced, insightful, discerning, counselor who is a good listener. I privately invite God to be present during my sessions with a client, and think of my time with the client as sacred, and as a time in which God is intervening. My approach as a therapist is informed by my clinical psychology training as well as by the principles, knowledge, wisdom that I have gained from Scripture. I believe that my experience in relationship with God, knowledge of Him, and love that I have experienced from Him, impact who I am as a person, and who I am with a client during the therapy hour.
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We are getting married in a very conservative church that we grew up in, and it requires faith based music. We are leaving the church to “Great is Thy Faithfulness” on piano, but I haven’t found an appropriate song for when my dad gives me away. I don’t want the traditional wedding march. Any suggestions?
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Why the God is Male in Christianity?

Why did he intercourse with a woman?

If he did not intercourse with Mary, then how could he has only begotten son?

No rude answers please.
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