That was beautiful in a dark way. Thanks Brother. I did wait I did find out, death is real and it is the enemy. Perhaps one of my favourite Johnny Cash songs is Hurt. I think another band by the name of Nine inch nails did it but I could be wrong. My point is it is real, it’s about the state we go to, we are young for such a short part of our life here. I’m 65 now and life does not get easier as we head towards our own death. What we leave behind, my kingdom of dirt. Death is sad, brutal, horrifying. I’ve seen it, I’ve touched, most people are not interested in looking at it or if they do they want to pretend it will come later or never delusional as that may be. When I was a young boy my life was let’s just say not a happy childhood, it was rough. Anyway, during the suffering I remember crying in my bed and I came to the conclusion life was meaningless because it didn’t matter if you were smart or stupid, fat or skinny, rich or poor you were going to die! I didn’t know Christ. He changed my life years later and what a glorious transformation from death to life. Death is still real like our first born who died when my wife was eight months pregnant. It was brutal. Her womb had become his tomb temporarily before Jacob was removed. Life is hard but God is great and His entrance into this dark world changed everything. Thanks again brother for taking the time to talk to God’s people. Blessings
I'd love to see more sermon content on here. This was excellent.
For a while, and especially since attending the Evergreen summit, I've been chewing on the therapeutic language of trauma that's really everywhere, in my church too. Wondering how much of it is faithful to the biblical view of sin. I'm sympathetic to your skepticism—it tends to try to out-narrate the gospel's story as an explanation of harm people's lives, and seems to lead to simultaneously more self-focus and powerlessness in hardship.
I think there's perhaps one or two nuggets of value in the trauma vocabulary, but I haven't yet figured out cleanly where the meat is among all the bones. Perhaps just in the recognition that sin (ours and others') does lasting damage that won't be healed for a long time, maybe even until the resurrection.
Long-time adoptive and foster care couple here. I heartily agree with you on the trauma topic. It is very useful as an explanatory body of knowledge. But the problem arises when it becomes a rationale to allow someone to wallow in self-pity and powerlessness. Sadly, trauma-language has permeated the church in many cases. It robs the gospel of its power.
That was beautiful in a dark way. Thanks Brother. I did wait I did find out, death is real and it is the enemy. Perhaps one of my favourite Johnny Cash songs is Hurt. I think another band by the name of Nine inch nails did it but I could be wrong. My point is it is real, it’s about the state we go to, we are young for such a short part of our life here. I’m 65 now and life does not get easier as we head towards our own death. What we leave behind, my kingdom of dirt. Death is sad, brutal, horrifying. I’ve seen it, I’ve touched, most people are not interested in looking at it or if they do they want to pretend it will come later or never delusional as that may be. When I was a young boy my life was let’s just say not a happy childhood, it was rough. Anyway, during the suffering I remember crying in my bed and I came to the conclusion life was meaningless because it didn’t matter if you were smart or stupid, fat or skinny, rich or poor you were going to die! I didn’t know Christ. He changed my life years later and what a glorious transformation from death to life. Death is still real like our first born who died when my wife was eight months pregnant. It was brutal. Her womb had become his tomb temporarily before Jacob was removed. Life is hard but God is great and His entrance into this dark world changed everything. Thanks again brother for taking the time to talk to God’s people. Blessings
Thank you for writing this
I'd love to see more sermon content on here. This was excellent.
For a while, and especially since attending the Evergreen summit, I've been chewing on the therapeutic language of trauma that's really everywhere, in my church too. Wondering how much of it is faithful to the biblical view of sin. I'm sympathetic to your skepticism—it tends to try to out-narrate the gospel's story as an explanation of harm people's lives, and seems to lead to simultaneously more self-focus and powerlessness in hardship.
I think there's perhaps one or two nuggets of value in the trauma vocabulary, but I haven't yet figured out cleanly where the meat is among all the bones. Perhaps just in the recognition that sin (ours and others') does lasting damage that won't be healed for a long time, maybe even until the resurrection.
Long-time adoptive and foster care couple here. I heartily agree with you on the trauma topic. It is very useful as an explanatory body of knowledge. But the problem arises when it becomes a rationale to allow someone to wallow in self-pity and powerlessness. Sadly, trauma-language has permeated the church in many cases. It robs the gospel of its power.