For many years wholistic health journals, spas, and practitioners of alternative medicine have advocated the use of reflexology, Reiki, therapeutic touch, acupressure, and a variety of bioenergetic works. Christian practitioners begin with prayer and testimonials travel through informal networks and social media. Believers generally feel safe when the therapist expresses
Biblical faith affirms that God heals and transforms believers in this life and the next. In the natural realm, healing is associated with medicine and related physical sciences. In the last sixty or so years, western cultures have turned to psychotherapy and counseling for healing and often with a religious
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance
Since the Reformation, the gospel of Jesus Christ and authority of Scripture have served as boundaries for the theology and practice of evangelicals. They look to the Bible as “the standard by which all other spiritual experiences are evaluated.”1 This is particularly important given the tendency for some evangelicals to
In this blog I continue the discussion of mysticism, the spiritual disciplines, and Reformed faith. I introduce Antony, the father of the monastic movement, critique the teachings of Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, share my experiences with meditation before Christ saved me, and present the key elements of biblical faith.
I am not the first to address the influences of Roman Catholic mysticism, Eastern religions, and the New Age on evangelical churches. Bloggers and writers have cautioned evangelical Christians about blurring theological boundaries and adopting practices incompatible with Reformed faith.1 I join the conversation with a series of blogs that begin
Inspired by The Confessions of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Oh Lord, you are life itself. You are the air we breathe, and the love in our hearts. What do we know of love? Holy God, you are the author of love. O Lord, only you are good. You alone
NEWSLETTER Share Tweet Forward Share Pin In Remarque’s WWI classic All Quiet on the Western Front a twenty-year-old German soldier withdrew from battle to eat a potato. When finished, he heard a bombardment was imminent and thought, “Perhaps it is our inner and most secret life that shivers
NEWSLETTER Share Tweet Forward Share Pin Yoga and the Christian Years ago I began each day with yoga. I stepped barefoot onto a mat and moved from pose to pose for a half hour. I ended with the prayer pose in which I stood erect with
I lived through and walked alongside protesters in the 1960s. I understood the grievances. America needed to wake up to the sin of racism. Today protesters remind America that there is more to do. But a smaller group seem bent on destroying America. Black Lives Matter (BLM) Patrisse Cullors, cofounder