I was talking to a friend lately who struggles with eating issues, and she told me that one of the techniques she is using to combat her anxiety is something called acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). If I’ve understood her correctly, ACT is when you try to keep your thoughts focused on the present instead of allowing them to drift off in all sorts of unhelpful directions. So, for example, when she gets a craving for a cookie and starts to think that she couldn’t possibly get through the afternoon without one, she acknowledges that she’s had that thought, points out to herself that what her brain is telling her is a lie (i.e. that she can get through the afternoon without a cookie, and she knows that because she’s done it before), and then moves on with the rest of her day.
Archives: life
What makes ‘progressive’ progressive?
Life
In a recent SMH opinion piece, Adele Horin bemoans the choices made by two women of her acquaintance—a mother and a daughter, both highly intelligent, who opted out of the full-time career market to spend time at home raising children:
She topped the state in the final exams, a brilliant girl. But she married young and did what women did in the 1960s, stayed at home to raise her children while her husband climbed the corporate ladder. Much later she worked part-time. Now it’s her brilliant daughter’s turn. A lawyer in her 40s, she has pulled back, left the big firm with its killer hours to do home-based work, and to raise her own precociously bright daughters while her husband does the climbing.
Why the Bible is like a newspaper
Life, Sola Panel
The Bible is like a newspaper in many ways:
Choosing the hill to die on
Life
Apparently you have the option to choose the hill you are going to die on.
What I know about military strategy can be written on the round bit of one of those metal thingies that come out the long bit you point at other people when using a rifle.
The final cut
Life
If free-to-air TV still retains value as some kind of cultural indicator, at least for those dinosaurs resisting the move to cable/internet/digital, then a profound cultural shift has taken place. Call me slow, but I have only just noticed it. The underworld has been replaced by the dissection table.
As I write this, Clint Eastwood’s apparently less-than-brilliant Hereafter is opening at the cinemas, which may indicate that the afterlife is still of interest to those who go out for their entertainment. But not for Foxtel-resistant Freddy back home on the couch, or those who have not raced out to buy the new digital receivers.
Responding to disaster
Life
Earthquakes, floods, snow storms… It wouldn’t take much thought to start a list of all the disasters that have occurred in recent times. Death and misery fill the news websites and television broadcasts, as people lose their homes, livelihoods and loved ones at the hand of nature.
D Broughton Knox, the influential 20th century Australian theologian, also saw disasters come during his lifetime. We thought that this article by him, published in the Selected works of Broughton Knox (Volume III) and originally a radio broadcast from January 1975, would be relevant and thought-provoking.
Please be a sceptic
Life, Sola Panel
Because I am a pastor and maintain a church email group list with large numbers on it, I receive lots of ‘pass it on’ emails. Dozens and dozens.
My kids get even more of these chain emails, urging them to pass on the contents from their friends. Some are harmless, some are enjoyable. Others are false or a waste of time. Some are more sinister.
Matters of interest
Life
O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
… who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved. (Ps 15:1-2a, 5)
According to Psalm 15, a holy person does not put his money out at interest. Look at it again. See? That’s what it says. (more…)
Politics and God
Life
The debate about faith and politics will probably continue until the fulfilment of the kingdom at Jesus’ return. As Tony Abbott, the Federal Leader of the Opposition, observed before the 2010 Australian Federal election, Jesus was not a party-political person and nor should he be claimed to support one side of politics over another.1 However, Christians in a democratic political system hold the same position as every other voter, and are entitled to seek representation in the parliament by men and women who they judge will enable the peaceful proclamation of the gospel, and who will uphold the biblical principles of justice, compassion, care, respect and protection for each human being created in the image of God (1 Tim 2:1-4). (more…)
Why do non-Christians suffer?
Life
As a Christian, suffering can be awful. We cry out to God from the depths of our pain. Yet what if you had no God to cry out to? What if you weren’t sure that there was anyone listening to your pleas? What if you didn’t know for certain that there was someone out there with things under control? You may suspect that a higher being exists, but they seem to be either too weak or too evil to stop the pain and suffering you see around you. What if you had no guarantee that in the end everything would be set right? This is how non-Christians have to endure suffering. (more…)
The shock of disunity
Life
Christians regard unity as being of primary importance, reflecting a theme that runs through the Scriptures: unity is where God bestows his blessing (Ps 133); Christian unity testifies to Christ’s identity and his love for his church (John 17:23); unity in the church glorifies God (Rom 15:5-6); and we are commanded to be united because there is one body and one Spirit (Eph 4:3-6). In fact, unity in the faith is the goal of Christian ministry and edification in the church (Eph 4:11-16). (more…)
10 tips for faithful sleep-deprived living
Life
Sleep is one of God’s good gifts. Most of us chug though life without thinking much about it, which is usually a sign that we’re getting enough. But for some of us, that blissful enjoyment of the half-regarded treasure we know as a ‘good night’s sleep’ is shattered for some reason.
Dawn of the Christian dead (part 3): Better than zombie power
Life
Apparently, one of the attractions of the zombie is absolute freedom. You can do anything you want. Nobody will argue.
For many, being one of the undead might be too high a price to pay for such absolute freedom. For the rising number of zombie fans, however, so what if your personal appearance takes a little bit of a dive, and you have to walk relentlessly forward with stiff limbs? Freedom is freedom.
Dawn of the Christian dead (part 2): Will Jesus make us into zombies?
Life
Watching the detective
Life, Sola Panel
Watching the latest incarnation of Sherlock Holmes on TV the other night, it occurred to me that the Bible is a mystery story.