Feelings...

[Guest shiloh357]

1 hour ago, Out of the Shadows said:

YES I AM.  Please quit telling me what I feel.   You remind me of a blind man telling someone one "no, that apple is not red"

If love were a "feeling" you would be right.  But it isn't, like it or not. 

[Running Gator]

14 minutes ago, shiloh357 said:

If love were a "feeling" you would be right.  But it isn't, like it or not. 

You have had a whole group of people in this thread express their personal experiences to show you that you are mistaken, and yet you persist.  We know what we feel, and maybe one day you will also feel it.

[angels4u]

1 hour ago, shiloh357 said:

If love were a "feeling" you would be right.  But it isn't, like it or not. 

Interesting, God told us how to love , love is really a commitment we make and a commandment from God ,if we would live by feelings of love,we would be all over the place...

Matthew 5:44: “Love your enemies.”

Matthew 22:39: After stating that the greatest commandment is to love God with your entire being, Jesus added, “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 15:12, 17: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you…. This I command you, that you love one another.”

Romans 13:8, 10: “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law…. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

1 Corinthians 13:13-14:1: “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.“Make love your aim.”

1 Corinthians 16:14: “Let all that you do be done in love.”

Galatians 5:6: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.”

Galatians 5:13b-14: “Through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Galatians 5:22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love ….”

Ephesians 5:1-2: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Philippians 1:9: “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment ….”

1 Thessalonians 3:12: “may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you.”

[Guest shiloh357]

1 hour ago, Out of the Shadows said:

You have had a whole group of people in this thread express their personal experiences to show you that you are mistaken, and yet you persist.  We know what we feel, and maybe one day you will also feel it.

Well, I am going by what the Scriptures say love is, and Scripture overrules you and anyone else's experiences.

[Running Gator]

Just now, Yowm said:

That's because the rest of us don't base it on experiences or feelings but Scripture. Maybe one day you will see that.

Scripture doesn't say that love is a verb only.  That is missing half the picture. 

[GoldenEagle]

18 hours ago, Ezra said:

Since psychologists simply ignore the spirit, and the spirit realm, Christians should ignore psychologists.  

In a classic article written for Christianity Today in 1975, Gary Collins suggested that today’s Christian counselors fall into five categories. 

1. The Main Stream Pastoral Counselors. Main stream pastoral counselors generally have taken Clinical Pastoral Education training (CPE for short). The CPE approach takes a pastor with a theological education through an essentially "secular" training program in counseling. The tendency is towards theologically liberal stances and antagonistic toward more conservative evangelical theology. Evangelicals have increasingly steered away from the clinical pastoral education movement.

2. Evangelical Pastoral Counselors. The most outspoken of such counselors is Jay Adams, professor of practical theology at Westminster Seminary. Adams advocates Biblical Counseling, in which only the bible is used to support a counseling approach that is primarily educational and confrontational. Seminaries have strongly embraced the evangelical pastoral counseling movement in counseling. (Also known as Nouthetic Counseling.) 

3. Christian Professionals. Examples of the Christian professionals would include Clyde Narramore (considered to be the father of Christian counseling), James Dobson, Bruce Narramore, Frank Minority, Paul Meier, and Gary Collins. The Christian professionals have been trained and have received degrees and credentials in the secular counseling approaches, but who also have a strong commitment to Biblical evangelical theology. Each of these counselors have developed a model for integrating their knowledge and skills from the field of psychology with Biblical truth. Seminaries have also strongly embraced the Christian Professional movement in counseling. Many seminaries have developed masters and doctoral programs integrating both theology and the practice of psychology and counseling. (What I typically think of and will refer to as Christian Counselors.)

4. Theoretician Researchers. The theoretician researchers are those who have taken a scientific, scholarly, and research approach. These are generally university professors who are in the process of developing and testing theories. 

5. Evangelical popularizers. The evangelical popularizers would include Tim LaHay, Charlie Shedd, and Norman Wright. The evangelical popularizers produce useful but simplistic self help material for the lay public.

Edited and summarized from this article: http://christianfamilyinstitute.com/are-there-different-types-of-christian-counseling/

 

God bless,

Ge

[GoldenEagle]

There is more than one view on psychology by Christian Counselors today. 

Since Gary Collins article from 1975 in Christianity Today, in 1977 Lawrence J. Crabb suggested there are 4 positions on Christian counseling. Again, so we are not talking over each other and we understand each other's perspective I will summarize:

A. Separate but Equal. The bible and theology are considered valid in the areas in which they speak, and psychology is considered valid in the area in which it speaks.

B. Tossed salad. Crabb suggests that this approach is like a salad bowl in which a variety of ingredients are thrown into the bowl and tossed about. The problem with the tossed salad approach is that psychological notions are often accepted uncritically and without an understanding of the conflicting world views (i.e., humanism, existentialism, modernism, etc.) which are often represented in psychology. Consequently a number of unbiblical ideas may creep into this counseling.

C. Nothing buttery. In this approach the Christian counselor accepts nothing but the scripture as the basis for Christian counseling. The writing of Jay Adams would fall in to this category. Adams suggests that psychology has nothing to offer the Christian counselor, and psychology is always in conflict with biblical ideas. If one is true to this position there is never a need to study any counseling approaches, medicine or psychology.

D. Spoiling the Egyptians. In this approach the Christian counselor is first thoroughly grounded in the Word of God. Just as God made provision for the Israelites carried out of Egypt the spoils the Christian counselor critiques the findings of modern psychology and takes from them tools which are consistent with our Biblical world view. The Word of God is absolute in authority, and the only truly and fully reliable source of knowledge. Psychology on the other hand is a field that attempts to use the scientific method to investigate a variety of man’s problems, and seeks to determine what works in helping people resolve their problems. This approach recognizes that scripture is “ALL TRUTH,” but may not contain “all truth”. Knowledge exists beyond the scripture about many subjects including psychology, medicine, family life, etc. The Christian counselor operating from this approach takes what is useful and consistent with scripture while discarding the rest.

Note: This is also taken from the linkmentioned previously. 

[Ezra]

4 hours ago, missmuffet said:

There are also many who think that any kind of mental illness is demon possession.

And then there are those (the majority of psychologists) who don't believe in the existence of demons or Satan, and everything can be "cured" with pharmaceuticals.

4 hours ago, missmuffet said:

We are not living back in the 1880's. We know what is going on in the brain today.

And yet most of these so-called "therapists" are unable to cure mental or psychological problems after hundreds of counseling sessions.  Why?  They simply reject the fact that most mental and emotional issues are rooted in spiritual issues.  

But the Bible tells us the exact opposite. Even many physical ailments can be traced to spiritual issues. That is why Christ connected the forgiveness of sins and repentance with healing.

Because many Christians (including pastors and teachers) are not firmly rooted in Scripture, they allow the propaganda of "modernity" to deceive them into thinking that pills and potions and so-called "counseling" can cure matters of the spirit.  

[Dok]

19 minutes ago, Ezra said:

And then there are those (the majority of psychologists) who don't believe in the existence of demons or Satan, and everything can be "cured" with pharmaceuticals.

And yet most of these so-called "therapists" are unable to cure mental or psychological problems after hundreds of counseling sessions.  Why?  They simply reject the fact that most mental and emotional issues are rooted in spiritual issues.  

But the Bible tells us the exact opposite. Even many physical ailments can be traced to spiritual issues. That is why Christ connected the forgiveness of sins and repentance with healing.

Because many Christians (including pastors and teachers) are not firmly rooted in Scripture, they allow the propaganda of "modernity" to deceive them into thinking that pills and potions and so-called "counseling" can cure matters of the spirit.  

Thank God that in spite of my credentials, I am firmly rooted in scripture. I praise His precious Name!

[GoldenEagle]

On 10/15/2016 at 3:09 PM, Out of the Shadows said:

Love is both, an action and a feeling.  Trust me I know what affection feels like and I know what love feels like, they are not the same thing. Perhaps the lack of a spouse or children makes it harder for you to grasp that love is both a feeling and an action.

For some people they cannot comprehend what they do not know or have not experienced. 

It is one thing to know what love is intellectually or by reading a book. 

It is quite another to experience the joys and challenges of marriage. To make those vows and experience life together for the first few months (or even decades). To get a taste of what it means to be united with another person and to glimpse how God feels for us. 

Or to express to another person what it's like to hold a newborn, your newborn, in your arms for the first time.  To get a glimpse of the joy and pleasure that God feels toward us.

Love is action but love is also a feeling.

A person who never has seen color as you mentioned will not fully comprehend what it means to look upon or eat a red apple. 

God bless

Ge