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The Unwelcome Gift of Pain
This post is my first on a series of gifts that we generally don’t want, and I am starting with pain. I don’t suggest that all pain is a gift. In fact, too much pain, whether physical, emotional, or mental, can harm or even kill you. But life without pain would prove dangerous indeed. Pain acts as a warning, an instructor, and even as a chastening, and most humans need all three. Pain as a Warning: If our bodies felt no pain whatsoever, we would be at severe risk. That is how leprosy endangers its victims. Because their nerves are deadened, they cannot feel injuries and infections. In the end,…
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Jesus and Oxytocin: How to Bond with God
Oxytocin is the love molecule, the chemical behind social and familial bonding. It reduces stress and increases our happiness quotient. Interestingly, it has also been called the moral molecule because our oxytocin levels increase when we treat others well. And as it happens, oxytocin can be very helpful in developing a close relationship with Jesus. So many of the activities that scientists recommend for increasing oxytocin levels correspond directly to many worship practices, both individual and corporate. And our imagination can go a long way towards helping us develop an emotionally intimate relationship with Jesus as well. In fact, regular prayer and interaction with fellow believers can add significantly to…
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The Danger of a Mask: The Judas Flaw
The reason nearly every horror villain wears a mask is that a mask can turn anyone into a monster. Not every mask is monstrous, of course, but the moment we begin to hide our true face, the moral slide has begun. In an American literature course I once taught, I asked the students to choose the one poem that really hit them during the class and write on it. Most of them chose We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar: We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes… They each wrote about the same thing; how every day they had…
Healing Through Art & Words
