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There is some debate among well intentioned Christians that when it comes to Biblical exegesis, that “clarity” itself is of dubious value. There are those who prefer ambiguity and equivocation. The conclusion being embraced by some mainline churches is that, it is useless to think of truth in objective terms. Objectivity is an illusion.

Confusion and frustration can grow out of the chorus of voices in the public square from people who claim to understand depression. Neuroscience and psychology offer many theories. Unfortunately, not all of them are based on facts and others are void of faith. Depression is not simply a medical problem or a mental problem, depression often is a being human problem.

What have you been beating yourself up about? Not being further along, making a bad decision, saying the wrong thing, or sexual immorality? Or do you beat yourself up for not getting married, or working too much, or not working enough, being overweight, being obsessed with body image or just not doing things "right"? Perhaps you even beat yourself up for not being perfect.

I’ve just finished reading The Shallows, a book by Nicholas Carr. It’s a reasonably technical book that goes in-depth into the workings of our brains to look at how the Internet is affecting the way we “think, read, and remember”. It was without a doubt one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in a while, and I’m still thinking about it a lot.

According to the Barna Research group 83% of Americans say that they are concerned about the moral condition of the nation. They are concerned about the breakdown of the family, a lack of civility, an increase in gambling, co-habitation, sexual immorality, abortion, profanity, drunkenness, homosexuality, rape, violence and pornography.

Wise means that when the light shows up when the truth enters this person’s circle, they like it and respond to it.  What that means , is they are going along and something is not right and you as their leader comes in and says, you know Joe, the way you are doing this is, or your attitude or your performance or whatever, you can do It differently. 

The Bible does not discuss masturbation at all.  This seems a little odd since it is such a strong and prevalent human event.  And, given that Leviticus has so much to say about sexuality, one would think it natural that the subject would be covered.  But it isn't.  Masturbation is not specifically declared to be sinful. 

Guilt, false guilt, and shame can all look alike but they're not. For instance true guilt says you have done something wrong or bad while shame says you are bad; that is, you are a bad person. With real guilt, if you know you've done something wrong, and confess it and make restitution, the guilt goes. If it doesn't, it may be false guilt or shame you are struggling with.

Many people think the answer to a poor self-image is to learn to love yourself. In fact, some people think Jesus said you must learn to love yourself first before you can love others. They support this idea by pointing to Jesus command to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39).

True confession here: When I was younger, I had a serious case of I-hate-my-nose. I didn’t like the way my thick nose sat on my face at all! I dreamed of having a slender, super skinny nose and secretly thought about getting nose surgery one day.