Posted in Christian Concerns
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"No good deed shall go unpunsihed." In this day and age you almost have to get a law degree to do a good deed or you have to retain a lawyer for counsel. I think we even need a lawyer to die. Not that I'm not grateful for lawyers because they help us immensely. But, do things really have to be this complicated?
So far, these are the web sites I have looked at that seem the most promising in coming to grips with HIPAA and what happens after we sign the document, University of Texas site: Patient Righs Under HIPAA http://www.uthscsa.edu/hip Department of Health and Human Services: Health Information Privacy Link (This site is also link to Office of Civil Rights and Privacy Rights) http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/pri The following is a long essay on why you need a lawyer to translate the HIPAA. Scroll down to: Table #3: Summary Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices, which is essentially the plain language of what the HIPAA form should tell us. http://www.privacyrights.o I remember discussing this in a counseling class back when HIPAA first came out. Counselors did not want to comply with HIPAA for the obvious reason of breaking confidentiality. The only two reasons I have heard for breaking confidentiality is 1. The counselee is a danger to himself and 2. the counselee is a danger to others. If I had become a licensed counselor I imagine I might have paid more attention but, at that point in my life, I wasn't interested in the legal aspects of mental health care. I was concerned mostly in hanging onto my own sanity and, perhaps, it the process, having something to share with others who may have same desire. [Isaiah 50:4; 2 Cor 1:4] Now that I am studying Nouthetic Counseling, I wish I had listened to the boring stuff more closely. You almost have to have a lawyer to be a Christian and obey Scriptural exhortations to bear one anothers burdens these days. I imagine Pastoral Counselors walk a narrow road when it comes to maintaining both the law and confidentiality. I found this petition on the internet this week. I assume this is the petition that counselors were passing around back when I was studying counseing at MBU. Licensed Psychotherapists Petition On Confidentiality http://www.americanmentalh A Social Worker presented this paper on reasons to support the above petition. http://www.americanmentalh |
Posted in Christian Concerns
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I'm blogging on this subject because it is on my mind and I like to get feedback from anyone who is pondering the same subject. I read this, and I believe it is true. Dichotomists, people who believe that man consists of only soul and body (the spirit and the soul being the same) do not think it matters whether you are are dichotomists or a trichotomist (one who believes we are body, soul and spirit.) But Trichotomist (which I am) believe that it is extremely important! First, the only way we can know that the soul is separate from the spirit is through Scripture. Dichotomists have taken the two Scriptures in which the Bible shows a distinction between the soul and the spirit and explained them away.
In fact Hebrews tells us how the Bible separates the soul and the spirit. Just as the joints of a man (his bones etc) are separate from his bone marrow, so the soul is separate from the spirit. These two Scriptures, though only two, make the trichotomy of man easier to explain that the Trinity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit because there is not even one Scripture that says specifically that God is a Trinity. Yet we know of the Trinity because we consider the whole of Scripture. These two Scriptures where the soul and spirit are separated should be enough to convince us that man does have a spirit. But, dichotomists argue that the word for soul and spirit is interchangeable in the Bible. But, there are a lot of words in every language that are interchangeable. We get their clear meaning from the context in which they are used. For example: If I have a checkbook in my hand and I say, "I am going to the bank." What is the meaning of the word "bank?" If I am camping out at the river and I say, "I am going to the bank." What do I mean? In order to establish the Trinity we go from Genesis to Revelations and point out Scripture that applies to the Trinity. For example: In Genesis it says,
We point out the pluralty of the one God in this verse. And so we go through the whole Bible. Now back to the spirit in man in the book of Genesis. What differs man from the rest of God's creation? How is man different from the animals who feel, have affection, have limited intelligence and are "living beings"? How does man differ from the angels who are more superior than us in intelligence and power, who have capacity to love and to hate and are also "living souls." ? When God created us in His image, was it our body that He created in His image? When He gave life to man, as he had previously given to beasts, did He thereby implant His image? If that were true, then animals and angels would have been created in His image as well because He created both and gave life to both. But God is a Spirit. The image of God in which He made man was His Spirit. He did something when He created man that He had not done with any of His other creations. He put His Spirit into man. There was this sequence of events: 1. He took the dust of the earth and formed man. 2. He breathed His Spirit into him. 3. He gave life to to him.
You see, the only thing that separates man from animals is the spirit. At the fall humankind lost the image of God, the place where God's Spirit dwelt was left vacant; original sin fell on humanity. The soul in man, that had once been guided by the image of God, God's Spirit implanted in him, was thrown into confusion and became self-focused (conscious of self now, they realized they were naked.) The body of man was condemned to physical death. Jesus came and restored the image of God in the elect. The unsaved do not have the image of God. There spirit remains dead until quickened by God. The definition of the word DEAD in this instance = separation from God. Thus, the unsaved are "dead in trespasses and sins" until "quickened " by the Holy Spirit. Jesus restored the image of God, the Spirit, after His death and resurrection. He took the same stance as He had taken in Genesis 2:7 above.
Christians don't need to sing the song, "Breathe on me breath of life" any longer as God restored to us His image when He breathed on us and quickened our spirit from the dead. At salvation the spirit within us is made whole. Our soul, thrown into egocentricity due to the fall, is now, through the renewing of our mind through the Word of God being restored to Christocentricity or God-consciousness.
Our bodies will suffer physical death and not be restored until after our resurrection from the dead. At that time, the body will be a spirit-based body. We'll be able to walk through a wall without sifting out the fish we just ate in the same way Jesus did. [Sorry, I always wonder how the fish he ate didn't get sieved out when He went through the wall. The spiritual body must have some powerful digestive system.
In the end, our body will also be transformed into a body like that of the resurrected Lord. Just as a seed that is sown and dies does not look like the plant that comes from it, so our earthly body will be different when we arise from death to life. | |||||||||||||||||
]Posted in Sermon discussions
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Part 2 First Corinthian Series Pastor Jerry Marshall 7-12-09
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Posted in Christian Concerns
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National Association of Nouthetic Counselors I've been taking a Nouthetic Counseling class at church so have been looking into it more deeply. The above link is to their home page where you can find a Nouthetic Counselor who will counsel for free. |
Posted in Book Reviews
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Bob DeWaay's review of Donald Whitney's book , Spiritual Disciplines, was an eye-opening article and one I really needed to read. I attended a lecture by Donald Whitney, author of Spiritual Disciplines so , though I never read the book itself, I am well aware of his teaching. Donald Whitney and Spiritual Disciplines by Bob DeWaay This is a very important article to read for anyone who has gotten caught up in attempting to apply Whitney's book as a means of sanctification. Whitney has put the cart before the horse, like so many of us attempted to do before we became Christians and now so many of us do after we have become Christians. Mea culpa! I am certainly guilty of attempts to sancitify myself through my own works. Of course I have failed miserably because, having begun in the Spirit, by the grace of God apart from any of my own works, I cannot be sancitified in the flesh, aka by my own works. As DeWaay points out, if it doesn't work for the true Christian, then this attempt can only lead to hopelessness. And it it does appear to work it can only lead to self-righteousness so that some Christians may see themselves as more righteous or more mature than others. To repeat ... This was an eye-opening article. Thanks Bob DeWaay for simplifying this so that I could better understand sanctification. This is an audio follow-up to this article: |