Tag: Josh Duggar
True Love is NOT About Feelings or Emotions – Anna Duggar Understands That
Posted on December 23, 2015 in Marriage, Theology by Nathan Cherry
What strikes me about her comment is her realization that her emotions were not trustworthy. Anna seems to recognize that true love is not about feelings but choices. In our current culture love is an emotion. It’s something people feel, and, therefore, can un-feel. So it’s no surprise that people fall into and out of love. But this show a misunderstanding of what true love is. The reality is that love is a verb. Love is the decisions we make each and every day.
Anna is right that what she is going through is a betrayal, and it’s hard. But she is also correct in that if she were to react according to her emotions she would surely make a “mess” into a “disaster.” So often people turn a mess, a fixable mess that could be overcome, into a disaster. Often that disaster is permanent and cannot be overcome. They do this by reacting emotionally rather than making choices consistent with a proper understanding of love.
Let’s use this example to illustrate what I’m talking about.
Christians Should Not Be Smug About the Ashley Madison Website Hack
Posted on September 1, 2015 in Marriage by Nathan Cherry
I’m sure many people were glad when the cheating website Ashley Madison was hacked and the identity of its users was revealed. I know I was. I thought “serves people right.” But very quickly the depth of hurt inflicted on many families across the country became very real to me and my initial happiness was turned to sorrow for the hurting families.
I think there is a tendency among Christians to assume that the only people that use such websites as Ashley Madison are contemptuous people that deserve whatever happens when they are finally exposed. What we tend to forget is that many of the users are friends, neighbors, and pastors.
The people who signed up for the cheating website are not just anonymous men and women with no families, reputations or careers. They are husbands and fathers, wives and mothers, deacons, elders, and pastors. The extent of hurt and heartache inflicted by this single act may never truly be known. But one thing is for sure, no one should be laughing.
Consider, according to Christian culture analyst Ed Stetzer, roughly 400 pastors, elders, and deacons resigned their position on Sunday. We may be tempted to think that a good thing, that they should not be allowed to serve. Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen. But what about the churches? If that number is correct then 400 churches just lost key leaders. And with a shortage of qualified leaders already causing issues among churches, the enemy, Satan, is surely smiling.