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Recovery - Gospel.com - Christian resources from over 300 ministries
Drugs, alcohol, sex, abusive relationships... there's a long list of substances and situations that can control and ruin our lives. And depending on the nature of the particular beast that's held you under its thumb, the road to recovery can be long, extraordinarily difficult, and seemingly impossible.
But it's not not impossible, no matter how it seems. And there's no situation so dire that others have not already stood in your shoes. These resources and ministries are committed to giving you the help you need to break out of whatever is holding you down—and start the
Without Mission Network News I’d be largely ignorant of the impact of missions in the world. They’re an organization that consistently works to keep evangelical Christians informed of missions related news.
Their purpose:
Mission Network News is a mission news service dedicated to keeping Christians informed on evangelical mission activity around the world. In doing so we hope to educate and motivate Christians to prayer, participation, and support of missionary work to help further the Great Commission.
And their reasoning:
We have found that many Christians are highly interested in missions, but they’re not getting the information they need to motivate them to get involved. MNN is committed to providing the most current, relevant and compelling mission news available. Our radio network, satellite links, and internet affiliates enable us to reach millions with mission news within hours of the event!
I went through today and read over what’s been going on in the past week. There are—of course—many things to pray about, but also many things to offer praise about. Here are a few recent news items worth reading:
The featured topic on Gospel.com is recovery. While putting an end to some types of sin is as simple as “just saying no,” other sins and behaviors can cause so much damage to our lives, relationships, and spiritual health that breaking free requires serious time and commitment—a process of recovery.
The recovery process is frequently necessary when addiction—to alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, etc.—is involved. Recovery is sometimes also necessary even when your own behavior wasn’t responsible for the damage, as in the case of abuse. Today we’ll point out a few links to general recovery resources from around the Gospel.com community; tomorrow we’ll focus on recovery resources for more specific problems. Whatever the reasons you’re seeking recovery, here are some good starting points:
Safe Families has a slightly more narrow focus—it primarily addresses sexual addiction and pornography—but links to a large number of resources for both recovering addicts and their families.
Between those three ministries, there are hundreds of essays and other tools to help you get started down the long hard road to recovery. Explore those links, and we’ll be back tomorrow with some more specific resources!
One of the most pervasive critiques of the Christian faith is the charge that it’s nothing more than a “psychological crutch.” Is God an invention of the mind, a fantasy we’ve imagined into being to give our lives some sense of meaning and purpose? Is belief in God something for the weak—a childish gullibility, a way of avoiding reality?
Amy Orr-Ewing tackles this question head-on in her essay Is Believing in God a Psychological Crutch? She traces the “psychological crutch” charge back to Freud, and offers a Christian response:
From [Freud’s] perspective, God is merely a creation of the human mind, a projection emanating from human need and desire rather than a distinct reality or being that exists independently of the human mind. Freud’s notion of God acting as an idealized father figure for humans, providing a cushion from the harshness of the real world and a comforting friend in the midst of life’s troubles, reduces God to a human construct. Indeed, for Freud, God is made in humanity’s own image and is the “ultimate wish-fulfillment”; God does not actually exist but is merely the creation of humanity’s imagination and desire for a loving father figure.
How might a Christian respond to this? Can God really be explained away so easily by one aspect of psychology?
Read the full article, which is excerpted from Orr-Ewing’s upcoming book Is Belief in God Irrational? If you find this essay interesting, you can read the entire first chapter of the book over at InterVarsity Press.
Lastly, there are plenty more essays addressing the topics of faith, doubt, and apologetics at the Just Thinking archives. Don’t run from doubt and questions—take some time to see how Christian thinkers and writers are responding to tough questions about Christianity!
What is Gospel.com?
Gospel.com is a community of Christian organizations all committed to doing ministry online. You can explore hundreds of different topics or get to know the many ministries that make up our community.
Each day we highlight the newest and best resources here at the Gospel.com blog, so check back regularly to see what's happening!
"The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar
things new." - Samuel Johnson
INTERNET EVANGELISM DAY APRIL 05
The biggest current need is to make Internet Evangelism Day known as widely as
possible. If churches and other groups are to use the DAY materials in their programs,
they need to be planning for this very soon.
Here's how you can help:
1. Link to the site.
2. Insert the introductory page about IE Day on your site with a line of Javascript.
3. Print out one or more of the news releases, and send them to:
- your favorite Christian magazines
- your favorite Christian radio station
with a polite covering note from you, asking that they consider making use of this
material.
4. Print out (or email) the Open Letter to Christian Leaders, and send it to:
- pastors
- denominational leaders
- Bible college principals
- ministry leaders
5. If you are an editor, pleas use these materials in your own publication. There are a
range of royalty-free photos available for illustrate articles and news items about IE
Day.
6. Add IE Day URL to your email signature.
7. Submit the site to local directories in your country
8. Make it known in any other way you can.
9. Subscribe to IE Day newsletter, and pray regularly for its development.
10. And ... consider having an IE Day program in your church, Christian group or Bible
college.
You have a unique network of Christian contacts, which no-one else possesses. Please
could you set aside just 5 minutes this week to do one or more of these things. If, by any
chance, you send a news release to someone who has already received it, that is no
problem! It strengthens the point!
Thanks - we really need your help on this. Since IE Day could mobilize a new quantum
level of online outreach, such publicity now could have a huge multiplying effect on
future evangelism.
Other help urgently needed - please write if:
- you are a whizz at designing animated gifs, and could make one for the DAY.
- you are experienced in writing short dramas, and could write one relating to web
evangelism.
- someone to promote IE Day to major organizations in New Zealand, or South Africa.
- you would like to translate the IE Day site into another language, and promote it in
your country.
If you can do any of these four things, I'll send one of the recommended books from the
booklist as a thank you (see below).
And if you are a zeal.com 'zealot', the entry for IE Day on zeal.com is stuck in a
pending category. It may well be moved into the main directory if people rate it. Please,
if you are a zeal.com 'zealot', visit http://www.zeal.com/website/profile.jhtml?complete=true&wid=103620574&state=3
and give the site a rating.
Books
You may be interested in the selection of top books recommended on the IE Day site. Please
check these out, and if you have other titles to suggest, just write. http://ied.gospelcom.net/books.php
For German speakers, there's a new book on web evangelism listed on this page:
Chris Forbes writes, "We just posted a new site Blown Away. We are going to change this
site later into a more fully developed evangelism web that uses tornado safety awareness,
storm chaser video clips, true stories, etc. Right now we are launching the site through a
local church event. http://www.blownaway.org/
TELLING THE TRUTH
Thousands of preachers have used the moving story of Teddy Stallard - a little boy
whose teacher enabled him to do great things. But it's not true, in common with a great
many other motivational 'true' stories: http://www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/newsletter/2004/cln41011.html
Also the oft-quoted figure that 85% of people are converted in their teen years is no
longer true, says the latest Barna report. It also shows that the "weekend church service
is no longer the primary mechanism for salvation decisions": http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/rd?0410barna
TRICK OR TREATING AGAIN
It's that time of the year again. Consumers in America are predicted to spend 3.1
billion dollars on Halloween. No doubt Europe will not be far behind. If you need leaflets
to give a gentle positive message to kids at the door (and, personally, I'd still give
them candy too), there is still time to stock up:
USA: http://www.atstracts.org/
UK: http://www.cpo.org.uk/
USABILITY
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for September 27 says, "Even prominent websites make
elementary errors in the use of basic user interface controls. The main guidelines are
clear, but there are ten other things you should consider when using checkboxes and radio
buttons." http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040927.html
FIXED MENUS
I have long wanted to have a fixed menu - i.e. one which always remains in position,
however far you scroll the page. Of course, you can do it with frames, but this has
disadvantages. Because IE does not obey the CSS for fixed position, it has not seemed
practical. However, there are CSS fixes to get round the problem. I have tried this
one: http://annevankesteren.nl/archives/2003/08/fixed-positioning
Although the fixed-position menu page is only a test, and does not have a header, you
can see how it might work. I'll be playing with the idea to see how it goes. Your comments
on this page will be very welcome. Does it work in your browser? Thanks.
CHALLENGE TO CHURCHES
Church: answer your phone during the holidays! Even though many congregations recognize
the holidays as an important time to reach the unchurched, a January 2004 survey of George
Barna reveals that many churches undermine the evangelistic efforts by not answering the
phone during the holidays. Read about their research from last December on trying to get
through to a human being at several thousand churches. The same must surely apply to
emails also: http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/rd?b0410conversions
EARTHBROWSER "is a real-time 3D model of the earth that updates itself with global
information via the Internet," write NeatNetTricks.com newsletter. "Weather information is
updated hourly for thousands of cities. Satellite imagery makes possible a cloud display
across the globe and day/night shadows are updated every 15 minutes. EarthBrowser features
hundreds of Webcams, displays information about the latest 40 major earthquakes and lists
currently active volcanoes. The program contains many fully customizable settings along
with a zoom feature to provide more details." http://www.earthbrowser.com/
CONFERENCE 6 NOVEMBER LONDON AREA UK
There's a conference on mission and IT on 6 November. It includes two sessions on web
evangelism which I will be taking. Location: WEC International, Bulstrode, Gerrards Cross
- 20 miles west of London near the M40. More information: http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/nov6.php
TIPS
A9.COM: If you use the new A9.com search engine from Amazon, and are signed-in using
your Amazon email address and password, you will automatically have 1.5% reduction!
PHP SCRIPTS: Marcus Monroe has done some very nice little PHP scripts that could add
useful features to your site - comments page, guestbook, email form, and more. http://www.mylittlehomepage.net/scripts.html
PICS. Not everything from Microsoft requires money. One thing to check is the f-r-e-e
clipart - some are graphics, others real photos. You need MS Office clipart viewer, but
they can then be exported as normal jpegs: http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/
NOTETAB "is a text editor that handles basic documents and HTML editing tasks. It takes
care of formatting, system-wide searches, multi-line global replacements, spell check, and
so on.," says NeatNetTricks.com newsletter. There are three versions, price varying from
nothing to a modest 19 usd. http://www.notetab.com/index.php
FILE EXTENTIONS: detailed database of file extensions and programs that use them: http://filext.com/index.php
I once heard someone say, "My prayer doesn't count much. I'm only one person." I said,
"Do you know anyone who is 'two'?" "I'm only one person" is the one excuse no citizen of
planet Earth can use to get out of anything, since we are all 'ones' and no one is two,
with the possible exception of those 'Siamese' we encounter on television occasionally,
and even they seem to go out of their way to assure us that while they share some of the
same body parts, they are two ones, and not a two. Therefore, all of us 'ones' may go
ahead with the privilege and responsibility of prayer. There are people counting on my
prayers today. God help me not to let them down.
- Joe McKeever [source: www.timothyreport.com ]
At the prestigious university there was a clear hierarchy that outlined how long one
was to wait for a class to begin if the professor were absent. A full professor rated
fifteen minutes. An associate only ten. A mere instructor was expected to be on time, if
not early. This system worked only one way, however; and students were afforded no such
grace.
It was to be expected, therefore, that one professor, the foremost authority in his
field by his own admission, would register distinct annoyance when the student, just out
of military service, was late for class for the third morning running.
"Tell me," the professor began, "exactly what did they say in the Army when you
sauntered in late like this?"
"Well," mused the unperturbed youth, "first they saluted, then they inquired, 'How are
you this morning, sir?'"
[Source: www.cybersalt.org/ ]
"The scientific theory I Iike best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of
lost airline luggage." - Mark Russell
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Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening 'backinsert.inc' for inclusion (include_path='.') in /var/www/guide/questions/currentbulletin.php on line 348 Recovery - Gospel.com - Christian resources from over 300 ministries
Drugs, alcohol, sex, abusive relationships... there's a long list of substances and situations that can control and ruin our lives. And depending on the nature of the particular beast that's held you under its thumb, the road to recovery can be long, extraordinarily difficult, and seemingly impossible.
But it's not not impossible, no matter how it seems. And there's no situation so dire that others have not already stood in your shoes. These resources and ministries are committed to giving you the help you need to break out of whatever is holding you down—and start the
Without Mission Network News I’d be largely ignorant of the impact of missions in the world. They’re an organization that consistently works to keep evangelical Christians informed of missions related news.
Their purpose:
Mission Network News is a mission news service dedicated to keeping Christians informed on evangelical mission activity around the world. In doing so we hope to educate and motivate Christians to prayer, participation, and support of missionary work to help further the Great Commission.
And their reasoning:
We have found that many Christians are highly interested in missions, but they’re not getting the information they need to motivate them to get involved. MNN is committed to providing the most current, relevant and compelling mission news available. Our radio network, satellite links, and internet affiliates enable us to reach millions with mission news within hours of the event!
I went through today and read over what’s been going on in the past week. There are—of course—many things to pray about, but also many things to offer praise about. Here are a few recent news items worth reading:
The featured topic on Gospel.com is recovery. While putting an end to some types of sin is as simple as “just saying no,” other sins and behaviors can cause so much damage to our lives, relationships, and spiritual health that breaking free requires serious time and commitment—a process of recovery.
The recovery process is frequently necessary when addiction—to alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, etc.—is involved. Recovery is sometimes also necessary even when your own behavior wasn’t responsible for the damage, as in the case of abuse. Today we’ll point out a few links to general recovery resources from around the Gospel.com community; tomorrow we’ll focus on recovery resources for more specific problems. Whatever the reasons you’re seeking recovery, here are some good starting points:
Safe Families has a slightly more narrow focus—it primarily addresses sexual addiction and pornography—but links to a large number of resources for both recovering addicts and their families.
Between those three ministries, there are hundreds of essays and other tools to help you get started down the long hard road to recovery. Explore those links, and we’ll be back tomorrow with some more specific resources!
One of the most pervasive critiques of the Christian faith is the charge that it’s nothing more than a “psychological crutch.” Is God an invention of the mind, a fantasy we’ve imagined into being to give our lives some sense of meaning and purpose? Is belief in God something for the weak—a childish gullibility, a way of avoiding reality?
Amy Orr-Ewing tackles this question head-on in her essay Is Believing in God a Psychological Crutch? She traces the “psychological crutch” charge back to Freud, and offers a Christian response:
From [Freud’s] perspective, God is merely a creation of the human mind, a projection emanating from human need and desire rather than a distinct reality or being that exists independently of the human mind. Freud’s notion of God acting as an idealized father figure for humans, providing a cushion from the harshness of the real world and a comforting friend in the midst of life’s troubles, reduces God to a human construct. Indeed, for Freud, God is made in humanity’s own image and is the “ultimate wish-fulfillment”; God does not actually exist but is merely the creation of humanity’s imagination and desire for a loving father figure.
How might a Christian respond to this? Can God really be explained away so easily by one aspect of psychology?
Read the full article, which is excerpted from Orr-Ewing’s upcoming book Is Belief in God Irrational? If you find this essay interesting, you can read the entire first chapter of the book over at InterVarsity Press.
Lastly, there are plenty more essays addressing the topics of faith, doubt, and apologetics at the Just Thinking archives. Don’t run from doubt and questions—take some time to see how Christian thinkers and writers are responding to tough questions about Christianity!
What is Gospel.com?
Gospel.com is a community of Christian organizations all committed to doing ministry online. You can explore hundreds of different topics or get to know the many ministries that make up our community.
Each day we highlight the newest and best resources here at the Gospel.com blog, so check back regularly to see what's happening!
