I was curious to explore how the Enuma Elish, sometimes lauded as reliable simply because it is more ancient than the Torah, approaches the concept of relationship between humans and the divine and then contrast that to the correcting view of the latter text. I. 1. Enuma Elish: Humanity in
I. 1. David: Darkness Cannot Hide Us from God There is no meaningful life, truth, or refuge outside the presence of Godโand therefore no viable alternative to Him. Psalm 139:11โ12 - If I say, โSurely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,
I. The Tapestry: What We See vs. What Is The image works because it addresses a core biblical tension: limited perception versus ultimate reality. From our side of history, life looks like the back of a tapestryโknots, loose threads, abrupt color changes, apparent waste. Nothing seems symmetrical. Much appears
Read together, Psalms 22 and 23 reveal a deliberately layered theological and pastoral arc. They are not merely adjacent in the Psalter; they function as a paired testimony that moves through death, not around it, and in doing so disclose a larger picture of trust, deliverance, and communion with God.
I. The Three-Story Brain Model This model (popularized by Dan Siegel) is a useful functional framework for understanding emotional dysregulation without pathologizing it. In brief: * Upstairs brain (prefrontal cortex): reasoning, empathy, moral judgment, impulse control, long-range vision. * Downstairs brain (limbic system): emotions, memory, attachment, threat detection. * Smoke detector (amygdala): rapid,
I. 1. What We Mean by โWillpowerโ Willpower is the human capacity to restrain impulses, delay gratification, and choose a course of action contrary to immediate desire. Biblically and philosophically, it aligns most closely with: * Volition (the choosing faculty) * Self-control (แผฮณฮบฯฮฌฯฮตฮนฮฑ, enkrateia) * Discipline of behavior It is important to note:
Scripture never gives a single, tidy โProverbs 31 for men.โ Instead, the Bible forms a composite portrait across the canonโless a checklist, more a calling shaped over time. What follows is a canonical synthesis: a Genesis-to-Revelation portrait of a godly man, drawn from narrative, law, wisdom, prophets, Gospels, epistles,
I. Hebrew Bible / Jewish Liturgy Few texts rival the Shema for poetic density. Its beauty lies in compressionโoneness, love, memory, obedience, and daily life woven into a single rhythmic confession. It is liturgy as formation: spoken, worn, taught, remembered. 1. The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4โ9) โHear and obey,
Scripture presents Sabbath not merely as a day off, but as a pattern of ordered rest that restores the whole person and, by extension, the community. What we tend to collapse into โphysical restโ is, in the biblical vision, multi-layered. I. 1. Physical Sabbath Rest from labor and bodily exertion
I. 1. Stress Chemistry: Different Default Pathways Men: Stress โ Dopamine-Dominant Response (Action-Oriented) Under stress, men tend to show stronger activation in dopaminergic pathways, particularly those tied to: * Goal pursuit * Problem-solving * Risk-taking * Reward anticipation This often produces: * A drive to do something immediately * Narrowed focus on a solution * Increased tolerance for
I. 1. Hebrew Thought: Concrete Before Abstract Ancient Hebrew language and cognition are notably concrete. Unlike later Greek philosophy, which excelled in abstraction, Hebrew communicates meaning through embodied, visible, and relational realities. * Truth (โemet) is not an idea but something reliable, firm, proven in action. * Faith (โemunah) is not belief-in-the-abstract
Let's act like we're a cool movie and start at the end, at least, the end so far. In modern times we've been able to work out the psychology behind human behavior (which will always be one of the most fascinating areas of study)