Teaching

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Ed Delph

Dr Ed Delph writes:

Now I may have a doctorate but I’m neither a medical nor a mind doctor; My area, my field, is in ministry and in encouraging leaders.

But as I encourage people to resolve issues in their lives, at times it seems that the area has become an arena, even a minefield or should I say mind-field!

One such ‘mind-field’ involves couples and is not to do with the mind, but also the heart. It’s the matter of managing conflict.

Take for example this true-to-life story of a couple trying to resolve an argument. Let’s call them Fred and Nancy. Fred tells the story… (more…)

FACTS, FAITH AND FEELINGS

Question: Sometimes I feel very close to God and at other times I feel that he is a million miles away. When I don’t feel that he is near, does that mean that I have done something that has offended him?

Jim McClureDr Jim McClure, noted theologian, responds:

This question raises the more fundamental question of how reliable our emotions are in experiencing God’s presence and in sensing his speaking to us.

First of all it has to be said that our capacity to have emotions is a gift from God. When he made us, part of the human package was what we call ‘feelings.’ Some of them make us feel good, such as happiness, love, wonder, and pleasure; other have a negative effect on us – such as, sadness, disappointment, shame, anger and envy. Still others include such feelings as sympathy, compassion and courage. On and on the list goes! It would be hard to imagine life without feelings. Yet… (more…)