What will you do? (3)

A young couple in your church has been married for five years but is childless. They have decided to seek treatment for their infertility by “in vitro fertilization” (IVF). They came to your office, agitated and in tears because one of the church leaders have told them that IVF is “unnatural” and the child conceived by this method is the “spawn of the devil!”

How will you educate your congregation?

What will you do? (3)

A young couple in your church has been married for five years but is childless. They have decided to seek treatment for their infertility by “in vitro fertilization” (IVF). They came to your office, agitated and in tears because one of the church leaders have told them that IVF is “unnatural” and the child conceived by this method is the “spawn of the devil!”

How will you educate your congregation?

What will you do? (2)

Mr. Lim, your 60 year old church elder has a stroke and is totally dependent on a ventilator in the ICU of a private hospital. The doctors have told Mrs. Lim that her husband is already brain dead and asked her to make a decision to allow them to switch off the ventilator, and for the doctors to harvest his organs for donation. Three of her six children are against her making such a decision, alleging that she wants to kill their father. A group of your church members have implied that she is guilty of not having enough faith for God to heal her husband.

What will you do in such a situation?

What will you do? (2)

Mr. Lim, your 60 year old church elder has a stroke and is totally dependent on a ventilator in the ICU of a private hospital. The doctors have told Mrs. Lim that her husband is already brain dead and asked her to make a decision to allow them to switch off the ventilator, and for the doctors to harvest his organs for donation. Three of her six children are against her making such a decision, alleging that she wants to kill their father. A group of your church members have implied that she is guilty of not having enough faith for God to heal her husband.

What will you do in such a situation?

Recommended Books for Spirituality and Spiritual Formation

CEJ: Series 3, Vol 5, No.1, 2008

Christian Education Journal Textbook Survey:

Spirituality and Spiritual Formation

Dr James C. Wilhoit, Area Editor of CEJ recommends the following books as textbooks for study at college and seminary level.

1. Allen, Diogenes. 1997. Spiritual theology: The theoogy of yesterday for spiritual help today. Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications.
2. Bakke, Jannette A. 2000. Holy invitations: Exploring spiritual direction. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
3. Boa, Kenneth. 2001. Conformed to his image: Biblical and practical approaches to spiritual formation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
4. Chan, Simon. 1998. Spiritual theology: A systemic study of the christian life. Downers Groove, IL: InterVarosty Press.
5. Demarest, Bruce. 1999. Satisfy your soul: Restoring the heart of christian spirituality. Colorado springs, CO.: NavPress.
6. Foster, Richard. 1989. Celebration of discipline: The path to spiritual growth. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
7. Issler, Klaus. 2001. Wasting time with god: A christian spirituality of friendship with God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
8. Lovelace, Richard F. 1979. Dynamics of spiritual life: An evangelical theology of renewal. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
9. Mulholland, M. Robert. 1993. Invitation to a journey: A road map for spiritual formation. Downers Grove, IL.: InterVarsity Press.
10. Willard, Dallas. 1988. The spirit of the disciplines: Understanding how god changes lives. New York: HarperCollins Publisher.

Good choice.

Recommended Books for Spirituality and Spiritual Formation

CEJ: Series 3, Vol 5, No.1, 2008

Christian Education Journal Textbook Survey:

Spirituality and Spiritual Formation

Dr James C. Wilhoit, Area Editor of CEJ recommends the following books as textbooks for study at college and seminary level.

1. Allen, Diogenes. 1997. Spiritual theology: The theoogy of yesterday for spiritual help today. Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications.
2. Bakke, Jannette A. 2000. Holy invitations: Exploring spiritual direction. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
3. Boa, Kenneth. 2001. Conformed to his image: Biblical and practical approaches to spiritual formation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
4. Chan, Simon. 1998. Spiritual theology: A systemic study of the christian life. Downers Groove, IL: InterVarosty Press.
5. Demarest, Bruce. 1999. Satisfy your soul: Restoring the heart of christian spirituality. Colorado springs, CO.: NavPress.
6. Foster, Richard. 1989. Celebration of discipline: The path to spiritual growth. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
7. Issler, Klaus. 2001. Wasting time with god: A christian spirituality of friendship with God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
8. Lovelace, Richard F. 1979. Dynamics of spiritual life: An evangelical theology of renewal. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
9. Mulholland, M. Robert. 1993. Invitation to a journey: A road map for spiritual formation. Downers Grove, IL.: InterVarsity Press.
10. Willard, Dallas. 1988. The spirit of the disciplines: Understanding how god changes lives. New York: HarperCollins Publisher.

Good choice.

It's Half-Past Twelve Somewhere

Books & Culture, September/October 2008


Acedia & Me, A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life
Kathleen Norris
Riverhead, 2008352 pp., $25.95


It's Half-Past Twelve Somewhere
Kathleen Norris on a forgotten deadly sin.
review by Dennis Okholm


If Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett had waited a few years to perform their chart-topping hit so that they could first read Kathleen Norris' new book Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life, they might have described more insightfully the "half-past twelve" tedium they were escaping for a "five-o'clock somewhere" drink. And country music aficionados like me might have understood better why we seek diversions from the daily tasks that seem so mind-numbingly routine.

Ever since Norris first encountered the word acedia in early monastic writings twenty years ago, she has been mulling it over, wiping the dust off this forgotten concept. In the book that grew out of that preoccupation, she examines her life—and her marriage in particular—in order to illustrate acedia's characteristics, dangers, and cures, contemplating the many facets of this vice with the help of monks, psychologists, philosophers, poets, novelists, and pharmacologists. (Huxley, Kierkegaard, Dante, Bunyan, and Andrew Solomon are some who figure prominently among the nonmonastics. Her reflections on the lives of writers who misconstrue what kind of life must accompany creativity may resonate with artists and authors.) The result is a beautifully woven treatment braided together of these various strands, concluding with a chapter of illuminating quotations on her subject, ranging from the ancients to our contemporaries. more

Looks like a book worth reading...

It's Half-Past Twelve Somewhere

Books & Culture, September/October 2008


Acedia & Me, A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life
Kathleen Norris
Riverhead, 2008352 pp., $25.95


It's Half-Past Twelve Somewhere
Kathleen Norris on a forgotten deadly sin.
review by Dennis Okholm


If Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett had waited a few years to perform their chart-topping hit so that they could first read Kathleen Norris' new book Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life, they might have described more insightfully the "half-past twelve" tedium they were escaping for a "five-o'clock somewhere" drink. And country music aficionados like me might have understood better why we seek diversions from the daily tasks that seem so mind-numbingly routine.

Ever since Norris first encountered the word acedia in early monastic writings twenty years ago, she has been mulling it over, wiping the dust off this forgotten concept. In the book that grew out of that preoccupation, she examines her life—and her marriage in particular—in order to illustrate acedia's characteristics, dangers, and cures, contemplating the many facets of this vice with the help of monks, psychologists, philosophers, poets, novelists, and pharmacologists. (Huxley, Kierkegaard, Dante, Bunyan, and Andrew Solomon are some who figure prominently among the nonmonastics. Her reflections on the lives of writers who misconstrue what kind of life must accompany creativity may resonate with artists and authors.) The result is a beautifully woven treatment braided together of these various strands, concluding with a chapter of illuminating quotations on her subject, ranging from the ancients to our contemporaries. more

Looks like a book worth reading...

More on Harvesting Human Organs

I have posted harvesting organs when brain functions is still present. Maurice has an interesting blog named Bioethics Discussion Blog in which he wrote a response to my comments.

The moment of death for legal purposes has always been pronounced by a person who has the legal responsibility and capacity to pronounce death. It should be the same (and is the same) whether organs are to be procured or not. The pronouncement of death of a patient in whom no attempt will be made for cardio-vascular-pulmonary resuscitation should occur when it is known by clinical experience that full return of non-assisted cardio-vacular-pulmonary system function spontaneously is unlikely or if it should occur the period of anoxia of the brain would be long enough to cause brain function to meet brain death criteria. The pronouncement of death can also be made in a patient who may still have cardio-vascular system function but meets the clinical criteria for brain death. The pronouncement of death, if not by neurologic criteria, was made not because the heart was "dead" but because of the permanent pathophysiologic failure of the cardio-vascular-pulmonary system, no longer providing oxygen or other substances to the brain and the other body organs and with no intention to attempt artificial resusitation. I believe it should be clarified that The Dead Donor Rule (that the patient should be dead at the time the organs are removed) is satisfied by a legal pronouncement of death, There is no other way to define death since it is known that the cells throughout the human body don't all die at the same instant. There is nothing inconsistent with the Dead Donor Rule that the donated heart has resumed beating in the recipient. This event is not pertinent to the pronouncement of death of the donor since it was the entire cardio-vascular-pulmonary physiologic system that "died" and not the heart..

Patients have the ethical and legal right to voluntarily withdraw unwanted life support and the legal right to give permission for their organs to be removed for donation when the patient is pronounced dead. I would disagree that "doctors are allowing patients to die so that organ harvesting can take place" since the physicians, supported by the law and ethics, are following the requests of the patient. As long as society maintains strict attention regarding the validity of these patient permissions, the act of organ procurement for transplant is an ethical and humanistic procedure. ..Maurice.

Please see here for further comments and discussion.

In addition, he has included the following link to the New England Journal of Medicine Video Round Table discussion of the issue regarding organ donation after cardiac death with Atul Gawande as moderator and discussants, ethicists George Annas, Arthur Caplan and Robert Truog.

.

More on Harvesting Human Organs

I have posted harvesting organs when brain functions is still present. Maurice has an interesting blog named Bioethics Discussion Blog in which he wrote a response to my comments.

The moment of death for legal purposes has always been pronounced by a person who has the legal responsibility and capacity to pronounce death. It should be the same (and is the same) whether organs are to be procured or not. The pronouncement of death of a patient in whom no attempt will be made for cardio-vascular-pulmonary resuscitation should occur when it is known by clinical experience that full return of non-assisted cardio-vacular-pulmonary system function spontaneously is unlikely or if it should occur the period of anoxia of the brain would be long enough to cause brain function to meet brain death criteria. The pronouncement of death can also be made in a patient who may still have cardio-vascular system function but meets the clinical criteria for brain death. The pronouncement of death, if not by neurologic criteria, was made not because the heart was "dead" but because of the permanent pathophysiologic failure of the cardio-vascular-pulmonary system, no longer providing oxygen or other substances to the brain and the other body organs and with no intention to attempt artificial resusitation. I believe it should be clarified that The Dead Donor Rule (that the patient should be dead at the time the organs are removed) is satisfied by a legal pronouncement of death, There is no other way to define death since it is known that the cells throughout the human body don't all die at the same instant. There is nothing inconsistent with the Dead Donor Rule that the donated heart has resumed beating in the recipient. This event is not pertinent to the pronouncement of death of the donor since it was the entire cardio-vascular-pulmonary physiologic system that "died" and not the heart..

Patients have the ethical and legal right to voluntarily withdraw unwanted life support and the legal right to give permission for their organs to be removed for donation when the patient is pronounced dead. I would disagree that "doctors are allowing patients to die so that organ harvesting can take place" since the physicians, supported by the law and ethics, are following the requests of the patient. As long as society maintains strict attention regarding the validity of these patient permissions, the act of organ procurement for transplant is an ethical and humanistic procedure. ..Maurice.

Please see here for further comments and discussion.

In addition, he has included the following link to the New England Journal of Medicine Video Round Table discussion of the issue regarding organ donation after cardiac death with Atul Gawande as moderator and discussants, ethicists George Annas, Arthur Caplan and Robert Truog.

.

What will you do? (1)

The mother of a 15 year old rape victim, who is now 3 months pregnant, approaches you for advice. She is a young Christian and has been attending your church for the last 10 months. She is not keen for an abortion for her teenage daughter but her husband who is not a Christian, is threatening to divorce her if she does not agree to let their daughter get an abortion. Meanwhile the daughter is under medication for severe depression.

How will you advise the family?

What will you do? (1)

The mother of a 15 year old rape victim, who is now 3 months pregnant, approaches you for advice. She is a young Christian and has been attending your church for the last 10 months. She is not keen for an abortion for her teenage daughter but her husband who is not a Christian, is threatening to divorce her if she does not agree to let their daughter get an abortion. Meanwhile the daughter is under medication for severe depression.

How will you advise the family?

Six Books that are Good for your Soul

Dr Dallas Willard in his library

But these books are recommended by me...


1. Caussade, Jean-Pierre de. 1986. The joy of full surrender. Translated by Hal M. Helms. Brewster MA: Paraclete Press.
2. Johnston, William, ed. 1973. The cloud of unknowing & the book of privy counseling. New York: Doubleday.
3. The way of a pilgrim. 1930. Translated by R.M. French. London: Triangle SPCK.
4. Sales, Francis De. 1972. Introduction to the devout life. Translated by John K. Ryan. New York: Doubleday.
5. Spener, Philip Jacob. 1964. Pia desideria. Translated by Theodore G. Tappert. n.p.: Fortress Press.
6. Underhill, Everlyn. 1993. The spiritual life: Great spiritual truths for everyday life. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.

.

Six Books that are Good for your Soul

Dr Dallas Willard in his library

But these books are recommended by me...


1. Caussade, Jean-Pierre de. 1986. The joy of full surrender. Translated by Hal M. Helms. Brewster MA: Paraclete Press.
2. Johnston, William, ed. 1973. The cloud of unknowing & the book of privy counseling. New York: Doubleday.
3. The way of a pilgrim. 1930. Translated by R.M. French. London: Triangle SPCK.
4. Sales, Francis De. 1972. Introduction to the devout life. Translated by John K. Ryan. New York: Doubleday.
5. Spener, Philip Jacob. 1964. Pia desideria. Translated by Theodore G. Tappert. n.p.: Fortress Press.
6. Underhill, Everlyn. 1993. The spiritual life: Great spiritual truths for everyday life. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.

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Albert Durer's Visual Exegesis

Home > 2008 > August (Web-Only)
Christianity Today, August (Web-Only), 2008
Slideshow
Albrecht Dürer's Visual Exegesis
The Museum of Biblical Art showcases the artist's work and the apocalyptic concerns of Renaissance-era Germany.
Compiled by Susan Wunderink posted 8/28/2008 11:17AM



see slideshow here