Book Announcement: Bowing Before God

My e-friend Teila Tankersley has co-authored a book. It's too new to be A Book You Can Buy From Me (it's not even showing up at Amazon yet), so read about it here:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8352959/where_is_god_during_times_of_despair.html?cat=38

Personally, I'm waiting for it with some trepidation. I think Christians have been badly confused by the whole idea of "Christian counselling." We began with the reasonable idea that people with mood disorders could be talked through their mood swings in Christian rather than, say, Freudian terms, and then extrapolated from that to the idea that we can reduce reality problems to emotional problems--that we don't need to try to solve the reality problems (you know, the way Jesus and the apostles did), but can just sit around telling ourselves and other people how to feel about them.

Funnily enough, the Bible doesn't mention Jesus telling people how to feel. He actually solved problems...that's why people listened to Him. And the writings of the apostles continue in the same theme. Very practical. Are you tempted to sin? Resist. Are you worried about money? Work (and support your fellow believers in their work!). Are you sick? Request healing prayer. Are you feeling concerned about someone else's health, finances, temptations, etc.? Get up and do something useful.

The apostles didn't try to spiritualize everything under the rug. There is such a thing as spiritual despair, too, caused by fretting about where the dear departed have gone or when the Second Coming is going to happen, and for that books with titles like "Bowing Before God" are likely to be helpful.