Christian Questions Bible Podcast
Rick and Jonathan
Categories: Religion & Spirituality
Listen to the last episode:
Everyone experiences loss in their lives in one way or another. How we attempt to cope with those losses depends upon several things. First, the kind of loss we are facing can dictate whether our response to it is mild, strong or severe. Second, our cultural environment offers up expectations as to how our mild strong or severe responses are to be displayed. In biblical days, grieving over difficult losses was often displayed in a very outward, very public manner. The Bible is full of examples of such public crying, wailing, renting of clothes and despair. For many of us in our present-day mindset, these things may seem to be over-the-top and too dramatic. Actually, when we seek to understand all of this lamenting, we find very strong lessons of faith, growth and acceptance.
Help!
Loss is difficult. Sometimes it is unbearable. When we seek help in coping with such things, the counsel is always the same: Go through the experience and don’t try to avoid or hide the emotions. We need to give ourselves permission to feel what we are feeling so we can, when appropriate, move forward to the next step. In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, we are told there is a suitable time to mourn, just as there is a suitable time to dance for joy. The Hebrew word for mourn actually means “to tear the hair, to beat the breasts, to lament or wail.” Wow! For us living now with our current cultural backgrounds, that certainly sounds dramatic.
Biblical lamenting
To be clear, we are not suggesting that our lamenting be so dramatic. What we are suggesting is that we be willing to face our tragedies with an openness to feel them. Why? As we look into the deep lamenting revealed in the Bible, several things begin to rise to the surface. Most striking is that our lamenting not only serves a purpose, but it is also part of a distinct process. There are four essential steps our outward anguish can bring us through. The first step is for us to come face-to-face with the reality of our tragedy. Without this acceptance of the pain of our experience, we would not be able to fully move forward through the healing and growth process of the other steps.
Check out our March 25, 2024 podcast, “Is Mourning Out Loud Over Our Losses Good for Us?” for more. As we lay out the scriptural steps our anguish can lead us through, we also uncover several other reasons besides personal loss that can provoke such outward lamenting. These issues can be a result of our own bad choices, as well as tragedies that don’t happen to us but nevertheless have a dramatic effect on us. Join us as we uncover the strength and growth that can come from our mourning. Though this topic is rarely talked about, it is absolutely a worthwhile investment of our time and attention.
Previous episodes
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280 - Is Mourning Out Loud Over Our Losses Good for Us? Mon, 25 Mar 2024 - 0h
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279 - Does God’s Holy Spirit Speak to Us? Mon, 18 Mar 2024
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278 - What Is the New Creation? Mon, 11 Mar 2024
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277 - Why Is Jesus Called the “Last Adam”? (Listener Q&A Series) Mon, 04 Mar 2024 - 0h
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276 - Have We Lost Our Ability to Honor One Another? (Part II) Tue, 27 Feb 2024 - 0h
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275 - Have We Lost Our Ability to Honor One Another? (Part I) Tue, 20 Feb 2024 - 0h
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274 - Can My Marriage Be a “Happily Ever After”? Tue, 13 Feb 2024 - 0h
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273 - What Did Jesus Really Think of the Pharisees? (Part II) Tue, 06 Feb 2024 - 0h
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272 - What Did Jesus Really Think of the Pharisees? (Part I) Tue, 30 Jan 2024 - 0h
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271 - It’s Time to Change, but How Much Is Enough? Tue, 23 Jan 2024
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270 - Is My Christian Judgment Tainted by Bias? (Part II) Tue, 16 Jan 2024
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269 - Is My Christian Judgment Tainted by Bias? (Part I) Tue, 09 Jan 2024
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268 - Do I Show Up When God Calls, or Do I Run and Hide? Tue, 02 Jan 2024
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267 - How Do We Know Jesus Is the Promised Messiah? (Part II) Wed, 27 Dec 2023
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266 - How Do We Know Jesus Is the Promised Messiah? (Part I) Tue, 19 Dec 2023 - 0h
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265 - What is the Biblical Process to Become Perfect? (Part III – Israel and Nations) Tue, 12 Dec 2023
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264 - What is the Biblical Process to Become Perfect? (Part II – Mankind) Tue, 05 Dec 2023 - 0h
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263 - What is the Biblical Process to Become Perfect? (Part I – The Church) Tue, 28 Nov 2023 - 0h
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262 - What Is Your Ebenezer? Tue, 21 Nov 2023 - 0h
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261 - Is There a Christian Secret to a Happy Life? Tue, 14 Nov 2023
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260 - Are Christians Really Baptized Into Christ? Tue, 07 Nov 2023
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259 - How Do Satanic Demons Influence Our World? Mon, 30 Oct 2023
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258 - How Do Guardian Angels Take Care of Us? Mon, 23 Oct 2023
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257 - How Can I Doubt My Doubts? (Part II) Mon, 16 Oct 2023
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256 - How Can I Doubt My Doubts? (Part I) Mon, 09 Oct 2023
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255 - Can We Be Content With Chaos? Mon, 02 Oct 2023
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254 - I’m a New Christian! Now What? Mon, 25 Sep 2023
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253 - Who is God? (Part III) Mon, 18 Sep 2023
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252 - Who is God? (Part II) Mon, 11 Sep 2023
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251 - Who is God? (Part I) Mon, 04 Sep 2023
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250 - Do Christians Have to Go to Church? Mon, 28 Aug 2023
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249 - How Can I Transform My Prayer Life? (Part II) Mon, 21 Aug 2023
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248 - How Can I Transform My Prayer Life? (Part I) Mon, 14 Aug 2023
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247 - Am I Playing the Social Status Game? Mon, 07 Aug 2023
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246 - Does Biblical Truth Really Make Us Free? (Part II) Mon, 31 Jul 2023
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245 - Does Biblical Truth Really Make Us Free? (Part I) Mon, 24 Jul 2023
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244 - Is the Jewish Nation Really God’s Chosen People? Mon, 17 Jul 2023
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243 - How Do I Know If I Have Really Forgiven Someone? Mon, 10 Jul 2023
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242 - Are My Promises Reliable? Tue, 04 Jul 2023
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241 - What Does God Promise Us As Christians? Mon, 26 Jun 2023
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240 - Does Patience Really Matter? Mon, 19 Jun 2023
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239 - When Jesus Prayed, “Thy Kingdom Come” What Did He Mean? Mon, 12 Jun 2023
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238 - Is Following Christ the Same as Following Christianity? (Part II) Mon, 05 Jun 2023
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237 - Is Following Christ the Same as Following Christianity? (Part I) Mon, 29 May 2023
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236 - We Are What We Think About, So What Are We Thinking About? (Part II) Mon, 22 May 2023
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235 - We Are What We Think About, So What Are We Thinking About? (Part I) Mon, 15 May 2023
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234 - Is God an Angry God? Mon, 08 May 2023
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233 - How Do We Positively Provoke Others Without Offending Them? Mon, 01 May 2023
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232 - What Does It Feel Like To Have Real Faith? Mon, 24 Apr 2023
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231 - Will the World’s Pain and Suffering Ever End? Mon, 17 Apr 2023