The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart This is a gut-wrenchingly honest piece. It’s hard to read because it claws at the carefully-armored defenses we’ve erected around our human hearts of flesh. But this–THIS–is why so many people walk away from the church. How could God (fill in the blank)? And how could Christians, or any person who claims to have a conscience, be okay with that? Friends: are you willing to wrestle honestly with God about these issues, or are you going to resort to trite scriptural sound bytes?

But the questions that have weighed most heavily on me these past ten years have been questions not of the mind but of the heart, questions of conscience and empathy. It was not the so-called “scandal of the evangelical mind” that rocked my faith; it was the scandal of the evangelical heart…

When theology and doctrine become separated from emotion we end up with something dysfunctional and even monstrous. A theology or doctrinal system that has become decoupled from emotion is going to look emotionally stunted and even inhuman… Even theologically sociopathic.

When You Feel You’ve Lost Your Voice A great piece on moving forward after heartbreak and setbacks.

It happened to me. And, I suspect, to many of you. Over small moments, and tragic happenings, and things that felt out of control in our lives. Maybe it was a loss of some sort: a job, a dream, a loved one. Maybe it was something that broke right before your very eyes: your marriage, a friendship, a goal you’d been working towards. But, it blindsided you. Left you standing in its wake. Confused, hurt . . . and speechless…

So, how do you get a move on with moving on? How do you restretch those vocals and prepare to share your voice again?

A Roomful of Yearning and Regret This was a breathtaking look at the emotional impact of marital infidelity, written from the perspective of a woman who both had an affair and was the victim of one. She lays out the hurts and justifications on both sides, and comes to a conclusion that many people in our throwaway society could stand to hear. Go read it. This is one choice you won’t regret.

From the Archives: When Women Snap: The Good, the Bad, and the Preventable

The problem is widespread, but we don’t really talk about it. Especially not in church. We all know women who are stumbling under burdens that are too heavy for them, but most of us have no idea what to do. We stand by helplessly as our sisters come apart at the seams, offering the occasional meal, Bible verse, or snippet of trite advice. Maybe we try to shame them or scare them into acting normally, because we’re scared, too. Scared for their families, scared for ourselves, but mostly, scared for them. We want to help, we want things to be right, but we feel impotent against the forces that are tearing us apart.

Monday’s Equally Yoked post is from Gerald Ford, a retired pastor and a Marriage and Family Therapist at the Houston Center for Christian Counseling. You are not going to want to miss this practical, down-to-earth advice on how to address the underlying cause of many issues plaguing Christian marriages.

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So, what have you been reading?