RFPA Blog News

RFPA Annual Meeting 2024

This year's Annual Meeting drew an excellent turnout of young and old readers and RFPA supporters. Many of the 181 active Association members attended with friends and family members to listen to high school teacher and long-time Association member Mr. Joel Minderhoud give a presentation titled "Is Your Brain Being Wired for Deeper Thinking? The Christian Calling and Incentive to Read." Read More

Book Review - Biblical and Religious Psychology

The following review was written by John P. Jambura, M.D. of Boise, Idaho on the book Biblical and Religious Psychology by Herman Bavinck (Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing, 2024).

Herman Bavinck was a man who reflected on the data of Scripture and the issues of his (and frankly, our) day substantively, challenging his readers to view their suppositions and pre-suppositions under his unique and penetrating lens. The volume under consideration is no exception.

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The Foundation of Biblical Counseling

Imagine a worst fear realized. Consider a woman going about her daily life yet with the unsettling feeling that something is wrong. She’s experiencing headaches, blurry vision, and memory lapses. At first, she ignores the symptoms, but as the symptoms increase in intensity, she makes an appointment with her doctor. 

Before her appointment, she goes to visit with a friend who has experienced similar symptoms and has helped counsel others who have battled this dreaded illness. She sits with the friend who prays with her, reads the Bible with her, and asks some basic questions in order to get a better understanding of what the woman is experiencing. The woman begins to open up about the emotions and feelings of fear as the tears pool in her eyes.

“No,” replies the friend. “We can’t talk about emotions. Emotions are unbiblical and, therefore, unreliable. We must focus on your biblical response to what God has placed in your life.”

And so a woman, already weighed down with great burdens, sinks further down. Her friend isn’t wrong. Our emotions can get the best of us. God does call us to rejoice in all things. And yet….

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