Dr Paul Allen

Anyone who has ever served in leadership will know that death and taxes are not the only two certainties in life. There is at least one other that we can add to the list: criticism. Leadership and criticism go hand in hand. The more public our leadership role, the more frequent, unfair, and unpleasant that criticism will be. It is, after all, the soldiers who lead the charge in battle who take not only the bulk of the enemy’s fire but its greatest intensity as well. With that in mind, the question we need to answer is not, How can we avoid criticism?—because we cannot avoid it and still be faithful in serving the Lord with the gifts and abilities He has given us; rather, we should ask, How can we prepare ourselves for the criticism that will come?  In this way, when it does come, we will know how to respond and how to keep it from destroying us and the work God has given us to do. I have personally found help in answering this question from Ecclesiastes 7:21–22: “Do not take to hea...

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:13) Read Philippians 4:13 (without reading the surrounding verses yet). Think about some conclusions you might draw about what this verse is saying if you ignore the context. In this verse, Paul is saying that he can do “all things” through Christ, who strengthens him. You probably have seen this verse used in the context of athletics or some other kind of competition.  Some people have even made it their “life verse” as they think about Jesus helping them do amazing things. In other words, when we totally ignore the context that surrounds this verse, it becomes all about accomplishment.  We can take it as a promise that Jesus will strengthen us to do the things that we want to do—win a game, pass a test, make a lot of money, or achieve an outstanding award. We can be tempted to use this verse as a kind of motivational slogan for our lives. But when we look at the context, we begin to see that we cannot really tak...

Is Christianity bad for our mental health ? Popular atheists often say so. Some go as far as to say that teaching children religion is really a form of abuse — at least any religion that teaches a doctrine of sin and divine punishment. They claim such teaching heaps a load of guilt on people and then traumatizes them with the terrible fear of the threat of hell. How could this not psychologically damage people? I’m glad the question is being raised, especially by those whose own worldview demands that people come to terms with their ultimate existential meaninglessness: that life is fundamentally a brutal fight to survive and pass on one’s genes. That love, compassion, and psychological well-being are at root naturally selected adaptations to encourage one to preserve DNA . That good and evil are only human psychological constructs. That all our frenetic activity and gene-passing is ultimately futile since sooner or later homo sapiens will undergo species extinction. And th...