Are grief recovery groups any good?

[Gail]

Well, I'm not sure that a grief recovery group will include much confessing of sin... I rather think that it would be a place where grief is shared

[Guest]

Life I thought the cardinal rule was/is that everyschool boy knows before he can advance to another grade is when quote marks are used it should/MUST be exactly!!!

Again your words. "Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available " James 5:16 AMP

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Don't you think people can read? You know very well that YOU SAID the "SIN" word that mortal shoul confess to another mortal. Then in your next response, you DELIBERATELY CHANGE. Tell me how many years has this trick worked for you confusing the issue?

[Stan]

Ed

This has nothing to do with what you are talking about, it is about someone who has lost her best friend, her husband and her life partner to death.

[Pockey]

Amen.

[Guest]

LD,

Many times the only diffference between mad and sad is one letter..

Play the memory tapes...

thank and praise God for everything

cry when you feel like it..usually alone so that it doesn't cause undue complications.

find a one or more life vacuum replacements..

make a considerable effort to share with God all of your emotions and thoughts..

be sensitive to stress altering your biochemical balance..

I am not a pro...yet I am over the hill

[Amelia]

I think a group can be beneficial for some. My father went to one after my mother passed and he wasnt getting anywhere working through his grief on his own. They can assist with the emotions that manifest with grief, like anger. My father had this issue. It help him to realise that others felt the same things. It was more of a group of people getting together and airing their currant grief problems and the solutions they found worked for them.

[darlene]

I do not have experience with a grief recovery group, however, I do have experience with abuse recovery counselling and a Christian support group called Burden Bearers. People in this thread have given biblical texts to support their opinion on the subject and some have expressed a negative viewpoint because (I suspect) they have not come to the point in their lives where they have 'dead ended' or 'bottomed out.' They probably do not know what it is really like. To have God hold you in His arms and to have other human being/s support you emotionally as you go through this experience is extremely necessary! What about Galations 6:2 "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Seems to me Jesus did just that and set the example for us when He walked on this earth. We are to support and bear one anothers burdens with Christian love and I do believe that there are people qualified to assist you in working through the grief and abuse issues, etc. The support does not mean they are messing with your mind for you and God are the ones working through the issues while others support you. There that is my belief and I stand by it! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

[Nan]

Amen, Darlene <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

[Stan]

Well put Darlene!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

Quote:

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Ed

This has nothing to do with what you are talking about, it is about someone who has lost her best friend, her husband and her life partner to death.

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Stan I am fully aware of these happenings of when someone is grieving. Again they need real comfort, not a hindrance by looking to mortals which cannot relieve their burden.

"Jesus knows the circumstances of every soul. You may say, I am sinful, very sinful. You may be; but the worse you are, the more you need Jesus. He turns no weeping, contrite one away. He does not tell to any all that He might reveal, but He bids every trembling soul take courage. Freely will He pardon all who come to Him for forgiveness and restoration. . . . He is today standing at the altar of incense, presenting before God the prayers of those who desire His help. {CC 309.4}

The souls that turn to Him for refuge, Jesus lifts above the accusing and the strife of tongues. No man or evil angel can impeach these souls. Christ unites them to His own divine-human nature. They stand beside the great Sin Bearer, in the light proceeding from the throne of God. {CC 309.5}

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"He does not tell to any all that He might reveal"

"He does not tell to any all that He might reveal"

I think I am on safe ground when I follow Jesus's example.

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

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Then in your next response, you DELIBERATELY CHANGE. Tell me how many years has this trick worked for you confusing the issue?

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If you had taken the time to investigate thoroughly, Ed, you would have noticed one text was taken from one translation, the Amplified, which some choose not to recognize as given by God, while the other was taken from the New American Standard, which some people do not recognize as having been given by God.

There are yet others who did not accept the King James Version as having come from God. For each of these individuals who divest themselves from receiving anything other than one source for Divine instruction, I would encourage them to wait until that one source is directly from God's mouth as they will then know for sure the truth of the matter. Of course then it will be much too late to receive the reward for accepting many of the promises that were written down by fallible men, for the sake of Christ.

BTW, you will also find that all the quotation marks, parenthesis, and brackets used, came from the translations used, and were not my own. I expect a group of scholars intent on making the Word more plain to the simple folk who believe God can protect His message for the sake of His children, have a better chance of being right than the odd individual who determines numerous parts of the revealed Word need to be eliminated to clearly understand the message of salvation.

[:"red"] "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" [/] John 10:27 KJV

[:"red"] "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." [/] John 20:29 KJV

[:"red"] "Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." [/] Matthew 18:4 AMP

Lift Jesus up!!

[Guest]

Life I rest my case with you, just continue as you were/are in changing things in quote marks. I now firmly believe you have the foggest idea on how it be fair, just keep mingling with others that could care less about any accountability and you will find the success you are seeking.

[Gail]

LynnDel, I have at one time been part of both a group setting and one on one counselling.

Personally, I found that each setting gave me only a piece of the puzzle that would make my situation understandable. I valued the situations for the information they gave me which I could apply to my own journey.

But for me they were merely that. I did not feel that I found "the answer" at any of them, but they were a help at the time.

I believe that God works through people in providing mercy to the world, and we just don't know what form that might take. You will know, if you find that you are truly ministered to, or if this will prove an empty cistern for you.

I think I understand what Ed is trying to say, in that in turning to help in earthly sources might not provide true answers. But there are many Christian counsellors that are very good and WILL pray with you and lead you to Scriptural answers.

[Guest]

When the "Promise Keepers" men first begin to assemble 60,000 strong right from the start. One of the first things leadership did to break down all barriers to get the men to open up, was to get them off into small "recovery groups" where they could/would tell one another their problems in life, they were even to tell about their wedding night experience, breaking their promise they should have made to their wives years before. This exercise did more for them to bond together, more so than what the nerf football they threw around at the onset could ever do. Now they were ready for the big guns to come on stage while these [now Promise breakers] minds were united to just what a few men required of them.

[darlene]

But, the Promise Keepers organization is very, very different than a legitimate counselling/support group such as Burden Bearers, Ed. It is my understanding that they have some other activities that are questionable. Mind control by someone else and working through a person's abuse/grief issues are two different things. One is done by allowing someone else to control you mind and the other is done by yourself in cooperation with God. Would you not agree that they are diffent?

[Guest]

Yes you are right! About a dimes worth in a mega dollar world.

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

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Life,....just continue as you were/are in changing things in quote marks.

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Since those were pasted directly from the on line Bible sources with no editing, I find your accusations indicative of something else.

[:"red"] "...and they were baptized in the Jordan by him, confessing their sins. " [/] Matt 3:6

[:"red"] "John came baptizing in the wilderness, and proclaiming a baptism of reformation -- to remission of sins" [/] Mark 1:4

[:"red"] "John answered, saying to all, `I indeed with water do baptise you, but he cometh who is mightier than I, of whom I am not worthy to loose the latchet of his sandals -- he shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire;

whose winnowing shovel [is] in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and will gather the wheat to his storehouse, and the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.'" [/] Luke 3:16,17

[:"red"] "Love...is ever ready to believe the best of every person" [/] 1 Corinthians 13:7 Amp

Though this may appear off topic, the procedures Jesus asks of His children are a necessity to receive the fulness of His gifts. Much of the grief within the soul of individuals are made easier to bear, by the Holy Spirit, when we are set in right standing with God through confession of our lack.

[:"red"] "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." [/] Acts 2:38 KJV

Those who see no reason to follow this plan will receive according to the light they have accepted.

[:"red"] "But if we are living in the light of God's presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.

If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth." [/]1 John 1:7,8 NLT

Lift Jesus up!!