BiblicalInsights.net

     James Dobson cites Dr. Joseph Procaccini and Mark Kiefaber on the topic of parental burnout in his book, Parenting Isn’t For Cowards.  Procaccini and Kiefaber identify five progressive steps of parental burnout.  They are:
     1.     “Gung-Ho” –stage one.  This stage is the new parent who determines to be “superparent.”  Everything focuses on the children.  Parents deny themselves in order to provide everything they think their children need and then some.  This parent is headed for burnout because he/she is expending more energy than is available to burn.  When parents fail to take time to rest and renew their energy levels, they are headed for burnout.
     2.     Stage two is “persistent doubts.”  At stage two, parents know something is wrong, but haven’t quite figured out what it is.  They are often drained and fatigued and wonder why they are tired all the time or depressed.
     3.     Stage three is called the transition stage.  This is a crucial point in the parenting process.  Parents either recognize the downward path they are on and make changes to reverse it, or they will continue their plunge toward chaos (p. 136).  Parents experience fatigue, self-condemnation, great anger, and resentment.  For the first time parents openly blame their kids for their discontent.
     4.     Stage four is identified as “pulling away.”  In this stage, the parent withdraws from the family and becomes unavailable to the children (p. 137).  Fantasies of “slinging the brat against the wall” or “bashing him good” may occur in this angry parent.  This is one step removed from physical abuse and is a dangerous point.
     5.     Stage five is called “chronic disenchantment.”  It is characterized by confusion and apathy.  The individual has lost all meaning and purpose in living.  Identity is blurred.  Serious problems are imminent.      
     Parenting is challenging.  Parents must learn to use the resources available to them in order to cope with the demands of parenting. Beginning September 5, I will be teaching a class on Biblical Principles for Practical Parenting at the Church of Christ, 5626 Groveport Rd., Groveport, Ohio.  You can access the church’s web page from this site.  Just click on Church of Christ under “Blogroll.”

     I have been reading an interesting book in the field of Christian Apologetics.  The book was written by John J. Blunt and is titled, Undesigned Coincidences in the writings of both the Old and New Testament.  The book is an argument for the veracity of the Scriptures.  One of the interesting examples of undesigned coincidences is the scriptural record of the miracles of the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand.  All four evangelists record the miracle of the five thousand (Matt. 14:20; Mark 6:43; Luke 9:17 and John 6:13).  All four, without variation, use the word kophinous (plural form of kophinos) to indicate the baskets taken up.  There were twelve baskets taken up after the multitude was fed.  The miracle of the feeding of the four thousand is recorded by two of the evangelists (Matt. 15:37; Mark 8:8).  The phrase, “hepta spuridas” is used to indicate the seven baskets taken up after the multitude was fed.  There must have been a marked difference in the two baskets.  Kophinos is invariably used when the miracle of the five thousand is referenced and spuris is invariably used when the miracle of the four thousand is referenced.  Jesus refers to both of these miracles in Matt. 16:9-10.  “Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?  Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?”  Jesus used the same terms, kophinos and spuris respectively, when speaking of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand and the miracle of the feeding of the four thousand.
     In Acts 9:25, Paul was let down by the wall in a basket to escape a plot to take his life.  The basket (spuris) was large enough for a man to get into.  This is the basket that was used to take up the fragments of food left over after the feeding of the four thousand.  The spuris was a large basket whereas the kophinos was a smaller basket.  So, even though there were fewer baskets taken up (seven verses twelve), the baskets were larger.
     The point of the coincidence is the precise difference of the vessels and the uniform application of the term kophinos to the basket of the miracle of the five thousand and the uniform application of spuris to the miracle of the four thousand.  The words are never used interchangeably.  The two miracles were distinctly impressed upon the minds of the evangelists and of Jesus as real events.
     If the minute details of the miracle accounts are true, then what about the miracles related in the account?  If the details are so well preserved and validated, then what about the miracle itself?  The miracle must also be true and points to something greater. 
     Jesus is the “bread of life” (John 6:35).   “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).  “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).  While physical bread sustains physical life, only the “bread from heaven” (Jesus Christ) can give spiritual life that leads to eternal life!