{"id":26691,"date":"2017-01-06T09:55:05","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T14:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=26691"},"modified":"2017-01-06T09:55:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-06T14:55:05","slug":"spiritual-anguish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/01\/spiritual-anguish\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual anguish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"grief-927099_640\"<\/a>Contrary to the \u201cprosperity gospel\u201d and other theologies of glory, negative experiences can also have a positive spiritual significance. \u00a0Many of us go through depression, blue moods, black moods, and other sufferings, whether physical or emotional. \u00a0These are not<\/em> signs that you have lost your faith or that God has abandoned you.<\/p>\n

Luther, who knew these states of mind well, considered them important for the Christian life. \u00a0In fact, he considered them necessary<\/em> for anyone who presumed to be a theologian, the three attributes for that office being meditation, prayer, and tentatio\u2013<\/em>struggle, trial, assault\u2013the closest he could come in Latin to the untranslatable German word Anfechtung<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

In looking for a good description of Anfechtung<\/em>\u00a0for that Bach post I wrote recently, I came across \u201cA Primer on Anfechtung\u201d by LCMS pastor Paul R. Harris. \u00a0It\u2019s worth looking at for its own sake and for what it discloses about a state of anguish that can seem devastating\u2013especially since Christians seldom talk about it today\u2013but which can draw us closer to Christ.<\/p>\n

From Rev. Paul R. Harris, \u00a0<\/span>A Primer on Anfechtung | St. Antony\u2019s Cave<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

As Jerry\u2019s fellow comedian says, \u201cThat\u2019s pure gold Jerry; pure gold I\u2019m telling you\u201d when Jerry tosses him a joke as a bone to his sycophantic friend.\u00a0 Well my friends I toss not a bone but the whole steak.\u00a0 First I whet your appetite with this appetizer from Johann Gerhard: \u201c; [T]hus does God the Lord also often allows the members of Christ to experience such anguish, so that they think nothing other than that God has forsaken them and will no longer look upon them in grace.\u00a0 We find such examples of temptations especially in David and Job.\u00a0 And with such temptations God more often assails, not the ordinary Christian, but rather the greatest saints, who have increased more than others in the knowledge of God\u201d\u00a0 (History of the Suffering<\/em>, Gerhard, 275).<\/p>\n

Luther writes about this as well in his Large Catechism under the 6th<\/sup> Petition \u201clead us not into temptation.\u201d\u00a0 First in the Small Catechism he assures us that the devil, the world, and our flesh will attack us.\u00a0 Then in Larger he says, \u201c\u201dSome feel it in a greater degree and more severely than others.\u00a0 For example, the young suffer especially from the flesh.\u00a0 Afterward, when they reach middle life and old age, they feel it from the world.\u00a0 But others who are occupied with spiritual matters, that is, strong Christians, feel it from the devil\u201d (III, 107).<\/p>\n

Both Gerhard and Luther describe the anguish, but neither names it.\u00a0 Its name is Anfechtung<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Illustration by John Hain, Pixabay, CC0, Public Domain<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contrary to the \u201cprosperity gospel\u201d and other theologies of glory, negative experiences can also have a positive spiritual significance. \u00a0Many of us go through depression, blue moods, black moods, and other sufferings, whether physical or emotional. \u00a0These are not signs that you have lost your faith or that God has abandoned you. Luther, who knew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,37,47],"tags":[5090,3642,2126],"class_list":["post-26691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christ","category-psychology","category-theology","tag-anfechtung","tag-christianity-suffering","tag-suffering"],"yoast_head":"\nSpiritual anguish<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Contrary to the "prosperity gospel" and other theologies of glory, negative experiences can also have a positive spiritual significance. \u00a0Many of us go\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/01\/spiritual-anguish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spiritual anguish\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Contrary to the "prosperity gospel" and other theologies of glory, negative experiences can also have a positive spiritual significance. \u00a0Many of us go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/01\/spiritual-anguish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-06T14:55:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/files\/2017\/01\/grief-927099_640-300x215.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/01\/spiritual-anguish\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/01\/spiritual-anguish\/\",\"name\":\"Spiritual anguish\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-06T14:55:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-06T14:55:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Contrary to the \\\"prosperity gospel\\\" and other theologies of glory, negative experiences can also have a positive spiritual significance. \u00a0Many of us go\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/01\/spiritual-anguish\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/01\/spiritual-anguish\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/01\/spiritual-anguish\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Spiritual anguish\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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