10. Decision #10: GENEROSITY: “Today’s generosity gives me significance”
Plan for and model generosity daily.
Why be generous:
1. Giving turns your focus outwards.
2. Giving adds value to others. Greatness: Not how many people who serve you but how many people you serve.
3. Giving helps the giver. It gives you meaning, purpose and joy.
“I will live to give.” Greatness is defined by what you give, not what you receive.
1. Give others your money. How you handle money colors every area of your life. Your heart and attention is where your money is.
2. Give people your self. Undivided attention is more valuable than money. Mentoring is more valuable than money.
Remind yourself every day to add value to others.
1. Value people: treat everyone with respect.
2. Know what people value: listen and seek to understand others.
3. Make myself more valuable: grow in order to be able to give. (You can’t give what you don’t have.)
4. Do things that God values: love others unconditionally.
What you do for others and the world last for eternity.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Today Matters, Decision #9: RELATIONSHIPS
9. Decision #9: RELATIONSHIPS: “Today’s relationships give me fulfillment”
Initiate and invest in solid relationships daily.
The most important experiences in life are connected to other people. Invest in solid relationships and you will enjoy life more. Those who love life and others have a lot of fun. If you like people, then you will always have a friend no matter where you go.
You will get farther in life if people like you. Someone else must like you if you are to succeed in life. People are an organization’s most important asset.
Jim Collins, From Good to Great, “Get the right people on the bus.”
Dale Carnegie: In order to have friends, be friendly.
“I will initiate and make an investment in relationships with others.”
Change your mindset:
1. Place a high value on people. “You can’t make someone feel important in your presence if you secretly feel he is a nobody.” Les Giblin.
2. Expect the best from everyone. Assume people’s motives are good unless they prove otherwise. Value people by their best moments. Give them your friendship rather than asking for theirs.
3. Learn to understand people.
1) People are insecure; give them confidence.
2) People want to feel special; sincerely compliment them.
3) People desire a better tomorrow; show them hope.
4) People are selfish; speak to their needs first.
5) People get emotionally low; encourage them.
6) People want to be associated with success; help them win.
How to keep on track: Every day I make the conscious effort to deposit good will into my relationships with others.
1. Put others first. Practice the Golden Rule.
2. Don’t carry emotional baggage. Get rid of old wrongs and hurts.
3. Give time to your most valuable relationships. Don’t let unimportant relationships drain all of your time and energy. Set priorities.
“If you have one true friend in life you are very fortunate indeed.”
Initiate and invest in solid relationships daily.
The most important experiences in life are connected to other people. Invest in solid relationships and you will enjoy life more. Those who love life and others have a lot of fun. If you like people, then you will always have a friend no matter where you go.
You will get farther in life if people like you. Someone else must like you if you are to succeed in life. People are an organization’s most important asset.
Jim Collins, From Good to Great, “Get the right people on the bus.”
Dale Carnegie: In order to have friends, be friendly.
“I will initiate and make an investment in relationships with others.”
Change your mindset:
1. Place a high value on people. “You can’t make someone feel important in your presence if you secretly feel he is a nobody.” Les Giblin.
2. Expect the best from everyone. Assume people’s motives are good unless they prove otherwise. Value people by their best moments. Give them your friendship rather than asking for theirs.
3. Learn to understand people.
1) People are insecure; give them confidence.
2) People want to feel special; sincerely compliment them.
3) People desire a better tomorrow; show them hope.
4) People are selfish; speak to their needs first.
5) People get emotionally low; encourage them.
6) People want to be associated with success; help them win.
How to keep on track: Every day I make the conscious effort to deposit good will into my relationships with others.
1. Put others first. Practice the Golden Rule.
2. Don’t carry emotional baggage. Get rid of old wrongs and hurts.
3. Give time to your most valuable relationships. Don’t let unimportant relationships drain all of your time and energy. Set priorities.
“If you have one true friend in life you are very fortunate indeed.”
Today Matters, Decision #8: FAITH
8. Decision #8: FAITH: “Today’s faith gives me peace”
Deepen and live out my faith daily.
Benefits of faith:
1. Gives me a divine perspective today. Philip Yancey : “Faith is trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.”
2. Gives me health today. Faith adds meaning, perspective, positive social networks that benefit my physical and emotional health.
3. Gives me strength today. Faith helps overcome adversity. “Faith draws the poison from every grief, takes the sting from every loss, quenches the fire of every loss. Faith gives a person power.”
Important things to consider:
1. We already have faith. The important thing to consider is where we place it. “You go to a doctor whose name you cannot pronounce who gives you a prescription you cannot read that you take to a pharmacist you have never seen, and yet you take it.”
2. Your goal should be to align your beliefs with the truth. Seek the truth and you will find it.
3. A faith that has not been tested cannot be trusted. Viktor Frankl: “A weak faith is weakened by predicaments and catastrophes, whereas a strong faith is strengthened by them.”
How to live out the disciplines of faith: “Every day I will seek to live and lead like Jesus.”
1. Embrace the value of faith.
2. Put God in the picture. Let God into your life. “Unbelief puts our circumstances between us and God, while faith puts God between us and our circumstances.”
3. Explore and deepen your faith. D.L. Moody: Faith did not seem to come when I kept praying for it. When I began to study the Bible, my faith has grown and increased.
Story of Rick Husband, Shuttle pilot who died in when the Columbia burned up on reentry. Wife was able to face the grief because of her faith and the support of the faith fo the other widows. Proverbs 3:5-6.
Deepen and live out my faith daily.
Benefits of faith:
1. Gives me a divine perspective today. Philip Yancey : “Faith is trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.”
2. Gives me health today. Faith adds meaning, perspective, positive social networks that benefit my physical and emotional health.
3. Gives me strength today. Faith helps overcome adversity. “Faith draws the poison from every grief, takes the sting from every loss, quenches the fire of every loss. Faith gives a person power.”
Important things to consider:
1. We already have faith. The important thing to consider is where we place it. “You go to a doctor whose name you cannot pronounce who gives you a prescription you cannot read that you take to a pharmacist you have never seen, and yet you take it.”
2. Your goal should be to align your beliefs with the truth. Seek the truth and you will find it.
3. A faith that has not been tested cannot be trusted. Viktor Frankl: “A weak faith is weakened by predicaments and catastrophes, whereas a strong faith is strengthened by them.”
How to live out the disciplines of faith: “Every day I will seek to live and lead like Jesus.”
1. Embrace the value of faith.
2. Put God in the picture. Let God into your life. “Unbelief puts our circumstances between us and God, while faith puts God between us and our circumstances.”
3. Explore and deepen your faith. D.L. Moody: Faith did not seem to come when I kept praying for it. When I began to study the Bible, my faith has grown and increased.
Story of Rick Husband, Shuttle pilot who died in when the Columbia burned up on reentry. Wife was able to face the grief because of her faith and the support of the faith fo the other widows. Proverbs 3:5-6.
Today Matters, Decision #7: FINANCES
7. Decision #7: FINANCES: “Today’s finances give me options”
Make and properly manage money daily.
O. Donald Olson: “The average American today is spending money he doesn’t have to buy things he doesn’t need to impress people he doesn’t like.”
Finances touch every area of our lives and causes a lot of problems if not handled properly on a daily basis.
Three simple truths:
1. Money won’t make you happy. Henry Ford: “Money doesn’t change men, it merely unmasks them. If a man is naturally selfish or arrogant, money brings it out, that’s all. You are what you are no matter how much or little you have.”
2. Debt will make you unhappy.
3. Having a financial margin gives you options. Money is only a tool for achieving your goals. Getting money for its own sake is ultimately hollow.
“We will sacrifice today so we can have options today.”
10% to God, 10% to savings, 80% to living expenses.
Practice the following:
1. Put the value of things into perspective. Ask:
1) Am I occupied with things?
2) Am I envious of others?
3) Do I find my personal value in possessions?
4) Do I think that money will make me happy?
5) Do I continually want more?
Materialism is a mindset; its not about possessions but obsessions.
2. Recognize your season in life.
Ideal: Learning to Earning to Returning.
3. Reduce your debt. Dept is one of the leading causes of divorce, lack of sleep and poor work performance. Leads to depression. Robs you of your self-worth and from fulfilling your goals. Get out of debt:
1) Stop incurring debt.
2) Track your cash (spending)
3) Plan for the future.
4) Don’t expect instant miracles.
5) Seek professional help.
Don’t let your possessions possess you.
Steps to building a right daily attitude:
1. Become a good earner. You need something to manage. Maximize your earning potential.
2. Be grateful every day. Rudyard Kipling: “Don’t pay too much attention to fame, power or money. Some day you will meet someone who cares nothing for these things and you will realize how poor you really are.”
3. Don’t compare yourself to others.
Make and properly manage money daily.
O. Donald Olson: “The average American today is spending money he doesn’t have to buy things he doesn’t need to impress people he doesn’t like.”
Finances touch every area of our lives and causes a lot of problems if not handled properly on a daily basis.
Three simple truths:
1. Money won’t make you happy. Henry Ford: “Money doesn’t change men, it merely unmasks them. If a man is naturally selfish or arrogant, money brings it out, that’s all. You are what you are no matter how much or little you have.”
2. Debt will make you unhappy.
3. Having a financial margin gives you options. Money is only a tool for achieving your goals. Getting money for its own sake is ultimately hollow.
“We will sacrifice today so we can have options today.”
10% to God, 10% to savings, 80% to living expenses.
Practice the following:
1. Put the value of things into perspective. Ask:
1) Am I occupied with things?
2) Am I envious of others?
3) Do I find my personal value in possessions?
4) Do I think that money will make me happy?
5) Do I continually want more?
Materialism is a mindset; its not about possessions but obsessions.
2. Recognize your season in life.
Ideal: Learning to Earning to Returning.
3. Reduce your debt. Dept is one of the leading causes of divorce, lack of sleep and poor work performance. Leads to depression. Robs you of your self-worth and from fulfilling your goals. Get out of debt:
1) Stop incurring debt.
2) Track your cash (spending)
3) Plan for the future.
4) Don’t expect instant miracles.
5) Seek professional help.
Don’t let your possessions possess you.
Steps to building a right daily attitude:
1. Become a good earner. You need something to manage. Maximize your earning potential.
2. Be grateful every day. Rudyard Kipling: “Don’t pay too much attention to fame, power or money. Some day you will meet someone who cares nothing for these things and you will realize how poor you really are.”
3. Don’t compare yourself to others.
Today Matters, Decision #6: COMMITMENT
6. Decision #6: COMMITMENT: “Today’s commitment gives me tenacity”
Make and keep proper commitments daily.
What is your purpose? Your destiny? Will you fulfill it? It takes tenacity and that takes commitment.
Your commitment will be tested every day. It is not an event but a daily process.
Failure is the greatest challenge to commitment. You have to be able to pick yourself up and make it through the failures.
You have to be able to stand alone. People will distract you, challenge you, get you to compromise your values.
You have to be able to face deep disappointment. How you react to disappointment is important. Harry Callas introduced Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Gary Maddux by saying, “Gary has turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable. Now his is miserable and depressed.”
“If something is worth doing I will commit myself to carrying it through.”
Embrace commitment wholeheartedly:
1. Count the cost. [Churchill: “…this was their finest hour.”]
Naïve commitments are difficult to stand by, so know exactly what you’re getting into before making a commitment.
2. Pay the price.
3. Always strive for excellence. Be a great craftsman. Do your best in everything in every way.
4. Live out this discipline; renew your commitment each day by reminding yourself of all the benefits you will receive from keeping the commitment. Make a card to carry around with you.
Practical steps
1. Expect commitment to be a struggle. Look at famous men and women who sacrificed to keep their commitments.
2. Focus on choices not conditions. Focus on the internal not the external. Conditions are transitory and focusing on them will produce a wavering commitment while internal values are constant and will produce tenacity and steadiness.
Crossroad: a decision must be made, it will cost you something, it will affect others.
3. Do what is right even when you don’t feel like it. All great athletes understand this truth. “I have prepared, I will follow the rules, I will not quit.” Commitment touches every area of life.
Make and keep proper commitments daily.
What is your purpose? Your destiny? Will you fulfill it? It takes tenacity and that takes commitment.
Your commitment will be tested every day. It is not an event but a daily process.
Failure is the greatest challenge to commitment. You have to be able to pick yourself up and make it through the failures.
You have to be able to stand alone. People will distract you, challenge you, get you to compromise your values.
You have to be able to face deep disappointment. How you react to disappointment is important. Harry Callas introduced Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Gary Maddux by saying, “Gary has turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable. Now his is miserable and depressed.”
“If something is worth doing I will commit myself to carrying it through.”
Embrace commitment wholeheartedly:
1. Count the cost. [Churchill: “…this was their finest hour.”]
Naïve commitments are difficult to stand by, so know exactly what you’re getting into before making a commitment.
2. Pay the price.
3. Always strive for excellence. Be a great craftsman. Do your best in everything in every way.
4. Live out this discipline; renew your commitment each day by reminding yourself of all the benefits you will receive from keeping the commitment. Make a card to carry around with you.
Practical steps
1. Expect commitment to be a struggle. Look at famous men and women who sacrificed to keep their commitments.
2. Focus on choices not conditions. Focus on the internal not the external. Conditions are transitory and focusing on them will produce a wavering commitment while internal values are constant and will produce tenacity and steadiness.
Crossroad: a decision must be made, it will cost you something, it will affect others.
3. Do what is right even when you don’t feel like it. All great athletes understand this truth. “I have prepared, I will follow the rules, I will not quit.” Commitment touches every area of life.
Today Matters, Decision #5 THINKING
5. Decision #5 THINKING: “Today’s thinking gives me an advantage”
Practice and develop good thinking daily.
Thought is the source of all achievement. Make thinking a daily activity:
1. Good thinking increases your value. The person with the ideas has the greatest value in any organization. Ideas in business are more important than capital and experience. Ideas are the ideas for everything we build or do. If you are a good thinker you are extremely valuable.
2. Poor thinkers are a slave to their surroundings and circumstances and are often unable to solve their problems. They find themselves facing the same problems over and over again. Because they don’t think ahead they are always in reaction mode. “Better an empty purse than an empty head.”
“I will think about things that will add value to myself and others.”
How to add thinking to your daily life:
1. Recognize that there are many kinds of thinking. 11 different thinking skills:
1) Big picture thinking. A holistic perspective.
2) Focus thinking. Remove distractions and clutter from your mind so you can focus.
3) Creative thinking. Break out of your box and experience a breakthrough.
4) Realistic thinking. Build a solid foundation on facts to think with certainty.
5) Strategic thinking. Implement plans to give direction for today and potential tomorrow.
6) Possibility thinking. Unleash your enthusiasm to find solutions to seemingly impossible situations.
7) Reflective thinking. Revisit the past to gain perspective and think with understanding.
8) Questioning popular thinking. Reject the limitations of common thinking to accomplish uncommon results.
9) Shared thinking. Using the thinking of others to think beyond your own ability for compounding results.
10) Unselfish thinking. Think about others and their journey in order to think with collaboration.
11) Bottom line thinking. Focus on results and maximum return to reap the full potential of your thinking.
Don’t try to master all of the types of thinking. Focus on improving your strengths and not your weaknesses. Gather people around you who are strong in your weak areas and strive to become first class in your areas of strength; then you will be valuable and have a unique contribution.
Take responsibility for your own thinking because others will have their own agenda.
How to develop your ability to think:
1. Find a place to think.
2. Set aside “think time” every day.
3. Capture your thoughts by writing them down.
Try to improve your thinking every day.
1. Focus on the positive.
2. Gather good input; collect good ideas.
3. Spend time with good thinkers.
Practice and develop good thinking daily.
Thought is the source of all achievement. Make thinking a daily activity:
1. Good thinking increases your value. The person with the ideas has the greatest value in any organization. Ideas in business are more important than capital and experience. Ideas are the ideas for everything we build or do. If you are a good thinker you are extremely valuable.
2. Poor thinkers are a slave to their surroundings and circumstances and are often unable to solve their problems. They find themselves facing the same problems over and over again. Because they don’t think ahead they are always in reaction mode. “Better an empty purse than an empty head.”
“I will think about things that will add value to myself and others.”
How to add thinking to your daily life:
1. Recognize that there are many kinds of thinking. 11 different thinking skills:
1) Big picture thinking. A holistic perspective.
2) Focus thinking. Remove distractions and clutter from your mind so you can focus.
3) Creative thinking. Break out of your box and experience a breakthrough.
4) Realistic thinking. Build a solid foundation on facts to think with certainty.
5) Strategic thinking. Implement plans to give direction for today and potential tomorrow.
6) Possibility thinking. Unleash your enthusiasm to find solutions to seemingly impossible situations.
7) Reflective thinking. Revisit the past to gain perspective and think with understanding.
8) Questioning popular thinking. Reject the limitations of common thinking to accomplish uncommon results.
9) Shared thinking. Using the thinking of others to think beyond your own ability for compounding results.
10) Unselfish thinking. Think about others and their journey in order to think with collaboration.
11) Bottom line thinking. Focus on results and maximum return to reap the full potential of your thinking.
Don’t try to master all of the types of thinking. Focus on improving your strengths and not your weaknesses. Gather people around you who are strong in your weak areas and strive to become first class in your areas of strength; then you will be valuable and have a unique contribution.
Take responsibility for your own thinking because others will have their own agenda.
How to develop your ability to think:
1. Find a place to think.
2. Set aside “think time” every day.
3. Capture your thoughts by writing them down.
Try to improve your thinking every day.
1. Focus on the positive.
2. Gather good input; collect good ideas.
3. Spend time with good thinkers.
Today Matters, Decision #4 FAMILY
4. Decision #4 FAMILY: “Today’s family gives me stability”
Communicate with and care for my family daily.
Some families tear you down instead of building you up. You can’t change your ancestors but you can influence your descendants. Spend time with those who build you up and avoid those who knock you down as much as possible.
1. Your family can be a safe haven in a stormy world.
Theodore Roosevelt said he would rather spend time with his family than any world figure.
2. It also provides a photo album of memories to draw upon the rest of your life.
3. It can be a crucible of character. It molds your character and your children’s character. Help create personal discipline.
4. It is a treasure chest of your most important relationships. Your family relationships are the most important ones in your life. The people closest to you form you and are formed by you. Therefore, value them. If you want to make an impact on the world, start at home. Treat them like treasures.
Mother Teresa: What can we do to promote world peace? “Go home and love your family.”
Nick Stinnent: When you have a strong family life you receive the message that you are loved, cared for and important. The positive intake of love gives you inner resources to deal with life more successfully. Family gives you stability.”
We usually think that divorce won’t happen to us. But if we neglect our marriage it will fall apart. We must constantly work at it.
Rewrite your definition of success: Having those closest to me love and respect me the most.
Get started in building your family:
1. Determine your priorities. Make family a top priority.
2. Decide on your philosophy. Cultivate and maintain your commitment to God. Focus on developing personal potential and growth. Common experiences. Contributions to life, add value to family and others.
Keep it simple, non-negotionas. Communication and problem-solving philosophy.
Disciplines:
1. Put your family on your calendar first.
2. Create boundaries to protect your family time.
3. Create and maintain family traditions.
It is vital to keep your marriage healthy. It sets the tone for the household and provides the primary role model for the children. “The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”
Commitment is what carries you through. If you depend on feelings you won’t make it.
Communicate with and care for my family daily.
Some families tear you down instead of building you up. You can’t change your ancestors but you can influence your descendants. Spend time with those who build you up and avoid those who knock you down as much as possible.
1. Your family can be a safe haven in a stormy world.
Theodore Roosevelt said he would rather spend time with his family than any world figure.
2. It also provides a photo album of memories to draw upon the rest of your life.
3. It can be a crucible of character. It molds your character and your children’s character. Help create personal discipline.
4. It is a treasure chest of your most important relationships. Your family relationships are the most important ones in your life. The people closest to you form you and are formed by you. Therefore, value them. If you want to make an impact on the world, start at home. Treat them like treasures.
Mother Teresa: What can we do to promote world peace? “Go home and love your family.”
Nick Stinnent: When you have a strong family life you receive the message that you are loved, cared for and important. The positive intake of love gives you inner resources to deal with life more successfully. Family gives you stability.”
We usually think that divorce won’t happen to us. But if we neglect our marriage it will fall apart. We must constantly work at it.
Rewrite your definition of success: Having those closest to me love and respect me the most.
Get started in building your family:
1. Determine your priorities. Make family a top priority.
2. Decide on your philosophy. Cultivate and maintain your commitment to God. Focus on developing personal potential and growth. Common experiences. Contributions to life, add value to family and others.
Keep it simple, non-negotionas. Communication and problem-solving philosophy.
Disciplines:
1. Put your family on your calendar first.
2. Create boundaries to protect your family time.
3. Create and maintain family traditions.
It is vital to keep your marriage healthy. It sets the tone for the household and provides the primary role model for the children. “The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”
Commitment is what carries you through. If you depend on feelings you won’t make it.
Today Matters, Decision #3 HEALTH
3. Decision #3 HEALTH: “Today’s health gives us strength”
Know and follow healthy guidelines daily.
Don’t take your health for granted. Many people mistreat their bodies and don’t find out that they are in trouble until it is too late.
Your health impacts you emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.
You can’t get away from your body, so if you make unhealthy choices it will affect you the rest of your life.
It is easier to maintain good health to regain it.
Young people are willing to trade their health for wealth, but the elderly would gladly exchange their wealth for health.
If you think you have good health it is easy to become arrogant about it and think that because you feel good that you are healthy.
I will take good care of myself by exercising and eating right.
Helpful guidelines and practical steps:
1. Have a purpose worth living for. A sense of purpose helps you make a decision to change and follow through. Make your craving for life greater than your craving for unhealthy foods.
2. Do work you enjoy. Stress is often caused by jobs you don’t enjoy.
“The problem with the rat race is that even if you win you’re still a rat.” Lily Tomlin
If you do work that adds no value to yourself or others, you quickly become demoralized. To remain healthy, your work must be in line with your values.
Others are stressed because they do jobs that keep them in an area of weakness. You can’t do that for long and succeed. When you work in an area of your strengths you are actually energized. Pay attention to how you respond to your failures: Mistakes that challenge you show your areas of strength; mistakes that threaten you show your areas of weakness.
3. Find your pace. Find the pace that is right for you. Go slower than your energy level you will become lazy; go faster than your energy level you will burnout. You need ot find your balance.
4. Accept your personal worth. Your self concept affects every area of your life. If your negative self-image is affecting your health, get help.
5. Laugh. Everyone dies, so learn to enjoy life. Don’t take life too seriously. Laugh at yourself loudly and often.
New discipline: Every day eat low-fat food and exercise at least 30 minutes. Stick with it for the rest of your life. Keep your commitment at 100% and don’t let your program slip,
Know and follow healthy guidelines daily.
Don’t take your health for granted. Many people mistreat their bodies and don’t find out that they are in trouble until it is too late.
Your health impacts you emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.
You can’t get away from your body, so if you make unhealthy choices it will affect you the rest of your life.
It is easier to maintain good health to regain it.
Young people are willing to trade their health for wealth, but the elderly would gladly exchange their wealth for health.
If you think you have good health it is easy to become arrogant about it and think that because you feel good that you are healthy.
I will take good care of myself by exercising and eating right.
Helpful guidelines and practical steps:
1. Have a purpose worth living for. A sense of purpose helps you make a decision to change and follow through. Make your craving for life greater than your craving for unhealthy foods.
2. Do work you enjoy. Stress is often caused by jobs you don’t enjoy.
“The problem with the rat race is that even if you win you’re still a rat.” Lily Tomlin
If you do work that adds no value to yourself or others, you quickly become demoralized. To remain healthy, your work must be in line with your values.
Others are stressed because they do jobs that keep them in an area of weakness. You can’t do that for long and succeed. When you work in an area of your strengths you are actually energized. Pay attention to how you respond to your failures: Mistakes that challenge you show your areas of strength; mistakes that threaten you show your areas of weakness.
3. Find your pace. Find the pace that is right for you. Go slower than your energy level you will become lazy; go faster than your energy level you will burnout. You need ot find your balance.
4. Accept your personal worth. Your self concept affects every area of your life. If your negative self-image is affecting your health, get help.
5. Laugh. Everyone dies, so learn to enjoy life. Don’t take life too seriously. Laugh at yourself loudly and often.
New discipline: Every day eat low-fat food and exercise at least 30 minutes. Stick with it for the rest of your life. Keep your commitment at 100% and don’t let your program slip,
Today Matters, Decision #2 PRIORITIES
2. Decision #2 PRIORITIES: “Today’s priorities give me focus”
Determine and act on important priorities daily.
Michael LeBoeuf: “Devoting a little of yourself to everything means giving yourself to nothing.”
Focus is a key to success.
Time is your most precious commodity. How you spend your time is much more important than how you spend your money. Your priorities determine how you should spend your time.
The Value of Time: to know the value of _____ ask _____:
1 year: ask student who failed final exam
1 month: mother of premature baby
1 week: editor of a weekly news magazine
1 day: wage earner with six children
1 hour: lovers waiting to meet
1 minute: person who missed the plane
1 second” person who survived the accident
1 millisecond: Olympic silver medalist
We can’t change time, only our priorities.
Myers Barns: “Time management has nothing to do with the clock. But everything to do with organizing and controlling participation in certain events that coordinate with the clock.”
Einstein: Time management is an oxymoron; you cannot manage time
You can’t change time, you must change your approach to it.
You can’t do everything. You must choose. You must know what NOT to do.
Eliminate non-essentials. You can anything you want but you can’t have everything you want.
Pretend you only have six months to live. What would you do? That is what’s important.
Focus to be successful. Run on your own track. Determine YOUR priorities DAILY.
Focus on your strength areas and gift areas. Improve your strengths not weaknesses.
Vilfredo Pareto, the Pareto Principle: “By focusing on the top 20% of all your priorities you will get an 80% return on your effort.”
I will prioritize my life and focus on those priorities that will give me the highest return.
How to change your priorities:
Take back today. Carl Sandburg: “Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You, and you alone, will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you.”
Your greatest possession is the 24 hours that you have ahead of you. How will you spend it? Don’t give in to pressures; focus on priorities. Don’t allow unimportant distractions to determine how you spend your time.
Ask three critical questions:
1) What is required of me? Realistic assessment of what you MUST do to satisfy spouse, employer, family, etc.
2) What gives me the greatest return? Focus on high return activities.
3) What gives me the greatest reward? Need personal satisfaction as well as achievement. Need third, but must take care of first two first.
Suggestions for finding your strengths:
1) Trial and error. If it’s all trial and all error, then move on, but take some chances.
2) Consider the counsel of others who don’t have a personal agenda.
3) Take personality tests.
4) Examine your personal experience. Evaluated experience is the best teacher.
Every day I will live my life according to my priorities:
1) Evaluate priorities daily. Priorities change because conditions and methods change.
2) Plan your time carefully.
3) Follow your plan. Put important tasks first.
4) Delegate whenever possible. If someone can do it 80% as well as I do, then hand it off.
5) Invest in the right people daily. Don’t spend time with everyone equally. Value to team, timing, natural ability, responsibility, potential, mentoring fit.
Determine and act on important priorities daily.
Michael LeBoeuf: “Devoting a little of yourself to everything means giving yourself to nothing.”
Focus is a key to success.
Time is your most precious commodity. How you spend your time is much more important than how you spend your money. Your priorities determine how you should spend your time.
The Value of Time: to know the value of _____ ask _____:
1 year: ask student who failed final exam
1 month: mother of premature baby
1 week: editor of a weekly news magazine
1 day: wage earner with six children
1 hour: lovers waiting to meet
1 minute: person who missed the plane
1 second” person who survived the accident
1 millisecond: Olympic silver medalist
We can’t change time, only our priorities.
Myers Barns: “Time management has nothing to do with the clock. But everything to do with organizing and controlling participation in certain events that coordinate with the clock.”
Einstein: Time management is an oxymoron; you cannot manage time
You can’t change time, you must change your approach to it.
You can’t do everything. You must choose. You must know what NOT to do.
Eliminate non-essentials. You can anything you want but you can’t have everything you want.
Pretend you only have six months to live. What would you do? That is what’s important.
Focus to be successful. Run on your own track. Determine YOUR priorities DAILY.
Focus on your strength areas and gift areas. Improve your strengths not weaknesses.
Vilfredo Pareto, the Pareto Principle: “By focusing on the top 20% of all your priorities you will get an 80% return on your effort.”
I will prioritize my life and focus on those priorities that will give me the highest return.
How to change your priorities:
Take back today. Carl Sandburg: “Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You, and you alone, will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you.”
Your greatest possession is the 24 hours that you have ahead of you. How will you spend it? Don’t give in to pressures; focus on priorities. Don’t allow unimportant distractions to determine how you spend your time.
Ask three critical questions:
1) What is required of me? Realistic assessment of what you MUST do to satisfy spouse, employer, family, etc.
2) What gives me the greatest return? Focus on high return activities.
3) What gives me the greatest reward? Need personal satisfaction as well as achievement. Need third, but must take care of first two first.
Suggestions for finding your strengths:
1) Trial and error. If it’s all trial and all error, then move on, but take some chances.
2) Consider the counsel of others who don’t have a personal agenda.
3) Take personality tests.
4) Examine your personal experience. Evaluated experience is the best teacher.
Every day I will live my life according to my priorities:
1) Evaluate priorities daily. Priorities change because conditions and methods change.
2) Plan your time carefully.
3) Follow your plan. Put important tasks first.
4) Delegate whenever possible. If someone can do it 80% as well as I do, then hand it off.
5) Invest in the right people daily. Don’t spend time with everyone equally. Value to team, timing, natural ability, responsibility, potential, mentoring fit.
Today Matters, Decision #1 ATTITUDE
1. Decision #1 ATTITUDE: “Today’s attitude gives me possibilities”
Choose and display the right attitudes daily.
Sigmund Freud was successful but had a bad attitude, yet he did not enjoy life. Used drugs, saw life as barren of joys. He chose his discontent.
Your attitude at the beginning of a task affects the outcome more than anything else,
Confident person increases his chances for success, while the pessimist decreases his chances for success.
When facing a task you don’t enjoy: Focus on facts not your feelings; Focus on possibilities not problems.
Joe Lewis knocked by Gelento. “You’re suppose to stay down for a full count. What, and give him a chance to rest.”
Secret weapon. It’s contagious.
Two types of people: Polluters and Purifiers. Some make the atmosphere worse while others make it better, no matter how bad it was.
How do people respond to you? Do they leave happy or sad?
“I’m going to keep a positive attitude and influence others
How to develop a great attitude:
1) Take responsibility for your attitude.
Does John make you happy? No. I thought it was his job to make me happy. But nobody can make someone else happy. That’s my job.
2) Decide to change your bad attitude areas.
Lucy: Boy, do I feel crabby. Linus: Watch TV while I make you a sandwich. Anything else I can do to make you feel better? Lucy: I don’t want to feel better.
Many things can’t be changed, but you can change your attitude
3) Think, act, talk, conduct yourself like the person you want to become
See yourself as you can be and act like that person.
Start with your mind. Believe you can become what you want to be.
4) Develop a high appreciation for life
Old lady going into nursing home. Attendant describes her room. I love it. But you haven’t seen it yet. I don’t have to. That has nothing to do with it. Happiness is something you decide upon ahead of time.
John Wooden: “Things turn out the best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.”
How to Manage this decision: Make adjustments every day to keep my attitude right.
1) Realize that your attitude will need to be adjusted every day.
Your attitude will not naturally be positive but will continually go bad.
It will not take care of itself; it needs to be taken care of daily
Start each day with an attitude check
2) Find something positive in everything
“Dear Lord, so far today I have been doing all right. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty selfish or self-indulgent. I haven’t whined, cursed or eaten any chocolate. But I am going to get out of bed in a few minutes, and I will need a lot more help after that. Amen.”
3) Find someone positive in every situation.
Seek out positive people and get around them. Two positive people can handle negative situations much easier than one.
4) Remove negative words from your vocabulary
Pay someone for each time they catch you using negative words
Get rid of these words: Can’t, if only, I don’t think, don’t have time, maybe
Replace them with these words: Can, will, I know, I’ll make time, absolutely
Choose and display the right attitudes daily.
Sigmund Freud was successful but had a bad attitude, yet he did not enjoy life. Used drugs, saw life as barren of joys. He chose his discontent.
Your attitude at the beginning of a task affects the outcome more than anything else,
Confident person increases his chances for success, while the pessimist decreases his chances for success.
When facing a task you don’t enjoy: Focus on facts not your feelings; Focus on possibilities not problems.
Joe Lewis knocked by Gelento. “You’re suppose to stay down for a full count. What, and give him a chance to rest.”
Secret weapon. It’s contagious.
Two types of people: Polluters and Purifiers. Some make the atmosphere worse while others make it better, no matter how bad it was.
How do people respond to you? Do they leave happy or sad?
“I’m going to keep a positive attitude and influence others
How to develop a great attitude:
1) Take responsibility for your attitude.
Does John make you happy? No. I thought it was his job to make me happy. But nobody can make someone else happy. That’s my job.
2) Decide to change your bad attitude areas.
Lucy: Boy, do I feel crabby. Linus: Watch TV while I make you a sandwich. Anything else I can do to make you feel better? Lucy: I don’t want to feel better.
Many things can’t be changed, but you can change your attitude
3) Think, act, talk, conduct yourself like the person you want to become
See yourself as you can be and act like that person.
Start with your mind. Believe you can become what you want to be.
4) Develop a high appreciation for life
Old lady going into nursing home. Attendant describes her room. I love it. But you haven’t seen it yet. I don’t have to. That has nothing to do with it. Happiness is something you decide upon ahead of time.
John Wooden: “Things turn out the best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.”
How to Manage this decision: Make adjustments every day to keep my attitude right.
1) Realize that your attitude will need to be adjusted every day.
Your attitude will not naturally be positive but will continually go bad.
It will not take care of itself; it needs to be taken care of daily
Start each day with an attitude check
2) Find something positive in everything
“Dear Lord, so far today I have been doing all right. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty selfish or self-indulgent. I haven’t whined, cursed or eaten any chocolate. But I am going to get out of bed in a few minutes, and I will need a lot more help after that. Amen.”
3) Find someone positive in every situation.
Seek out positive people and get around them. Two positive people can handle negative situations much easier than one.
4) Remove negative words from your vocabulary
Pay someone for each time they catch you using negative words
Get rid of these words: Can’t, if only, I don’t think, don’t have time, maybe
Replace them with these words: Can, will, I know, I’ll make time, absolutely
Today Matters
I highly recommend reading John Maxwell's book, Today Matters. He has put some very important truths into simple language that are foundational for a successful life. The following posts will be my outline of his book.
Misconceptions about Success
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Judith Viorst)
What does a good day look like? How do you create one?
What you do today impacts what happens tomorrow
1) Impossible: Criticize it
Life is difficult. If you think it should be easy, then you will give up easily when you face difficulty. If it’s not easy we think its impossible
2) Mystical: Search for it
A big mystery. Silver bullet, magic formula, quick fix
You can’t win with a quick fix
3) Luck: Hope for it
Explain away success. 50 million to one you will become successful by luck
4) Productivity: Work for it
Hard work is not success. Need more.
5) Opportunity: Wait for it
Need a break. If only…. Won’t be ready if it does appear.
When opportunity comes it’s too late to prepare
If you aren’t ready even an opportunity wouldn’t change your life much
6) Connections: Network for it
Meet right person. But won’t guarantee success
7) Recognition: Strive for it
Often ends in disillusionment
8) Event: Schedule it
Events are helpful but have limited impact.
Inspiration, motivation, tools and knowledge, but success is a process
Three year strategy, many tools and resources
Success comes when you make decisions and follow through on them
Key: Success is determined by your daily agenda.
You will never change your life until you change something that you do daily.
Every day is preparation for the next. What you become is the result of what you do today.
John Wooden: Make each day your masterpiece. Improve on something each day.
Become a little better each and every day, and over time you will become a lot better.
How? Decisions and Discipline. Two sides of the same coin. One is worthless without the other.
Decision without Discipline: A Plan without a Payoff
Discipline without Decision: Regimentation without reward
Decision with Discipline: Masterpiece of potential
12 Critical Decisions
Do what unsuccessful people don’t like to do.
Two kinds of pain: self-discipline and regret.
Avoiding the pain of self-discipline is easy. But the pain of self-discipline is temporary while the pain of regret is life-long.
Exercise: 30 minutes makes you feel good for 3 hours, and it also helps you in the long run.
Getting started:
1) Be the change you want to see in the world (Gandhi). Become a model of change. You have to become something if you are to have something to share.
2) Start small. Small successes give you confidence. Prioritize. Don’t have to know all the steps to get started.
3) Get started early. Be proactive. Start early and you will have more options later on. Compounding effect on your life.
Misconceptions about Success
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Judith Viorst)
What does a good day look like? How do you create one?
What you do today impacts what happens tomorrow
1) Impossible: Criticize it
Life is difficult. If you think it should be easy, then you will give up easily when you face difficulty. If it’s not easy we think its impossible
2) Mystical: Search for it
A big mystery. Silver bullet, magic formula, quick fix
You can’t win with a quick fix
3) Luck: Hope for it
Explain away success. 50 million to one you will become successful by luck
4) Productivity: Work for it
Hard work is not success. Need more.
5) Opportunity: Wait for it
Need a break. If only…. Won’t be ready if it does appear.
When opportunity comes it’s too late to prepare
If you aren’t ready even an opportunity wouldn’t change your life much
6) Connections: Network for it
Meet right person. But won’t guarantee success
7) Recognition: Strive for it
Often ends in disillusionment
8) Event: Schedule it
Events are helpful but have limited impact.
Inspiration, motivation, tools and knowledge, but success is a process
Three year strategy, many tools and resources
Success comes when you make decisions and follow through on them
Key: Success is determined by your daily agenda.
You will never change your life until you change something that you do daily.
Every day is preparation for the next. What you become is the result of what you do today.
John Wooden: Make each day your masterpiece. Improve on something each day.
Become a little better each and every day, and over time you will become a lot better.
How? Decisions and Discipline. Two sides of the same coin. One is worthless without the other.
Decision without Discipline: A Plan without a Payoff
Discipline without Decision: Regimentation without reward
Decision with Discipline: Masterpiece of potential
12 Critical Decisions
Do what unsuccessful people don’t like to do.
Two kinds of pain: self-discipline and regret.
Avoiding the pain of self-discipline is easy. But the pain of self-discipline is temporary while the pain of regret is life-long.
Exercise: 30 minutes makes you feel good for 3 hours, and it also helps you in the long run.
Getting started:
1) Be the change you want to see in the world (Gandhi). Become a model of change. You have to become something if you are to have something to share.
2) Start small. Small successes give you confidence. Prioritize. Don’t have to know all the steps to get started.
3) Get started early. Be proactive. Start early and you will have more options later on. Compounding effect on your life.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Love’s Kingdom
While listening to Hatred’s Kingdom by Dore Gold, I was struck by the similarities between Saudi Wahhabi Muslims and the Pharisees of the New Testament. Extremist Muslims desire purity and righteousness and pursue it with a passion unequalled in the world today. This zeal is very similar to the zeal the Apostle Paul had:
“If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” (Philippians 3:4-6).
Paul was the most righteous and zealous Jew of his day. No one could claim to be any more righteous than he, and his zeal for God was unmatched by any of his contemporaries. He was so zealous that he killed Christians, hunting them down in order to kill them. Yet Paul had a stunning revelation that caused him to realize that what he thought was the ultimate gain was actually the ultimate loss in God’s eyes. He was blinded by his own zeal and self-righteousness. He couldn’t see the truth until God dramatically broke through to him.
The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were very religious; praying, fasting, giving alms, and maintaining their purity. However, they had no love. They hated Jesus and sought to kill him, finally succeeding by having him crucified. They were intolerant of “sinners” and saw themselves as better than them. They loved to be seen praying and fasting, taking every opportunity to display their righteousness and piety yet they refused to lift a finger to help the poor and needy. They looked down on women and despised Gentiles, refusing to let them into their houses or to enter a Gentile’s house. Jesus had his harshest words for them:
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)
“If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” (Matthew 12:7)
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” (Matthew 23:23)
Like the Pharisees, the radical Islamists have neglected mercy and love in their pursuit of righteousness and piety. Yet righteousness without love is a sham. John clearly teaches in his first epistle that to claim to know God but not love your brother is a lie:
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. (1 John 2:9-11)
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10)
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. (1 John 3:14-15)
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)
If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20)
Now, a Muslim may say that he loves his brother. Yet, loving those who are like you, are kind to you, and agree with you is easy. It is when you love those who hate you, persecute you, are different from you and don’t agree with you that you demonstrate your true character. If you do not love these people, then your love for your “brother” is a sham. Jesus said:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Matthew 5:43-47)
Righteousness and love must mark the true believer. One without the other is deficient. They are two sides of the same coin. God is light and God is love. He is holy and righteous and demands holiness and righteousness of his people. However, he is also love and he demands love of his people as well. God’s love and holiness work together. God is both just and the one who justifies:
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
God’s holiness demands that sin be punished but God’s love provided the means for that sin to be cleansed and removed. The Pharisees saw, and extremist Muslims see, God as only holy and righteous, demanding righteousness and punishing sin, leaving no room for forgiveness, mercy and love. This produces a harsh, legalistic, self-righteousness that is intolerant, inflexible, uncaring, unmerciful and rigid.
The danger today is to go to the other extreme and see God as only love. This has resulted in a wimpy, feel-good, morally lax Christianity without any backbone. “If it feels good, do it”, and “Don’t judge me” are some of the mottos these antinomian Christians like to quote.
However, the key is to hold on to both God’s holiness and God’s love and seek to live a life characterized by both. Paul says that the law is summed up in love:
Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)
The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14)
We need to have a loving righteousness, a righteousness motivated and expressed through love. Anything less is not genuine faith. We must be careful that we as Christians don’t become like the extremist Muslims and seek righteousness apart from love. We must also be careful not to seek love apart from righteousness. We need to be lights to this dark world by loving righteously. The best answer we can give in response to the hatred of Wahhabi Islamic extremists is to demonstrate a radical righteous love to all.
“If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” (Philippians 3:4-6).
Paul was the most righteous and zealous Jew of his day. No one could claim to be any more righteous than he, and his zeal for God was unmatched by any of his contemporaries. He was so zealous that he killed Christians, hunting them down in order to kill them. Yet Paul had a stunning revelation that caused him to realize that what he thought was the ultimate gain was actually the ultimate loss in God’s eyes. He was blinded by his own zeal and self-righteousness. He couldn’t see the truth until God dramatically broke through to him.
The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were very religious; praying, fasting, giving alms, and maintaining their purity. However, they had no love. They hated Jesus and sought to kill him, finally succeeding by having him crucified. They were intolerant of “sinners” and saw themselves as better than them. They loved to be seen praying and fasting, taking every opportunity to display their righteousness and piety yet they refused to lift a finger to help the poor and needy. They looked down on women and despised Gentiles, refusing to let them into their houses or to enter a Gentile’s house. Jesus had his harshest words for them:
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)
“If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” (Matthew 12:7)
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” (Matthew 23:23)
Like the Pharisees, the radical Islamists have neglected mercy and love in their pursuit of righteousness and piety. Yet righteousness without love is a sham. John clearly teaches in his first epistle that to claim to know God but not love your brother is a lie:
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. (1 John 2:9-11)
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10)
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. (1 John 3:14-15)
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)
If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20)
Now, a Muslim may say that he loves his brother. Yet, loving those who are like you, are kind to you, and agree with you is easy. It is when you love those who hate you, persecute you, are different from you and don’t agree with you that you demonstrate your true character. If you do not love these people, then your love for your “brother” is a sham. Jesus said:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Matthew 5:43-47)
Righteousness and love must mark the true believer. One without the other is deficient. They are two sides of the same coin. God is light and God is love. He is holy and righteous and demands holiness and righteousness of his people. However, he is also love and he demands love of his people as well. God’s love and holiness work together. God is both just and the one who justifies:
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
God’s holiness demands that sin be punished but God’s love provided the means for that sin to be cleansed and removed. The Pharisees saw, and extremist Muslims see, God as only holy and righteous, demanding righteousness and punishing sin, leaving no room for forgiveness, mercy and love. This produces a harsh, legalistic, self-righteousness that is intolerant, inflexible, uncaring, unmerciful and rigid.
The danger today is to go to the other extreme and see God as only love. This has resulted in a wimpy, feel-good, morally lax Christianity without any backbone. “If it feels good, do it”, and “Don’t judge me” are some of the mottos these antinomian Christians like to quote.
However, the key is to hold on to both God’s holiness and God’s love and seek to live a life characterized by both. Paul says that the law is summed up in love:
Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)
The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14)
We need to have a loving righteousness, a righteousness motivated and expressed through love. Anything less is not genuine faith. We must be careful that we as Christians don’t become like the extremist Muslims and seek righteousness apart from love. We must also be careful not to seek love apart from righteousness. We need to be lights to this dark world by loving righteously. The best answer we can give in response to the hatred of Wahhabi Islamic extremists is to demonstrate a radical righteous love to all.
Hatred’s Kingdom
Written by Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.
Wahhabism has been the major influence on global terrorism. It started in Saudi Arabia in the mid 1700’s and evolved into the leading religious influence in the Kingdom. It struck a deal with the Saud family, and they government and the clerics have had a symbiotic relationship ever since. Wahhabi schools and mosques are funded by the government and their teachings are authorized by ruling family. The government of Saudi Arabia sends and supports Wahhabi teachers throughout the world, including in the US. In the 1980’s Wahhabism became even more radical and began teaching that Christians are polytheists, therefore must be killed. Clerics preach that Muslims must destroy the idols of the West: Capitalism, Freedom, Secularism, Crusaderism. They even changed their doctrine to teach that the women and children of polytheists must be killed. This teaching is the religious foundation for Osama bin Laden and his global terrorism crusade.
Osama bin Laden was raised in Saudi schools filled with anti-American hatred and went to a Saudi university run by Wahhabis. He was personally trained by a leading Wahhabi teacher. Bin Laden spoke in support of Wahhabi teachings and clearly indicated that he was religiously motivated to attack the West, especially America. He was also funded by Saudi Arabi through charities. When he went to Afghanistan h took over the resistance to USSR. After the war, Afghanistan became his base for Al Queda.
Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia was the major supporter of the Islamic resistance in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda were also supported by the Saudi government. The Taliban was radically transformed by Wahhabi doctrine after bin Laden took over. Before the 1980’s the Taliban was a moderate Islamic government but it was transformed into one of the most extreme and repressive governments within a decade by bin Laden.
Saudi Arabia is the most rigid fundamentalist Islamic nation in the world. Wahhabi clerics constantly preach hatred of any US presence, corporate and military, on Saudi soil. They want to cleanse holy nation of all corruption and corrupting influences, and view terrorism as a legitimate means to accomplish this end. These extremists want to spread this cleansing to other secular Islamic nations. They hate secular Islamic states, such as Jordan, because they see this as a corruption of Islam. And through terrorism, they want to spread this cleansing to the whole world
Many Russian states were influenced by Wahhabi teaching. There are 20 million Muslims in Russia. 21 of Russia’s states have a majority Muslim population. One of Russia’s most difficult problems is dealing with extremist Islamic groups within these states and Russia itself. Saudi clerics praised both Hamas bombings and Chechnya bombings by Islamic radicals. The destruction of the Soviet Union was a primary goal of Saudi clerics.
Many Saudi fighters in Afghanistan went to Bosnia to fight the Serbs, taking their Wahhabi teachings with them. These Saudi fighters were brutal, more inhumane than the Bosnian Muslims, beheading Serbs and dismembering them. They also brought their Wahhabi teaching to Pakistan. Saudi Arabia raised $100 million dollars to support Islamic fundamentalist fighters in Bosnia. The Wahhabi Saudi Muslims sought to cleanse Bosnian Muslims and turn them into fanatics like themselves.
Since 1960 Wahhabi Islam has been taught in the US. Half of the mosques in the US were built by Saudi money. Al Qaeda recruited through these US mosques. Terrorism, martyrdom, and hatred for the West, Christians, and Jews is taught in these US mosques. Radical Islam in South East Asia has also been supported by Saudi Arabia in the same way.
Saudi Arabia gave billions of dollars to Iraq to support its war against Iran. Saudi Arabia was more afraid of Iran than Iraq, though both posed a great threat to its security. Later, when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 it was clear that Iraq was going to invade Saudi Arabia next. Yet, in the 1980’s revolutionary Iran was a greater threat to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia agreed to US troops on its soil in order to protect it from Iraq. The first Gulf War was fought not only to free Kuwait but to protect Saudi Arabia. Yet most Saudis were angry that US troops were allowed on its holy soil. The government had to face a huge political and religious backlash even after the majority of the US troops left. The fact that some US troops were left in Saudi Arabia caused tremendous turmoil in the nation. Many Islamic clerics claimed that the real threat to Saudi Arabia was the US, not Iraq. The US Air Force used Saudi air bases to patrol the no-fly zones in Iraq which had been set up to protect the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south. When President Clinton asked for permission to base more troops in Saudi Arabia, he was firmly denied. The religious and political climate had changed since the first Gulf War so much that it was impossible for the Saudi government to allow more US troops on its soil. At this time there was a great outcry to drive the US out of the Gulf region, especially Saudi Arabia.
It was in this climate that Osama bin Laden became increasingly irate over the US presence in Saudi Arabia. He had even offered the use of his Afghan rebels to protect the Kingdom in place of the US military before the first Gulf War. During the 1990’s bin Laden formed an alliance with the leader of Hezbollah, which was responsible for the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Bin Laden moved to Sudan and began his anti-American operations. In 1993 he took his terrorism to the West by bombing the World Trade Center. Because he spoke out harshly against the Saudi government and its compromises with the West, his Saudi citizenship was revoked in 1994. He decried the governments poor defense strategy, its wasting of oil revenue and the use of foreign troops to protect the Kingdom. In 1995 he planned the bombing of the Saudi National Guard barracks, killing 7 Americans.
Bin Laden’s concern was not with Israel per se, but only with the fact that the West backed Israel. His primary concern was the presence of US troops on Saudi soil. The Islamic extremists claimed to have been responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union through their victory in Afghanistan and warned that the United States was next.
In 1996, bin Laden bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Americans, 1 Saudi, and wounding 372 others. The Saudi government blocked the FBI from conduction a thorough investigation because they were afraid they would discover evidence linking leading governmet and royal family members to terrorist organizations within Saudi Arabia. Saudi Hezbollah was responsible for the bombing, and many of its members were Saudi citizens supported by the government.
In 1999 bin Laden made his declaration of war against the West. In addition, he ceased all terrorist activity within Saudi Arabia after making a deal with the government. He also called on all Muslims to stop fighting each other and unite against the West. He then took his terrorist campaign to Africa, Yemen, and then to the US.
In 1995 the Saudi government began to make regular payments to Osama bin Laden. Two Saudi princes also began to support him regularly. The Saudi government clearly supported terrorism, and made a deal with bin Laden to keep his attacks outside of the Kingdom, even if it meant attacking the US directly. In 1998 bin Laden bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, using Saudi citizens to carry out the attacks. On October 12, 2000 the attack on the USS Cole, killing 17 US sailors and wounding hundreds of others, was carried out by Saudi citizens using a rubber boat owned by a prominent Saudi businessman. A wealthy Saudi merchant family gave the financial support for the bombing.
Before the second Gulf War, Al Qaeda had a formidable presence in Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden used Saudi Arabia as a base to launch terrorist attacks with full knowledge of the government. 15 of the 19 terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks were Saudi citizens. Most of them had never fought in Afghanistan or anywhere else, but were trained in Saudi Arabia.
There was a distinctive shift in Wahhabi teaching starting in the 1980’s. Saudi Clerics began teaching and preaching that Americans, Christians and Jews should be killed and wiped off the face of the earth. This was also taught in the schools and universities. Saudi textbooks for grade school and high school students were filled with hate-filled invective against the West. For twenty years a whole generation was brainwashed with hatred and murder. In this atmosphere of hate it was easy to recruit young men to become terrorists and suicide bombers.
In the 1980’s Saudi Arabia became a haven for radical extremists who had been kicked out of their own countries. These radical Islamists became teachers in Saudi schools and universities. The Muslim Brotherhood was supported by the Saudi government and when its members fled Egypt, Saudi Arabia welcomed them with open arms. Along with Saudi Wahhabi clerics, these extremists formed the backbone of all Saudi education. Every child educated in Saudi Arabia was force-fed radical Islam, hatred for the West, and the necessity of Jihad against America.
Saudi Arabia publicly spoke out against terrorism, yet they poured billions of dollars into these schools and terrorist organizations. Immediately after 9/11 the Saudi government flatly denied that any Saudi citizens had been involved in the attacks. It wasn’t until the evidence was undeniable that they changed their position to saying that the attackers were fringe elements. While telling the world that they regretted the attacks on the US, internally they praised the attacks and called for more. In fact, it took the Saudi two weeks before severing ties with the Taliban and two months before moving to freeze bin Laden’s assets.
After the 9/11 attacks, Saudi Arabia spent tens of millions of dollars on an extensive public relations campaign in the US to convince Americans that Saudi Arabia was a friend of the US. But at the same time, internally they were praising the attacks and even supporting the Palestinian Intifada. The Saudi government gave money to the families of the suicide bombers in Israel, giving more incentive for young Palestinians to blow themselves up. In a poll taken of Saudi men between 25 and 41, 97% supported Osama bin Laden and his cause. After 9/11 the political and religious situation in Saudi Arabia has not changed. The Saudi government has been working hard to convince the world that it stands for peace while at the same time funding terrorism all around the world.
Much of the support for terrorist groups comes from Islamic charities. While these charities do some humanitarian good, most of the money is funneled to extremist groups. The heads of these charities are Saudi government officials and royal family members. Several are official branches of the Saudi government. Any claim of the Saudi government that they don’t know where the money is going is clearly false. In fact, documents seized in raids on terrorist organizations have produced spreadsheets with Saudi government logos clearly listing all the funding given to terrorists, families of suicide bombers, and weapons and bomb materials.
Saudi Arabia talked about peace in Palestine while supporting suicide bombers. Now they are talking about peace around the world while still supporting global terrorist organizations. Saudi schools and mosques around the world still preach hatred and murder, and these schools and mosques are built and supported by Saudi government funds. It will take more than a war in Afghanistan and Iraq to bring an end to global terrorism. These are merely the outward manifestations of an internal problem. Until the culture of hatred is changed and the teaching of murder is stopped, global terrorism will be a problem. Terrorism is no longer local in scope and limited in its focus, but it has become international in its scope and catastrophic in its effects. It no longer is used to achieve limited political objectives but is bent on total destruction of its opponents. The terrorists will not rest until the West is destroyed, Israel wiped off the map and Christians either subjected to radical Islam or killed. America’s war on terror has overlooked the source of terrorism, the ideology and religious ideas that drive terrorism. It is deeply ingrained hatred that motivates terrorism, not economic or political injustices. The problem is not Islam but Saudi Arabian Wahhabi Islam. Without the support of the Saudi government and the funds generated by oil revenue, Wahhabism would have remained a small lunatic fringe group. Wahhabism developed an anti-Western hatred system and the Saudi government provided the vehicle to deliver that hatred to the rest of the world. The key is to stop the state funding of terrorism and get governments to bring an end to hate-filled teaching through international agreements.
Other books I have read that give additional information and different perspectives on this issue are:
Sleeping with the Devil, by Robert Baer, former senior CIA operative in the Middle East.
Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror, by Richard Minitar.
Inside the Kingdom, by Carmen bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s sister-in-law, gives a personal description of what living under the oppressive Saudi regime is like, as well as the inside story of Osama bin Laden’s rise to power.
Terrorist, by John Updike, is a fascinating novel by a great author, giving the personal story of a young Muslim man growing up in America and his pursuit of radical Islam.
My FBI, by Louis J. Freeh, former head of the FBI, has a great personal description of how the FBI had to fight with the Saudi government to investigate the Khobar tower bombing.
Wahhabism has been the major influence on global terrorism. It started in Saudi Arabia in the mid 1700’s and evolved into the leading religious influence in the Kingdom. It struck a deal with the Saud family, and they government and the clerics have had a symbiotic relationship ever since. Wahhabi schools and mosques are funded by the government and their teachings are authorized by ruling family. The government of Saudi Arabia sends and supports Wahhabi teachers throughout the world, including in the US. In the 1980’s Wahhabism became even more radical and began teaching that Christians are polytheists, therefore must be killed. Clerics preach that Muslims must destroy the idols of the West: Capitalism, Freedom, Secularism, Crusaderism. They even changed their doctrine to teach that the women and children of polytheists must be killed. This teaching is the religious foundation for Osama bin Laden and his global terrorism crusade.
Osama bin Laden was raised in Saudi schools filled with anti-American hatred and went to a Saudi university run by Wahhabis. He was personally trained by a leading Wahhabi teacher. Bin Laden spoke in support of Wahhabi teachings and clearly indicated that he was religiously motivated to attack the West, especially America. He was also funded by Saudi Arabi through charities. When he went to Afghanistan h took over the resistance to USSR. After the war, Afghanistan became his base for Al Queda.
Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia was the major supporter of the Islamic resistance in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda were also supported by the Saudi government. The Taliban was radically transformed by Wahhabi doctrine after bin Laden took over. Before the 1980’s the Taliban was a moderate Islamic government but it was transformed into one of the most extreme and repressive governments within a decade by bin Laden.
Saudi Arabia is the most rigid fundamentalist Islamic nation in the world. Wahhabi clerics constantly preach hatred of any US presence, corporate and military, on Saudi soil. They want to cleanse holy nation of all corruption and corrupting influences, and view terrorism as a legitimate means to accomplish this end. These extremists want to spread this cleansing to other secular Islamic nations. They hate secular Islamic states, such as Jordan, because they see this as a corruption of Islam. And through terrorism, they want to spread this cleansing to the whole world
Many Russian states were influenced by Wahhabi teaching. There are 20 million Muslims in Russia. 21 of Russia’s states have a majority Muslim population. One of Russia’s most difficult problems is dealing with extremist Islamic groups within these states and Russia itself. Saudi clerics praised both Hamas bombings and Chechnya bombings by Islamic radicals. The destruction of the Soviet Union was a primary goal of Saudi clerics.
Many Saudi fighters in Afghanistan went to Bosnia to fight the Serbs, taking their Wahhabi teachings with them. These Saudi fighters were brutal, more inhumane than the Bosnian Muslims, beheading Serbs and dismembering them. They also brought their Wahhabi teaching to Pakistan. Saudi Arabia raised $100 million dollars to support Islamic fundamentalist fighters in Bosnia. The Wahhabi Saudi Muslims sought to cleanse Bosnian Muslims and turn them into fanatics like themselves.
Since 1960 Wahhabi Islam has been taught in the US. Half of the mosques in the US were built by Saudi money. Al Qaeda recruited through these US mosques. Terrorism, martyrdom, and hatred for the West, Christians, and Jews is taught in these US mosques. Radical Islam in South East Asia has also been supported by Saudi Arabia in the same way.
Saudi Arabia gave billions of dollars to Iraq to support its war against Iran. Saudi Arabia was more afraid of Iran than Iraq, though both posed a great threat to its security. Later, when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 it was clear that Iraq was going to invade Saudi Arabia next. Yet, in the 1980’s revolutionary Iran was a greater threat to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia agreed to US troops on its soil in order to protect it from Iraq. The first Gulf War was fought not only to free Kuwait but to protect Saudi Arabia. Yet most Saudis were angry that US troops were allowed on its holy soil. The government had to face a huge political and religious backlash even after the majority of the US troops left. The fact that some US troops were left in Saudi Arabia caused tremendous turmoil in the nation. Many Islamic clerics claimed that the real threat to Saudi Arabia was the US, not Iraq. The US Air Force used Saudi air bases to patrol the no-fly zones in Iraq which had been set up to protect the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south. When President Clinton asked for permission to base more troops in Saudi Arabia, he was firmly denied. The religious and political climate had changed since the first Gulf War so much that it was impossible for the Saudi government to allow more US troops on its soil. At this time there was a great outcry to drive the US out of the Gulf region, especially Saudi Arabia.
It was in this climate that Osama bin Laden became increasingly irate over the US presence in Saudi Arabia. He had even offered the use of his Afghan rebels to protect the Kingdom in place of the US military before the first Gulf War. During the 1990’s bin Laden formed an alliance with the leader of Hezbollah, which was responsible for the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Bin Laden moved to Sudan and began his anti-American operations. In 1993 he took his terrorism to the West by bombing the World Trade Center. Because he spoke out harshly against the Saudi government and its compromises with the West, his Saudi citizenship was revoked in 1994. He decried the governments poor defense strategy, its wasting of oil revenue and the use of foreign troops to protect the Kingdom. In 1995 he planned the bombing of the Saudi National Guard barracks, killing 7 Americans.
Bin Laden’s concern was not with Israel per se, but only with the fact that the West backed Israel. His primary concern was the presence of US troops on Saudi soil. The Islamic extremists claimed to have been responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union through their victory in Afghanistan and warned that the United States was next.
In 1996, bin Laden bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Americans, 1 Saudi, and wounding 372 others. The Saudi government blocked the FBI from conduction a thorough investigation because they were afraid they would discover evidence linking leading governmet and royal family members to terrorist organizations within Saudi Arabia. Saudi Hezbollah was responsible for the bombing, and many of its members were Saudi citizens supported by the government.
In 1999 bin Laden made his declaration of war against the West. In addition, he ceased all terrorist activity within Saudi Arabia after making a deal with the government. He also called on all Muslims to stop fighting each other and unite against the West. He then took his terrorist campaign to Africa, Yemen, and then to the US.
In 1995 the Saudi government began to make regular payments to Osama bin Laden. Two Saudi princes also began to support him regularly. The Saudi government clearly supported terrorism, and made a deal with bin Laden to keep his attacks outside of the Kingdom, even if it meant attacking the US directly. In 1998 bin Laden bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, using Saudi citizens to carry out the attacks. On October 12, 2000 the attack on the USS Cole, killing 17 US sailors and wounding hundreds of others, was carried out by Saudi citizens using a rubber boat owned by a prominent Saudi businessman. A wealthy Saudi merchant family gave the financial support for the bombing.
Before the second Gulf War, Al Qaeda had a formidable presence in Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden used Saudi Arabia as a base to launch terrorist attacks with full knowledge of the government. 15 of the 19 terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks were Saudi citizens. Most of them had never fought in Afghanistan or anywhere else, but were trained in Saudi Arabia.
There was a distinctive shift in Wahhabi teaching starting in the 1980’s. Saudi Clerics began teaching and preaching that Americans, Christians and Jews should be killed and wiped off the face of the earth. This was also taught in the schools and universities. Saudi textbooks for grade school and high school students were filled with hate-filled invective against the West. For twenty years a whole generation was brainwashed with hatred and murder. In this atmosphere of hate it was easy to recruit young men to become terrorists and suicide bombers.
In the 1980’s Saudi Arabia became a haven for radical extremists who had been kicked out of their own countries. These radical Islamists became teachers in Saudi schools and universities. The Muslim Brotherhood was supported by the Saudi government and when its members fled Egypt, Saudi Arabia welcomed them with open arms. Along with Saudi Wahhabi clerics, these extremists formed the backbone of all Saudi education. Every child educated in Saudi Arabia was force-fed radical Islam, hatred for the West, and the necessity of Jihad against America.
Saudi Arabia publicly spoke out against terrorism, yet they poured billions of dollars into these schools and terrorist organizations. Immediately after 9/11 the Saudi government flatly denied that any Saudi citizens had been involved in the attacks. It wasn’t until the evidence was undeniable that they changed their position to saying that the attackers were fringe elements. While telling the world that they regretted the attacks on the US, internally they praised the attacks and called for more. In fact, it took the Saudi two weeks before severing ties with the Taliban and two months before moving to freeze bin Laden’s assets.
After the 9/11 attacks, Saudi Arabia spent tens of millions of dollars on an extensive public relations campaign in the US to convince Americans that Saudi Arabia was a friend of the US. But at the same time, internally they were praising the attacks and even supporting the Palestinian Intifada. The Saudi government gave money to the families of the suicide bombers in Israel, giving more incentive for young Palestinians to blow themselves up. In a poll taken of Saudi men between 25 and 41, 97% supported Osama bin Laden and his cause. After 9/11 the political and religious situation in Saudi Arabia has not changed. The Saudi government has been working hard to convince the world that it stands for peace while at the same time funding terrorism all around the world.
Much of the support for terrorist groups comes from Islamic charities. While these charities do some humanitarian good, most of the money is funneled to extremist groups. The heads of these charities are Saudi government officials and royal family members. Several are official branches of the Saudi government. Any claim of the Saudi government that they don’t know where the money is going is clearly false. In fact, documents seized in raids on terrorist organizations have produced spreadsheets with Saudi government logos clearly listing all the funding given to terrorists, families of suicide bombers, and weapons and bomb materials.
Saudi Arabia talked about peace in Palestine while supporting suicide bombers. Now they are talking about peace around the world while still supporting global terrorist organizations. Saudi schools and mosques around the world still preach hatred and murder, and these schools and mosques are built and supported by Saudi government funds. It will take more than a war in Afghanistan and Iraq to bring an end to global terrorism. These are merely the outward manifestations of an internal problem. Until the culture of hatred is changed and the teaching of murder is stopped, global terrorism will be a problem. Terrorism is no longer local in scope and limited in its focus, but it has become international in its scope and catastrophic in its effects. It no longer is used to achieve limited political objectives but is bent on total destruction of its opponents. The terrorists will not rest until the West is destroyed, Israel wiped off the map and Christians either subjected to radical Islam or killed. America’s war on terror has overlooked the source of terrorism, the ideology and religious ideas that drive terrorism. It is deeply ingrained hatred that motivates terrorism, not economic or political injustices. The problem is not Islam but Saudi Arabian Wahhabi Islam. Without the support of the Saudi government and the funds generated by oil revenue, Wahhabism would have remained a small lunatic fringe group. Wahhabism developed an anti-Western hatred system and the Saudi government provided the vehicle to deliver that hatred to the rest of the world. The key is to stop the state funding of terrorism and get governments to bring an end to hate-filled teaching through international agreements.
Other books I have read that give additional information and different perspectives on this issue are:
Sleeping with the Devil, by Robert Baer, former senior CIA operative in the Middle East.
Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror, by Richard Minitar.
Inside the Kingdom, by Carmen bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s sister-in-law, gives a personal description of what living under the oppressive Saudi regime is like, as well as the inside story of Osama bin Laden’s rise to power.
Terrorist, by John Updike, is a fascinating novel by a great author, giving the personal story of a young Muslim man growing up in America and his pursuit of radical Islam.
My FBI, by Louis J. Freeh, former head of the FBI, has a great personal description of how the FBI had to fight with the Saudi government to investigate the Khobar tower bombing.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Architecture and Christians
If you are interested in architecture, these two articles in Books & Culture, January/February 2007 are worth reading:
Cross Purposes (page 14)
http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/001/6.14.html
Edward Short reviews Ryan K. Smith’s book, Gothic Arches, Latin Crosses, showing how American Protestants in the 1800’s adopted the architecture style of Catholics.
Better Building (page 15)
http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/001/7.15.html
Bill McKibben reviews David W. Orr’s book, Design on the Edge, chronicling the building of the first echo-friendly building on the campus of Oberlin College in Ohio. He considers modern buildings the equivalent of stationary SUVs, wasting much more energy than necessary. Orr describes all of the red tape, roadblocks and stubborn leadership he had to battle to finish his project. Orr laments that modern universities do not function as “learning organizations” since various departments are isolated, risk-averse, and other academic sins that make change nearly impossible. “From the tower of Babel of competing disciplines, subdisciplines, and research projects, one does not talk much about the coherence of worldviews relative to natural systems…. What does seem to get our attention, alas, has to do with parking permits, retirement benefits, promotions, salary raises, and the enhancement of our particular fiefdoms.” Socrates, he says, would never get tenure.
McKibben makes an observation that is applicable in other areas as well: Orr is like a prophet and not a manager. Sometimes we need prophets who can inspire us with a new vision, but we also need managers who can turn that vision into reality. Orr is a prophet, while some of his students now are becoming effective managers translating his ideas into practical applications.
Prophet are not usually fun to be around, but we need them. Managers are not usually inspiring, but we need them as well. It is not a matter of either/or but of both/and.
Cross Purposes (page 14)
http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/001/6.14.html
Edward Short reviews Ryan K. Smith’s book, Gothic Arches, Latin Crosses, showing how American Protestants in the 1800’s adopted the architecture style of Catholics.
Better Building (page 15)
http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/001/7.15.html
Bill McKibben reviews David W. Orr’s book, Design on the Edge, chronicling the building of the first echo-friendly building on the campus of Oberlin College in Ohio. He considers modern buildings the equivalent of stationary SUVs, wasting much more energy than necessary. Orr describes all of the red tape, roadblocks and stubborn leadership he had to battle to finish his project. Orr laments that modern universities do not function as “learning organizations” since various departments are isolated, risk-averse, and other academic sins that make change nearly impossible. “From the tower of Babel of competing disciplines, subdisciplines, and research projects, one does not talk much about the coherence of worldviews relative to natural systems…. What does seem to get our attention, alas, has to do with parking permits, retirement benefits, promotions, salary raises, and the enhancement of our particular fiefdoms.” Socrates, he says, would never get tenure.
McKibben makes an observation that is applicable in other areas as well: Orr is like a prophet and not a manager. Sometimes we need prophets who can inspire us with a new vision, but we also need managers who can turn that vision into reality. Orr is a prophet, while some of his students now are becoming effective managers translating his ideas into practical applications.
Prophet are not usually fun to be around, but we need them. Managers are not usually inspiring, but we need them as well. It is not a matter of either/or but of both/and.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Ion
In his play, Ion, Euripides attempts to answer the question of why the gods hold back justice. In the play, Creusa is seduced by Apollo and she becomes pregnant. In order to avoid shaming her father, Creusa abandons her son in a cave near Apollo’s temple at Delphi. She later marries Xuthus, who is unaware that she ever gave birth to a child. The two travel from Athens to Delphi because Xuthus wants to seek an oracle from Apollo concerning a male heir since they are childless.
At the temple, Creusa meets a young man named Ion who is the keeper of the temple. He tells Creusa of how he was abandoned as an infant and taken into custody at the temple, where he has lived for his whole life. He longs to know his mother and father but has lost all hope of ever knowing who they were. Touched by his sad story, Creusa tells of her misfortune, only she says it is a story of one of her friends.
Meanwhile, Xuthus receives an oracle in the temple telling him the next person he sees will be his son. As soon as he exits the temple he sees the Ion and runs and embraces him. Ion is startled, but when he hears that he will be adopted as Xuthus’s heir, he rejoices because at least he will have a father and a future.
Creusa, however, is outraged at this, fearing that Xuthus will kill her and give her inheritance and kingdom to Ion. She devises a plan to murder Ion with poison, lest she lose all she has. She has her servant put a drop of gorgon venom into Ion’s wine cup while he is partying with his friends over his good fortune and Xuthus is offering a sacrifice to Apollo. Ion, however, anticipates treachery and pours out the wine and has new wine brought. A bird drinks the wine and dies, confirming Ion’s suspicions. He calls the leaders of the city to arrest Creusa and throw her off a cliff for her crime.
Creusa hides in the temple but is found by Ion. Fortunately, Creusa realizes that Ion is the son she abandoned many years earlier when he tells her about the blanket and the basket he was left in. Ion rejoices to be reunited with his real mother and to learn that his father is a god. He agrees to keep this a secret from Xuthus, and they prepare to return to Athens as a happy family.
As they are leaving the temple, Athena appears and explains why Apollo had them wait so long to be reunited and why they had to go through such trying circumstances. Creusa repents of her anger and hatred towards Apollo, realizing that he had a greater plan to bless the region with a powerful new nation. Ion will have four sons who will set up power city states along the coast and on the islands of the Aegean Sea. This Ionian kingdom with have great influence throughout Asia and Europe. Xuthus will also have a natural son, Dorus, who will become a powerful king in Achaea.
Athena concludes her speech: “Heaven’s justice may tarry a while, yet comes it at the last in no wise weakened.”
The play ends with the chorus chanting: “’Tis only right that he, whose house is sore beset with trouble, should reverence God and keep good heart; for at the last the righteous find their just reward, but the wicked, as their nature is, will never prosper.”
The Greeks, as well as the Hebrews, struggled with the sovereignty of God (the gods) and the problem of evil. Both concluded that while the righteous may suffer, in the end, they will be blessed by God, and while the wicked may prosper for a while, they will not ultimately prosper in the end. God is in control and has our ultimate blessing in mind even though we may have to endure some trouble along the way. Don’t curse God when trouble comes; be patient and remain righteous.
At the temple, Creusa meets a young man named Ion who is the keeper of the temple. He tells Creusa of how he was abandoned as an infant and taken into custody at the temple, where he has lived for his whole life. He longs to know his mother and father but has lost all hope of ever knowing who they were. Touched by his sad story, Creusa tells of her misfortune, only she says it is a story of one of her friends.
Meanwhile, Xuthus receives an oracle in the temple telling him the next person he sees will be his son. As soon as he exits the temple he sees the Ion and runs and embraces him. Ion is startled, but when he hears that he will be adopted as Xuthus’s heir, he rejoices because at least he will have a father and a future.
Creusa, however, is outraged at this, fearing that Xuthus will kill her and give her inheritance and kingdom to Ion. She devises a plan to murder Ion with poison, lest she lose all she has. She has her servant put a drop of gorgon venom into Ion’s wine cup while he is partying with his friends over his good fortune and Xuthus is offering a sacrifice to Apollo. Ion, however, anticipates treachery and pours out the wine and has new wine brought. A bird drinks the wine and dies, confirming Ion’s suspicions. He calls the leaders of the city to arrest Creusa and throw her off a cliff for her crime.
Creusa hides in the temple but is found by Ion. Fortunately, Creusa realizes that Ion is the son she abandoned many years earlier when he tells her about the blanket and the basket he was left in. Ion rejoices to be reunited with his real mother and to learn that his father is a god. He agrees to keep this a secret from Xuthus, and they prepare to return to Athens as a happy family.
As they are leaving the temple, Athena appears and explains why Apollo had them wait so long to be reunited and why they had to go through such trying circumstances. Creusa repents of her anger and hatred towards Apollo, realizing that he had a greater plan to bless the region with a powerful new nation. Ion will have four sons who will set up power city states along the coast and on the islands of the Aegean Sea. This Ionian kingdom with have great influence throughout Asia and Europe. Xuthus will also have a natural son, Dorus, who will become a powerful king in Achaea.
Athena concludes her speech: “Heaven’s justice may tarry a while, yet comes it at the last in no wise weakened.”
The play ends with the chorus chanting: “’Tis only right that he, whose house is sore beset with trouble, should reverence God and keep good heart; for at the last the righteous find their just reward, but the wicked, as their nature is, will never prosper.”
The Greeks, as well as the Hebrews, struggled with the sovereignty of God (the gods) and the problem of evil. Both concluded that while the righteous may suffer, in the end, they will be blessed by God, and while the wicked may prosper for a while, they will not ultimately prosper in the end. God is in control and has our ultimate blessing in mind even though we may have to endure some trouble along the way. Don’t curse God when trouble comes; be patient and remain righteous.
Morning Prayer
Here is a good prayer to pray each morning to get you started on the right foot:
“Dear Lord, so far today I have been doing all right. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty selfish or self-indulgent. I haven’t whined, cursed or eaten any chocolate. But I am going to get out of bed in a few minutes, and I will need a lot more help after that. Amen.”
“Dear Lord, so far today I have been doing all right. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty selfish or self-indulgent. I haven’t whined, cursed or eaten any chocolate. But I am going to get out of bed in a few minutes, and I will need a lot more help after that. Amen.”
A New Kind of Calvinism
In her review of the recently released The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, Books & Culture, January/February 2007, pages 12-13, Sarah Hinlicky Wilson makes some interesting observations about the decade-long comic strip that had a profound influence on our culture. I have always loved Calvin & Hobbes and felt that Bill Watterson had a keen sense of American culture and critiqued it in a humorous, yet profound way.
Here are a few of her observations that I enjoyed:
“Hobbes…is neither Calvin’s better half nor his psychopomp. He is evry bit the rascal that Calvin is, though considerably more disguised in his misdeeds, especially in a rousing game of Calvinball or the at the sight of Susi Derkins. If Calvin is the unrepentant sinner, the ethicists will observe, then Hobbes is the Pharisee, smug of his virtuous living and immensely proud of not being human.”
“Is it right to charge ten billion dollars for a dinosaur skeleton constructed from backyard trash? Is it wrong to steal a truck from a bully if he stole it from you first? How about the quandaries raised by recent advances in corrugated cardboard technology? One must consider what benefits could be gained for science by transmogrifying oneself into a 500-story tall gastropd, a slug the size of the Chrysler building. One must decide whether the duplicator is better used as a counterfeit money machine or as a clone generator to supply oneself with a baseball team. What if the duplicator has an ethicator tacked on—and what if one’s good side is prone to badness?”
“The lure of a slushball square in Susie’s face confronts his limitless greed in an epic struggle. Calvin therefore tries to rationalize. It should count for more if a bad kid tries to be good than if a naturally good kid is good. Ten spontaneous, if reluctant, acts of good will a day should compensate for a year’s sordid sin. Relinquishing retaliation rights on Susie should produce [Christmas] presents by the truckload (never mind that Calvin provoked her in the first place and lied to Mom about it). Still, every Christmas without fail, Calvin is acquitted of his crimes and showered with gifts, even when he learns the wrong lesson from it. A parable of God’s love for the sinner and justification by faith, no works, the theologians infer—good Calvinism, indeed.”
Sorry, but I couldn’t find the article on the website. It must be only available in the print version.
Here are a few of her observations that I enjoyed:
“Hobbes…is neither Calvin’s better half nor his psychopomp. He is evry bit the rascal that Calvin is, though considerably more disguised in his misdeeds, especially in a rousing game of Calvinball or the at the sight of Susi Derkins. If Calvin is the unrepentant sinner, the ethicists will observe, then Hobbes is the Pharisee, smug of his virtuous living and immensely proud of not being human.”
“Is it right to charge ten billion dollars for a dinosaur skeleton constructed from backyard trash? Is it wrong to steal a truck from a bully if he stole it from you first? How about the quandaries raised by recent advances in corrugated cardboard technology? One must consider what benefits could be gained for science by transmogrifying oneself into a 500-story tall gastropd, a slug the size of the Chrysler building. One must decide whether the duplicator is better used as a counterfeit money machine or as a clone generator to supply oneself with a baseball team. What if the duplicator has an ethicator tacked on—and what if one’s good side is prone to badness?”
“The lure of a slushball square in Susie’s face confronts his limitless greed in an epic struggle. Calvin therefore tries to rationalize. It should count for more if a bad kid tries to be good than if a naturally good kid is good. Ten spontaneous, if reluctant, acts of good will a day should compensate for a year’s sordid sin. Relinquishing retaliation rights on Susie should produce [Christmas] presents by the truckload (never mind that Calvin provoked her in the first place and lied to Mom about it). Still, every Christmas without fail, Calvin is acquitted of his crimes and showered with gifts, even when he learns the wrong lesson from it. A parable of God’s love for the sinner and justification by faith, no works, the theologians infer—good Calvinism, indeed.”
Sorry, but I couldn’t find the article on the website. It must be only available in the print version.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
A New Paradigm
Stephen Covey, in his book The 8th Habit, says:
“If you want to make minor, incremental changes and improvements, work on practices, behavior or attitude. But if you want to make significant, quantum improvement, work on paradigms.”
A paradigm is a perception, assumption theory, frame of reference or lens through which you view the world. It is like a map of a city. If the map is inaccurate, it will make no difference how hard you try to find your destination or how positively you think—you’ll stay lost. But if the map is accurate, then diligence and attitude matter. But not until.
Covey uses the practice of bloodletting in the Middle Ages as an example of a wrong paradigm. It was the wrong paradigm of sickness and health that led the unnecessary death of many. If the paradigm is inaccurate, then the more efficient you are, or the faster you are, the more damage you will do. You could be the best at bloodletting and still be highly ineffective in curing disease. It wasn’t until a new paradigm of sickness and health was discovered, Germ Theory, that modern medicine was able to cure many of the diseases and illnesses that confounded doctors in the Middle Ages.
When we change our paradigm, and then our practice changes. Instead of spending time trying to get people to change their behavior, we should focus on changing their mindset. It takes more effort to do this, but it is much more effective in the long run. Give them an accurate map of reality, then they will be able to find their way through life. Paul said in Romans 12:2, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” It takes more than just getting people to do a few more things better; it takes changing their mindset, so that they see things as God sees them and they think and feel about things as God thinks and feels about them. In this way, the whole person is transformed.
“If you want to make minor, incremental changes and improvements, work on practices, behavior or attitude. But if you want to make significant, quantum improvement, work on paradigms.”
A paradigm is a perception, assumption theory, frame of reference or lens through which you view the world. It is like a map of a city. If the map is inaccurate, it will make no difference how hard you try to find your destination or how positively you think—you’ll stay lost. But if the map is accurate, then diligence and attitude matter. But not until.
Covey uses the practice of bloodletting in the Middle Ages as an example of a wrong paradigm. It was the wrong paradigm of sickness and health that led the unnecessary death of many. If the paradigm is inaccurate, then the more efficient you are, or the faster you are, the more damage you will do. You could be the best at bloodletting and still be highly ineffective in curing disease. It wasn’t until a new paradigm of sickness and health was discovered, Germ Theory, that modern medicine was able to cure many of the diseases and illnesses that confounded doctors in the Middle Ages.
When we change our paradigm, and then our practice changes. Instead of spending time trying to get people to change their behavior, we should focus on changing their mindset. It takes more effort to do this, but it is much more effective in the long run. Give them an accurate map of reality, then they will be able to find their way through life. Paul said in Romans 12:2, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” It takes more than just getting people to do a few more things better; it takes changing their mindset, so that they see things as God sees them and they think and feel about things as God thinks and feels about them. In this way, the whole person is transformed.
Lying with Statistics
We need to be careful when we use statistics to bolster our arguments. We also need to be more critical when others use statistics as well. Here is an excellent article that calls Christians to use statistics much more ethically. If we lie in order to make the truth more appealing or seem more urgent, we are doing God a disservice. While we might get short term results, we will end up hurting Christianity in the long run. Read this article and then evaluate how you use statistics, or how you have been misled by statistics, in the past.
Evangelicals Behaving Badly with Statistics
Mistakes were made.
by Christian Smith
Books & Culture, January/February, 2007.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/001/5.11.html
Evangelicals Behaving Badly with Statistics
Mistakes were made.
by Christian Smith
Books & Culture, January/February, 2007.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/001/5.11.html
Nicholas Nickleby
I always enjoy reading what Charles Dickens has written. In Nicholas Nickleby, Dickens spins a wonderful tale about a young boy, Nicholas, his sister, and his mother who are left destitute at the death of his father. He begs his uncle to help them, and he grudgingly gives them some token help. His uncle sets him up as a teacher in a boarding school. When the headmaster starts beating a crippled boy, Nicholas intervenes and beats the headmaster, ending his teaching career.
He finds another job acting in a theatre. He is at the height of his popularity when he gets a message that his sister is in trouble and needs his help. He instantly leaves his acting career and goes to defend his sister from an older man who is trying to take advantage of her. His actions against the man and the schoolmaster ruin his relationship with his uncle and his support is cut off. This begins a long feud between him and his uncle, who tries several times to destroy Nicholas.
Nicholas develops a close relationship with the crippled boy he rescued from the schoolmaster and he takes care of him and raises him like a younger brother. Nicholas is offered a great job and he becomes a respected man in the community. The crippled boy eventually dies and Nicholas is heartbroken. In addition to losing his best friend, his uncle schemes to take away the girl he loves, threatening Nicholas with the loss of all he loves.
But all of his uncle’s plans to destroy Nicholas backfire. His uncle eventually loses everything and is totally ruined. The last blow is that he learns the crippled boy was his son, born after he sent his wife away and raised by another family. He was told the boy died while he was still young, but the lie is uncovered after all he has been totally devastated financially and socially. The loss is too great for him and he commits suicide.
As he listens to the church bells ringing, he gives a moving speech before ending his life:
“Lie on! with your iron tongue! Ring merrily for births that make expectants writhe, and marriages that are made in hell, and toll ruefully for the dead whose shoes are worn already! Call men to prayers who are godly because not found out, and ring chimes for the coming in of every year that brings this cursed world nearer to its end. No bell or book for me! Throw me on a dunghill, and let me rot there, to infect the air!'
Dickens clearly contrasts the unfortunate end of Nicholas’ wicked uncle with Nicholas’ future. This is clearly demonstrated in the next two quotes, showing that the righteous are blessed in this life, in spite of their poverty, while the wicked are cursed, in spite of their wealth.
Another moving passage clearly shows that Charles Dickens had a profound empathy for the suffering of London’s poor, especially children:
“In every life, no matter how full or empty one’s purse, there is tragedy. It is the one promise that life always fulfills. Thus, happiness is a gift, and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes, and to add to other people’s store of it.”
The movie ends with a toast at a double wedding with a powerful description of what a family should be:
“What happens, if too early, we lose a parent, that party on whom we rely for only…everything. What did these people do when their families shrank? They cried their tears. But then they did the vital thing; they built a new family, person by person. They came to see the family need not be defined merely as those with whom they share blood, but as those for whom they would give their blood. It is in that spirit that we offer this heart-felt toast to the brides and grooms.”
He finds another job acting in a theatre. He is at the height of his popularity when he gets a message that his sister is in trouble and needs his help. He instantly leaves his acting career and goes to defend his sister from an older man who is trying to take advantage of her. His actions against the man and the schoolmaster ruin his relationship with his uncle and his support is cut off. This begins a long feud between him and his uncle, who tries several times to destroy Nicholas.
Nicholas develops a close relationship with the crippled boy he rescued from the schoolmaster and he takes care of him and raises him like a younger brother. Nicholas is offered a great job and he becomes a respected man in the community. The crippled boy eventually dies and Nicholas is heartbroken. In addition to losing his best friend, his uncle schemes to take away the girl he loves, threatening Nicholas with the loss of all he loves.
But all of his uncle’s plans to destroy Nicholas backfire. His uncle eventually loses everything and is totally ruined. The last blow is that he learns the crippled boy was his son, born after he sent his wife away and raised by another family. He was told the boy died while he was still young, but the lie is uncovered after all he has been totally devastated financially and socially. The loss is too great for him and he commits suicide.
As he listens to the church bells ringing, he gives a moving speech before ending his life:
“Lie on! with your iron tongue! Ring merrily for births that make expectants writhe, and marriages that are made in hell, and toll ruefully for the dead whose shoes are worn already! Call men to prayers who are godly because not found out, and ring chimes for the coming in of every year that brings this cursed world nearer to its end. No bell or book for me! Throw me on a dunghill, and let me rot there, to infect the air!'
Dickens clearly contrasts the unfortunate end of Nicholas’ wicked uncle with Nicholas’ future. This is clearly demonstrated in the next two quotes, showing that the righteous are blessed in this life, in spite of their poverty, while the wicked are cursed, in spite of their wealth.
Another moving passage clearly shows that Charles Dickens had a profound empathy for the suffering of London’s poor, especially children:
“In every life, no matter how full or empty one’s purse, there is tragedy. It is the one promise that life always fulfills. Thus, happiness is a gift, and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes, and to add to other people’s store of it.”
The movie ends with a toast at a double wedding with a powerful description of what a family should be:
“What happens, if too early, we lose a parent, that party on whom we rely for only…everything. What did these people do when their families shrank? They cried their tears. But then they did the vital thing; they built a new family, person by person. They came to see the family need not be defined merely as those with whom they share blood, but as those for whom they would give their blood. It is in that spirit that we offer this heart-felt toast to the brides and grooms.”
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