Journey to Life: Overcome with Love

The Issue is Values, Not System Racism

2020-06-07T09:24:00.001-05:00

The Issue is Values, Not Systemic Racism

A MOST EXCELLENT RESOURCE: JUST FACTS!

2018-02-21T12:01:00.002-06:00

WWW.JUSTFACTS.COM

Four Fabrications About Firearms

By James D. Agresti
October 19, 2017

According to two recent op-eds published by the New York Times:

“more guns means more murder.”
“more guns means less safety.”
“a gun is 22 times more likely to be used in a criminal assault, an accidental death or injury, a suicide attempt or a homicide than it is for self-defense.”
“gun-owning households were 41 percent more likely to experience a homicide and 244 percent more like[ly] to experience a suicide.”

As detailed below, all of those claims are rooted in misleading or blatantly false evidence. By spreading this misinformation, the Times and the authors of these pieces may deceive people into making decisions that lead to suffering and deaths.

Fabrication # 1: More Guns Means More Murder

To prove his claim that “more guns means more murder,” Times columnist Bret Stephens cites a 2013 paper in the American Journal of Public Health, which found that “states with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides.”

For two reasons, this study does not support Stephens’ assertion.

First, the excerpt he quoted from the paper—and the paper itself—don’t account for all murders but only for those committed with guns. This is a sure way to measure all negative effects of gun ownership while excluding most positive effects. For example, if a criminal uses a gun to kill a woman, the study accounts for this negative outcome. However, if a woman uses a gun to prevent a would-be murderer from strangling her, the study ignores this positive outcome.

The primary benefit of gun ownership is that it dramatically changes the balance of power between criminals and potential victims. A central fact of criminology is that lawbreakers often attack “soft targets” or “easy prey.” In the words of the textbook Forensic Science: Advanced Investigations, “Very often, a criminal chooses a target based on the vulnerability of the victim.” The academic book The Psychology of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior: Victim and Offender Perspectives says it like this: “Predators, irrespective of their end game, are exceptionally good at identifying the weak members of the herd.”

Firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens transform them into hard targets, which often prevents crime without even firing a shot. This is borne out by a 1982 survey of male felons in 11 state prisons across the U.S., which found that 40% of them had decided not to commit a crime because they “knew or believed that the victim was carrying a gun.”

For all of the reasons above, to assess the true effects of gun ownership on murder, one must account for all murders, not just those committed with guns.

Second, Stephens makes a common blunder by confusing association with causation. Even if the study he cited had found that states with higher rates of gun ownership had higher levels of murder, this would not show that “more guns means more murder.” As explained in a textbookabout analyzing data:

Association is not the same as causation. This issue is a persistent problem in empirical analysis in the social sciences. Often the investigator will plot two variables and use the tight relationship obtained to draw absolutely ridiculous or completely erroneous conclusions. Because we so often confuse association and causation, it is extremely easy to be convinced that a tight relationship between two variables means that one is causing the other. This is simply not true.

The reason it’s not true is because there are numerous possible factors that impact homicide rates, and without an experimental study, it is extremely difficult to identify, measure, and account for the effects of all such factors. In fact, the authors of the study in question make this point three times, writing, “we could not determine causation,” “we could not determine causation,” and “it is not possible in a panel study such as ours to determine causality.”

Despite those explicit and repeated warnings in the study, Stephens misrepresents it as though it proves causation. Coming from Stephens, who is a Pulitzer Prize winner and has a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, this kind of error belies gross negligence. The fact that association does not prove causation is taught in high school statistics, and the Common Core math standards require students to “distinguish between correlation and causation.”

Fabrication # 2: More Guns Means Less Safety

Stephens also contends that “more guns means less safety.” As proof of this, he writes that “the F.B.I. counted a total of 268 ‘justifiable homicides‘ by private citizens involving firearms in 2015; that is, felons killed in the course of committing a felony. Yet that same year, there were 489 ‘unintentional firearms deaths‘ in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.”

Stephens’ comparison of firearm accidents to justifiable firearm homicides does not prove his point, because it presumes that firearms improve safety only when they are used to kill criminals. As explained in a 300+ page analysis of firearms studies published in 2005 by the National Academies of Science, “effective defensive gun use need not ever lead the perpetrator to be wounded or killed. Rather, to assess the benefits of self-defense, one needs to measure crime and injury averted. The particular outcome of an offender is of little relevance.”

Likewise, a 1995 paper in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology states:

This is also too serious a matter to base conclusions on silly statistics comparing the number of lives taken with guns with the number of criminals killed by victims. Killing a criminal is not a benefit to the victim, but rather a nightmare to be suffered for years afterward.

The purpose of having a gun for self-defense is not to kill or hurt criminals but to prevent criminals from killing or hurting others. Hence, in the vast majority of cases where someone uses a gun for self-defense, a bullet is never fired because the would-be assailant retreats when he discovers that his target is armed.

Fabrication # 3: Guns Are Far More Likely to Be Used for Harm Than Self-Defense

Other bogus assertions in these Times editorials come from Michael Shermer, a Ph.D. who teaches a course at Chapman University entitled “Skepticism 101: How to Think Like a Scientist.” According to Shermer, “a gun is 22 times more likely to be used in a criminal assault, an accidental death or injury, a suicide attempt or a homicide than it is for self-defense.”

Shermer bases this claim on a 1998 paper in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, which examined “records of all fatal and nonfatal shootings in three U.S. cities” that “occurred in or around a residence.” The study found that “for every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides and 11 attempted or completed suicides.”

Like Stephens, Shermer grossly misrepresents the findings of the study he cites. This study does not measure how often guns are used “for self-defense,” as he claims. Instead, it measures how often they are “used to injure or kill in self-defense.” Hence, it excludes every case where a gun is used for self-defense and the criminal is not shot. Again, this ignores the vast bulk of defensive gun uses and benefits.

This study also suffers from the implicit assumption that everyone who commits suicide with a gun would not take their lives by other means if they didn’t have a gun. That notion is abjectly false. As the 2005 National Academies of Science gun control analysis says, “Some gun control policies may reduce the number of gun suicides, but they have not yet been shown to reduce the overall risk of suicide in any population.”

In order to measure what Shermer is driving at with his fake fact, one must compare all of the lives that would be saved if guns did not exist to all of the lives that would be lost. This is very difficult to determine, but the most solid existing data suggests that guns help save far more lives than they cost.

In 2014, roughly 14,249 murders were committed with firearms in the United States, and 586 fatal firearm accidents occurred. Assuming that none of these murders would have taken place if guns were unavailable in the U.S., about 15,000 lives might have been saved.

In comparison, a 1993 nationwide survey of 4,977 households found that over the previous five years, at least 0.5% of households had members who had used a gun for defense during a situation in which they thought someone “almost certainly would have been killed” if they “had not used a gun for protection.” This amounts to 162,000 such incidents per year. And it excludes all “military service, police work, or work as a security guard.”

In sum, these data suggest that civilian usage of guns costs about 15,000 lives per year and saves roughly 162,000 lives per year. Since the latter figure is from the 1990s and is based on people’s subjective views of what would have happened if they did not use a gun, it should be taken with a grain of salt. However, the figure of 162,000 who said they saved a life is only 16% of a much larger number of people in this survey who said they used a gun for defense. Hence, this is not a case where a majority of defensive gun users may have exaggerated the life-saving import of what they did.

Moreover, anti-gun criminologist Marvin E. Wolfgang praised this study, which was conducted by pro-gun researchers Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz and published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. In the same journal, Wolfgang wrote:

“I am as strong a gun-control advocate as can be found among the criminologists in this country.”
“Nonetheless, the methodological soundness of the current Kleck and Gertz study is clear. I cannot further debate it.”
“The Kleck and Gertz study impresses me for the caution the authors exercise and the elaborate nuances they examine methodologically. I do not like their conclusions that having a gun can be useful, but I cannot fault their methodology.”

Other credible studies provide evidence that the number of defensive gun uses are substantial.

Anti-gun researcher David McDowall and others conducted a major survey of defensive gun use that was published by the Journal of Quantitative Criminology in 2000. The authors did not take their survey results to their logical conclusions by using the common practice of weighting them to find what the results would be for a nationally representative survey sample. But when one does this, the results imply that U.S. civilians use guns to defend themselves and others from crime at least 990,000 times per year. This figure accounts only for “clear” cases of defensive gun use and is based upon a weighting calculation designed to minimize defensive gun uses.

Likewise, a 1994 survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Americans use guns to frighten away intruders who are breaking into their homes about 498,000 times per year.

Fabrication # 4: Owning a Gun Increases Your Risk of Homicide and Suicide

Shermer also cites a 2003 paper from the Annals of Emergency Medicine, which he summarizes by saying that it found “gun-owning households were 41 percent more likely to experience a homicide and 244 percent more like[ly] to experience a suicide.” He follows this up by stating, “The Second Amendment protects your right to own a gun, but having one in your home involves a risk-benefit calculation you should seriously consider.”

Like Stephens, Shermer mistakes association for causation. This study, like many others in the social sciences, attempts to divine causation by using statistical techniques to “control” for the effects of certain variables. These techniques, however, cannot objectively rule out the possibility that other factors are at play. This is called “omitted variable bias,” and the study in question directly states that it omits many variables that could bias its results, including “mental illness among subjects or family members and histories of violence, illicit drug and alcohol use, time spent (exposed) at home, and lifestyle factors like gang membership and drug dealing.”

Furthermore, this study is a “case control” study, and as the above-cited National Academies of Science report explains, case control studies cannot determine “causal mechanisms.” This is because gun “ownership is not a random decision,” and “homicide victims may possess firearms precisely because they are likely to be victimized.” In other words, the study may actually show a reverse causation in which vulnerability to murder causes people to buy guns.

Summary

Journalism standards give commentators “wide latitude” to express their views, but this is not a license to butcher the truth. In the words of New York Times deputy editorial page editor Trish Hall, “the facts in a piece must be supported and validated. You can have any opinion you would like, but you can’t say that a certain battle began on a certain day if it did not.” Yet, these two Timesop-eds do just that.

By spreading these fabrications, the Times editors, Stephens, and Shermer can cause tremendous harm. They may, for example, convince people who will use a gun to save their own lives or the lives of others from ever getting a gun. Their falsehoods may also convince voters to elect politicians who will appoint judges that effectively repeal the Second Amendment. Stephens actually calls for that in his op-ed. In turn, this could have widespread ripple effects on murder and other crimes.

In the realm of public policy, false information can have deadly consequences. This is not just a problem for the gun control side of this debate but for the gun rights side also. When people place their viewpoints over the truth, they value their biases more than the well-being and very lives of themselves and others.

7 Habits of Chronically Unhappy People [REPOST]

2017-04-03T10:44:00.000-05:00

Tamara Star Creator of the 40-day personal reboot for women, Founder TStar Recruiting, Best Selling Author

I often teach about happiness and what has become exceedingly clear is this: There are seven qualities chronically unhappy people have mastered.

According to Psychology Today, University of California researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky states: "40 percent of our capacity for happiness is within our power to change."

If this is true and it is, there's hope for us all. There are billions of people on our planet and clearly some are truly happy. The rest of us bounce back and forth between happiness and unhappiness depending on the day.

Throughout the years, I've learned there are certain traits and habits chronically unhappy people seem to have mastered. But before diving in with you, let me preface this and say: we all have bad days, even weeks when we fall down in all seven areas.

The difference between a happy and unhappy life is how often and how long we stay there. Here are the 7 qualities of chronically unhappy people.

1. Your default belief is that life is hard. Happy people know life can be hard and tend to bounce through hard times with an attitude of curiosity versus victimhood. They take responsibility for how they got themselves into a mess, and focus on getting themselves out of it as soon as possible.

Perseverance towards problem-solving versus complaining over circumstances is a symptom of a happy person. Unhappy people see themselves as victims of life and stay stuck in the "look what happened to me" attitude versus finding a way through and out the other side.

2. You believe most people can't be trusted. I won't argue that healthy discernment is important, but most happy people are trusting of their fellow man. They believe in the good in people, versus assuming everyone is out to get them. Generally open and friendly towards people they meet, happy people foster a sense of community around themselves and meet new people with an open heart.

Unhappy people are distrustful of most people they meet and assume that strangers can't be trusted. Unfortunately this behavior slowly starts to close the door on any connection outside of an inner-circle and thwarts all chances of meeting new friends.

3. You concentrate on what's wrong in this world versus what's right. There's plenty wrong with this world, no arguments here, yet unhappy people turn a blind eye to what's actually right in this world and instead focus on what's wrong. You can spot them a mile away, they'll be the ones complaining and responding to any positive attributes of our world with "yeah but".

Happy people are aware of global issues, but balance their concern with also seeing what's right. I like to call this keeping both eyes open. Unhappy people tend to close one eye towards anything good in this world in fear they might be distracted from what's wrong. Happy people keep it in perspective. They know our world has problems and they also keep an eye on what's right.

4. You compare yourself to others and harbor jealousy. Unhappy people believe someone else's good fortune steals from their own. They believe there's not enough goodness to go around and constantly compare yours against theirs. This leads to jealousy and resentment.

Happy people know that your good luck and circumstance are merely signs of what they too can aspire to achieve. Happy people believe they carry a unique blueprint that can't be duplicated or stolen from -- by anyone on the planet. They believe in unlimited possibilities and don't get bogged down by thinking one person's good fortune limits their possible outcome in life.

5. You strive to control your life. There's a difference between control and striving to achieve our goals. Happy people take steps daily to achieve their goals, but realize in the end, there's very little control over what life throws their way.

Unhappy people tend to micromanage in effort to control all outcomes and fall apart in dramatic display when life throws a wrench in their plan. Happy people can be just as focused, yet still have the ability to go with the flow and not melt down when life delivers a curve-ball.

The key here is to be goal-oriented and focused, but allow room for letting sh*t happen without falling apart when the best laid plans go awry- because they will. Going with the flow is what happy people have as plan B.

6. You consider your future with worry and fear. There's only so much rent space between your ears. Unhappy people fill their thoughts with what could go wrong versus what might go right.

Happy people take on a healthy dose of delusion and allow themselves to daydream about what they'd like to have life unfold for them. Unhappy people fill that head space with constant worry and fear.

Happy people experience fear and worry, but make an important distinction between feeling it and living it. When fear or worry crosses a happy person's mind, they'll ask themselves if there's an action they can be taken to prevent their fear or worry from happening (there's responsibility again) and they take it. If not, they realize they're spinning in fear and they lay it down.

7. You fill your conversations with gossip and complaints. Unhappy people like to live in the past. What's happened to them and life's hardships are their conversation of choice. When they run out of things to say, they'll turn to other people's lives and gossip.

Happy people live in the now and dream about the future. You can feel their positive vibe from across the room. They're excited about something they're working on, grateful for what they have and dreaming about the possibilities of life.

Obviously none of us are perfect. We're all going to swim in negative waters once in a while, but what matters is how long we stay there and how quickly we work to get ourselves out. Practicing positive habits daily is what sets happy people apart from unhappy people, not doing everything perfectly.

Walk, fall down, get back up again, repeat. It's in the getting back up again where all the difference resides.

Post adapted with permission Daily Transformations photo via Unsplash by Volkan Olmez

A Simple Statement of Faith

2017-04-02T11:22:00.002-05:00

A Simple Statement of Faith

I grabbed this from John Piper's Blog. I love the simplicity of it; the Good News is, after-all, pretty simple. It's all of us who make it more complicated by adding our preference, opinion, and doctrine to God's pure message of freedom through the blood of Christ. We are indeed justified by Faith and not by works. And here is the story of God on which our faith stands.

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1) God created us for his glory.

“Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory” (Isaiah 43:6–7). God made all of us in his own image so that we would image forth, or reflect, his character and moral beauty.

2) Every human should live for God’s glory.

“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). The way to live for the glory of God is to love him (Matthew 22:37), trust him (Romans 4:20), be thankful to him (Psalm 50:23), and obey him (Matthew 5:16). When we do these things, we image forth God’s glory.

3) We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him . . . and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images” (Romans 1:21, 23). None of us has loved or trusted or thanked or obeyed God as we ought.

4) We all deserve eternal punishment.

“The wages of sin is (eternal) death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Those who do not obey the Lord Jesus “will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).

5) In his great mercy, God sent forth his only Son Jesus Christ to provide for sinners the way of eternal life.

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

6) Eternal life is a free gift to all who will trust in Christ as Lord and Savior.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

[repost] 10 Ways You’re Making Your Life Harder Than It Has To Be

2017-03-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

Below is a really great post by Tim Hoch. Very challenging. I'm guilty of several of these; really guilty. It's good to challenge ourselves and get our head straight. For me I have to continuously do each of these: draw near to God (James 4:8), take every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5), and forgive as the Lord forgives me (Col. 3:13). Without these three I never come close to avoiding the following 10 pitfalls. And, as he states, these sure do make life harder than it has to be.

10 Ways You’re Making Your Life Harder Than It Has To Be [repost]

Tim Hoch

1. You ascribe intent.

Another driver cut you off. Your friend never texted you back. Your co-worker went to lunch without you. Everyone can find a reason to be offended on a steady basis. So what caused you to be offended? You assigned bad intent to these otherwise innocuous actions. You took it as a personal affront, a slap in the face.

Happy people do not do this. They don’t take things personally. They don’t ascribe intent to the unintentional actions of others.

2. You’re the star of your own movie.

It is little wonder that you believe the world revolves around you. After all, you have been at the very center of every experience you have ever had.

You are the star of your own movie. You wrote the script. You know how you want it to unfold. You even know how you want it to end.

Unfortunately you forgot to give your script to anyone else. As a result, people are unaware of the role they are supposed to play. Then, when they screw up their lines, or fail to fall in love with you or don’t give you a promotion, your movie is ruined.

Lose your script. Let someone else star once in awhile. Welcome new characters. Embrace plot twists.

3. You fast forward to apocalypse.

I have a bad habit of fast forwarding everything to its worst possible outcome and being pleasantly surprised when the result is marginally better than utter disaster or jail time. My mind unnecessarily wrestles with events that aren’t even remotely likely. My sore throat is cancer. My lost driver’s license fell into the hands of an al-Qaeda operative who will wipe out my savings account.

Negativity only breeds more negativity. It is a happiness riptide. It will carry you away from shore and if you don’t swim away from it, will pull you under.

4. You have unrealistic and/or uncommunicated expectations.

Among their many shortcomings of your family and friends is the harsh reality that they cannot read your mind or anticipate your whims.

Did your boyfriend forget the six and a half month anniversary of your first movie date? Did your girlfriend refuse to call at an appointed hour? Did your friend fail to fawn over your tribal tattoo?

Unmet expectations will be at the root of most of your unhappiness in life. Minimize your expectations, maximize your joy.

5. You are waiting for a sign.

I have a friend who won’t make a decision without receiving a “sign.” I suppose she is waiting on a trumpeted announcement from God. She is constantly paralyzed by a divinity that is either heavily obscured or frustratingly tardy. I’m not disavowing that fate or a higher power plays a role in our lives. I’m just saying that it is better to help shape fate than be governed by it.

6. You don’t take risks.

Two words: Live boldly. Every single time you are offered a choice that involves greater risk, take it. You will lose on many of them but when you add them up at the end of your life you’ll be glad you did.

7. You constantly compare your life to others.

A few years ago I was invited to a nice party at a big warehouse downtown. I was enjoying the smooth jazz, box wine and crustless sandwiches. What more could a guy want? Later in the evening I noticed a steady parade of well-heeled people slide past and disappear into another room. I peeked and saw a large party with beautiful revelers dancing and carrying on like Bacchus. Suddenly my gig wasn’t as fun as it had been all because it didn’t appear to measure up to the party next door- a party I didn’t even know existed until just moments before.

I do this frequently. Those people are having more fun. Mary has a bigger boat. Craig gets all the lucky breaks. Ted has more money. John is better looking.

Stop it.

Always remember what Teddy Roosevelt said: “Comparison is the thief of joy.”

8. You let other people steal from you.

If you had a million dollars in cash under your mattress, you would check it regularly and take precautions to insure it is safe. The one possession you have that is more important than money is time. But you don’t do anything to protect it. In fact you willingly give it to thieves. Selfish people, egotistical people, negative people, people who won’t shut up. Treat your time like Fort Knox. Guard it closely and give it only to those who deserve and respect it.

9. You can’t/won’t let go.

These are getting a little harder aren’t they? That’s because sometimes you have to work at happiness. Some hurdles are too difficult to clear by simply adjusting your point of view or adopting a positive mindset.

Do you need to forgive someone? Do you need to turn your back on a failed relationship? Do you need to come to terms with the death of a loved one?

Life is full of loss. But, in a sense, real happiness would not be possible without it. It helps us appreciate and savor the things that really matter. It helps us grow. It can help us help others grow.

Closure is a word for people who have never really suffered. There’s no such thing. Just try to “manage” your loss. Put it in perspective. You will always have some regret and doubt about your loss. You may always second guess yourself. If only you had said this, or tried that.

You’re not alone. Find someone who understands and talk to that person. Reach out for support. If all else fails, try #10 below.

10. You don’t give back.

One way to deal with loss is to immerse yourself in doing good. Volunteer. Get involved in life.

It doesn’t even have to be a big, structured thing. Say a kind word. Encourage someone. Pay a visit to someone who is alone. Get away from your self-absorption.

When it comes down to it, there are two types of people in this world. There are givers and there are takers. Givers are happy. Takers are miserable. What are you?

Living as Children of Light

2016-05-04T14:41:00.001-05:00

What a great few paragraphs from Ephesians four:

Living as Children of Light

    17  So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer* live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.* 18 They are darkened in their understanding* and separated from the life of God* because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.* 19  Having lost all sensitivity,* they have given themselves over* to sensuality*so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
    20  You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22  You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off* your old self,* which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;* 23  to be made new in the attitude of your minds;* 24  and to put on* the new self,* created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.*
    25  Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully* to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.* 26 "In your anger do not sin"* :* Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27  and do not give the devil a foothold.* 28  He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work,* doing something useful with his own hands,* that he may have something to share with those in need.*
    29  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,* but only what is helpful for building others up*according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,* with whom you were sealed* for the day of redemption.* 31  Get rid of* all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.* 32  Be kind and compassionate to one another,* forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.*

How to Identify Manipulators by Don Miller

2016-04-27T22:22:00.001-05:00

A most excellent repost:

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How to Know If You’re Dealing with a Manipulator

by Donald Miller

A few years ago, I started studying manipulative people. And I started studying them after having been completely taken in over the last several years by a few of them. You just assume all people are good and honest and it’s a shock and borderline offensive to think they aren’t, but the truth is some people are a lot more manipulative than others.

The bottom line is manipulative people try to trick you into siding with them or submitting to their will without directly asking you to do so.

They like to trick people into things.

Whether it’s a business deal or romantic relationship, manipulative people will use guilt, shame, lies and trickery to get what they want.

I’ve been trying to identify the kinds of manipulators I see in the world, for my own personal protection. There are false victims, dramatics, bullies and so on. But there’s one common denominator. It’s important and it’s this: Manipulators have a very difficult time admitting they are wrong.

If I have one piece of advice it’s to never work, fall in love with or for that matter walk a dog for anybody who has a hard time articulating their faults or mistakes.

People who cannot articulate their faults or mistakes see life as a game. They are keeping score.

And they intend to win.

They want you to submit but have no intention of submitting themselves. Theirs is not a world where we are supposed to create intimacy and trust through grace, but a world where we are supposed to accumulate power and security by tricking the people around us.

The best book I’ve read about manipulators is a book called Who’s Pulling Your Strings by Harriet Braiker.

I would never have agreed with the idea that some people should be avoided because they’re manipulators ten years ago.

But I live by that idea now.

And I’m happier.

I have a friend at the Department of Justice who once said to me “Don, 90% of people’s problems could be solved if they just chose the right people to work with or to love.”

It took me awhile, but I agree with him.

Stay away from manipulators. If they can’t articulate their mistakes or faults, they’re pretending to be superhuman and they’re playing a game. And you can be sure, you’ll lose.

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Read more from Don Miller at http://storylineblog.com

A Really Great App

2016-03-23T12:46:00.001-05:00

I have my friend Gabe to thank for showing me the Mantis Bible Study App. -- http://mantisbible.com

For six years this has been my favorite tool for studying Scripture. And one of my favorite things to do with it is simply word searches. Search the word "love" and it turns up 505 results. "Christ" = 499. "Jesus" gets an even 1000. "God" also has 1000 passages. Search "blood" and there are 352 verses to read. "Spirit" reveals 477 versus. And "sin" shows 420.

I love the app because of how easy it makes it to study the Bible for yourself. Of course there are lots of online tools as well like Biblegateway.com. It's important to listen to good teachers but it's more important to study and learn for ourselves, and to apply and pray Scriptures into our hearts. We must have our own theology, a belief system that we own and live by. This can only come from personal investigation of God's Commandments, followed by obedience. Searching words like "repent", "forgive", and "love", put us on a path of choice. God's Commandments, God's scripture, is for our own spiritual good. If you believe someone else is in charge of your spiritual walk and your spiritual health then you are mistaken. Christ is the only mediator between God and man. The Scriptures inform and educate us about God's heart and reveal a clear desire that he has for each one of us = freedom.

Mantis is a really great app but it's only a tool that leads us to the Truth. I like the easy technology but even if we were studying scrolls passed down to us from the apostle Paul himself the effect on our hearts should be the same.

Where, then, is boasting?

2016-01-18T10:37:00.001-06:00

There are some things in scripture and in God's plan that are so deeply spiritual they cut to the very core of who we are and how we think. Justification is one of these things. So many questions: How are we justified? Why are we justified? Why are we guilty before being justified? Can we boast that we are justified?

That justice even exists in God's plan tells us one very important thing: it is needed. We are guilty. We are fallen. We are separated from God. Sin is the wall between us and our Maker. We cannot get to Him because He is Holy. And we are not. A debt must be paid for this wall of sin and it cannot come from us.

Paul's letter to the Romans can be a bit confusing. The first 4 chapters are written to the Jews in Rome. Paul was addressing their misunderstanding about justification. They continued to think justification came by works, by status, and by obedience to the law. Paul declares the good news is much bigger now; much broader and wider than a handful of Jews. Sure, the Law came through them, the "Chosen" people. But now the grace of God extends even to the Gentiles, those not of Jewish descent. Now we are all God's Chosen people. Justification by the blood of Christ now reaches all who believe.

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. -3:21

It's super clear. But still, if you've been bragging your whole life about being a Jew you might have trouble. It might now even seem fair. You had the bloodline of Abraham before the blood of Christ. It was enough for your parents and their parents before them. And what about the tedious obedience to all those laws?!? Jews did that. Not Gentiles. Wait. What? Gentiles get a free pass?!? After all these years, decades and centuries even?! Now the Good News is getting personal. That is why Paul continues with this:

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

There are some things in scripture and in God's plan that are so deeply spiritual they cut to the very core of who we are and how we think. Justification is one of these things.The Jews needed to hear that they were no better than the Gentiles because both are justified by faith in the blood of Christ. What about today? In the world we live in are there not those who think they are better than others? Maybe we are tempted to think like the Jews did, that maybe we are better than some other "types" of Christians. Yes. Unfortunately. Boasting is not excluded. But it should be.

Is God the God of your church only?

Is God the God of missionaries only?

... of worship leaders only?

... of evangelists only?

... of the poor only?

Is God the God of the _______ only?

The list could go on ... indefinitely. Just fill in the blank.

If you have faith in Christ and in His blood, then, according to the Gospel laid out here in scripture, by the Spirit of God, you are justified!! Don't listen to those who tell you otherwise; those who place conditions on your salvation. There is only One condition. You are redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb! -- not by works, by status, or by obedience to the law.

Where, then, is boasting?

Boasting is excluded because we are included by faith.

Romans 3 Shows we are Justified by Faith

2015-12-22T12:12:00.001-06:00

It is sad that so many believers believe justification comes through something we do. This false teaching leaves tens of thousands insecure, fearful, and un-free. What's more, the truth is made so plain by Paul in his letter to Christians in Rome:

This righteousness from God*comes through faith* in Jesus Christ* to all who believe.* There is no difference,* 23 for all have sinned* and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified*freely by his grace* through the redemption* that came by Christ Jesus. 25 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* - 26 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.

We are indeed made free by the blood of Christ and the sacrifice of God. In this salvation, our only participating activity is faith and even that is made possible by the Spirit. The result of knowing our righteousness and redemption come only from the blood of Christ is that we are fully free and therefore motivated to do good works. These works do not make us more redeemed or more "Christian." So there is no place for judging a neighbor's salvation by their works. Works are not an indicator of what is in the heart. For many do good works but are still not saved by faith in Christ. What we are left with is simply this: Those who believe God saved us through faith in Christ's blood are brothers and sisters in Christ. Denomination does not matter where blood is involved. Together we can serve with a thankful and full heart. Side by side. And free.

midnight clear by chris tomlin

2015-12-22T11:51:00.001-06:00

http://youtu.be/Fb2HxHEeoyE

It came upon a midnight clear

That glorious song of old

From angels bending near the earth

To touch their harps of gold

Peace on the earth, goodwill to men

From heaven's all gracious King

The world in solemn stillness lay

To hear the angels sing

Still through the cloven skies they come

With peaceful wings unfurled

And still their heavenly music floats

Through all the weary world

And man at war with man hears not

The love song which they bring

O hush the noise and cease the strife

And hear the angels sing

Glory to God in the highest

Glory to God evermore

Good news, great joy for all

Melody breaks through the silence

Christ, the Savior is born!

Jesus, the love song of God!

Glory to God in the highest

Glory to God evermore

Good news, great joy for all

Melody breaks through the silence

Christ, the Savior is born!

Jesus, the love song of God!

You're the love song

You so loved the world

You're the love song

It came upon the midnight clear

That glorious song of old

From angels bending near the earth

To touch their harps of gold

Cinderella on Forgiveness

2015-11-29T11:55:00.001-06:00

(Spoiler alert!)

We watched the new Cinderella with the family last night. Wonderful remake in my opinion. I was especially impressed by the focus on forgiveness at the end. Cinderella completely forgives her wicked stepmother, even tho the stepmother never repented of her wickedness. Nor did she apologize. The result is Cinderella is 100% free to live happily ever after. It's so biblical. Just look up "forgiveness." But did you know there were many who did not like the ending of this renewed fairy tale? That's right. A good number of wanted to see punishment and revenge.

According to interviews by Bryan Alexander of NBC, Forgiveness was Debated in the Ending.

People wanted scenes where the stepmother was definitively stripped of her wealth and seen begging on the streets," says Branagh. "It was interesting to see audiences split along lines on an ending that celebrated forgiveness or in punishment, retribution and revenge.

"It indicates how interestingly difficult some people find the generosity of spirit, self-sacrifice and ability to turn the other cheek that Cinderella has," says Branagh. "Some people are irritated by it; they see it as being a patsy or a victim. The story exposes the rawness of those feelings."

It's amazing how so many people think that if they can only see revenge, justice, retribution, or punishment on those who hurt them it will make them happier. But it does not. Unforgiveness only leads to one thing: misery. God warns of this and commands us to forgive.

Matthew 6:12;Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.*

Matthew 6:14;For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.*

Matthew 6:15;But if you do not forgive me their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.*

Matthew 9:6;But so that you may know that the Son of Man* has authority on earth to forgive sins..." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home."

Matthew 18:21;Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?* Up to seven times?"*
Matthew 18:35;"This is how my heavenly Father Will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."*

Colossians 3:13;Bear with each other* and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.*

It's important to follow God's instruction. He provides it so that we might be free. We can choose to be courageous and kind, as did Cinderella, who then lived with a prince. Or we can hold onto bitterness and un-forgiveness and end up imprisoned by our emotions, just as did the Stepmother. It's our choice.

Pain is Good if God is Glorified: Questions to ask ourselves about thefruit of the Spirit.

2015-10-26T13:21:00.001-05:00

Here's a great post on the fruit of the Spirit with really great questions to ask ourselves after each: http://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/faith/essentials/growing-in-your-faith/10-ideas-reflecting-the-fruit-of-the-spirit

Here are the questions he asks (but really, read the terrific paragraphs in the post before each question):

For love: Question: Am I motivated to do for others as Christ has done for me, or am I giving in order to receive something in return?

Joy: Question: Am I experiencing a joy of life on a regular basis, or is my happiness dependent on things going smoothly in my day?

Peace: Question: Do I find myself frazzled by the crashing waves of turmoil in my life, or am I experiencing “the peace that passes all comprehension” (Philippians 4:6-7)?

Patience: Question: Am I easily set off when things go wrong or people irritate me, or am I able to keep a godly perspective in the face of life’s irritations?

Kindness: Question: Is it my goal to serve others with kindness, or am I too focused on my own needs, desires or problems to let the goodness of God overflow to others?

Goodness: Question: Does my life reflect the holiness of God, and do I desire to see others experience God at a deep level in their own lives?

Faithfulness: Question: Are there areas of hypocrisy and indifference toward others in my life, or is my life characterized by faith in Christ and faithfulness to those around me?

Gentleness: Question: Do I come across to others as brash and headstrong, or am I allowing the grace of God to flow through me to others?

Self-control: Question: Are my fleshly desires controlling my life, or am I allowing the Spirit to direct me to the things that please God and serve others?

These are tough questions. It's humbling to realize there are some areas I might be doing ok with and some of these where I need a whole lot of work! The real measurement, of course, is not an evaluation of myself but what my closest friends and my wife think of me. It's humbling to ask them their opinion. But we must. We must also ask God to show us where we need an increase in one or more of these. And we must realize it's only His power that can bring that increase.

The questions make the application hit home for me. I, like you, have heard countless teachings on the fruit of the Spirit. But it's not an intellectual thing, like a list to memorize. These are virtues we NEED worked into our character so that we can reflect the living Christ in our lives.

The article closes with the following last question:

"10. Walk by the Spirit. While not a fruit of the Spirit, the final item on the checkup produces all nine qualities listed above. When we follow the Spirit’s lead instead of being led by our self-focused desires, He produces the fruit.

But even when we don’t walk by the Spirit, He is the very one who convicts us that things are not in proper order in our lives.

God promises that if we are willing to admit that we have been walking our own way and ask for His forgiveness and cleansing, He will empower us through His Spirit to live above ourselves and live the abundant life for which He has created us.

Question: Am I actively depending on the Holy Spirit to guide me in God’s ways so I don’t get wrapped up in myself? If not, am I willing to confess to God that His ways are better than mine, and that I need the Spirit’s guidance to live above the fray?"

There certainly is a constant battle between self and the Spirit. Only when we recognize this battle is ever present, and that we need to continually confess our weaknesses and call on God to send his Spirit, can we see a growth in the fruits.

Having fruit in our lives is important because we are known by them. There is much to be said of fruit in John 15. We are actually called by God to bear fruit. We can be sure that he will prune the branches - the areas of our life - where we are not producing good fruit. But what a great and glorious process! Not only does God care enough to sacrifice his son for our sins he sends his Spirit to renew and remake our hearts. What an honor to be part of the building the kingdom of God. But we must always remember that building begins with brokenness and humility. We must always go before God and ask for more fruit. Fruit does not come naturally, and our flesh will always war against the fruits of the Spirit.

I'm sure I'll read these questions above several more times, as painful as the answers might be. Pain is good, however, if God is glorified in the end.

Pride vs humility.

2015-10-19T13:36:00.001-05:00

One cannot study pride versus humilty without paying a visit to the Proverbs.

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." -11:2

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." -16:18

"Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor." -18:12

Pride leads to disgrace, destruction and downfall. While humilty leads to wisdom and honor. Pride versus humility. These are two very different conditions of the heart. But each path is a choice. Pride is a choice. And humilty is a choice. These are not external or imposed on us. Another person does not make me choose pride or humilty. I choose one or the other on my own. But I cannot choose humilty without God's help.

Pride is of the flesh and humilty is of the Spirit. Since the flesh is weak pride exists to some degree in all people. So the Spirit is needed to break down pride. The choice we must make is to reject pride by inviting the Spirit to destroy the work of pride in our hearts. This invitation is the first and most important act of humilty. A person growing more humble is the one who has requested this work of the Spirit with great repetition and urgency. While a person growing more proud has given into the flesh with repetition and does not see the urgent need of the Spirit. In fact ones pride often fools them into thinking they are walking in the Spirit. This is where we need outside attention from trusted friends.

One prerequisite to pride is blindness to it. The one who is proud does not know it. If we did know we would repent. Pride keeps us in the dark so that more and more pride can be added on and we can move further and further away from humilty. This is Satan's aim, to destroy us by making us blind to our pride. Sometimes only a trusted friend can tell us we have become proud. Where we may be blind another can see for us. In my life the person most often pointing out my pride is my wife. I gave her permission to be honest with me and that has saved me from downfall more times than I can count. But what if downfall does come?

If the Spirit and our friends cannot get through to us, and pride does lead to downfall and destruction, what then? Fortunately, God is a God of forgiveness. Downfall may break us but brokenness can lead to humilty and to a rebirth. With God it's never over. We don't have to look very hard to find examples. Paul, Peter, and Jonah were all proud. They reached brokenness and then God remade them. It's never over for our heart unless we decide it is over.

God showed himself to the world through Christ to be a God of humilty. Jesus did not grasp for greatness but instead he humbled himself on the cross (Phillipians 2). As a result he was honored by the Father. Jesus heeded the wisdom of the Proverbs and so should we.

"A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor." -29:23

What is dad trying to teach me? What should I learn here?

2015-10-10T12:14:00.001-05:00

I'll admit, I have a love-hate relationship with God's discipline. On the one hand he tells me He disciplines me because He loves me and considers me to be a "legitimate child." But on the other hand, well, discipline is just hard! Consider Hebrews 12:

" 5  Have you forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
    6  because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
    7  Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8  If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9  Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10  Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

When I'm disciplining one of my five sons, or my one daughter, I always look for one thing: Is this discipline going all the way into their hearts? I can correct behavior with punishment but what I'm really after is lasting character change. So I almost always stop and talk to them. Each time, I explain the world a little more and describe how they fit into it. Depending on their age (my oldest is 13 and youngest is 6) I want them to gain insight into their own hearts and ultimately come out a little more like Christ. I can always tell when they're resisting the deeper lessons I'm trying to teach. Sometimes their resistance means they get talked to for quite awhile as I try different angles to get my points across. If I continue to have trouble sometimes I stop and make them say, "What is dad trying to teach me here?" Ultimately I'm after a true lesson learned. It takes patience but it sure is worth it to see their character develope.

God does the same with us. We start going thru something hard, whether the result of our own mistakes or the mistakes of someone else, and we begin to feel we are under God's discipline. The very best thing we can do first is ask, "God, what do I need to learn here? What lesson are you trying to teach me?" We should ask Him everyday until we have learned the lesson he is trying to teach us. If discipline goes on for awhile we should not loose heart because it is our heart He is trying to change. But beware of pride.

When I'm trying to work into my kids a better character the main enemy is always, without a doubt, pride. I face off with their pride more times than not. They start out blaming others, making excuses, or shutting down. It's my goal to cut thru their ego and help them truly grow. Sometimes, as the pride falls, they hang their heads in shame over what they've done, so I say, "Look up at me. Look me in the eyes. I love you!" I stay at it until I'm satisfied they have accepted my forgiveness, taken their due responsibility and have learned something valuable. Character does not develop in an instant. It takes working against their pride.

The main enemy of God's discipline with us is also pride. We face a hardship and we blame others, make excuses, or shut down. I've done this with God too many times to count. My ego is enlarged and I'm at risk of missing the lesson and the heart change. Fortunately God stays after me until I learn the lesson. If I hang my head in shame He says, "Look up at me. I love you. I gave my Son for you. You are my child." He patiently stays at it with me until I've accepted His forgiveness, taken due responsibility, and learned something valuable.

In my parenting of my children and in God's fathering of me the same holds true in this: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." The effort to discipline is worth it for April and I because we get to see our kids at peace. The same is true of God. He disciplines us because he wants us to be at peace.

Can we be trained by God's discipline? That's up to us. It is certainly not easy to go thru God's discipline. However, the harvest of righteousness and peace is sure worth letting Him do so. The fact that we even receive His discipline is the best news for it means we are indeed legitimate children.

Lessons in Humilty

2015-10-07T18:17:00.001-05:00

Jesus once said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from

me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find

rest for your souls."

Jesus was and is the perfect example of humilty. He invites us to learn from him, to take his yoke. His yoke is easy and light because gentleness and humilty is light. Pride is heavy. Pride weighs down the soul and there is no rest. Only the burden can be felt on our back. Pride feeds the burden. Makes it heavier and heavier. Eventually the back will break under our pride. And we will fall.

Humilty, on the otherhand, and it's close campanion, gentleness, lifts the yoke until it is barely felt. The more of these two virtues we possess the lighter our burdens in the world become. The world does not teach humilty of heart. Only Christ teaches such things to his followers. But more than a teaching he says he "is" gentle and humble of heart. We know him to be these because of the way he is with us. More so we know it is true because in those moments when we do find a humble and gentle path we indeed find rest for our souls, just as he promised.

I recently witnessed this truth principe in action. A year ago some married friends of ours split up. She held off divorce to see if the man could change. The man was full of pride and self defenses. And his soul was far from at rest. But through the power of the Spirit he chose a humble and gentle path. He accepted his circumstances and lowered himself. He embraced humilty to such a degree that God began to remake him. His transformation was so astounding that she invited him back home.

Recently the two of them went out to lunch. She asked him, "Do you remember when you asked me what I wanted in a husband?" He said, "Yes." She continued, "Well, I wrote it down a year ago and today I would like to show you the list and you can see how you have become that man." His eyes widened and he immediately replied, "No!" "No, I do not want to see that list. My help comes from the Lord and I trust he will continue to change me as long as I focus on him."

The husband humbled himself and God lifted him up. It's amazing but true. And it's amazingly true in every circumstance. I looked the man in the eyes a few days ago and you know what I saw? A very, very light soul. A soul certainly at rest. It's a beautiful and inspiring sight to see - a man's soul at rest in His Lord.

God keeps his promises.

Matthew 11:29 >>
Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me,* for I am gentle andhumble in heart, and you will findrest for your souls.*

Luke (2)
Luke 1:48 >>
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.*From now on all generations will call me blessed,*

Luke 1:52 >>
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.*

Ephesians (1)
Ephesians 4:2 >>
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another* in love.

James 4:6 >>
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."* *

James 4:10 >>
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.*

1 Peter (3)
1 Peter 3:8 >>
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another;* be sympathetic, love as brothers,*be compassionate and humble.*

1 Peter 5:5 >>
Young men, in the same way be submissive* to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility* toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."* *

1 Peter 5:6 >>
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.*

Rules for Living

2015-09-26T15:32:00.001-05:00

I'll admit it. I've had trouble the last few years fully setting my heart "on things above." Economic collapse. Politics. Global threats. Etc etc etc. I called it being educated but it's really a mind "set on earthly things" instead of on the "things above." So it's no joke that I need the following encouragement from Paul's letters.

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ,* set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.* 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.* 3 For you died,* and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your* life,*appears,* then you also will appear with him in glory.*

5 Put to death,* therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:* sexual immorality,* impurity, lust, evil desires and greed,* which is idolatry.* 6 Because of these, the wrath of God* is coming.* 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.* 8 But now you must rid yourselves* of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander,* and filthy language from your lips.* 9 Do not lie to each other,* since you have taken off your old self* with its practices 10 and have put on the new self,* which is being renewed* in knowledge in the image of its Creator.* 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew,* circumcised or uncircumcised,* barbarian, Scythian, slave or free,* but Christ is all,* and is in all.

12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves* with compassion, kindness, humility,* gentleness and patience.* 13 Bear with each other* and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.* 14 And over all these virtues put on love,* which binds them all together in perfect unity.*

15 Let the peace of Christ* rule in your hearts, since as members of one body* you were called to peace.*And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ* dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom,* and as you sing psalms,* hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.* 17 And whatever you do,* whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks* to God the Father through him.*

- Colossians 3

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad mini

Dinosaur Questions and Answers

2015-01-08T08:07:00.001-06:00

Dinosaur Questions and Answers

Key articles
Did dinosaurs really die out millions of years ago? Were they killed by a meteor?
New evidence of Noah’s Flood from Mexico
‘Gastroliths’ deposited by mass flow
Dinosaur herd buried in Noah’s Flood in Inner Mongolia, China
Dinosaur demise did not jump start mammal evolution

Dinosaur blood cells, blood vessels and proteins: have they been found, and how could they have survived the alleged millions of years?

What about dinosaur footprints?

Is there evidence that humans and dinosaurs coexisted in the recent past?

Were dinosaurs on Noah’s ark? How could they fit?

How did dinosaurs live?

Did birds really evolve from dinosaurs?

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Where are you while reading this article? In the privacy of your own home? The internet, and this site in particular, can be a powerful tool for reaching those who would never go to church. Keep the penetration going by supporting this outreach. Support this site

Noah's Flood Questions and Answers

2015-01-08T06:54:00.001-06:00

Our main Q&A (FAQ) Page

Noah’s Flood Questions and Answers

Key Articles

Was Noah’s Flood global or local?

What sort of damage would a global flood cause?

Is Noah’s flood feasible?

Was Noah’s Flood really just a local flood in the Black Sea area?

How do creation and global flood legends from different cultures compare to the biblical account?

Shunning Due to Fear

2014-10-01T07:21:00.001-05:00

As part of a series of posts on spiritual abuse I add a few on the practice of shunning.

Shunning in a church is when a person or a family leaves a church and is told by a church leader or church leadership that people remaining in the church should avoid them. Shunning has been around as long as there have been churches. It's nothing new. It can be very discouraging to the persons being shunned. In my opinion it is even more destructive to the spirituality of those who are doing the shunning. There are times when we are actually commanded to shun. But as we will see these are in regards to attacks on the core faith or denial of Christ. More often, unfortunately, the practice of shunning is done in order to create fear.

Shunning is most often about striking fear in the hearts of those who are STILL in the church.

We should not be mislead here. Shunning is most often NOT about the person or the family who has left. Church shunning is really about maintaining the status quo and the control over those who are still in the church. This is done by making them afraid to buck the system or question set doctrines or traditions. More specifically, the goal of shunning is to make people still in the church afraid of loosing their friends, family, and/or good reputation.

In most cases the church network is a tight network of friends and family and often the primary source of socializing and community. Since most legalistic churches have set doctrines, practices, and traditions that have been handed down from one generation to the next, if a person questions these they are often times threatening the central power of the church's hierarchy. If the person will not conform to the status quo and give up the fight they are forced out by rejection, or openly "disfellowshipped" (asked to leave).

Once the rebel is gone the real engine of religious shunning kicks in with the goal of making sure those who remain are not tempted to also question the church's doctrines, practices, or traditions. The people still in the church take note of what has happened to the "rebel" of the church. They see how they are shunned, how they lost their friends and how the slander has damaged their reputation. If shunning works the remaining members are afraid of the same thing happening to them. So they most often remain quiet. Even if they believe something different than the leaders of the church they will not risk being cut off from friends and family. Shunning has accomplished its goal of striking fear in the hearts of those who remain in the church.

Shunning is practiced in churches because the church members, and the church leader or leadership are insecure.

If a church leader or church leadership is teaching the unconditional love of God and the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross for the sins of mankind, which makes us all brothers and sisters in Christ, then there is nothing to be insecure about. But if a church leader is not holding up the atonement as central, of if he is teaching that his church is better then other churches because "we believe this" or "we don't believe that," or "we do this" or "we don't do that," then his church is built in sinking sand. This makes him and everyone else insecure.

(Important: Make no mistake, if a church leader is NOT teaching "God so loved the world he gave his only Son" then he is teaching salvation by works. There is no middle ground. Either God has made us right by the blood of Christ or WE are trying to make ourselves right with God by what we do, don't do, think, or believe.)

At the heart of all shunning is an insecure church leader or church leadership that has not built a foundation on the solid rock of Christ's sacrifice but on some form or works-righteousness. In many cases this works-based "gospel" sounds quite good, noble, or right. It might be service, sacrifice, disciple making, or rigorous Bible study. It might be church reform such as house churching or community "life." But it is still works-based and not simply a teaching of "Christ and Him crucified" as Paul emphasized (1 Cor. 2:2).

The result of promoting a form of works-righteousness is insecure church members who focus on performance. And so the sinking sand is under foot and the church leader or leadership is constantly battling to keep the church together. This in turn makes the church leader incredibly insecure. And so this insecurity leads to the practice of shunning.

Shunning is often times a very subtle shifting of sin.

Religious shunning is not just the dramatic, obvious stories. More often church shunning is quite subtle and is often times the shifting of the church leader's sins onto another. This is known in secular circles as psychological projection. Sometimes a church leader himself can be heavily involved in gossip, slander, or character assassinations but not see his own faults. Or he may justify these practices and attitudes in his mind somehow. Then he might project his own sin onto others, believing this is going on with members of his church. He is shifting - or projecting - his own sins onto others.

In an effort to protect himself from guilt he teaches the church to shun those who threaten his power or who might expose his sin. If people within the church do not study the scriptures for themselves and stand up against the leader or leaders the abuse can go on indefinitely. There are those called to fight within a church. If the abuse goes on the persons most spiritually hurt in the process are not the ones being shunned but the church membership and the authority figures themselves.

It's time to fix our eyes on The unconditional love of Christ. Jesus Christ did not teach shunning but instead demonstrated inclusion. Dwelling on the mighty love of God, and excepting fully our new Identity In Christ, turns the shifting sand into solid concrete. If you know who you are, your new creation status, you have nothing to fear.

People may come and go from your church but you have nothing to fear. People may disagree with you and not except your most cherished doctrines but you have nothing to fear. People may not even like you or your preaching or your personality but you have nothing to fear. You, my friend, were bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is what truly matters.

Paul came to teach "nothing but Christ and him crucified." If you determine from this day forward to teach the same then it does not matter if your church grows or shrinks you have nothing to fear. There is no more need to shun. You have nothing to fear.

You have nothing to fear because everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord is your brother or your sister in Christ.

How to Become a Cult Leader (In Seven Easy Lessons)

2014-09-04T07:28:00.001-05:00

Posted by Israel Wayne on Sep 3, 2014.

While I understand that being a cult leader isn’t something to which most people aspire, it seems to me that there are always a number of folks out there (especially religious folks) who are about two steps away from acquiring this infamous distinction; they just don’t know it yet. Or maybe they’ve tried hard and just haven’t had the breaks. Whatever the case, I’m going to help you out by sharing the skinny on what it takes to exercise mind control over other people.

(BTW, this article is a satire that contains a serious point stated in an entertaining style. Just have to say that for all my readers who are oblivious to subtleties! )

Now when I use the term “Cult Leader,” I’m certainly meaning in the classic sense of guys like Jim Jones, David Koresh, etc., but I’m not limiting it to that. The bully tactics described in this essay can also be applied (in a general but lesser extent) to other relationships, utilized by spouses, parents, employers, ministry leaders, or even just controlling friends. Here are the seven strategies you need to develop:

1-Have a Persuasive, Charismatic Personality

To begin with you have to be persuasive. People achieve this in different ways. Some use a winsome charm to seduce followers into trusting them. Others use the more enigmatic approach. For example, if you are man, growing a really long beard and refusing to smile often gives you a certain kind of austere distance that intimidates people into fearing you a bit, and making them suppose you are really wise at the same time (after all, the heavy dudes in the Bible all had beards, right?). It is not uncommon for cult leaders to be a bit eccentric in their style, mannerisms, dress and customs, so don’t be afraid to have a flair for the uncommon and avant-garde. Keeping a bit of a relational distance from your followers, especially at strategic times, can help to create a mystique that is useful.

2-Surround Yourself With “Yes Men”

The next big thing is to make sure that nobody in your sphere is ever going to challenge you or call you out. Most healthy Christians will make sure that there is someone in their life who can look them in the eye and tell them they are wrong. However, cult leaders avoid accountability like the plague. They will quickly shun, discredit, slander or dismiss anyone who will challenge their authority. You are top dog. Make sure everyone beneath you knows it! Remind them if you need to! If someone leaves your influence, have the propaganda machine greased and ready to run an undermining smear campaign on them that will make them rue the day they ever spoke up or dared to leave.

3-Emphasize Extra-Biblical Revelation

People aren’t inclined to listen to you, because they assume that their opinion is just as good as yours. UNLESS, you have God on your side. Now there are two ways to have God on your side. The first is to simply tell them what the Bible says. This is what every Bible teacher worth his salt does every Sunday. But that doesn’t tend to nurture cult-like followers. You see, people will just follow God, based on what He says, but they aren’t really following YOU for what YOU say. This is where extra-Biblical revelation comes in. If you take something that has its roots (in some way, no matter how stretched) in the Scriptures, you can then come up with your own unique twist and some people will inevitably believe you. If you can convince them that God has spoken to you directly, in a unique way, and that you have an enlightened vision on the future, or on life’s principles, or on deeper spirituality, and that you (and your followers) get this, and no one else does, you create an inside track, and people, who love being special, will often follow you. As a side note, beware of people who use run-on sentences with too many commas. They are also suspect (but for different reasons).

Special words of prophesy, regarding specific decisions or life choices of another person are often effective. A few I’ve heard employed by others are: “God told me that He wants you to sell your house and move closer to our community,” or “God is telling you that He is setting you free from the bondage of your current marriage (so you can sleep with me of course!).”

4-Build Them Up, Isolate them, and Tear Them Down

Speaking of being special, cult leaders often look for people who are on the fringes of society. One of the reasons some of these folks are on the fringes is because they are zealous and wholehearted. Many people have become tired of just doing the church bit. They don’t want to just play Christianity, they want reality. They are often attracted to others who are in 100%. Many cult leaders then bring them in with open arms, accepting them (often when no one else would) and building them up. Once the person feels loved and accepted, the tearing down begins. The cult leader usually then systematically tears a person down and makes them feel very small and worthless, apart from the leader. Isolation is often a key component of success here. Keeping people away from their family members, friends from other persuasions, or other churches is vital. They need to get all of their information, and have all of their social interaction, center around you and your group.

5-Tell Others What to Do and Give Ultimatums

A good cult leader is never content to govern his or her own affairs. He needs to run everyone else’s life too! Now, granted, there are spheres where people need to exert proper, responsible authority over others: Parents over young children, the civil magistrate over criminals, employers over employees, etc. Without structure, chaos reigns and anarchy ensues. Proper jurisdiction of authority isn’t what I’m discussing here, however. I’m talking about you taking your place as the head-honcho, the grand poobah, the big cheese, the mighty kahuna in every sphere that moves. You need to have a definite opinion about the decisions of others, and then give them some kind of serious ultimatum if they violate your wishes. The ultimatum can range from verbal abuse, to cutting off relationship, to the silent treatment, to imprecatory prayers…get creative. There are lots of workable options for shunning and punishing those who question your authority.

6-Create Tests of Loyalty

Every so often, you need to create a scenario that enables people to demonstrate how far they will go to be loyal to you and to your cause. You have to weed out the weak and unwilling. Master cult leaders all know that they need to “boil the frog slowly,” by developing this loyalty through intimidation and scare tactics over the long haul. You can’t create an unquestioning follower overnight, so work it over time. Crossing boundaries of sexual propriety and/or other areas of personal space (life decisions) is usually met with resistance, but some people will cross even these boundaries if they believe God requires it of them (or they want to please their cult leader / group).

7-Make Sure You Mediate Their Relationship with God

One of the worst possible mistakes you could make is to encourage your followers to read widely, study Scripture for themselves (without your unique twist on it), hear from God on their own, fellowship with others outside of your little circle, and think that they can have a relationship with God that doesn’t involve you in some substantive way. They need to see that their relationship with God (if not their very salvation) hinges on their relationship with YOU! After all, they were nothing before they found you, and apart from you, they will be nothing again. You hear from God, they don’t (can’t) apart from you. This is a linchpin to your success.

Well, there you go! Seven steps to creating your new cult leader persona. Of course, it takes the right kind of people to enable you, which can be a bit difficult to find, but they are out there, you just have to keep looking. There are always those who, rather than thinking for themselves, will put their blind hope and faith in a person, and allow themselves to be consumed with pleasing that individual (or that group) at all cost (even the cost of their health, their sanity, or in some cases, their very lives).

Note: Lest you think I have been flippant here about these issues, please rest assured that I AM NOT! I care deeply for people who have been, or currently are, or may become influenced by someone with cult-like tendencies. I sincerely hope that this article, even with its entertaining back-handed style, will help individuals and families avoid being entrapped in a harmful and oppressive situation (or becoming over-bearing and abusive in their relationships with others).

Please remember that GOD LOVES YOU!!! You are precious to Him, and His approval of you is not linked to the approval of a person. There is, of course, the blessing of proper church authority, and godly church discipline is there for our good, if we are living in clear sin. However, when the church (or an individual) reaches across the line and begins exerting authority on matters that are not clearly outlined as sinful in the Bible, that church is becoming cultic, and you need to beware (and preferably leave).

This may sound cliche (and is certainly easier said than done) but seek out a church that believes and teaches the entire Word of God, is theologically sound, and has humble servant-leaders. Find a healthy community of believes with whom you can walk together in your spiritual journey. If you have been victimized by a cult-like experience, don’t be afraid to seek out Biblical Counseling from a trained, certified Biblical counselor from ACBC (NANC) at www.BiblicalCounseling.org. You need people who will encourage and lovingly disciple you, without tearing you down. And most importantly, be studying the Word of God for yourself daily, so you will know the the Bible really teaches, and you will be less like to be drawn into error. May God richly bless you as you seek to live for Him!

For more info:

How to Avoid a Cult of Personality (for Pastors)

Avoiding a Cult (by Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn)

How Can You Recognize if You are in a Cult?

Definition of a Cult

Israel Wayne is an Author and Conference Speaker and the Director of Family Renewal, LLC. He is also the Site Editor for www.ChristianWorldview.net.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Flood of Evidence...

2014-06-25T08:17:00.001-05:00

Flood!

by Rebecca Conolly and Russell Grigg

Published: October 12, 2011

“When mankind were overwhelmed with the deluge, none were preserved but a man named Coxcox … and a woman called Xochiquetzal, who saved themselves in a little bark, and having afterwards got to land upon a mountain called by them Colhuacan, had there a great many children; … these children were all born dumb, until a dove from a lofty tree imparted to them languages, but differing so much that they could not understand one another.”¹

A garbled version of the biblical accounts of Noah and Babel? Perhaps. This story comes from the Aztecs of Mexico—one of many such tales, from geographically remote and widely divergent cultures, that speak of a cataclysmic flood.

A wealth of deluge legends

Mesopotamia

Tablets excavated from Iraq recount the myths of ancient Mesopotamia. They speak of a vanished culture in Sumer and of a king called Gilgamesh. He was renowned for his great wisdom and knowledge. Gilgamesh related the story of a worldwide flood. This was told to him by Utnapishtim, a king of a pre-flood civilisation and a survivor of the catastrophe.

The story relates that Ea, lord of the waters and man’s guardian, warned Utnapishtim of the deluge by which the gods planned to exterminate mankind. Ea told Utnapishtim to “tear down your house and build a boat” and to “take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures. … [E]ach side of the deck measured one hundred and twenty cubits, making a square”. There were seven decks in all. The flood itself was frightening and full of fury. Utnapishtim recounted that ‘the god of the storm turned daylight to darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup’. Once the tempest had subsided, Utnapishtim ‘looked at the face of the world and there was silence, all mankind was returned to clay. The surface of the sea stretched flat as a rooftop … on every side was the waste of water’. Utnapishtim loosed a dove who returned finding no resting place, and then a swallow with the same result. Finally, a loosed raven did not return. The boat came to ground on a mountaintop and Utnapishtim offered a sacrifice.²

North American Indians

The North American Indians have several flood stories. One from the Choctaw tribe tells how, long ago, men became so corrupt that the Great Spirit destroyed them in a flood. Only one man was saved—a prophet whose warnings the people disregarded, and whom the Great Spirit then directed to build a raft from sassafras logs. After many weeks, a small bird guided the prophet to an island where the Great Spirit changed the bird into a beautiful woman who became the wife of the prophet. Their children then repopulated the world.³

Australian Aboriginal flood stories

Likewise, there are several Australian Aboriginal flood stories. One tells how, long ago, there was a flood that covered the mountains so that many of the Nurrumbunguttias, or spirit men and women, were drowned. Others, including Pund-jil, were caught up by a whirlwind into the sky. When the waters receded, and the mountains appeared again, and the sea went back into its own place, the son and daughter of Pund-jil ‘went back to earth and became the first of the true men and women who live in the world today’.⁴

Ancient Chinese

Early Jesuit scholars were the first Europeans to gain access to the Chinese ‘book of all knowledge’ from ancient times. This 4,320-volume collection told of the repercussions of mankind’s rebellion against the gods: “The Earth was shaken to its foundations. The sky sank lower towards the north. The sun, moon, and stars changed their motions. The Earth fell to pieces and the waters in its bosom rushed upwards with violence and overflowed the Earth.”⁵

Another story, in the folklore of the Bahnars, a primitive tribe of Cochin, China, tells of how the rivers swelled “till the waters reached the sky, and all living beings perished except two, a brother and a sister, who were saved in a huge chest. They took with them into the chest a pair of every sort of animal …”.⁶

Egypt

Flood stories from the continent of Africa are rare, but one from Egypt tells of an ancient creation god, Tem, who “was responsible for the primeval flood, which covered the entire earth and destroyed all of mankind except those in Tem's boat”.⁷

Peru

The Incas of Peru also had a tradition of a deluge. “They said that the water rose above the highest mountains in the world, so that all people and all created things perished. No living thing escaped except a man and a woman, who floated in a box on the face of the waters and so were saved.”⁸

Scandinavia

The stories of the Teutonic tribes of Scandinavia are vivid and describe terrifying events. The imagery of these legends emphasizes the size of the cataclysm. One such tale portrays the chaos of the world when the mighty wolf Fenrir shook himself and “made the whole world tremble. The aged ash tree Yggdrasil [envisaged as the axis of the earth] was shaken from its roots to its topmost branches. Mountains crumbled or split from top to bottom … ”. Men “were driven from their hearths and the human race was swept from the surface of the earth. The earth itself was beginning to lose its shape. Already the stars were coming adrift from the sky and falling into the gaping void. … Flames spurted from fissures in the rocks; everywhere there was the hissing of steam. All living things, all plant life, were blotted out. … And now all the rivers, all the seas rose and overflowed. From every side waves lashed against waves. They swelled and boiled and slowly covered all things. The earth sank beneath the sea …”. Then slowly “the earth emerged from the waves. Mountains rose anew … . Men also reappeared. … Enclosed in the wood itself of the ash tree Yggdrasil … the ancestors of a future race of men had escaped death.”⁹

Uncanny coherence to Noah’s account

There are at least 500 legends of a worldwide deluge. Many of these show remarkable similarities, with many aspects similar to the details about Noah’s Flood in the Bible (see asidebelow).

We are left with a few options. Perhaps all the peoples of these remote civilisations had different flood experiences that, by chance, had all these features in common, on which they based their stories. However, the more reasonable alternative is that these legends all find their root in the same one global Flood experience that Genesis records.

So why do sceptics reject the story today? The Bible says that people willingly close their minds about the Flood: “For this is hidden from them by their willing it, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of the water, and through water, being held together by the word of God, through which the world that then was, being flooded by water, perished” (2 Peter 3:5-6).

The Bible also proclaims that this world is being reserved for another cataclysm:“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. And the earth and the works in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).

All too often we rest in the surety of yet another benevolent sunrise. We rely too smugly upon the delicate balance that makes life on our planet possible. The ancient prophecies and legends, corruptions though they are of the original true account, help to remind us of our vulnerability before God. We should humbly bow the knee and get in step with His purposes. They are the only purposes that really count.

Australian Aboriginals relate legend of world-destroying flood

One of the more striking Flood accounts, summarized here, was discovered by anthropologists among a remote Aboriginal tribe in Western Australia, before any contact with missionaries.

“It came about that the earliest-time children tormented and ill-treated the Winking Owl, Dumbi. Ngadja, the Supreme One, was inwardly grieved and felt deep sorrow for him. He instructed Gajara, ‘If you want to live, take your wife, your sons and your sons’ wives and get a double raft. Because of the Dumbi affair, I intend to drown everyone. I am about to send rain and a sea flood,’ he told them. ‘Put on the raft long-lasting foods that may be stored, foods such as gumi, banimba, and ngalindaja, all these ground foods.’

“So Gajara stored all these foods. He also gathered birds of the air such as the cuckoo, the mistletoe-eater, the rainbow bird, the helmeted friar bird and finches; these he took on the raft, and also a female kangaroo. Gajara gathered his sons as the crew, and his own wife and his sons’ wives together.

“Then Ngadja sent the rainclouds down, shutting the clouds in upon them. The sea-flood came in from the north-north-east and the people were closed in by the salt-water flood and the tidal waters of the sea. Ngadja whirled the flood waters and the earth opened, drowning and flattening them all. He finished them at Dumbey. Meanwhile, the flood carried all those who were on the raft with Gajara along on the current far away to Dulugun.

“At last, the floodwaters brought Gajara back in this direction. He sent some birds out from the raft, first the cuckoo. The cuckoo found the land and did not return to him. Gradually the waters were going down. Later on, the other birds returned to Gajara and he sent them out again the following day. The land was already drying the waters up and the living creatures found a home and food. They killed a kangaroo after landing, and Gajara’s wife, Galgalbiri, put it in the earth oven and cooked it with other foods. The smoke rose slowly until it reached through into the sky. Ngadja, the Supreme Being, could smell the steam and smoke rising from the female kangaroo as it was cooking and he was pleased.

“Ngadja, the Supreme Being, put the rainbow in the sky to keep the rain-clouds back. The rainbow protects us so that the rainfall does not rise too high. Our people understand the significance of it. When we see the rainbow we say, ‘There will not be any abnormally heavy rain.’.”¹⁰

Flood stories around the globe

Mountain High Maps

Funk and Wagnall’s 1950 Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend stated under the heading ‘Deluge or Flood’: “A world cataclysm during which the earth was inundated or submerged by water: a concept found in almost every mythology in the world. The exceptions are Egypt and Japan …” [But see Egyptian myth mentioned above (Ref. 7).] It goes on to describe the ‘bare bones of the usual deluge story’ as follows: “The gods (or a god) decide to send a deluge on the world, usually as punishment for some act, broken tabu, the killing of an animal, etc. (in a Tsimshian myth the deluge comes because the people have mistreated a trout), but sometimes for no reason. Certain human beings are warned, or it comes without warning. If warned, the people construct some kind of vessel (raft, ark, ship, Big Canoe, or the like), or find other means of escape (climbing a mountain or tree, growing tree, floating island, calabash or coconut shell, a turtle’s back, crab’s cave, etc.). Sometimes they also save certain things essential to a way of life, such as food, rarely domestic animals. The deluge comes (rain, huge wave, a container broken or opened, a monster’s belly punctured, etc.). Bird or rodent scouts are often sent out, but this is not universal. When the deluge is over the survivors find themselves on a mountain or an island; sometimes they offer a sacrifice (not universal), and then repeople the earth, recreate animals, etc., by some miraculous means.”¹¹

If there were no near-universal distribution of world-destroying flood legends, sceptics would no doubt attack the Bible's credibility on this basis, questioning how the memory of such an awesome account could be lost in so many cultures.

The dictionary quoted from here seemed to feel the need to reassure its readers with, “The fact [of a world Flood] itself finds no place in the geological history of the earth … .” But arguing against a global Flood on the basis of the earth’s ‘geological history’ of ‘long ages’ is only sound if that long-age history is a correct reading of the rocks, and the long-age reading is only true if there was no global Flood. This is known as the logical fallacy of ‘begging the question’—assuming that which you are trying to prove.¹² The cultural memories of a world-destroying Flood, obviously altered by centuries of telling and retelling, are powerful, worldwide evidence consistent with the veracity of Genesis. They are an exciting reminder of the way in which the true history of the Bible connects with the real world of today. Return to text.

References

Frazer, J.G., Folklore in the Old Testaments: Studies in Comparative Religon, Legend and Law (Abridged Edition), Avenel Books, New York, NY, USA, p. 107, 1988. Return to text.
Sanders, N.K., The Epic of Gilgamesh, Penguin Classics, London, UK, pp. 108-113, 1972. Return to text.
Morrison, W.B., Ancient Choctaw Legend of the Great Flood, <www.isd.net/mboucher/choctaw/flood1.htm>, September 8, 2000. Return to text.
Reed, A.W., ‘The Great Flood’, inAboriginal Fables And Legendary Tales, Reed Books, Sydney, Australia, pp. 55-56, 1965. Return to text.
Berlitz, C., The Lost Ship of Noah, W.H. Allen, London, UK, p. 126, 1987.Return to text.
Ref. 1, p. 82. Return to text.
Mercatante, A.S., Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Child & Associates Publishing, NSW, Australia, p. 613, 1988. Return to text.
Ref. 1, pp. 105-106. Return to text.
The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology, Chancellor Press, London, UK, pp. 275-277, 1996. Return to text.
For full version see: Coates, H., The Flood, Creation 4(3):9-12, 1981.Return to text.
Funk & Wagnalls, Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend,1950. Return to text.
In 1795, before examining the evidence, Hutton, ‘the father of modern geology’, proclaimed that ‘the past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now … No powers are to be employed that are not natural to the globe, no action to be admittedexcept those of which we know the principle’ (emphasis added). This automatically ruled out the globe-covering Flood the Bible records. Hutton, J., Theory of the Earth with Proof and Illustrations; cited in Holmes, A., Principles of Physical Geology, 2nd edition, pp. 43-44, 1965.Return to text.

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Finally Free by Rend Collective

2014-06-14T12:50:00.001-05:00

"Finally Free"

http://youtu.be/1IATot8ghzs

Your mercy rains from heaven

Like confetti at a wedding

And I am celebrating

In the downpour

Your heart is wild with colour

Like a never-ending summer

You burn away the winter

Of my cold and weary heart

My soul cries out holy, holy

My heart is lost in Your beauty

All hope is found in Your mercy

You paid the price now I am

Finally free

Your grace, oh God's the anchor

That's holding me forever

Come trouble or high water

I am steadfast

Yeah, you lift me when I'm sinking

Like the swell of mighty oceans

The power of redemption

Yeah, it gives me wings to soar

My soul cries out holy, holy

My heart is lost in Your beauty

All hope is found in Your mercy

You paid the price now I am

Finally free

We'll cast our crowns before Him

Like the rusting leaves of autumn

Now every chain lies broken

And finally we're free

My soul cries out holy, holy

My heart is lost in Your beauty

All hope is found in Your mercy

You paid the price now I am

Finally free

Walk with Humility [Repost David Tripp]

2014-06-05T07:50:00.001-05:00

"When we think we're more important than the people God has placed in our lives, our words and actions will disrespect and demean them."

http://paultripp.com/wednesdays-word/posts/walk-with-humility

Yesterday I posted an Article about what it means to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:1). I would encourage you to read that post and get some context as we begin this new five-part series.

If we know the theology behind "walk in a manner worthy," there should be a correlation between how we think and how we act. The Apostle Paul wastes no time describing it to us, listing five character qualities of what our walk will look like as we relate and respond to others. The first is HUMILITY.

Being humble in your relationships can have a variety of practical applications, so instead of giving you "10 ways to serve" I want to give you 3 things to remember. Before asking "What can I do?" (which is still a good question), ask yourself, "How can I think biblically?" Your words and actions are always an overflow of the heart.

First, you need to remember that God is above all. It sounds like simple theology, but it's so simple for us to remove God from His throne and seat ourselves above others. When we think we're more important than the people God has placed in our lives, our words and actions will disrespect and demean them.

Second, you need to remember your dependency on other believers. Even if you have a Ph.D. in biblical studies, God can teach you very important lessons through people who seem "less spiritual." It doesn't matter how many Scripture verses you've memorized - sin blinds, and you need a diverse body to help see yourself with accuracy.

Finally, you need to admit that you're just wrong sometimes. If you've made a mistake, you don't need to argue for your own righteousness. The Gospel frees you from having to bear the burden of defending yourself. Christ took the stand in the courtroom and declared you innocent!

Think about those three things. If I'm honest, I hate that list! I want to be king; I want to be independent; and I always want to be right! It's very hard for you and I to humbly admit to who we are.

But remember - because we have been "strengthened with power through his Spirit in our inner being" (Eph. 3:16), we can walk in our relationships in a radically humble and liberating way.

What Kind of People Follow Manipulators?

2014-03-27T15:10:00.001-05:00

I just read a really great article here: http://storylineblog.com/2014/03/27/what-kind-of-people-follow-manipulators/

Full article:

Donald Miller

In Harriet Braiker’s book Who’s Pulling Your Strings? she teaches readers how to smell out manipulative people. That book, along with a few years studying the Enneagram have completely changed how I view the world. The leaders I choose to follow are much less dynamic and charismatic than they used to be.

In light of the mega-church scandals happening in which a couple dynamic pastors have been revealed as shady and deceptive, I’ve wondered how in the world people didn’t see it from the beginning? But of course I already know the answer to that question: It’s because the people who follow those pastors are so sweet and kind.

I mean that.

It takes a very nice person to follow a manipulator. Strong people smell out manipulation fast.

But recently I had a conversation with somebody who’d been seriously burned by a dynamic personality and they helped me see the whole situation in a different light. This person gave their lives to a dynamic leader but once they started asking questions, were chastised, slandered and threatened until they literally had to move to a different state. Because they’d signed a confidentiality agreement, they couldn’t tell their story. It was all pretty sad.

*Photo Credit: SarahDeer, Creative Commons

What was interesting to me, though, is my friend began reflecting on why in the world he’d fallen for the leader in the first place. His answer, amazingly, was that he realized he was codependent. He said he liked the affirmation he received from the leader and that this very powerful person had taken him under his wing.

What he never realized is that the leader hadn’t done that for free. Manipulative, dynamic leaders make an unspoken agreement with their followers. The agreement looks like this: If you submit to me, unquestioningly, I will give you security. Manipulative leaders paint a scary picture of the outside world to keep their flock close, then they use shame and guilt to keep them even closer. If you question them, you’re the enemy and they turn their followers on you.

This personality type isn’t exclusive to the church.

There are manipulative leaders in politics, in business and in all other aspects of life.

We will never get rid of manipulative leaders. But we can change ourselves.(tweet this)

Have we made an unspoken deal with a leader? Isn’t it true that those who love us the most are the ones who give us the most freedom to figure out if we want to love them back? Is the fear of leaving a leader the same as loyalty.

To somebody caught up in the unspoken deal they made with a manipulative leader, this blog will set off a firestorm of emotions. By suggesting a person can be free, I’m also stepping on their sense of security. These people have been trained to defend the manipulator at all cost. Likely, it won’t be till they see the other side of the manipulator, or are hurt by them personally that they will see the light. Hopefully, then, they’ll begin to ask themselves whether it’s something in them that needs to change.

Donald Miller is all about story. He's helped thousands overcome a sense of meaninglessness by helping them create their Storyline life plan. If you're struggling with a sense of meaningless,pick up Storyline today. After studying story for years and successfully using the elements of story to engage customers, Don created StoryBrand, a process any business owner or marketing team can go through to create a communication script that will increase sales. Don is also the creator of the Storyline Productivity Schedule, a free daily schedule using modern psychology to increase a person's productivity. Don believes getting your story straight changes everything. Follow Don onTwitter (@donaldmiller). To read more of his posts on the Storyline Blog, click here.

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Donald Miller

It takes a very nice person to follow a manipulator. Strong people smell out manipulation fast.

This personality type isn’t exclusive to the church.