NowTHINK!AboutIt

Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

The Difference Between Clever and Smart

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Clever is inborn. Smart is the result of hard work.

Clever Becomes Smart
When It Develops Character

What is the real secret to long-term success? It isn’t just about how fast your brain works; it’s about how well you use it. This article discusses:

  • The Clever Trap: Why being born with a high “processing speed” can actually hinder your character development.
  • The Difference Between Smart And Clever: Clever is inborn. Smart is deverloped through discipline.
  • Nature vs Nurture: How smart can often outpace clever by developing learning skills.
  • The Accountability Factor: Why high inborn mental capacity makes you more — not less — accountable for your choices.

We’ve all come across people who impress us with their cleverness.

These people never lack for words and often sound quite sophisticated.

They read quickly and have instant recall.

They can be a whiz when it comes to math.

They always have an answer. Not just a response, but an intelligent sounding answer to open questions and they say what they think with confidence.

They are so good at this that they walk into every room mouth first. This may well be the motivation behind so many podcasts.

These are the people who easily made high grades in school and this apparent brilliance gave them a confidence, and occasional charm, that others find appealing.

This person is both easy not to like and difficult to resist at the same time. [Read more…] about The Difference Between Clever and Smart

Reasons To Believe Jesus Cares More About People Than Issues

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Instead of obeying those in authority, Christians would rather become those in autority.

Jesus Exemplified
A People-First Approach
To Ministry

There is no question that Jesus cares. He endured great difficulties during His short life and that alone gives us a measure of His interest.

Just being born exposed Him to humiliation, inconvenience and threat, and then later He was buffeted by insult, doubt, rejection and finally crucifixion.

And none of that was a surprise. He knew this would happen but it didn’t deter Him.

All of that is to say He’s invested. He cares but the question is what exactly does He care about?

He had to have a good reason to willingly subject Himself to these abuses and we need to ask what that was. [Read more…] about Reasons To Believe Jesus Cares More About People Than Issues

Trumps Methods Reveal His Motive

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Bad qualities like lying, cheating, stealing and womanizing can't be formulated in any way that leads to presidential.

Trimming The Government
Is One Thing
Annihilating It Is Another

Here’s what I believe are the facts based on what is happening now.

Trump Is Definitely Colluding With Putin

It is true that the FBI’s investigation into collusion came up with nothing conclusive but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a reality, it only means that it hasn’t been proven. Yet!

Suspending the investigation was a temporary stay, not an acquittal.

But we have to get real here. Can there be in any doubt that Trump has great respect for Putin, styles his leadership in the same way and makes decisions that favor Putin’s invasion of Ukraine?

  • He’s accused Zelensky of starting the war with Russia.
  • During his first term in office, he threatened to withhold congressionally allocated aid for Ukraine unless the Ukrainian government began investigations into Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and that was done for no other reason than to bolster his efforts to win reelection.
  • He is now strong arming Zelensky into giving away rights to Ukraine’s mineral resources without guaranteeing protection against Russia.
  • Instead of declaring his opposition to Putin’s dictatorship, and all the abuse that goes with it, he makes admiring remarks about Putin’s skills and leadership.

How can you interpret this in any other way than to conclude the two leaders are in league.

The old saying applies. If it looks, sounds and walks like a duck.

Maybe the reason Trump speaks out against war is because he doesn’t want to be put in a position where he might have to do battle with his buddy, Putin.

Trump Now Has Control Of The FBI

It’s a weird state of affairs at the moment, not because Trump’s intent isn’t clear but because it is. He is slowly but surely eliminating legal barriers to his agenda and we aren’t as worried as we should be even though we see it happening. [Read more…] about Trumps Methods Reveal His Motive

From The Dark Ages To The Modern Era, Catholics Have Come Full Circle

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Neither the leopard nor the Catholic can change their spots.

The Supreme Court
Has Become The New Tribunal

In the colonial years of American history religion was very prevalent. Several denominations were represented: Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Anglicans, Quakers and even Catholics. This plurality was only grudgingly accepted, however, as every colony adopted an official religion.

Puritans and Anglicans were the most prominent but States like Pennsylvania and Rhode Island accepted and encouraged a pluralistic approach.

Historically, that level of religious diversity usually ended in a dog fight. Europe’s Thirty Years War (1618-1648), motivated largely by Catholic attempts to reseize political control, was a good reason for Protestants to escape to the New World.

But abuse wasn’t committed only by Catholics. Even when Catholics weren’t scheming for political advantage the Protestants were killing each other in an attempt to gain power. For Europeans it seemed there was no end in site.

It’s as if the religious in Europe were trying to bring Matthew 10 to everyday life.The best option was to cut and run.

Religious freedom (aka the desire to escape religious persecution) was one of the main reasons immigrants gambled on the long and fraught journey to settle on American soil.

But the abusive nature of religion didn’t fade easily. It’s a strange thing but religious aggression immigrated to America too.

The Puritans (aka Congregationalists), the first Protestants to settle in America, dominated the New England colonies. Their first order of business was to combine church law with civil law and the entire community was held to that standard. Anyone who didn’t show up at church regularly was in trouble. [Read more…] about From The Dark Ages To The Modern Era, Catholics Have Come Full Circle

10 Ways Religious Separation Is Not What You Thought

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The ultimate goal of separation is to engage the right thing, not avoid the wrong thing.

The Old Testament Altar
Was Holy
Not Sanitized

Every religion promotes some version of Separation and this isn’t unique to religion. Even social groups impose restrictions on their members. If you want to be a member, you must abide the rules.

With churches, the rules have a moral element. It usually involves a series of Can’t-Dos that aren’t just bad for the group but just bad, as in immoral. Things like you can’t go there or do that or wear that or eat that or say that or think that and so on.

Churches can’t legally tell you who to vote for but they usually find a way to make their opinions known.

As a rule we don’t like being told what we can and can’t do but once we’re convinced that following the rules makes us somehow acceptable, we acquiesce. Fitting in is important.

It’s also true that rules like this on a church level are tolerable because if you don’t like the restrictions in one, you can always move to another.

In recent years, though, religious restrictions have been creeping ever closer to the State level and that’s a problem. Once the State has fully incorporated religious rules, there’s no place you can go.

You don’t have to be religious to know what I’m talking about.

But my focus is not so much on the specific restrictions but the bad spirit they engender in adherents. The people who observe these rules “religiously” become very negative, critical and condemning toward those who don’t. Not just toward the people in the church but everyone. They consider their ideas the gold standard and anyone who falls short is not just different or wrong, but heretical.

History is full of examples. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union loudly protested the consumption of alcohol and played a significant role in establishing the 18th Amendment which prohibited the production, sale and consumption of alcohol for everyone. It went from church level to nationwide. No citizen was allowed to drink.

Christians aren’t the only ones guilty of this.

Some majority Muslim countries (Iran, Iraq, etc.) impose heavy social restrictions on their citizens, maintain distant (at best) relationships with other countries (even Muslim countries) and consider anyone who isn’t them, Satan.

The two groups are very different. They have little in common but one idea they share is their hatred for alcohol and both approached the issue with the same vehemence.

The symbol associated with the WCTU protest was the hatchet. Heart warming they were not.

Those are extreme examples but that same spirit is only just below the surface in many religious groups. When it comes to differences of opinions, religions manage relationships at some level of DefCon. If anyone questions the rules, attack-readiness rises several notches. [Read more…] about 10 Ways Religious Separation Is Not What You Thought