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Book Review: 9 Things You MUST DO, by Dr. Henry Cloud

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Don’t Feel Good
Feel Better

Success doesn’t come by accident or luck and isn’t limited to a select few, but is rather the outcome of things you consciously do.

That is exactly the point Dr. Henry Cloud makes in his book, 9 Things You Simply MUST DO to Succeed in Love and Life.

In the book he discusses nine characteristics of successful people and clearly shows that any person willing to make the effort consistently can succeed.

Although some of the chapter titles seem a bit cryptic, Dr. Cloud includes a large number of illustrations from his background, both professional and personal, to clarify each one.

Being a psychologist he brings a wealth of knowledge from the experience of guiding many people through their sticking points.

Being a businessman he shares observations gained from both his winning and losing moments.

Some points will surprise you: Pull The Tooth, Hate Well, Don’t Play Fair and Upset The Right People but all of them are relieving. It isn’t a feel good manual but definitely one that will help you feel better, eventually, and generally get more out of life. The nine things are: [Read more…] about Book Review: 9 Things You MUST DO, by Dr. Henry Cloud

Must Tithes Be Given Only To Church?

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Tithing expresses devotion and meets needs.

Good Question
Deserves Thoughtful Answer

Recently on Yahoo Answers a person (we’ll call him Jerry) submitted a question about tithing:

“Does money I tithe have to be given to the church?”

The reason for the question had nothing to do with selfishness, materialism or bad financial management. His question was motivated by generosity.

The church Jerry attends was preparing to send kids to camp and there were a couple of kids who couldn’t afford to go. Diverting Jerry’s tithe to this need for three months would cover the expense and he wondered if that was legit. Would that still qualify as “tithing?”

He also made it clear that he wasn’t questioning the rationale behind tithing (devoting ten percent of your income to God). In fact, he specified that only people who believed in tithing should respond and he further qualified by requesting only “respectful” answers. I almost laughed at the request. Having been scorched a few times by anti-tithers I wanted to put on a flack jacket before reading some of the responses. He had obviously faced a few also.

And sure enough one anti-tithing respondent spewed the venom we have come to expect: calling names, restating old arguments and generally abusing those who disagree. I wont’ waste time responding.

The truth is, this is a good question. It speaks to one particular issue about tithing, “where are tithes to be offered” and it deserves a thoughtful answer.

To be clear the question here is not, should I give tithes to my church but rather must I give all my tithes only to my church. That is an important clarification. Even anti-tithing folks give money to the church they attend.

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Some tithers, however, do argue that every cent of the tithe belongs to the church and they usually refer to this practice as “storehouse tithing.” The argument is based mostly on one passage, Malachi 3:10 which literally says…

“Bring all the tithe into the storehouse…”

Storehouse Tithing

Tithers equate the storehouse in the Old Testament, the Temple, with the church in the New Testament. Anti-tithers debate this, suggesting that tithing was rescinded in the New Testament.

Both ideas can be debated. [Read more…] about Must Tithes Be Given Only To Church?

Abraham Sacrifices Isaac – Not!!

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What Abraham did symbolically God did actually.

This Represents The Last
Recorded Interaction
Between God And Abraham

Skeptics get a lot of mileage from Abraham going through the motions of sacrificing Isaac, especially since God was the one who requested it.

The whole thing flies in the face of morality as we understand it. Not only did Abraham prepare to execute his son but God is complicit, ordering what can only be viewed as ritualized homicide.

Atheists, who claim no need of guidance from a higher power and would eradicate the Bible’s influence if possible, find the whole thing appalling, at least for the present. But can any atheist really claim neutrality? Are any of their ideas completely free from God’s influence?

Since the Bible says a lot about protecting the rights of children even their indignation at Abraham is a by product of outside influence, namely the Bible.

There’s no telling what injustice they might rationalize should they succeed in erasing Christian influence from humanity, if such a thing could be done.

They, of course, are capable of logical thought but their rational abilities are not well exercised when it comes to events in the Bible. Because they don’t believe in God and aren’t dispassionate there is no reason to expect them to investigate biblical matters with a serious mind.

That is an important observation because these events didn’t happen yesterday and the further removed they are from the present the less likely atheists are to consider relevant cultural details. Social trends in Abraham’s day, for example, were very different to ours. In his day:

  • Sacrificing children was neither against the law nor uncommon especially in the land of Canaan.
  • It got worse. Archeological digs in Canaan have shown that children were sacrificed in greater numbers just before Israel took control of the land.
  • And there were no local or international agencies to enforce child protection laws if they had existed.

None of that means Abraham thought human sacrifice was acceptable. It wouldn’t have been a test if he did. There is no reason to think he would have considered such a thing if God hadn’t suggested it.

When informed that Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed he prayed fervently that God would spare them even if only 10 righteous souls were found there.

Obviously, he was thinking of Lot and counting on his influence being strong enough to protect his family from Sodom’s corruption but the count was off. Only four righteous souls were found but his prayer does reveal what he thought of Sodom.

The depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah is well known so I won’t elaborate but Abraham’s prayer at least illustrates his very poor opinion of local morality. He nor his immediate family would have seriously considered adopting the life style of Sodom which no doubt endorsed human sacrifice.

When God instructed Abraham to sacrifice Isaac he knew this was extreme and sadly, when Abraham acted on the instructions he wasn’t looking over his shoulder. Any neighbors watching would have considered it a normal, natural thing to do.

He didn’t have to do this on the sly. At the very best, locals would have considered it none of their business and wouldn’t have interfered.

In this case, however, atheists’ treatment of scripture is motivated more by disdain for God than cultural accuracy. Reading the text superficially, they accuse God of being a Tyrant and Abraham of psychosis, cowardice and insensitivity, actions that provoke indignation.

But are they really being indignant or confusing critical thought with emotional manipulation? [Read more…] about Abraham Sacrifices Isaac – Not!!

Hermanus – The Hub of Nature

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Hermanus is located in the Western Cape region of South Africa on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Though a small town, boasting less than 26,000 in population, it has a big town attitude and there is good reason for it.

It doesn’t generate the commerce of a “London,” New York” or “Johannesburg” but when it comes to natural attractions it rules. With a great variety of things to do and places to go, as well as some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, it is one of the best locations to visit in South Africa. There may be places in this world just as unusual but I doubt any are as accessible as Hermanus. Try driving up the Himalayas or into the jungles of Borneo sometime.

Just over a hundred kilometers from the Cape Town International airport Hermanus can be reached by two well paved routes either of which is beautiful in its own right. The inland route takes you through winding mountain roads scattered with old country villages, shops, olive groves and vineyards.

The coastal route is a little longer and must be driven more slowly but is well worth the extra time. Too say it follows the coast is misleading. The land comes out of the ocean so vertically in spots you think you’re traveling “on” rather than “by” the ocean. It must have taken great fetes of engineering to install the road. [Read more…] about Hermanus – The Hub of Nature

28 Evangelistic Verses In The Gospel Of John

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An Overwhelming
Argument
For The Primacy
Of Evangelism

Most churches have constitutions one part of which is a statement of faith. It provides a list of important beliefs along with a brief description and several Bible references supporting the belief.

What they don’t often have but should is a statement of activities, things they do regularly as an expression of their faith. And at the top of the “do” list should be evangelism.

Although the word is not actually an English word – anglicized (transliterated) form of the Greek euangelion – it is clearly the most important issue in the New Testament.

It refers to the good news of the Gospel and any activity that spreads that message is evangelism. This was very prevalent in the ministry of Jesus.

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Without question, one of the most important lessons we learn from Jesus is how to evangelize. This intention was so obvious that the writers of the Gospels have been referred to as the four “evangelists” and of all the Gospels, John’s emphasizes evangelism the most.

Proof of this emphasis is the number of verses in John which are evangelistic stand-outs. The purpose of this post is to provide a list of these verses. [Read more…] about 28 Evangelistic Verses In The Gospel Of John