Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 10 – No. 1108 March 15, 2008
Thought for the week: "We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it." – Rick Warren
In the middle of one of Henry Ward Beecher's most potent political speeches, a member of the crowd gave a perfect imitation of a cock crowing. While the audience roared with laughter, the speaker gave no sign of annoyance, but removed his watch and studied it while the noise died down.
"That's odd," Beecher said at last. "My watch says it's ten o'clock, but there can't be any mistake. It must be morning, for the instincts of the lower animals are absolutely infallible."
You can't control the length of your life, but you can control its width and depth. You can't control the contour of your face, but you can control its expression. You can't control the weather, but you can control the atmosphere of your mind. Why worry about things you can't control when you can keep yourself busy controlling the things that depend on you?
Many people write to us needing counseling for personal problems. Many, too, are seeking answers to questions about God that many of us struggle with from time to time. From time to time I, too, have questions about God that I cannot even begin to fathom, and I often tell others that we won't have answers to some of these questions until we get to Heaven.
It reminds me how "Augustine, while puzzling over the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, was walking along the beach one day when he observed a young boy with a bucket, running back and forth to pour water into a little hole. Augustine asked, 'What are you doing?' The boy replied, 'I'm trying to put the ocean into this hole.'
"Then Augustine realized that he had been trying to put an infinite God into his finite mind."1
1. Michael Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching,
Baker Book House, 1993, p. 389.
Recently I heard a story from an ophthalmologist. He had become friendly with a man who early in life from an accident lost his vision. The doctor wanted to help him with new technology. The man was hesitant because he had had surgery in the past that was not successful, and it was such a letdown. However the doctor convinced him to try new laser surgery. When the bandages were removed he could see, and since the patient had never seen a sunrise the doctor arranged to take him to an area where he could see the sunrise coming up out of the water. They went while it was still dark so he could see all of the colors developing as the sun came up. The patient was blown away and tears came to his eyes. Then he asked the doctor, "Where is everyone? With such unbelievable beauty why were not thousands of his fellow human beings there to see this magnificent sight?
When you die, your possessions will be distributed according to a will in which you allocated property to specific people. Objects left in a will are called a legacy.
But legacy also has a much deeper meaning.
In Jewish tradition, people write "ethical wills" in which they pass on to the next generation, especially their children, the gift of wisdom and good wishes. This bestowal is far more profound and permanent than bequests of property.
An ethical will is often a personal letter to the most important people in our lives. It conveys our values, convictions, and hopes. It is also an autobiography—not of events and dates, but of the insights and intuitions that define who we are and tell the world what we stand for and what we think is important.
These documents provide a priceless and prized source of loving advice and can become treasured family heirlooms. Because they are about ethics, they also can become a moral compass that helps loved ones navigate their way to worthy and happy lives.
Yet no matter how highly cherished these letters can be for those who receive them, the process of writing them can change your perspective and cause you to readjust your own priorities.
What would you put in your ethical will? When you can, begin writing down everything you might want to pass on to the people you love. But know this: Once you start, it will be hard to stop as you'll experience a surge of thoughts that will engulf you with all the subconscious beliefs that make you who you are and what you will be.
According to Socrates, the touchstone of wisdom is to first know thyself. Try it, and you'll see why.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."1
Sometimes I have a difficult time trying to understand the spirit of our age that has been described by some as a day of postmodernism. But what is postmodernism?
The following insights by Kenneth D. Boa and Robert M. Bowman Jr., in their book, 20 Compelling Evidences That God Exists, help me to understand a little of what is happening in today's secular world. And to help understand postmodernism Boa and Bowman summarize the major characteristics by using the acrostic P-O-S-T.
P-Power Controls Knowledge: "According to postmodernists, all knowledge is political. That is, what people believe is shaped largely by their relationship to the political powers that govern the institutions (such as schools and churches) through which knowledge is transmitted."2
O-Objectivity Is Dead: "Different cultures, different religions, and other types of communities have different perspectives that give them their identity. Postmodernists contend that these different perspectives should be celebrated and preserved, not challenged or critiqued."3
S-Science Constructs Models; It Does Not Describe Reality: In contrast to science being an understanding of the world as it really is "Thomas Kuhn's 1962 landmark book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, itself led a revolution in science.... Kuhn has convinced a generation that science cannot and need not seek truth; its goal is rather an understanding of nature that meets the needs of the scientific community and of the larger society. Such a view of science, of course, implies that scientific theories are now to be assessed partly in terms of how well they support the values of those who pursue science."4
T-Tolerance, Not Truth, Is Absolute: "The postmodernist understands tolerance to mean accepting people's different beliefs and therefore refraining from criticizing or even disagreeing with those beliefs. Postmodernists are especially bothered by claims that a particular religious or ethical belief is the truth that all people ought to accept. Rather than examining such claims to see whether they hold up in light of the facts, postmodernists dismiss such claims as arrogant, narrow-minded, and intolerant."5
Tragically, if we don't correct course, postmodern political correctness will ultimately destroy us. Without access to the truth there is no reality, no freedom, no sense of direction, and no hope of salvation for mankind. No wonder so much of today's world is floating in a sea of mass confusion. While we don't agree with postmodernism, we do need to understand its basic tenets so we don't get sucked into its empty, meaningless void.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me discern the difference between what is truth and what is meaningless rationalization used to justify what postmodernists want me to believe. Help me always to base my beliefs on principles that are found in, and/or in harmony with, your eternal Word, the Bible. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
1. Jesus, in John 8:32 (NIV).
2. Kenneth D. Boa and Robert M. Bowman Jr., in their book, 20 Compelling Evidences That God Exists, Victor, Cook
Communications Ministries, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
p. 18.
3. Ibid, p. 19.
4. Ibid, p. 19.
5. Ibid, p. 19
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