In fact, there are people on the left and right who benefit from encouraging just enough division, just enough fear, to motivate their supporters, without tipping them over into violence. They are playing with fire in a parched and withered land.

Near the end of the piece, looking for potential solutions, Gerson points out that an important foundation of the civil rights movements of the 60’s was the church (MLK was a pastor – and scholar I might add).

[My comment: the slogans of ‘Make America great again’ and ‘Stronger together’ are nice platitudes, but we are not going to have one America again (like, for example, WW II when every 5th grader saved the foil from a Juicy Fruit wrapper for the war effort).]

There is hope (for leadership and healing) in medium-sized* institutions, such as the church. (*’medium-sized’ is my word).

Quote:

Even if we cannot, as individuals, hope to change systemic racism, most of us have the ability to defy our times and reach out across lines of race and religion. And religious people have a particular calling in this area.

While Hillary or Trump probably will not be able to do much for our divided country or the disadvantaged of Detroit, MI or Macomb, IL, for me and my house I believe that churches, such at Wesley UMC and Walnut Creek, can make a positive difference in this parched and withering land.

Gerson

Jul 11

Quotes

By drjimo in Christianity, Discipleship, Love

(See http://en.thinkexist.com/)

Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. St. Augustine

“Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.” A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

“Two things awe me most, the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.” Immanuel Kant

“Humanism was not invented by man, but by a snake who suggested that the quest for autonomy might be a good idea.” R. C. Sproul

“Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it.” Richard Lamm

Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once. Lillian Dickson

AUTHOR:   Hugh Blair (1718–1800)
QUOTATION:   If you delay till to-morrow what ought to be done to-day, you overcharge the morrow with a burden which belongs not to it. You load the wheels of time, and prevent it from carrying you along smoothly. He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows out the plan, carries on a thread which will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life. The orderly arrangement of his time is like a ray of light which darts itself through all his affairs. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidents, all things lie huddled together in one chaos, which admits neither of distribution nor review.
ATTRIBUTION:   HUGH BLAIR, “On the Importance of Order in Conduct,” Sermons, vol. 1, no. 16, p. 195 (1822).

Early time management advice.

Time and information have become our enemies. Without the time to think about the onslaught of information that is paraded before us each day, we have become, by and large, what social psychologists call cognitive misers, preferring emotional reactions and one-dimensional opinions to considered examination. While these often necessary mental shortcuts can help us to reduce our complex world into something more manageable, they can create enormous errors in thought and behavior. These errors can have monumental consequences not only in our own lives but in the collective lives of organizations, communities and nations. from http://www.foundationsmag.com/wisdom2.html

To understand reality is not the same as to know about outward events. It is to perceive the essential nature of things. The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential. But on the other hand, knowledge of an apparently trivial detail quite often makes it possible to see into the depth of things. And so the wise man will seek to acquire the best possible knowledge about events, but always without becoming dependent upon this knowledge. To recognize the significant in the factual is wisdom.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

To share in Christ’s reality is to become a responsible person, a person who performs actions in accordance with reality and the fulfilled will of God. There are two guides for determining the will of God in any concrete situation: 1) the need of one’s neighbour, and 2) the model of Jesus of Nazareth. Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote

“The mark of solitude is silence, as speech is the mark of community. Silence and speech have the same inner correspondence and difference as do solitude and community. One does not exist without the other. Right speech comes out of silence, and right silence comes out of speech.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote

“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote

“To understand reality is not the same as to know about outward events. It is to perceive the essential nature of things. The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential. But on the other hand, knowledge of an apparently trivial detail quite often makes it possible to see into the depth of things. And so the wise man will seek to acquire the best possible knowledge about events, but always without becoming dependent upon this knowledge. To recognize the significant in the factual is wisdom.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote

“A God who let us prove his existence would be an idol”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Responsibility

Jul 11

Pilgrim’s Progress Quote

By drjimo in Christianity, Discipleship, Growth, Missions

Pilgrim’s Progress Quotes

Christian now went to the spring, and drank thereof, to refresh himself [Isa. 49:10], and then began to go up the hill, saying–

“The hill, though high, I covet to ascend,
The difficulty will not me offend;
For I perceive the way to life lies here.
Come, pluck up heart, let’s neither faint nor fear;
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.”

difficulty, Pilgrim's Progress

Jun 22

In God We Trust

By drjimo in Uncategorized

In God We Trust became our nation’s motto in 1956 (a few months before I was born! #PTL)

Our nation and God’s timeless influence.

4th verse of the National Anthem: https://twitter.com/DrOlsen314/status/745271926109708288
http://ingodwetrust.com/
2011 resolution by Congress and the House of Representative reaffirming the motto “

http://ingodwetrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/HP_SLIDER-4_Call-to-Action_HRES-13-Download.pdf

Jun 13

Suggestions for everytownresearch.org

By drjimo in Christianity, Communication, Community, Leadership, Uncategorized

The website http://everytownresearch.org advocates for common-sense gun laws to improve gun safety and reduce the number of gun deaths. (I’m pretty sure they are not just raising money, but want to work toward a solution.)

I like the fact that the website has specific research. It is a good site and seems to be going in the right direction.

However, to work toward a solution, I recommend the following:

Make a list of specific recommendations. This should be a concise and cogent list with links out to more and more details (as is the power of the Internet). (Having a bunch of famous people say ‘demand a plan’ over and over does get people’s attention, but ultimately there needs to be a (specific/actual) set of steps to improve things.
Listing ‘The Gun Lobby’ (and the NRA) as an issue puts the wrong spin on our website (and your approach). Putting ‘The Gun Lobby’ in a list along side suicide, illegal gun trafficking, and domestic violence sends the message the ‘The Gun Lobby’ is inherently bad and needs to be eliminated. (Even if you do feel they are bad, and prefer they be eliminated it is better to work with them than point fingers and label them as part of the problem.) Remove ‘The Gun Lobby’ from the list of issues and find another way to express the concern.
Don’t the us versus them approach, but rather take an approach where you want all (reasonable and sane) people to work together. If, in fact, you have actual common sense gun laws in mind, then you need to work with the NRA and The Gun Lobby to get them in place. If you don’t think that there’s ‘any way’ that such a thing could be done, then we may be doomed to more and more senseless gun killings. I believe that the NRA would agree to common sense gun laws.
I find it odd that you do to have a phone number on your website. If you really want ‘common sense solutions,’ then you want to open up communication and you, therefore, need to be willing to talk about it. I find it odd that in your Contact form drop-down list of reasons for contacting us does not include something along the lines of ideas for working toward a solution. I recommend putting a phone number on your site and making it clearer in your contact form that you are looking to work for a solution.

gun safety

May 29

Relationship w Jesus ≠ Relationship w Abraham Lincoln

By drjimo in Christianity, Communication, Discipleship, Faith, Growth, Relationships

Loving God 101, Part 01: Relationship with God. Really???

“episode 85” from Jesus at 2 am podcast.

Listen at http://www.jesusat2am.com/2015/05/21/introduction_to_christian_spiritual_formation_1/

Kirk Winslow says, “The ultimate goal is love – and love grows in relationship, not by performing a set of behaviors! In this episode I offer a short introduction to spiritual formation and take up the specific language of “personal relationship.” Can one have a personal relationship with Jesus? Really??? I think the answer is “yes.””

I like the three keys in this podcast and a good explanation of Paraclete