Scripture

December 24, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

IS THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY AN ANACHRONISM? THANKSGIVING RECONSIDERED!

I ended my most recent post Why Organizations Need a Chief Eleemosynary Officer noting that my next post would be focused on the meaning and celebration of Thanksgiving. When I did that I did not have in mind that I would go so far as to suggest that the way we currently celebrate Thanksgiving may have lost its meaning. Has it become a chronological inconsistency?

This post is appearing more than a month later than I had originally planned. A number of things have contributed to this delay. The most significant of those things included additional medical problems that began the Friday before Thanksgiving and have continued through the present. I can briefly described my medical concerns by saying, “The shocks are back.” I am again experiencing sensations which feel like 120-volt electric shocks in various spots on my body. I will have a more detailed description of what’s going on next calendar year, after all the medical testing is done. I hope that I can whet your appetite for my next post by quoting one doctor in the emergency room that I was forced to visit shortly after Thanksgiving, who said, “You’re the most interesting and complicated patient that I have ever met in an ER.”

Also delaying my post were five blog post announcements that I received during or shortly after the traditional Thanksgiving season. After reading them, I just had to take time to mentally process them. These announcements or blog posts were from five very different sources. However, they all expressed something of a common theme. These emails started me thinking that we may have missed the boat with the way we currently celebrate Thanksgiving.

The first was the Thanksgiving post from Rick Warren, the famous pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, and author of “The Purpose Driven Church” and “The Purpose Driven Life.” Pastor Warren begins his post Quick Study: Be Thankful in Tough Times with Paul’s admonition to the church at Philippi: “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4 KJV). Warren, echoing Paul, encourages Christians to be joyful! We should be joyful, not just in the good times, but always. He outlines a four-part program for a joyful life. 1) Don’t worry about anything: Jesus provides us the first step in the middle of His Sermon on the Mount: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6:34 KJV); 2) Pray about everything: Paul urged the Christians in Philippi to bring all their concerns to God: “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (Phiippians 4:6 KJV); 3) Thank God in all things: The previously mentioned verse reminds us to include thanks in every prayer. However, Paul was even more specific in his instructions to the church in Thessalonica: ” In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (I Thessalonians 5:18 KJV)); 4) Think about the right things: Paul concluded his instructions to the church in Philippi with the following counsel: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8 KJV). Thus Warren’s post reminded me that Thanksgiving is not seasonally dependent. It is a full-time responsibility for every Christian. Worry is a non-starter. We are to think about the good things, but we are to be thankful for everything in our lives, not just the good things. The immediate conclusion: Thanksgiving must not be relegated to one day a year.

The second announcement was for Tara Fall’s Thanksgiving post in her FindingStrengthtToStandAgain’sBlog Overcoming obstacles with Optimism. Tara is a beautiful and mentally tough young woman who can’t remember what she or anyone else looks like. She suffers from prosopagnosia, face blindness., the after effect of a very serious stroke some years ago. Face blindness is a neurological problem in which the individual does not have the ability to recognize or distinguish faces. How would you react to the fact that you could not pick your spouse, parent or child out of a crowd, without hearing them speak? Cheerfulness and optimism are not usually the first two words that come to mind. Please do not get me wrong. Tara is not cheerful because she can’t recognize her husband or children. She is cheerful because she has the opportunity to experience the love and presence of her family. Tara’s Thanksgiving post was entitled “Challenge: Share Your Gratitude.” She began her post referencing Facebook’s MOG-Month of Gratitude. In this new Thanksgiving tradition, Facebook users were to do a daily post for thirty straight days sharing something about which they should be grateful. Since I am not on Facebook, I was not aware of their proposal for this new custom. I have no idea how many Facebook users participated. My hat’s off to those who did. For those of us not adventurous enough, or who for other reasons chose not to participate in Facebook, Tara had another challenge for us. She asked us to think of a few people who touched our lives in some way and to write them a hand written note of gratitude. I close this section of my post with Tara’s own words, because she says it best: “I’m asking you, challenging you, to contact someone who has touched your life. Say thank you. Expressing gratitude and impacting lives should not be restricted only to the thirty days in November.”

The third is the Thanksgiving post of Linda McDaniel Smith in her blog “TheVillageSmith” entitled The Miracle of Squanto; God Moves in Mysterious Ways. Linda is a Christian blogger who writes about books, movies, life in general and her life in particular, and God’s interactions with this world and its people. If you enjoy down home writing about real people, you would enjoy reading TheVillageSmith. In Linda’s Thanksgiving post, she introduces us to Squanto, a little known hero in the story of the Pilgrim founding of the Plymouth colony. She begins her post by quoting a Wall Street Journal oped piece by Eric Metaxas, the New York Times #1 bestselling author of Bonhoeffer, Miracles,Seven Women, Seven Men, and Amazing Grace.

“His [Squanto] story is astonishing, even raising profound questions about God’s role in American history”.

Squanto is credited with saving the Pilgrims from starvation and freezing. Can you imagine their surprise when this young, native American came walking out of the forest near the Plymouth colony and introduced himself in perfect English? He went on to teach the Pilgrims how to plant corn and how to survive the harsh New England winters. He was also instrumental in arranging a peace treaty between the English and the Native Americans. How did he know the English language? By 1619, he had already crossed the Atlantic four times. He, along with four other Native Americans, were captured by the English explorer George Weymouth in 1605. They were taken to England, where they were taught English and became a sensation among London’s society. He returned to his native land, only to be captured by another English excursion, taken to Spain, where he was sold into slavery. He was helped to escape by Franciscan Monks. He learned about Christ from the Franciscans and became a Christian. He again returned to American in time to greet the pilgrims. Linda closes her post with the following Thanksgiving greeting:

Happy Thanksgiving. God raised up a native man out of the wilderness, educated him, sent him across the world, and brought him back for His purpose. Sadly, Squanto lost his people, but gained a nation, America.

In spite of the injustices done to him, Squanto helped the English settlers survive and thrive in his land. He had a thankful heart, because through them he found the one true God. He no longer had to live out his name, which meant “Wrath of God.”

The fourth Thanksgiving post, How to Be Thankful For Your Life by Changing Just One Word, was from James Clear, one of the world’s foremost experts on habits. James begins his short post by asking readers to think about all the things they have to do. What do you have to do today? What do you have to do this week? What do you have to do to get ready for Christmas? James claims that this perspective is all wrong and by changing just one word individuals can reclaim the joy of life. He challenges readers to “imagine changing just one word” in those nagging questions.

You don’t “have” to. You “get” to.

What do you get to do today? What do you get to do this week? What do you get to do to get ready for Christmas? Suddenly tasks are no longer burdens, they are opportunities. James closes his post by reminding us that, “So often, the things we view as work are actually the rewards.” What rewards do you get to reap in the coming days?

The fifth blog post Days of Gratitude was from the Oliver Sacks Foundation announcing a 12 Days of Gratitude campaign honoring the memory of Dr. Oliver Sacks. Dr. Sacks was a world renowned scientist, physician, author and professor of neurology at the NYU School of Medicine. He was the New York Times Best Selling author of the books Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat. The foundation noted that this was “a remarkable year, one of sadness and joy, but above all, thankfulness for Dr. Sacks’s full and remarkable life.” Dr, Sacks last book, Gratitude, was published this November, just months after his death on August 30, 2015. It brought ” together in one volume four gemlike essays written over the last two years of his life and first read by millions worldwide in The New York Times.” These four inspiring essays were written in the final months of his life. In these essays Dr. Sacks reflects on growing old, coming to terms with mortality, and—most importantly—being thankful for the gift of living one’s own life. The Foundation challenges readers to think about the things for which they are grateful and to share those thoughts about life, death and gratitude on the Foundation’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

I challenge my readers to be grateful for what they have and what they get to do. Thanksgiving Day and the month of November and Facebook’s MOG (Month Of Gratitude) is over. However, it is not too late to pick up a pen and paper and write someone in your life a note of gratitude. It’s not too late to thank someone personally for their acts of kindness toward you. It’s not too late to change the title on your TO DO LIST to GET TO DO LIST. I challenge my readers to post something for which they are grateful in the Reply or Comment portion of this blog.

Celebrating Thanksgiving one day a year is not bad. (People who know me, know that I enjoy turkey and stuffing as much, if not more, than the next guy.) However, forgetting about giving Thanks and being grateful the remainder of the year is wrong. Let’s celebrate Thanksgiving all year long! Be ready always with those two magical words, “Thank you.”

November 16, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

What Is the Difference Between Ethics and Ethical Behavior?

The past two weeks have been a huge struggle for me. I spent much of that time fighting the pain from an infected tooth which had a broken root. It took me several days to get an “emergency” appointment with my dentist. During that appointment the determination was quickly made that the very loose and painful tooth had to be extracted. Because of the infection, I had to take a full week run of antibiotics. In addition, I had to be taken off my blood thinners slowly. Thus, I had to wait another full week for the oral surgery. During that time, in the periods of calm generated by acetaminophen and benzocaine, I struggled with this post.

The question, “Why do people do what they do?” kept hitting me in the face.

When not sleeping, eating or working at my computer, I watched sports and newscasts on television. What did I see? 1) Two Presidential debates with candidates questioning the behavior of rivals and impugning their ethics; 2) A report of an automotive manufacturer installing software in its cars that only shuts off high carbon emissions when the car is being tested for those emissions; 3) A report of another automotive manufacturer not acting on knowledge of dangerous defects in its cars for years; 4) A report on dozens of judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys passing around hundreds of emails with pornographic pictures and offensive stories; 5) A report on a State Attorney General indicted for leaking Grand Jury information and the commission of perjury by lying about it; 6) A report on a township supervisor voting positively on a zoning petition and building permit for a family member’s project; 7) A report on what appears to be wholesale, systematic doping by a country’s sports infrastructure in a recent Olympics; and 8) A popular race car driver appearing to intentionally wreck another popular driver in retaliation for a perceived intentional wreck the previous week.

I turned off the television and went to my computer. What did I do at my computer? When I was not working on this post, I was cleaning up my email backlog and sitting through three webinars. What did I find in my email newsletters? 1) A report on scholarly authors attempting to “game” the JIF (Journal Impact Factor) by self-citing their own articles, or by bartering citations from friends and colleagues by citing their articles in a pyrimad-type scheme called citation stacking; 2) A report on a scientist who pleaded guilty to fraud for faking data involving a study of HIV vaccine; 3) A report on a recently published article entitled “The Mirage of Prestige: The educational quality of courses in prestigious and non-prestigious institutions” that attempts to measure the difference in academic outcomes between the so-called prestigious and non-prestigious institutions; 4) Reports on several institutions faking data on campus crime statistics, salary information on graduates and admissions profile data; and 5) A report that estimates the costs of complying with federally imposed regulations across the higher education sector to be $27 billion annually.

What did I hear in the webinars?: 1) The first webinar dealt with plagiarism. The primary assumption was that faculty increasingly believe that students do not know what plagiarism is. However, even in the face of that previous assumption, faculty increasingly believe the frequency of plagiarism is increasing and more students are intentionally participating in it; 2) The second webinar was a presentation from the field of professional training. The primary point of this webinar was that compliance training is one of the most difficult areas of professional development in which to produce quality eLearning programs, while at the same time, it is one of the areas of fastest growing demand. In this webinar one question was continually raised: “Should we train people to act ethically or just to meet compliance requirements?” No matter how we answer the previous question, the webinar suggested that the CEO must lead the organization by exhibiting a constant pattern of ethical behavior, because the organization will rise to a level no higher than the one set by its leader. 3) The third webinar focused on the teaching of ethics. One of the foundational assumptions of the webinar presenters was that ethics was only a matter of content knowledge that could and should be taught within the confines of an academic discipline. The presenters kept saying that within a given context, there were rules, regulations and obligations that had to be met. The presenters dismissed any comment or suggestion that there were universal principles that applied across disciplines. Ethics were situational and behaviorally oriented.

I return to my original question, “what is the difference between ethics and ethical behavior?” I admit that I come down on the side of the universalists on this question. I believe that there are universal rules of right and wrong. In this sense one’s ethical behavior is a result of one living ethically. It becomes a matter of living by principles, not according to specific rules that can change when circumstances change. For students and faculty, honesty requires telling the truth, not lying, not stealing or not cheating, no matter the personal consequence, no matter whether every one else is doing it, or whether you can get away without getting caught. Living the principled life means doing the same thing whether someone is watching you or not. The second great commandment “Love your neighbor” is a principle, not a rule dependent upon whether the individual in need is “like you” or is “very different.” The great requirement from Micah 6:8, “what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (KJV) presents us another set of principles. Ethics and ethical behavior are not only matters of content, but of values. They are matters of the head and the heart. They require not only comprehension and accession, but also action by the individual based on the individual’s knowledge and beliefs.

Ethics and ethical behavior are not the same thing. However, ethical behavior should be the outgrowth of ethics. One should act based on one’s principles. How do we discover our principles (ethics) and translate those into actions (ethical behavior)? Two suggestions from Scripture provide us guidance in this endeavor. The first is Paul’s admonition to Timothy: “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (II Timothy 3: 14-17, KJV) The second is Solomon’s advice to his son: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3: 5&6, KJV)

If we diligently seek God’s principles, He will show them to us and guide us in the way we should go. We can follow in His footsteps on the path to righteousness and salvation.

My next post continues this discussion by raising the suggestion that the CEO of an organization should be its Chief Ethics Officer and Chief Encouragement Officer in addition to being its Chief Executive Officer.

November 14, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

Who Are My Neighbors and How Can I Love Them?

In my last post I noted that my next post would answer the question, “Who are my neighbors?” As I began to fill in the outline that I had developed for my post, I discovered that I needed to answer a second question: “How can I love them?”

Loving someone with whom we are very close, like friends and family, can be hard. However, at least 10 times in Scriptures, we are told to love our neighbor. The obvious questions are: “Who is my neighbor?” and “What does it mean to love my neighbor?”

Jesus answers both of these questions in the Luke 10 record of the encounter between Jesus and an expert in the Jewish law,

²³And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: ²⁴For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. ²⁵And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? ²⁶He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? ²⁷And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. ²⁸And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. ²⁹But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? ³⁰And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³²And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. ³³But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, ³⁴And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. ³⁶Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? ³⁷And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. (KJV)

Jesus, knowing that the lawyer was asking Him a “gotcha question,” turned the question back around to the lawyer. Jesus replies, “You’re an expert in the law. How do you read it?” This exchange reminds me of one of the modern talk shows where the host grills a guest with tough questions asked to catch the guest in a contradiction or lie.

The lawyer is trying to paint Jesus into a corner from which he can’t escape without stepping on the fresh paint.

However, Jesus turns the question back on the lawyer. The lawyer is now so unsure of how to proceed that he kicks over the can of paint, trapping himself.

Is the Old Testament more neighbor friendly than the New Testament? In the Old Testament, there are more than 120 references to neighbor or neighborhood; while in the New Testament are only slightly more than 20 such references. The lawyer’s response refers back to Leviticus 19:18,

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord. (KJV)

For the 1400 plus years between the time of Leviticus and the time of Jesus, Jewish lawyers and rabbis were continually debating the question asked by the lawyer: “Who is my neighbour?” Most of the strict constructionists said that because the first half of Lev. 19:18 only referred to the children of Israel (“the children of thy people”), the second half should also only refer to the children of Israel. These strict constructionists taught that Israelites had no responsibility to love Gentiles. Many taught that the Israelites had a responsibility to avoid Gentiles completely. In fact, this allowed the children of Israel to despise anyone who wasn’t a “full” child of Isreal. This was carried to the extent of excluding any Israelite who married outside “the faith”, and any “half-breed children” that descended from such a non-sanctioned union.

In His response to the lawyer’s answer, Jesus completely reverses the course of the strict constructionist’s view that neighbor only referred to other Israelites. HIs answer swam in the face of almost all of mainstream Jewish thought of more than a millennium.

Actually how did Jesus answer the lawyer? He tells a story about “a certain,” unidentified man being attacked and severely injured by thieves. In this story, three individuals, two Jewish religious leaders and an unidentified Samaritan, encounter this unfortunate attack victim . The priest and the Levite do nothing to help or even acknowledge the “half dead” individual. Then a member of a hated group of half-breeds, the Samaritans, comes along. This good man not only stops to see if he could help the unfortunate victim, he goes out of his way to get the victim extra help. Jesus then puts the lawyer on the spot with the question of the moment, “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?” The lawyer is caught in his own trap. It is obvious that the two Jewish officials who did nothing could not have been neighborly. However, the lawyer could not bring himself to even say that a Samaritan could be a good neighbor. The lawyer responded, “He that shewed mercy on him.” Then I can see Jesus looking straight at the lawyer and with emphasis saying to him, “Go, and do thou likewise.”

So to answer the foundational questions: Firstly, who is my neighbor? It is any one in need with whom I come in contact.

Secondly, how do I love them? I provide the help that they need. It might be a hand up to help them get on their feet. It might be a shoulder to lean on to help them get around. It might be a roof over their head to give them shelter. It might be a meal to help nourish them. It might be medical assistance to help heal them. It is whatever they need that you can provide.

The point of most parables is to force the audience to place themselves into the story and figure out how to respond. So here’s the question to you: Who is your neighbor? and How should you love them? From this Good Samaritan story, we now have hundreds of Good Samaritan hospitals and shelters run by service agencies, offering love and aid to the needy. We also have hundreds of state and local laws, known as Good Samaritan laws, offering legal protection to individuals who in good faith come to the assistance of another individual in dire need. Paraphrasing the question from an old television game show, “Who do you love?”

My post next week asks the questions: Is there a difference between ethics and ethical behavior? Can we mandate ethics, or is our best expectation compliance at the behavioral level?

November 2, 2015 By B. Baylis 2 Comments

My Plan for Digging Myself Out of a Deep Hole

This post has been in the works for a long time. My blog posting pen has been essentially silent for a year. I apologize for the great delay. The delay was essentially due to ongoing medical problems, which were beyond my ability to remediate. Even my doctors didn’t really know what was going on. They refer to me as “Their special case!” Once during an extended EEG, I had a series of sensory dysfunction events. I asked my neurologist if they saw something in the EEG results. He replied, “Sort of! There was a lot of spurious activity going on in your head.” I asked him what he meant by that. He replied, “There was a great deal of brain wave activity recorded. However, it was occurring in parts of the brain where we weren’t expecting to see that kind of activity.”

During my long year’s absence from the blogging scene, I have generated a list of more than 300 blog posts which I want to write. I have committed to myself to knock off at least three of these posts per month for as long as I am able to write. If I add no more potential posts to my To Write List (UNLIKELY!)), it would only take me eight years to dig myself out of the hole that I am in. If I could dig myself out, I would be one happy little groundhog. With God’s help that is what I will be endeavoring to do.

Why only three per month? It could be more. I chose to allow myself the option of succumbing to the tyranny of the urgent, and writing no more than one emergency post per month. These would be topics that come up at the last minute and have a sense of urgency in terms of the timeliness of their publication. I would write these posts to put out small fires.This post is an example of such an urgent topic.

Almost all of my fires of the past six plus years have been health related. Even in the face of seemingly unrelenting illnesses, I know that God still cares for me and has a job for me to do. I know this because I serve the same God as King David and the Disciple Peter, These men of God urged everyone to rely completely and only on God.

²And he [David] said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; ³The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. ⁴I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. (2 Samuel 22:2 – 4, KJV)

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. (I Peter 5:7, KJV)

Jesus speaking to all His disciples shortly before His crucifixion, summarized the source of the power and joy that He was offering to them.

⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. ⁵I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. ⁶If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. ⁸Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. ⁹As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. ¹⁰If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. ¹¹These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. (John 15: 4-11, KJV)

Note the stark contrast in verse 5, “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” Please pray with me that both you and I can abide in Christ. If we do, then He will abide in us, and we will be able to do much for Him. If we don’t abide in Christ, we risk being pruned and casted aside. What will it be? Abide or Aside?

In my November 2014 post ” Which would you find more acceptable in your back yard: A toxic waste dump or a murder of crows? ” I indicated that a post entitled Who is my Neighbor? was to be the next post in the series of posts on neighbors and the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) debate. I am announcing that I am finally getting around to writing that post which will be published next week. Please pray with me that God will give me the power and insight to answer the question: “Who is my neighbor?”

October 20, 2015 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

VIsual Story Board for Manuscript Title, Part IV – Biblical?

This post is the next to the last in a series on the development of the title of my manuscript, An Explorer’s Guide to Biblical Life Planning: Student Version. In the series I have illustrated the application of a visual approach to thinking through a pictorial story board. In this post, I concentrate on the adjective Biblical, and some questions surrounding it. Since there are so many Life Planning processes, I wanted an adjective that would specify the type of process I was developing.

This adjective needed to convey a number of things. I wanted it to indicate something about the audience to whom I was addressing the book. The first adjective that I selected was the word Christian. I experimented with this word because I developed this process in conjunction with my work at four different Christian colleges. In those contexts, the students whom I was counseling and mentoring were almost exclusively Christian students. The few who were not Christians had made a conscious choice to attend a Christian college and knew the kind of education in which they were participating.

Yet I hesitated to use the adjective Christian. Why was I exhibiting this uncertainty? The main reason for my uncertainty came from the fact that there are many different forms of Christianity. Each form has its own nuances. In some of those branches of Christianity there is a strict exclusivity: “You are only a Christian if you belong to our group. We are the only group that has the truth.” Christianity does have an exclusivity. Christ is the only way, truth and life. No one can come to God except through Christ. In the Gospel of John, we read:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)

However, there is a wide-open invitation to all to come to Christ. There is no set of restrictive rituals that one must perform to come to Christ. You must just believe that you are a sinner, that Christ died for your sin, and you must accept his free offer of salvation. Christ did not save us to enslave us. He died to make us free, as he spoke to a group of Pharisees and other Jews,

³⁰As he spake these words, many believed on him. ³¹Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; ³²And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.³³They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? ³⁴Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ³⁵And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. ³⁶If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:30-36, KJV)

In Paul’s letter to the Galatian church he wrote

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Gal 6:1 KJV)

I have had my own life journey in Christianity. I have been a Christian for more than 60 years. I spent 40 of those years as a faculty member or administrator at four different Christian colleges, of various denominational and theological stripes. Over those 40 years I witnessed many arguments about whether a particular college should have the right to call itself a Christian college. These arguments arose mainly due to the sectarianism, parochialism, or pettiness of legalists, who have infiltrated the ranks of churches. My personal views are built upon many years of personal studies of the scriptures, theology and the history of the church. I believe in a richness and breadth of Christianity. I did not want to limit the appeal or application of my work to a narrow segment of the universal church, a segment which would force Christians into a small box of man’s making.

In my projected manuscript I didn’t want to restrict my audience to a particular portion of Christians desiring to find God’s plan for their lives. However, I know that not all who call the Lord, “Lord” are of the House of God.

⁴³For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. ⁴⁴For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. ⁴⁵A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. ⁴⁶And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? ⁴⁷Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: ⁴⁸He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. ⁴⁹But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:43-49, KJV)

If we come to Christ and do the things he has said, we will be shown to be like Christ, and worthy to carry the label Christian. Where do we find the things that Christ has said? I do not deny that in the past God has spoken directly to individuals, and even today he may still speak directly to some individuals. The word of the Lord may not necessarily come audibly, but rather through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. However, our primary source of the words of the Lord today are the Scriptures. When individuals believe that God has spoken directly to them, those individuals, and anyone who listens to them, have the responsibility to test the words they believe came from God against what God has said elsewhere.

Since we know and believe that God is our primary authority, we must look to our current main source of his instructions, which is the Bible. That thought tipped the balance in my thinking toward the use of the word Biblical in the title of my manuscript.

However, as I thought more about this choice. I studied applications where the term Biblical has been used, such as Biblical counseling. There I found significant discussions about the use of the term Biblical, particulary in that context. The primary criticism of the use of the term Biblical Counseling seems to be related to the use of the Bible as the only source of knowledge and methodologies related to counseling, and the exclusion of other sources such as psychology and psychiatry. Thus we have two pictures. The picture to the left includes only the Bible and no other sources. While the picture to the right includes another source of knowledge, but does put the Bible on top in the place of ultimate prominence. I believe that God has given us brains and expects us to use them for His honor and glory. So my thinking leans toward the picture to the right.

Back to my question of this post: “What adjective do I use to describe the process that I am proposing?” May I ask for your help? What adjective should I use? I welcome my readers input.

September 13, 2014 By B. Baylis Leave a Comment

Facing Down the NIMBY Dragon with Humor and Scriptures

Although most NIMBY situations are very serious affairs to the local communities involved, individuals outside of the fray can often find humor in the midst of the tension and fiery passions of the antagonists. My next four posts are NIMBY scenarios with some of their humorous aspects front and center. I have tried to be humorous or witty even in the titles of the posts. The first two posts present real NIMBY scenarios with which Inhaber deals in his book, Slaying the NIMBY Dragon. The second two posts concern NIMBY situations which are not real, but are realistic enough to sound real. I did not originate these two scenarios. I have done an exhaustive search for the originators. However, my searches have come up empty. If someone knows from where these scenarios came, please let me know so that I can give credit or blame to whom it is deserved.

I know full well that humor is not always the most appropriate way in which to deal with problems. Therefore I will end my series on NIMBY situations with several posts that look at NIMBY through the lenses of scripture and faith. What do scriptures say about the NIMBY attitude? Is it ever justified to invoke a NIMBY approach?

My first humorous NIMBY post is entitled: Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch. It concerns the State of Tennessee against the United States Department of Energy over a low-level nuclear waste dump to be sited near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Oak Ridge was already the site of a nuclear laboratory and a nuclear power plant. The whole economy of the Oak Ridge region was built on nuclear science. The overwhelming majority of the residents of the Oak Ridge area were in favor of placing a nuclear waste dump in their town. Where did the Department of Energy hit a snag?

My second humorous NIMBY post is entitled: Never Underestimate a Group of Irate Senior Citizens. It deals again with the United State Department of Energy attempting to build another nuclear waste dump. This time the proposed dump is in Allegany County, New York, a very rural area, that had few populated areas. It seemed perfect for a nuclear dump. The DOE did all their homework. There were no geological problems which which they needed to be concerned. The land was only farm land and therefore should be cheap to acquire. What went wrong?

My third humorous NIMBY post is entitled: What Makes a Better Neighbor, a Prison or a University? The seed for this post was planted many years ago during a dinner conversation at an academic conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I don’t remember the names of the participants. However, I know one was an individual from a New Mexican institution. Another attendee at the table made the observation that there were no four-year state colleges or universities in Sante Fe, the capital of New Mexico. The person from New Mexico chuckled and said that this was an ongoing debate in the state that degenerated into a very biting joke. The joke was: “Why did Albuquerque get the state university and Santa Fe the prison? The answer: Santa Fe got first pick.” In this post I will dissect the advantages and disadvantages of both prisons and universities as neighbors.

My fourth and final humorous NIMBY post is entitled: Which Would You Find More Acceptable in Your Back Yard, a Toxic Waste Dump or a Murder of Crows? I know many of my readers are saying “Who would want a toxic waste dump in their back yard?’ Many are also saying “Who cares about crows anyway?” This question turns on a play on words in the phrase, “a murder of crows.” The scientific term for a group of crows is “flock.” However, the literary or poetic term for a large group of crows is a “murder.” But the play on words doesn’t end there. The word “crow” is a derogatory word for a lawyer. The seed for this post was planted by a joke on a late night television show just after the super fund toxic waste dumps were identified. The joke started out with the comedian reminding people that New Jersey had the most super fund toxic waste sites. He then continued by pointing out that the District of Columbia had the highest concentration of lawyers anywhere in the United States. He concluded the joke by asking, “How come New Jersey has the largest number of toxic waste dumps and Washington has the highest concentration of lawyers? Obviously, New Jersey got first pick.” In this post I will analyze why New Jersey leads the nation in toxic waste dumps while Washington leads the nation in lawyers.

Although laughing at the foibles and silliness of others may make us momentarily feel good, it is ultimately not the best solution. Not every problem can or should be solved with humor. Sometimes we must be serious, and go back to the foundational values of our culture. Christians are suppose to turn to Scriptures to find their values. God’s Word should be the basis for our actions. There are three passages of Scriptures that jump out at me in terms of talking about how we should treat our neighbors, and who are our neighbors. I will divide these lessons into three posts.

The first post will deal with the familiar parable of the good Samaritan. The second post will consider another of Christ’s lesson about how we should treat the poor and unlovely. The third post considers the passage about the two Great Commandments.

My final post on the teaching of Scriptures concerning NIMBY situation examines the question, “Are NIMBY and Scriptures completely incompatible?” Is it ever okay to stand up and say, “Not in My Back Yard”? We will look at a couple of Old Testament examples and a very prominent one from the New Testament involving Christ’s actions in the Temple.