The following weblog posting is a first for me. I received it from my brother and trust it is accurate. To verify it, I went to the CBS Sunday Morning website but could not find this particular commentary from Ben Stein, but neither could I find a link to their archives. Since I am not very computer savvy this is not surprising. Nevertheless, I forward it to you as I received it. I think Mr. Stein, or whoever wrote it, hit the nail on the head.
My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees... I don't feel threatened.. I don't feel discriminated against.. That's what they are, Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu .. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'
In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school.. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about.. And we said okay..
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit.
If not, then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben S
Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
On Virtue
It is very important to me that I ‘be on record’ about some things. I, for example, echo the words of the ancient apostle Paul to the Romans: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…for therein is the righteousness of God revealed…” (Romans 1:16-17).
In like manner I am not ashamed of and want to be on record about the notion of ‘virtue.’ I am not speaking of virtue simply as ‘chastity,’ although chastity is an important virtue, but the larger concept of virtue that goes beyond the narrow focus on such matters as illegitimacy, abortion, and homosexuality. In my Church we are enjoined to “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” We agree with the apostle Paul that “if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
Consequently, I subscribe to what some call Victorian values, even though they are now denigrated as being terribly old-fashioned, or, as author Gertrude Himmelfarb described, as “time-bound and place-bound, gender-bound, race-bound, class-bound, culture-bound and whatever other flaws are now commonly assigned to the past in general and to the Victorian period in particular.” The fact is, Victorian virtues, which which actually pre-dated the Victorian era, are cross-cultural, cross-generational and foundational to the political philosophy and documents that support the strength and longevity of our nation.
Therefore, I propose for discussion on the national agenda the notion of a moral reformation movement, a retrenchment and rededication to the classical Christian virtues of family, faith, hope, and charity, as well as the Aristotelian virtues of wisdom, justice, temperance and courage, and the inalienable eternal virtues of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to provide foundational support for the political stirrings germinating in our society today.
In making this proposal I hope the individuals and families and social institutions that open this dialogue do not allow it to degenerate and get derailed or subverted into a focus on modern ‘values’ as a degraded substitute for the more substantial and foundational principles. Values, properly thought of, are a superstructure that are built upon a foundation of virtue.
To be clear, I am not proposing a revisitation of the 1960’s and ‘70’s. The transition of ‘virtues’ into ‘values’ in those decades with the consequent transmutation of morals into relative sin-supporting behaviors was nothing less than a rebellion and social revolution. ‘Values,’ in modern, or at least of the ‘New Left’ mentality of the 60’s and 70’s , brought with it the assumptions that all moral ideas and ideals are subjective and relative, that they are mere customs and conventions—that any belief, opinion, attitude, feeling, habit, convention or preference of any individual or group, at any time, for any reason is as good or has as much value as anything else. ‘Tolerance,’ being nonjudgmental, being ‘politically correct,’ being ‘value-free,’ was enthroned as the highest value. And that is where we find ourselves; and that is the crux of the problem—that ‘tolerance’ validates every deviance, therefore deviance no longer exists. I have a big problem with ‘tolerance’ of the intolerable.
In conjunction with our attempting to fix the economy, the middle-east, the border and drug problem with Mexico, our disintegrating families or any of the other multitudinous issues of our time should we not examine our own mind and heart relative to the virtues we subscribe to and live by, or live without, and how they line up with the wisdom of the ages? Shall we not then start to undo the distortions?
Let’s get back on track.
In like manner I am not ashamed of and want to be on record about the notion of ‘virtue.’ I am not speaking of virtue simply as ‘chastity,’ although chastity is an important virtue, but the larger concept of virtue that goes beyond the narrow focus on such matters as illegitimacy, abortion, and homosexuality. In my Church we are enjoined to “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” We agree with the apostle Paul that “if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
Consequently, I subscribe to what some call Victorian values, even though they are now denigrated as being terribly old-fashioned, or, as author Gertrude Himmelfarb described, as “time-bound and place-bound, gender-bound, race-bound, class-bound, culture-bound and whatever other flaws are now commonly assigned to the past in general and to the Victorian period in particular.” The fact is, Victorian virtues, which which actually pre-dated the Victorian era, are cross-cultural, cross-generational and foundational to the political philosophy and documents that support the strength and longevity of our nation.
Therefore, I propose for discussion on the national agenda the notion of a moral reformation movement, a retrenchment and rededication to the classical Christian virtues of family, faith, hope, and charity, as well as the Aristotelian virtues of wisdom, justice, temperance and courage, and the inalienable eternal virtues of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to provide foundational support for the political stirrings germinating in our society today.
In making this proposal I hope the individuals and families and social institutions that open this dialogue do not allow it to degenerate and get derailed or subverted into a focus on modern ‘values’ as a degraded substitute for the more substantial and foundational principles. Values, properly thought of, are a superstructure that are built upon a foundation of virtue.
To be clear, I am not proposing a revisitation of the 1960’s and ‘70’s. The transition of ‘virtues’ into ‘values’ in those decades with the consequent transmutation of morals into relative sin-supporting behaviors was nothing less than a rebellion and social revolution. ‘Values,’ in modern, or at least of the ‘New Left’ mentality of the 60’s and 70’s , brought with it the assumptions that all moral ideas and ideals are subjective and relative, that they are mere customs and conventions—that any belief, opinion, attitude, feeling, habit, convention or preference of any individual or group, at any time, for any reason is as good or has as much value as anything else. ‘Tolerance,’ being nonjudgmental, being ‘politically correct,’ being ‘value-free,’ was enthroned as the highest value. And that is where we find ourselves; and that is the crux of the problem—that ‘tolerance’ validates every deviance, therefore deviance no longer exists. I have a big problem with ‘tolerance’ of the intolerable.
In conjunction with our attempting to fix the economy, the middle-east, the border and drug problem with Mexico, our disintegrating families or any of the other multitudinous issues of our time should we not examine our own mind and heart relative to the virtues we subscribe to and live by, or live without, and how they line up with the wisdom of the ages? Shall we not then start to undo the distortions?
Let’s get back on track.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Christmas Presents and Christmas Presence
The Christmas season, for me, always seems to accentuate a deeper sensitivity and awareness to things spiritual. This is as it should be. Something should come of the music, the decorations, the prayers, and the contemplation of the sacred occasion of the birth of Jesus Christ. For me, however, it is a rather quiet and private experience; if I do not find that time or space and allow for a response to it, I am disappointed. The externals of the season should not eclipse the internals that should be and can be stimulated by it.
Yesterday my wife and I attended a funeral for a friend. It added to the sacredness of the season. All components of the funeral were designed to remember the life of a good woman and how her life fit into the moment we have been given to experience mortality in life’s ongoing drama. We were reminded of things we should learn and never forget. Every life has a purpose and has value and it doesn’t end with the funeral—either for the one who passes on to the next stage or for those who are temporarily left behind. I love attending funerals. I’m sure I will attend my own.
Last evening we attended a Christmas concert of vocal music. It, too, reminded us of things sacred and accentuated the spirituality of the occasion celebrated. The virtuosity of the performers , the setting in the nave of a chapel, the deportment of the attendees, the selection and composition of the music rendered all contributed to our experience and the richness of the season.
Strangely enough, I used to not like Christmas because of the pressure of people and ‘presents’—buying them and observing how they were often received. Now I look forward to Christmas because of ‘presence,’ the presence of great things spiritual, just below the surface, that can be enjoyed by all who have “eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts that know and understand.”
Have a Merry Christmas. Have a Sacred Christmas. Both are good, but I’ll take the latter.
Yesterday my wife and I attended a funeral for a friend. It added to the sacredness of the season. All components of the funeral were designed to remember the life of a good woman and how her life fit into the moment we have been given to experience mortality in life’s ongoing drama. We were reminded of things we should learn and never forget. Every life has a purpose and has value and it doesn’t end with the funeral—either for the one who passes on to the next stage or for those who are temporarily left behind. I love attending funerals. I’m sure I will attend my own.
Last evening we attended a Christmas concert of vocal music. It, too, reminded us of things sacred and accentuated the spirituality of the occasion celebrated. The virtuosity of the performers , the setting in the nave of a chapel, the deportment of the attendees, the selection and composition of the music rendered all contributed to our experience and the richness of the season.
Strangely enough, I used to not like Christmas because of the pressure of people and ‘presents’—buying them and observing how they were often received. Now I look forward to Christmas because of ‘presence,’ the presence of great things spiritual, just below the surface, that can be enjoyed by all who have “eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts that know and understand.”
Have a Merry Christmas. Have a Sacred Christmas. Both are good, but I’ll take the latter.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Christmas
In America we may call this season of the year from Thanksgiving Day through New Years’ Day the ‘holidays,’ but for me the preeminent ‘Holiday’ (holy day) is Christmas—the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ. It happened this way:
A little over two thousand years ago the archangel Gabriel appeared from the Heavenly realms and made a startling announcement to some faithful shepherds who were attending to their task in the dark of the night. The message was that the long-awaited Messiah had been born and was now among them. Additional heralds, a multitude of what we suppose were singing angels, joined Gabriel praising God. They, too, left their message with the astonished shepherds. The shepherds responded with haste to this glorious outpouring to find this child, this long-prophesied Messiah—to gain a personal testimony of the things they were told. After they had seen for themselves, they unhesitatingly told all they encountered of what they had heard and experienced.
What can we learn from this? The scriptural record here shows that God, on His timetable, will make known even to the lowliest of His children messages of transcendent importance. There is no indication in the record that the shepherds were aged or highly-educated sages; nothing is said about them holding position or priesthood. Nothing is said of their gender. The likelihood, instead, was that these were probably poor and uneducated young men and/or young women who knew how to care for God’s creatures, who were in the line of their duty, and who were not asleep.
What else might have qualified the shepherds to be given this message? Perhaps the fact that they had earlier listened to the prophecies about a promised Messiah and found them credible. Perhaps because they were worthy to receive a spiritual message and that their spirit resonated with the message they heard. Perhaps because they believed in angels. Perhaps because God knew they would not hesitate to proclaim the message and witness they received to any person they subsequently encountered.
Can you see the pattern? Though the wise men came later bearing gifts, the response desired by God of those who were in a position to immediately respond to this Holy day, this Birthday of birthdays, was for them to listen to His messengers, to gain a personal testimony themselves, to worship God’s Son, and to proclaim to others what they knew to be true. Could this not be the proper response for us to emulate during this Christmas season?
We will glorify God this Christmas season and give our best gift by proclaiming with joy the Good News message of His Son’s ministry and mission into a darkened world and into the hearts of His children.
A little over two thousand years ago the archangel Gabriel appeared from the Heavenly realms and made a startling announcement to some faithful shepherds who were attending to their task in the dark of the night. The message was that the long-awaited Messiah had been born and was now among them. Additional heralds, a multitude of what we suppose were singing angels, joined Gabriel praising God. They, too, left their message with the astonished shepherds. The shepherds responded with haste to this glorious outpouring to find this child, this long-prophesied Messiah—to gain a personal testimony of the things they were told. After they had seen for themselves, they unhesitatingly told all they encountered of what they had heard and experienced.
What can we learn from this? The scriptural record here shows that God, on His timetable, will make known even to the lowliest of His children messages of transcendent importance. There is no indication in the record that the shepherds were aged or highly-educated sages; nothing is said about them holding position or priesthood. Nothing is said of their gender. The likelihood, instead, was that these were probably poor and uneducated young men and/or young women who knew how to care for God’s creatures, who were in the line of their duty, and who were not asleep.
What else might have qualified the shepherds to be given this message? Perhaps the fact that they had earlier listened to the prophecies about a promised Messiah and found them credible. Perhaps because they were worthy to receive a spiritual message and that their spirit resonated with the message they heard. Perhaps because they believed in angels. Perhaps because God knew they would not hesitate to proclaim the message and witness they received to any person they subsequently encountered.
Can you see the pattern? Though the wise men came later bearing gifts, the response desired by God of those who were in a position to immediately respond to this Holy day, this Birthday of birthdays, was for them to listen to His messengers, to gain a personal testimony themselves, to worship God’s Son, and to proclaim to others what they knew to be true. Could this not be the proper response for us to emulate during this Christmas season?
We will glorify God this Christmas season and give our best gift by proclaiming with joy the Good News message of His Son’s ministry and mission into a darkened world and into the hearts of His children.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Wisdom of Theodore Roosevelt
Within the past two years I have read a history of Theodore Roosevelt and most recently an interesting old book titled Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters To His Children.
Consistent with my appreciation for the ‘giants’ in my life, my weblog for today credits a man, certainly more liberal than me, but nevertheless a wise man and a great president of this country.
On September 14, 1901 at age 42, Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States, the youngest man ever to become President (John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to that office at the age of 43). Mr. Roosevelt was the father of six children.
Following are some quotations from his service to country and family:
"I put myself in the way of things happening; and they happened."..."During the three years' service in the Legislature [he was elected to the New York state Legislature at age 23] I worked on a very simple philosophy of government. It was that personal character and initiative are the prime requisites in political and social life."
"A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals in so far as he can. My power for good, whatever it may be, would be gone if I didn't try to live up to the doctrines I have to preach."
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." (From his speech, "Man in the Arena")
" The kind of 'neutrality' which seeks to preserve 'peace' by timidly refusing to live up to our plighted word and to denounce and take action against such wrong as that committed in the case of Belgium, is unworthy of an honorable and powerful people. Dante reserved a special place of infamy in the Inferno for those base angels who dared side neither with evil or with good. Peace is ardently to be desired, but only as the handmaiden of righteousness. There can be no such peace until well-behaved, highly civilized small nations are protected from oppression and subjugation."
"It is no use to preach to [children] if you do not act decently yourself."
"For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison."
"The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name." "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."
“Any nation [or person] which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life."
("Arbor Day" - A Message to the School-Children of the United States" April 15, 1907)
“The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations.”
"No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it." "Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor."
(Third Annual Message to Congress, December 7, 1903)
"There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility."
Consistent with my appreciation for the ‘giants’ in my life, my weblog for today credits a man, certainly more liberal than me, but nevertheless a wise man and a great president of this country.
On September 14, 1901 at age 42, Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States, the youngest man ever to become President (John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to that office at the age of 43). Mr. Roosevelt was the father of six children.
Following are some quotations from his service to country and family:
"I put myself in the way of things happening; and they happened."..."During the three years' service in the Legislature [he was elected to the New York state Legislature at age 23] I worked on a very simple philosophy of government. It was that personal character and initiative are the prime requisites in political and social life."
"A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals in so far as he can. My power for good, whatever it may be, would be gone if I didn't try to live up to the doctrines I have to preach."
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." (From his speech, "Man in the Arena")
" The kind of 'neutrality' which seeks to preserve 'peace' by timidly refusing to live up to our plighted word and to denounce and take action against such wrong as that committed in the case of Belgium, is unworthy of an honorable and powerful people. Dante reserved a special place of infamy in the Inferno for those base angels who dared side neither with evil or with good. Peace is ardently to be desired, but only as the handmaiden of righteousness. There can be no such peace until well-behaved, highly civilized small nations are protected from oppression and subjugation."
"It is no use to preach to [children] if you do not act decently yourself."
"For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison."
"The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name." "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."
“Any nation [or person] which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life."
("Arbor Day" - A Message to the School-Children of the United States" April 15, 1907)
“The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations.”
"No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it." "Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor."
(Third Annual Message to Congress, December 7, 1903)
"There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility."
Saturday, December 11, 2010
The Terrible Peril of Pornography
It is a cardinal rule of my life to try to help make life easier for those within the circle of my influence. To this end I have felt it part of my mission to raise the voice of warning to any who might be persuaded to heed it when I see something seriously amiss in the lives of those I love and care about.
Today I add my voice to those prophets and physicians, philosophers and historians, broken-hearted wives and bewildered children, as I decry the terrible blight that pornography has brought upon our generation.
What is happening may be the ‘overflowing scourge’ that prophets in holy scripture say will bring down a people, a nation, even a civilization.
Years ago, historians Will and Ariel Durant, in their book The Lessons of History, concluded that civilizations have fallen because of unbridled or pervasive sexuality: “[A young person] will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires; and if he is unchecked by custom, morals, or laws, he may ruin his life before he matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restrains if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group” (pp. 35-36).
In my recent experience as a Church leader I have found that many, perhaps most, of the young men (age 18-30) under my stewardship had been negatively affected by the scourge of pornography. And these were good Christian boys. Some were also young women. Sadly, some of my charges were strongly addicted.
Recent surveys indicate that 90% of college age young men are regularly exposed to pornography and 30% of young women view, or more often, participate in pornography through chat rooms or similar media (Jason S. Carroll, et. al., “Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use Among Emerging Adults,” Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 23 (1) 2008, p. 6-30). They are being badly damaged by it, and it will get worse with them.
In addition to being an isolative, anti-social, and depressive influence for the participant, it produces extremely harmful effects on marriages, families, and normal, healthy and developing heterosexual relationships between people. Plainly put, the behavior of the pornography participant changes for the worse.
Playing with pornography is a relationship with fantasy of the worst kind. It produces a fracturing of trust with spouses and with spouses-to-be when it is found out—and it is always eventually found out. Guilt and shame are concomitants of the practice of viewing pornographic material as is a progressive desensitization as the practice quickly moves toward addiction.
Pornography is highly addicting. An addiction is a phenomenon that actually changes brain physiology and structure. As medical doctor Jeffery Satinover, M.D., reported to a Senate committee in 2004, it is a drug “injected directly into the brain through the eyes.”
Addiction is pathological learning that damages nerve cells and affects neurotransmitter production. It causes changes in brain circuitry and a shrinkage in the control and pleasure centers of the brain. When viewing pornography the brain produces a large amount of adrenaline (epinephrine) and the excitatory neurotransmitters dopamine and oxytocin. Because oxytocin causes a bonding to the stimulus that liberates it, it is believed that a transference to a preference for pornography over real people and real and natural sexuality occurs. And with the repeated over-stimulation of dopamine production that participation with pornography generates, these nerve centers become damaged and soon put out less dopamine in the normal state causing the person to be depressed and less functional except when on a short-lived porn ‘high’ when dopamine kicks in.
The addicted person is no longer living in a real world, but a false, an artificial ‘virtual world’ that sooner than later lets the hooked person down hard but with no natural relief. With the addicted person a craving supplants normal sexual rhythms and the person becomes totally focused on his unrequited appetite. He is now dysfunctional with all the negatives that accrue to it—as are all addicts.
Recovery, as with all addictions, is very difficult but possible. Without help, however, I would say that it cannot be done by one so entrapped.
A valuable book for helpers, professionals, or one so ‘hooked’ is: “He Restoreth My Soul,” by Donald L. Hilton Jr., M.D. (Forward Press Publishing, LLC, P.O. Box 593499, San Antonio, TX 78259; or www.ForwardPress.org).
As with involvement with any vice, the victim pays a huge price. The only winner is the one profiting financially from the destruction of its victims.
‘Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy the kind of misery you prefer.’ (author unknown)
Today I add my voice to those prophets and physicians, philosophers and historians, broken-hearted wives and bewildered children, as I decry the terrible blight that pornography has brought upon our generation.
What is happening may be the ‘overflowing scourge’ that prophets in holy scripture say will bring down a people, a nation, even a civilization.
Years ago, historians Will and Ariel Durant, in their book The Lessons of History, concluded that civilizations have fallen because of unbridled or pervasive sexuality: “[A young person] will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires; and if he is unchecked by custom, morals, or laws, he may ruin his life before he matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restrains if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group” (pp. 35-36).
In my recent experience as a Church leader I have found that many, perhaps most, of the young men (age 18-30) under my stewardship had been negatively affected by the scourge of pornography. And these were good Christian boys. Some were also young women. Sadly, some of my charges were strongly addicted.
Recent surveys indicate that 90% of college age young men are regularly exposed to pornography and 30% of young women view, or more often, participate in pornography through chat rooms or similar media (Jason S. Carroll, et. al., “Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use Among Emerging Adults,” Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 23 (1) 2008, p. 6-30). They are being badly damaged by it, and it will get worse with them.
In addition to being an isolative, anti-social, and depressive influence for the participant, it produces extremely harmful effects on marriages, families, and normal, healthy and developing heterosexual relationships between people. Plainly put, the behavior of the pornography participant changes for the worse.
Playing with pornography is a relationship with fantasy of the worst kind. It produces a fracturing of trust with spouses and with spouses-to-be when it is found out—and it is always eventually found out. Guilt and shame are concomitants of the practice of viewing pornographic material as is a progressive desensitization as the practice quickly moves toward addiction.
Pornography is highly addicting. An addiction is a phenomenon that actually changes brain physiology and structure. As medical doctor Jeffery Satinover, M.D., reported to a Senate committee in 2004, it is a drug “injected directly into the brain through the eyes.”
Addiction is pathological learning that damages nerve cells and affects neurotransmitter production. It causes changes in brain circuitry and a shrinkage in the control and pleasure centers of the brain. When viewing pornography the brain produces a large amount of adrenaline (epinephrine) and the excitatory neurotransmitters dopamine and oxytocin. Because oxytocin causes a bonding to the stimulus that liberates it, it is believed that a transference to a preference for pornography over real people and real and natural sexuality occurs. And with the repeated over-stimulation of dopamine production that participation with pornography generates, these nerve centers become damaged and soon put out less dopamine in the normal state causing the person to be depressed and less functional except when on a short-lived porn ‘high’ when dopamine kicks in.
The addicted person is no longer living in a real world, but a false, an artificial ‘virtual world’ that sooner than later lets the hooked person down hard but with no natural relief. With the addicted person a craving supplants normal sexual rhythms and the person becomes totally focused on his unrequited appetite. He is now dysfunctional with all the negatives that accrue to it—as are all addicts.
Recovery, as with all addictions, is very difficult but possible. Without help, however, I would say that it cannot be done by one so entrapped.
A valuable book for helpers, professionals, or one so ‘hooked’ is: “He Restoreth My Soul,” by Donald L. Hilton Jr., M.D. (Forward Press Publishing, LLC, P.O. Box 593499, San Antonio, TX 78259; or www.ForwardPress.org).
As with involvement with any vice, the victim pays a huge price. The only winner is the one profiting financially from the destruction of its victims.
‘Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy the kind of misery you prefer.’ (author unknown)
Monday, December 6, 2010
Yogi Berraisms
I have a hard time with what many people find to be humorous. Humor often seems to be cruel or hurtful or at someone else’s expense, and that is not good.
However, if an intelligent person seems to cultivate some aspect of his own personality that others find humorous or this person laughs at it himself, and what is said truly is not malicious, then I can enjoy a few chuckles too.
Some of the recorded, or reputed, sayings of Yogi Berra fall into this category. This former all-star Major League baseball player and manager has become a cultural icon, and some of his sayings have found their way into all levels of public discourse. Many of his observations contain more wisdom than one may realize. To wit:
• If you come to a fork in the road, take it.
• Money often costs too much. (also attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• You can observe a lot by watching.
• You’ve got to communicate all the time. I also did a lot of talking.
• We make too many wrong mistakes. The best way to avoid mistakes is by not making them.
• A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
• It’s not over ‘til it’s over.
• If you can’t imitate ‘em, don’t copy ‘em.
• Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.
• It gets late early out here.
• The future ain’t what it used to be.
• If nothing works when you’re in a slump and you’ve tried everything, then my advice is to try something new.
• In spring training someone asked what size cap I wore. I said, ‘I don’t know, I’m not in shape yet.’
• Most people know me by my face.
• We have a good time together, even when we are not together.
• I really didn’t say everything I said.
• Always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise they won’t go to yours.
Something to think about. Have a nice life.
However, if an intelligent person seems to cultivate some aspect of his own personality that others find humorous or this person laughs at it himself, and what is said truly is not malicious, then I can enjoy a few chuckles too.
Some of the recorded, or reputed, sayings of Yogi Berra fall into this category. This former all-star Major League baseball player and manager has become a cultural icon, and some of his sayings have found their way into all levels of public discourse. Many of his observations contain more wisdom than one may realize. To wit:
• If you come to a fork in the road, take it.
• Money often costs too much. (also attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• You can observe a lot by watching.
• You’ve got to communicate all the time. I also did a lot of talking.
• We make too many wrong mistakes. The best way to avoid mistakes is by not making them.
• A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
• It’s not over ‘til it’s over.
• If you can’t imitate ‘em, don’t copy ‘em.
• Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.
• It gets late early out here.
• The future ain’t what it used to be.
• If nothing works when you’re in a slump and you’ve tried everything, then my advice is to try something new.
• In spring training someone asked what size cap I wore. I said, ‘I don’t know, I’m not in shape yet.’
• Most people know me by my face.
• We have a good time together, even when we are not together.
• I really didn’t say everything I said.
• Always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise they won’t go to yours.
Something to think about. Have a nice life.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Of Teachers and Learning
Having been a secondary school teacher all my professional life I share with you a secret that all upper-grade teachers (and good students) know. More often than not, a teacher is simply a shortcut or a resource that exists to help the lazy, or busy, or less motivated person gain some knowledge or skill that this person wouldn’t pay the price to find out himself.
That, of course, isn’t all bad. It is not necessary, and certainly not efficient, for every person to reinvent the wheel, or light bulb, or musical score, or golf swing, or to read every book or go to original sources in the basements of libraries to use these things to our advantage ourselves. We can turn to a specialist—to one who knows and get what we need and move on from there.
But there is a danger. If all one does is tap into the shortcut, the condensed version, the CliffsNotes, the teacher’s mind; if he or she always uses spell-check instead of the dictionary, the telephone instead of the handwritten letter, Wikipedia instead of real research, something is going to atrophy. If you want to really learn something, you’ve got to get involved with it yourself. Immersion is the key. Pay the price.
That, of course, isn’t all bad. It is not necessary, and certainly not efficient, for every person to reinvent the wheel, or light bulb, or musical score, or golf swing, or to read every book or go to original sources in the basements of libraries to use these things to our advantage ourselves. We can turn to a specialist—to one who knows and get what we need and move on from there.
But there is a danger. If all one does is tap into the shortcut, the condensed version, the CliffsNotes, the teacher’s mind; if he or she always uses spell-check instead of the dictionary, the telephone instead of the handwritten letter, Wikipedia instead of real research, something is going to atrophy. If you want to really learn something, you’ve got to get involved with it yourself. Immersion is the key. Pay the price.
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