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Archive for the ‘Ethics’ Category

Unity

November 20, 2024

A protestant church denomination spends time and effort to convince other congregations to join it, since they are right and others are wrong. Should not a Christian organization be spending its time and energy toward mission and ministry? Doing the work of Jesus in the world?

America just held an election. Each side hyped up the evils lying in wait if the other side won. Anxiety rose throughout the land. Should not we have been more concerned about how we build a society based upon our founding principles?

What we have here is a failure to listen.

I mean, really listen, to other people.

If I can convince you to listen to one podcast this month no matter where in the world you live, listen to this Guy Kawasaki podcast interview with Tonia Israel on The Science of Political Unity.

Dr. Tania Israel is a distinguished professor at UCSB and author of Facing the Fracture. Kawasaki’s new book is Think Remarkable.

Dr. Israel isn’t just another voice in the crowded space of political commentary; she’s a pioneering researcher and practitioner in the art of bridging divides. Her work at UCSB has positioned her at the forefront of understanding how we can heal America’s growing political fractures, and her insights have never been more crucial than they are today.

In this episode, we dive deep into the heart of political polarization, exploring how our media consumption, social bubbles, and cognitive biases shape our views of ‘ the other side.’

Dr. Israel challenges conventional wisdom about empathy and reveals surprising truths about how even the most empathetic people can contribute to polarization. Her practical strategies for engaging across political divides offer hope for meaningful dialogue in an increasingly divided world.

Hint: Ask deep questions, perhaps sincerely ask how did you come to believe that.

Oh, I should add that this is not the first election in US history with this level of polarization. Somehow we seem to have survived even if once we had to go to war.

Posted in Ethics, healing, Listening | Leave a Comment »

Virtue

May 16, 2024

I’ve been thinking on a concept almost unheard of today—virtue.

Virtue is what I do when no one is looking.

Virtue is when the income number I show the tax collector is greater than the income number I would show my neighbor.

Virtue is when I follow through on what I say I will do.

Virtue is when I am kind to someone for no apparent reason.

Virtue is when I help someone who cannot repay.

Virtue is when I shine the light on someone else rather than hogging the spotlight.

Posted in Attitude, Ethics, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Aspiring To a Better Society

March 1, 2024

The part of the sermon that Baptist preacher from North Carolina that has gone viral concerning if he were on a jury of a trial of a man accused of raping a woman who was wearing shorts he would vote for acquittal disturbs me every time I think of it. When someone who professes to follow Jesus reveals such a lack of understanding and empathy, I hesitate to ever identify myself with their religion.

A sentence from my current reading, The Identity Trap by Yascha Mount, metaphorically slapped me in the face. In a different context but jarring my thinking here, he said, “In practice, universal values and neutral rules do often exclude people in unjust ways. But an aspiration for societies to live up to the standards they profess can allow them to make genuine progress in treating their members fairly.” (My bolding.)

Not everyone (in fact no one?) can live up to the standards that Jesus set. Reading his words in the gospels you get the feeling he knew he was setting the standard so high that no one could ever congratulate themselves for achieving them. But if many of us aspire to live up to those standards, then the Jesus movement should continue to progress toward the type of society Jesus envisioned.

Indeed, so many people responded to that pastor’s comments that the church posted an apology on its message board. I can hope and pray that the incident spurs some growth in all of us.

Where is your heart? My heart? Are we trying to live up to Jesus command of how to live—by loving God and our neighbor? Don’t give up. Every step in that direction helps.

Posted in Attitude, Ethics | Leave a Comment »

Why Hate?

October 23, 2023

I read the blog of a technology innovator. He is Jewish, but non-religious, from New York City.

That always reminds me of a sales rep I had in NYC in the 1980s. When I met her, she said hi, I’m a typical New York Jew. I said, great, I have no idea what that means. She also thought that since I was from Ohio that I was a hayseed farmer. After we went to work making sales calls, we just became the marketer and salesperson trying to make a living.

Back to the tech blogger. He recently asked on his blog, “Why do people hate Jews?”

I have thought about that often during the past week since he posted it in light of the fighting going on right now.

I have no answers from psychology or analysis.

I have no answers to other questions of why one group chooses to hate another. It’s happening all around the world. It’s happening in your neighborhood.

An answer easy to say and evidently impossible to live comes from a teaching by Jesus—Love your enemies.

Maybe, just maybe, we could go out today and show kindness, kindness from the heart, to a person of a different tribe or ethnic identity or sexual identity? Do it twice and it may become a practice—a true spiritual practice.

Posted in Ethics, Love | Leave a Comment »

Do All The Good You Can

April 14, 2023

“Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.”
John Wesley

Read that piece of advice from John Wesley again.

Then perhaps every morning read it two more times.

Then leave the bathroom and endeavor to live this advice.

What better way to show that you are a follower of Jesus?

“Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.”
John Wesley

Posted in Disciplines, Ethics | Leave a Comment »

Pay No Attention To What The Gossips Say

March 29, 2023

Some of this morning’s reading:

Pay no attention to what the gossips say

They call the wide-eyed flower Jasmine.

They call the wide-eyed flower a thorn.

The wide-eyed flower doesn’t care what they call it.

Labels blind and tear us apart.
Rumi

I hear so much gossip, innuendo, the Bible calls it “whispering”. People rush to put a label on other human beings. Yet, we are all humans, children of God, made in the image of God.

Perhaps we could change our outlook on life. We could rest in the fruit of the Spirit. When we feel the urge to place a label on someone, we can pause, feel the tension between our thought and our spiritual outlook, and change our thought.

And when they label you…pay no attention. There is no need to respond. We live in the spirit and let the gossips go where the wind blows. Perhaps someday they will understand.

And we, ourselves? We will shun the urge to gossip and label about others.

Posted in Attitude, Ethics, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Being Full of Care

August 19, 2022

Later I realized this 1969 encounter was my introduction to a Baby Boomer/Yuppie attitude that I’ve noticed ever since. He had a good job lined up after graduation. However, if he didn’t pass this second-year German class, he would not graduate. The professor suggested he contact me (why, I don’t know) for tutoring to get through the class. I mentioned once about feeling bad about the professor’s lot of moving from Vienna, Austria to Ada, Ohio. My pupil remarked, “I don’t have time to care.”

Jesus’s fifth of the eight Beatitudes, “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘carefull’, you find yourselves cared for.”

Life is filled with these reciprocal situations.

Love when shared returns to the sender.

Gratitude when shared returns to the sender.

Even money at some point when shared appropriately returns benefits to the giver.

Jesus makes a point–we are blessed when we care.

Let us make that today’s mantra (saying that we repeat). We will then be presented with people or situations for which we should express care.

Posted in Compassion, Ethics, Gratitude, Habits | Leave a Comment »

Emphasize How We Are Alike

July 6, 2022

More people recognize the dangers and evils that lie in divisiveness. They talk about it more often in public. That in itself is a triumph. Trolls are everywhere to swamp your comments with, well, divisiveness.

Why I wonder do we devote so much effort emphasizing how we are different from one another. And why those on the other side of the dividing line are evil, bad, very unlikable versions of humans.

Our wish to feel superior to others forms the substructure of this attitude.

Christians specialize in dividing themselves from those who are not. But also so do those of other faiths–Islam, Hindu, Buddhist, nothings, and on and on.

Even within Christianity love divisiveness, there are liberals, mainstream, evangelical, reformed, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal (if you haven’t spoken in tongues, are you even saved?)–I think I could probably go on.

Christians who worship in all manner of forms and who hold some tenets stronger or weaker all have one thing in common–Jesus. Thinkers have devoted way too much time figuring out just who or what Jesus was. But at least all agree he existed. That’s a start.

Thomas Merton (one of my spiritual heroes) found common ground of contemplative Christianity and Buddhism. And, after a lifetime of experience, I agree with his path. He was on to something.

I bet that if we tried that we could find more common ground. But we would have to lay aside our pride, and our fears, and open our eyes and hearts. That’s not impossible. But it’s hard.

Posted in Attitude, Christianity, Ethics, Justice, pride | Leave a Comment »

There Are Two Types of People

April 26, 2022

There are always two types. It makes for great preaching. I once had to listen to a pastor every week build a straw man (one type) and then demolish that one with a Christian (type two).

There is a type of person who proclaims being a Christian. They post on Facebook or Instagram, say all the correct words, believe in the correct propositions.

There is another type of person who just follows what Jesus told, tries to live according to his teaching, serves others with strength and humility.

Sometimes the first type of person tries to follow Jesus living in service and humility. Others of that type apparently divorce their daily lives from their proclaimed faith.

Circumstances arise at times that remind me of painful experiences I’ve had with that latter type—the divorced type. That led me to construct the Gary Theory of Doing Business with Christians. When you find yourself doing business with an overtly Christian business man, take a firm hold of your wallet lest you have your money siphoned away.

I’ve had four experiences that have taught bitter lessons costing a lot of money.

Don’t be that person. Ethics are such an important part of living in community. And leaving a legacy to be proud of. As Andy Stanley likes to tell it, your decisions and actions tell a story. What story would you like to be able to tell your grandchildren?

Posted in Disciplines, Ethics | Leave a Comment »

The Test of Love

March 31, 2022

How are we assured that we have learned the material? We pass a test over the subject matter. How do we know that what we’ve built is what was ordered? We test it.

How do we know if we are following Jesus’ commands? Well, we test our actions against the golden measure—Jesus. He left us two tests for us to compare what we do with what he said.

When asked early in his ministry, he said to love our neighbor as ourselves. The test is loving ourselves. Unfortunately, many of us have trouble loving ourselves. Also that is somewhat limited. How much do we love ourselves?

At the end of his ministry, he left another, more stringent, test. He said to love one another as he has loved us. Sometimes our self love falters. But Jesus’ love. That is tough to duplicate. That makes it the gold standard. The ideal. We need to examine ourselves often. Where have we fallen short of loving just as Jesus loved? With that Facebook post? With that comment to a neighbor about another neighbor? With that failure to help someone in need?

If the test is whether we have loved just as Jesus has loved, then have we passed? Or have we failed? What do we need to learn today so that we pass when we check tonight?

Posted in Disciplines, Ethics, Love | Leave a Comment »

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