Do We Need Less Morality?

05 Mar , 2012 No Comments

“The world has far too much morality. If you added up all the homicides committed in pursuit of self-help justice, the casualties of religious and revolutionary wars, the people executed for victimless crimes and misdemeanors, and the targets of ideological genocides, they would surely outnumber the fatalities from amoral predation and conquest. The human moral sense can excuse any atrocity in the minds of those who commit it, and it furnishes them with motives for acts of violence that bring them no tangible benefit.”

I recently read this in Steven Pinker’s book The Better Angels of Our Nature. The book is a VERY in depth look at why violence has declined throughout history (832 pages in-depth). It is truly a fascinating read but Pinker is certainly not kind to God and religion. Particularly the stereotypical views of God and religion but many people may not be able to discern between the two unless they have experienced a healthy church that contradicts many of these types of stereotypes.

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The Role of the Artist

28 Feb , 2012 No Comments

“Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up.”

I’ve always thought of that as a profound truth. Especially because I first heard it in one of my favorite movies.

You see this in the following video. It is the most fascinating five minutes you’ll spend today.

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In Need of a Cloud

16 Feb , 2012 No Comments

I came across Numbers chapter nine in my Bible reading plan this week. Verses 15-23 talk about the time when Israel had left Egypt and was wandering in the desert. Their method of when to camp and when to walk was totally dependent upon God.

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The Bark of the Poodle

08 Feb , 2012 No Comments

**UPDATE** Click here to see the follow up to this post that shows the original quote.

It is never the doberman who says to the poodle, “I too am a dog.”

I originally heard this quote from my dad who credited C.S. Lewis with saying it. After Googling it to pieces I wasn’t able to find any trace of it. So I’ll credit it to my dad until someone can find who originally said it.

The poodle feels the need to convince the doberman that he is his equal. The doberman, secure in his own reality as a dog, doesn’t need to convince anyone of anything. The brevity of the quote misleads how profound of a reality this is.

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EntreLeadership

06 Feb , 2012 No Comments

[O]ur leadership team at Central read Dave Ramsey’s book EntreLeadership together. The strengths of the book lie in Dave’s massive amount of experience and use of stories that fill every point in every chapter. The weakness is the stereotypical business feel of much of the advice. This book is immensely practical. Few ideas will spin your head around, (something that I love in a good book) but many of the ideas will sharpen how you do business—whatever your business may be.

The title of the book comes from a word that Dave coined to describe the type of employee he tries to create. As you probably guessed, it is a combination of the stability of a leader and the risk of an entrepreneur. Thus, the EntreLeader is born.

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Should You Listen to the Critics?

31 Jan , 2012 No Comments

[I] saw a blog post today about criticism and cynicism and loved the distinction that it made. Anybody who creates anything knows the vulnerability and sensitivity that comes from the reactions to what they create. The tough question is what should we do with the feedback? Should we listen to every critic or ignore them all? The answer is found somewhere in between.

There are two kinds of doubt you’ll encounter in any new venture – criticism and cynicism.

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