Let’s look at Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s affirmation: “God is with me, God is guiding me, God is helping me.” Yes, that provides comfort to believe and repeat. But where is it supported in the Bible?

Perhaps he was relying on what God told Jacob in Genesis 28:15… “I am with you and will keep you where you may go…”

So here’s my question: if he said that to Jacob, do we have the right to pull that out of its context and apply it to ourselves?

Though I have had to speak at some length about sex, I want to make it as clear as I possibly can that the center of Christian morality is not here.

If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back-biting; the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.

Commentary:

I can see why sexuality gained a predominant position in Christian thought. Throughout history, there has been little in the way of birth control, cures for sexually transmitted diseases, etc. Throw into the mix St. Paul, who, in my opinion already had a profound anti-sexual bias, and I can see why sexuality — part of the animal self — became central in its focus.

On the other hand, the diabolical self had biological utility. In primitive societies, being ruthless certainly had survival value.

Even today, we see this still at work. Not to condone it — quite the contrary. Sex is everywhere, even in our young, with disastrous consequences to the fabric of the family and society.

Yet violence is also everywhere, from thugs on the street, to thugs world-wide, who use their militaries not only to judge other nations, but to punish them as well. Sometimes it’s justified. Many times it’s not.

Even the socialist Isaac Asimov got it right one time: “Violence is the last resort of the incompetent.”

Truth be told, I don’t condone the animal self or the diabolical self. I condone the cognitive self, and the spiritual self. But both take a measure of maturity, and transcendence from the distorted view of the world we’ve all grown up in.

The Rolling Sones song, “Sympathy for the Devil” revealed so much about the adversary in so many ways, it can only be interpreted as an anthem against evil and moral relativism.

The words, “Just as every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners saints” shows the bankruptcy of moral relativism. If you have no absolute values, it lets you twist any ethical situation to your purpose.

It gives you license to do — and justify — anything you want.

This is why, even though I’m not Catholic, I have immense respect for the current Pope. One of the first issues he brought up was the swamp of moral relativism.

Without absolutes, you are adrift in a sea of “anything goes,” so long as you can rationalize or justify your way through it. And who can say you’re wrong, if there is no standard to judge it against?

Couple it with today’s tendency towards narcissism, and you have a recipe for sociopathic behavior.

That said, let’s look at the flip side.

When you have accepted certain absolutes, and learn how to judge whether or not certain things — or people — fit that mold, the tendency is to judge and condemn those who don’t fit your version of reality.

Remember that we are commanded to love the sinner, but hate the sin. If you find a sinner, it doesn’t do much good to judge them in a way that condemns them. If you want to judge them for having an unacceptable behavior or belief, then fine. But remember that they are still valuable humans in their own right.

You are encountering a valuable human being that is saddled with a behavior or belief you can’t reconcile yourself to. In fact, if that person sets up a personal enmity with you, you are actually commanded to love them.

Sure, it’s difficult. But you must separate the person from their behavior. Otherwise, you’ll descend into the mindless philosophy of a B.F. Skinner, who thought that people were only complex stimulus-response operant robots.

God gave you a brain. He also gave you free choice. We must use it to “judge” wisely, and not condemn others.

Have you ever seen episodes of Jillian, making people sweat on The Biggest Loser? What I find fascinating is the response I’ve heard about that many in her home viewing audience have.

They see people struggle with their weight on TV, yet they are consuming junk food while watching them. Yeah, they’re right in there with the story, watching the struggle, sharing in the jubilation about the success…

…as if they were experiencing the same result, just by agreeing that the hard work and effort makes it possible.

In other words, they transfer the success of the participant in the show onto their selves, whether they deserve it or not.

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.

How many Christians go to church, or watch Joel Osteen, and get an inspiring message — yet don’t do a thing to apply it? It makes them feel good, yet they take zero action.

Agreement with a message, by itself does little.

Inspiration, by itself does little.

Faith without works is dead.

The bible calls on us to be “active doers.” To walk our talk. What are you prepared to do? What will you put into action?

I challenge you to take at least one new action today, based on one of your values.

Here’s what he said:

“If you want to leave here with a subject, everyone here repeat with me: Prioritize,” said Winans. He then talked about how living a life for God is often misrepresented as boring or dull. He disagrees.

“Faith always expects and faith always moves towards its goal,” said Winans. “Don’t think that the church is for somebody that don’t want anything. Don’t think that the church is for somebody that can’t get a gig anywhere else. Don’t think that the church is for people that have no hope.”

“The devil wants to use your circumstance against you by making you anxious when things don’t happen on your timetable,” said Winans.

“Jesus is saying I don’t want you to become anxious about life,” said Winans. “I don’t want you to feel that life has happened without purpose. God works all things after the council of his own will. You are not a mistake. You are not a mishap. God had a purpose before he ever created a person.”

“When people look at the bible, they look at it from the wrong perspective. This is the owners manual,” said Winans as he held the book up. The he said that the anecdotes in the bible have been provided “so that you can get the best out of your life.”

After breaking off on a tangent, Winans invited the media to attend church the next day. “Come on Sunday,” he said. “I do this every Sunday.”

“Sometimes we are believers behaving badly,” said Winans. “But Jesus says that ‘I’m going to give you the order of how this should go.’ In that same text he says, ‘Seek Yee First.’”

“I want us to recognize that our faith in god is not something that we attach to the end of our lives, but that we must prioritize,” said Winans. “You make your decision based on your faith. You walk according to what you believe. You can never say yes to God and have God make you a stranger.”

“You can never put God first and think that God will forget you and leave you,” said Winans. Then, he ended the eulogy.

May peace be with you; my peace I give to you: I give it not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled; let it be without fear.

To be calm, to be at peace, is a gift from God. And furthermore, it’s a gift God wants you to have.

If you find yourself in a state of worry, of tension, worrying about whatever, know that state is not one from God. He offers you a source you can rely on, that will solve problems unlike anything the world has to give.

Remember that whatever state of troubles you may have, God is far bigger than any problem you could ever find yourself in. And the good news is, he wants you to rely on him, to trust him to help you solve your problems.

Isn’t it great to know he’s there to help you, to give you what you need, to guide you?

It gives me tremendous comfort.

What a simple, profound quote from Joyce Meyers.

It reminds us to be at peace with ourselves, knowing God is in charge, regardless of the circumstances. Instead of being overwhelmed with what’s happening in life, remembering that God is bigger than our problems, that he is there for us regardless of the shifting storms life presents us with.

There is true comfort for those who rest in Jesus Christ. If you want inner peace in your life, to have calm in the face of chaos, then pray for Jesus to live within you, and show you the most profound peace you will ever encounter.

He mentioned Joshua 1:2, where God told Joshua to cross the Jordan River. McGee then said it when he visited that land himself, he also crossed the Jordan.

But it was not to fulfill the Bible’s orders. Because he knew that the Bible was speaking to Joshua, not him. Thus his conclusion: the Bible is not TO us, but FOR us.

I disagree. I think it’s both.

Sure, I don’t have to cross the River Jordan. At least not physically. I don’t feel compelled to hop on a plane, travel to the Middle East, and row a boat across the water.
But I think the Lord is constantly pushing me to cross spiritual River Jordans at all times — to breach self-imposed limitations, to set new boundaries. To boldly go where my lazy butt hasn’t gone before.
Jesus commanded us to love one another as we love ourselves. Was that TO the disciples? Or was it TO us, too?

So McGee isn’t always right. But neither was Luther, Jerome, Origen, or even C.S. Lews, for that matter.

My point is that I rely heavily on others to help me understand The Word. (I can’t believe how much I miss when I half-blindly fumble through the scriptures.) But reliance on other’s understanding is always with a slight degree of skepticism running in my mental background.

The bottom line is that we need to pray for our own understanding.

“The curious task of Christian humility is to demonstrate to people how little they really know about what the imagine they can design.”

Check out what Mark Skousen had to say about how a society really survives:

Jobs’s Job
by Mark Skousen, Investment U Contributing Editor
Friday, December 30, 2011

“There is no genius without a touch of madness.”

- Seneca

I just finished reading Walter Isaacson’s masterful bestseller, Steve Jobs, who he calls “the greatest business executive of our era,” equal in stature to Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. He was the classic Horatio Alger story, starting a computer business in his parents’ garage that became the world’s most valuable company – Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL).

He was responsible for major advances in six – count ‘em – industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing.

That’s not to say he was fun to be around. I’ve met over a dozen of Forbes Richest People in America, but as much as I admired Steve Jobs, I never wanted to meet him. He was notorious for his “bad boy” behavior and insulting strangers. His personal life was a mess. He frequently used LSD, seldom bathed, and was, according to his friends and associates, “an obsessive, narcissistic, frequently sociopathic nutcase” who tried to find happiness through Buddhist philosophy and strange eating habits. Not surprisingly, he died young. Sometimes it’s best not to get to know your favorite author, philosopher, or business leader.

But he has a lot to teach us when it comes to business and investing.

The Keynesian Myth

First, he proved that consumers don’t drive the economy: entrepreneurs, business innovators and visionaries do. Jobs made a point of demanding products that customers didn’t know they wanted – the Mac, the iPhone, the iPad. When asked about doing market research, he replied, “No, because consumers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them.”

In an age when the media constantly promotes the Keynesian myth that “consumer spending is the largest single driver of the U.S. economy” (to quote The Wall Street Journal), Steve Jobs set the record straight.

“That’s not my approach,” he said. “Henry Ford once said, ‘If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, “A faster horse!’” It’s entrepreneurship, productive investment, and creative innovation that create a higher standard of living. Consumption is the effect – not the cause – of prosperity. (This is known as Say’s law.)

Product First, Profits Follow

Second, the best companies and their leaders are driven ultimately by their desire to make great products or services, not profits. As Steve Jobs says, “The products, not the profits, are the motivation. Everything else is secondary.” He criticized his rival Bill Gates of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT): “Winning business was more important [to him] than making great products.”

If you compare the stock performance of Apple with Microsoft, it’s a split decision. From 1986 until 2000, Microsoft rose 60-fold, from $1 to $60 a share, while Apple had a 20-fold increase from $2 to $40 a share, with far more volatility.

Since 2000, the race goes to Apple. While Microsoft is about breakeven for the past 12 years, Apple has increased another 10-fold, from $40 to $403 today.

The Future of Microsoft vs. Apple…

Now that Steve Jobs has died and Bill Gates has retired and devoted most of his time to charitable causes, are either stocks worth holding?

Apple is definitely the growth company, with revenue rising 39 percent in the past year, a P/E ratio of 14.5 and a P/E growth rate of 0.62.

Revenue and earnings are likely to rise substantially, given the popularity of iPhones, iPads, iTunes, etc. (This year, my wife got an iPad and I got an iPhone for Christmas.) It pays no dividend, although there’s pressure to return some of its $26 billion in cash to shareholders.

Microsoft is more a value play, selling for 9.4 times earnings, with a PEG ratio of 0.97 and revenue growing 7.3 percent a year. But interestingly profit margins are higher for Microsoft (33 percent versus Apple’s 27 percent). Since 2003, Microsoft has been paying out a growing dividend, now at $0.20 a share (3.1 percent).

Microsoft is definitely a safer bet for conservative investors. If you buy Apple, you are betting that Steve Jobs’ vision of superior and creative new products will continue.

One of Jobs’ adages applies here: “It’s better to be a pirate than to join the navy.” I’ve added this insight to my next edition of The Maxims of Wall Street – now available on Amazon.

After all, Christians and Hebrews share a common heritage.

But the answer came back that Paul emphasized our new traditions as Christians. We have our own rich heritage and customs. And now, over 2000 years later, these traditions are as venerable as any.

So, instead of reveling in the traditions of others, regardless of semi-relevancy, would not that same effort be better served bringing us closer to Christ?