An Ethics Primer
By Foy Valentine

A friend of mine once asked M.E. Dodd, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Shreveport, Louisiana, "Dr. Dodd, what is the secret of your great success?" Now, I am told, Dr. Dodd was not a personage burdened with false modesty. He clearly did not find the question inappropriate or the questioner undiscerning. On the contrary he responded with a ready answer: "I prepare my sermons; I never touch the money; and I shake hands with all the women." 

That may be the best course outline for a lesson on Christian ethics that I have ever seen or heard about.
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Ten Things That Light My Fuse
By Charles Wellborn

    In a recent issue of this journal my good friend, Foy Valentine, wrote a delightful article entitled "Ten Things to Light Your Fire," in which he described a number of homely human experiences that add greatly to our personal enjoyment. I read his article with appreciation and sheer pleasure. But, curmudgeon that I am, I was also inspired to write a balancing article in which I could talk about the things that light, not my fire, but my fuse.

    My fuse has grown noticeably shorter as the years have passed. I have concluded, based on my own experience, that one symptom of aging is a steady increase in the level of irritability. Things that I once could shrug off with indifference now sometimes drive me to the point of distraction. It is perhaps as a means of mild catharsis that I share some of them here. Actually, my list could go on almost indefinitely, but I will restrain myself. Some of my "flash points" have to do with inanimate objects, but most concern people. Some are inconsequential; others are perhaps a bit more important.
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The Mess We're In 

[From "The Bright Side of the Plague," a review of The Black Death and the Transformation of the West by David Herlithy. This review by Joel E. Cohen was published in The New York Review, March 4, 1999.]

…In the twentieth century, the supply of people has surged to unprecedented levels. The absolute number of people has nearly quadrupled, from perhaps 1.6 billion at the beginning of the century to just over 6 billion expected by its end. Since World War II, the growth rate of global population has been, and remains, higher than ever before in history.
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Living in the New Dispensation
By Harvey Cox

A few years ago a friend advised me that if I wanted to know what was going on in the real world, I should read the business pages. Although my lifelong interest has been in the study of religion, I am always willing to expand my horizons; so I took the advice, vaguely fearful that I would have to cope with a new and baffling vocabulary. Instead I was surprised to discover that most of the concepts I ran across were quite familiar.

Expecting a terra incognito, I found myself instead in the land of déjà vu. The lexicon of The Wall Street Journal and the business sections of Time and Newsweek turned out to bear a striking resemblance to Genesis, the epistle to the Romans, and Saint Augustine's City of God. Behind descriptions of market reforms, monetary policy, and the convolutions of the Dow...
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It's Hard to be Humble 
By Hal Haralson

There's a song that goes, "Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way."

I have had a problem with this perfection business since I was in the primary department of the First Baptist Church of Loraine, Texas.

That was about 1941.

It all began in Sunday School. We had an envelope where we placed our offering and checked off:
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Truth: Can We Do Without It?
By Dallas Willard

"Truth in the Academy: Can We Really Do Without It?" You might be surprised at the suggestion that we might do without it. But while truth is featured on various buildings, public and private, it is little honored in the academy. On my philosophy building at USC is written, "The truth shall make you free." It is perhaps the single most commonly inscribed saying on university buildings and it testifies to the origins of the university enterprise. (Except, of course, for those things that are written with spray paint cans.)

Truth is in trouble. It is in trouble for various reasons. This comes out when I open my courses. Usually I will open my courses by asking the students, "Why are we taking this course?" And after we've gone through the trivialities like "to get credits," "to graduate," "to get a job," and so on, then I finally come around and say, "Now really is that it?
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Updated Monday, November 26, 2001

• Abstract
• I. Freedom in Vocation
• II. Adding some Complexity
• III. Some Strictly Theological Considerations
• IV. Conclusion
• Endnotes

Ethical Issues in Pastoral Counseling 
By Bill Blackburn

• Pastoral Counseling in Context 
• The Pastor as Shepherd 
• Integrity of the Pastor 
• The Ethics of Referral 
• Boundary Issues 
• General Guidelines for Pastoral Counseling 
• Conclusion
• References

Pastor, can I talk with you sometime this week? I need some help." "I am so torn up about what I need to do with my mother. Can you see me this week?" "I lost my job, and I need to talk." "Pastor, my wife told me that she wants a divorce and that she hasn't loved me for a long time. I don't know what to do. Can we get together?" "I think the Lord may be calling me into the ministry, but I'm not, sure. I just need to talk with you." "I've never felt anything like this before. Somebody told me I might be depressed. Can you help me?"
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Wellness Then and Now 
By David Moncrief Jordan

It is a long walk home. The road is dusty and the sun is hot. But more important matters. He hears the musical call of birds gliding overhead and the captivating rhythm of his sandals flapping against callused feet. The land around his pathway glows with a refreshing emerald green. Life-giving winter rains have resurrected a land parched from long days of intense Middle-eastern heat.

Jesus doesn't think of this as exercise, these long walks he makes over the countryside. This is simply the lifestyle of his time and place. I imagine Jesus tending a garden, too, digging his hands into the rich dirt of the Galilee soil. I see him covered in sawdust from a newly crafted table created for a family down the street. There would have been hours of study and prayer, I'm sure, but not at the expense of physical labor and recreation. Surely he joined neighborhood friends in competitive games of soccer (or the ancient equivalent). I can see him covered in sweat, physically exhausted, arm around a buddy from the other team, smiling with a word of encouragement, and a slap on the back: "Good game. Thanks for playing!"
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Can We Solve the Sunday Dilemma?
By John Warren Steen

• Keep the Lord's Day a Day of Happiness. 
• Focus on the Lord's Day as a Day of Worship and Learning. 
• Continue to Use the Lord's Day as a Day for Good Works. 

Sporting events, like a greedy child wanting the biggest part of the family's pie, have taken over the focus of Sunday.
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Watching the World Go By---
Hard Times 
By Ralph Lynn

Perhaps the steam engine, which made the industrial revolution possible, is the most significant instrument for change in the millennium just closing.

Certainly the infrastructure of our own marvelous world, including even the computer, is unimaginable without the foundational wealth flowing from the steam engine-the equivalent for us of the Greeks' Pandora's box, the opening of which led to endless problems.
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The Senility Prayer

God, grant me the senility
to forget all about those
folks I never cared much
for anyway;
And grant me the good fortune
to run frequently into those
friends I really like;
And give me the good eyesight 
to tell the difference.

Amen

Single Page Copy of poem