Personal Conduct

SOURCE:  https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trump-fails-george-washingtons-civility-test-american-history-2024-presidential-election-6e206b4e

KEYWORDS:  Ethics, Self-Control, Behavior, Morality

"A 1949 U.S. Army pamphlet, “Personal Conduct for the Soldier,” offers similar prescriptions. In the foreword, Gen. Omar Bradley noted that good conduct was as applicable to the civilian as the soldier. Under the section titled “Self Control”: “You make a fool of yourself every time you let the old mind and body get out of control. . . . If you lose self-control, you’re like a ship without a rudder.” The section on “The Courteous Leader”: “Most great leaders are kind and courteous. . . . The leader who treats his men badly will find that his men behave badly. . . . A courteous attitude toward all races, nationalities, and religious faiths helps a man get along with people.”"

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The entire article by William McRaven is worth your time.  Unfortunately, it's behind a paywall.

Is Paddington Bear a Jewish Refugee?

SOURCE:  https://x.com/HumansOfJudaism/status/1851042800315314521

KEYWORDS:  Welcome, Hospitality, Refugee, Strangers, 

Did you know that Paddington Bear was inspired by young Jewish refugees from WWII? Michael Bond created the beloved character after witnessing children passing through England’s Paddington Station, each carrying a small suitcase and wearing a note around their neck with identifying information.

Following the horrors of Kristallnacht, the British government allowed entry to Jewish minors from 1938 to 1940, helping to rescue more than ten thousand children. Many were sent to live with family, friends or foster care. Parents would board their children onto the transports, saying their goodbyes without knowing if they would ever see each other again. 

On October 13, 1958, Paddington Bear made his first appearance in the children’s book A Bear Called Paddington. Today, Paddington’s story has been shared in over 20 books, which have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide. It’s a story that began with a bear sitting alone at London’s Paddington Station, with a small suitcase and a note tied around his neck - “Please look after this bear. Thank you.”

Jan Hus on the Truth

SOURCE:  https://concordiahistoricalinstitute.org/jan-hus-r-c-m-stance/

https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/the-legacy-of-john-hus/

KEYWORD:  truth, lies, falsehood, Scripture, truth in love, reformer, Prague, 

QUOTE:

“Therefore faithful Christian, seek the truth, listen to the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, speak the truth, adhere to truth and defend truth to the death. For truth will set you free from sin, the Devil and the destruction of the soul, and ultimately from eternal death which is eternal separation from God’s grace and the joy of salvation.”

Written by Jan Hus in “Vyklad Viry” from Opera Omnia, as quoted in Thomas A. Fudge, Jan Hus: Religious Reform and Social Revolution in Bohemia.

Who was Jan Hus (1370-1415)?

He was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the inspiration of Hussitism, a key predecessor to Protestantism, and a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation.

The Christians' Voters Guide

SOURCE:  https://x.com/CatherineMcNiel/status/1847377673351549069

https://brianzahnd.com/about/

KEYWORDS:  Politics, Kingdom of God, Voting, Votes, Love, Civility

Heroes Die

SOURCE:  https://x.com/Kurt_Steiner/status/1848929515847774217

The Passing of Robin Hood by NC Wyeth, 1917

KEYWORD:  Mortality, Death, Stoic, Human, Weakness

"Stumbled across this painting as a boy. One of my first melancholic realizations that even heroes who win and survive die old."

I Will Help You

SOURCE:  https://x.com/JohnFugelsang/status/1847332404970619329

Tales of the Hasidim by Martin Buber, Shockton Books Inc. p 383

https://rabbisacks.org/archive/danger-ahead-there-are-good-reasons-why-god-created-atheists/

KEYWORDS: Functional Atheism, Charity, Love, Justice, Prophet, Compassion

A rabbi was asked by one of his students “Why did God create atheists?” 

After a long pause, the rabbi finally responded with a soft but sincere voice. “God created atheists” he said, “to teach us the most important lesson of them all – the lesson of true compassion. 

You see, when an atheist performs an act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. 

He does not believe that God commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his actions are based on his sense of morality. Look at the kindness he bestows on others simply because he feels it to be right. When someone reaches out to you for help. 

You should never say ‘I’ll pray that God will help you.’ Instead, for that moment, you should become an atheist – imagine there is no God who could help, and say ‘I will help you’.”

This was attributed to Martin Buber in Tales of the Hasidim. However, the quote is inaccurate.  The closest version of the story reads as follows:

 Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasov said:

“There is no quality and there is no power of man that was created to no purpose.  And even base and corrupt qualities can be uplifted to serve God… But to what end can the denial of God have been created? This too can be uplifted through deeds of charity. For if someone comes to you and asks your help, you shall not turn them off with pious words, saying, ‘Have faith and take your troubles to God!’ You shall act as if there were no God, as if there were only one person in all the world who could help this person — only yourself.”

There is another version of the story in a post by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

“Do you believe,” the disciple asked the Rabbi, “that God created everything for a purpose?”

“I do,” replied the Rabbi.

“Well,” asked the disciple, “why did God create atheists?”

The Rabbi paused before giving an answer, and when he spoke his voice was soft and intense. “Sometimes we who believe, believe too much. We see the cruelty, the suffering, the injustice in the world and we say: ‘This is the will of God.’ We accept what we should not accept. That is when God sends us atheists to remind us that what passes for religion is not always religion. Sometimes what we accept in the name of God is what we should be fighting against in the name of God.”

Mud

SOURCE:  https://x.com/Narrowroadcomic/status/1847293965394923784

KEYWORDS:  Forgiveness, Grace, Thanksgiving, Gratitude, Generosity, Love

Explain the Truth Every Day

SOURCE: "Today in Trans Propaganda" by Rod Dreher; March 23, 2018, 12:05 PM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Benda 

https://www.city-journal.org/article/standing-up-to-tyranny

https://www.cal-catholic.com/archbishop-chaput-remember-vaclav-benda/

KEYWORD: truth, education, resistance, culture, 

"I repeat here the story I heard from one of the adult children of Václav Benda, the late Czech anticommunist dissident. He said that growing up in Prague under communism, every single day their father and mother explained to them what truth was, versus what they heard at school and in the state-controlled media. Every single day.

If you aren’t doing this with your children, start."

BACKGROUND:

Václav Benda (August 8, 1946, Prague – June 2, 1999) was a Czech Roman Catholic activist and intellectual, and mathematician. Under Communist rule in Czechoslovakia, Benda and his wife were rare in that they were devout Roman Catholics among the leadership of the anti-communist dissident organization Charter 77. After the Velvet Revolution, Benda became the head of an organization charged with investigating the former Czechoslovakian secret police and their many informants.

The ideas expressed in Benda's iconic essay, A Parallel Polis, influenced the thought of other dissidents like Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa. 

God May Speak

SOURCE: Church Dogmatics Vol 1 by Karl Barth

KEYWORD:  Word, Sacrament, Communication, Grace, Ordinary, Means, 

QUOTE:

"If the question what God can do forces theology to be humble, the question what is commanded of us forces it to concrete obedience. God may speak to us through Russian Communism, a flute concerto, a blossoming shrub, or a dead dog. We do well to listen to Him if He really does. But, unless we regard ourselves as the prophets and founders of a new Church, we cannot say that we are commissioned to pass on what we have heard as independent proclamation."   --Karl Barth

Background on Karl Barth...

https://daily-philosophy.com/happy-birthday-karl-barth/

One Beggar Telling Another

SOURCE:  That They May Have Life by DT Niles. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1951), pg 96.

KEYWORDS:  mission, evangelism, witness, church 

QUOTE:

"Evangelism is witness. It is one beggar telling another beggar where to get food." -- DT Niles

QUOTE:

DT Niles (4 May 1908 – 17 July 1970) was a Sri Lankan theologian and Christian preacher born in 1908.  His background is Methodist.

For background on Niles missiology and ecclesiology, see the following link.

https://oxford-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-06-park.pdf

Art of Conversation

SOURCE:  "Art of Conversation" by Rene Margritte

• https://www.renemagritte.org/
• https://www.paintbynumbersza.co.za/products/the-art-of-conversation
• http://imagespoetrysilence.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-art-of-conversation-by-rene.html

KEYWORDS: Conversation, Talking, Friendship, Elevated, Mystery, Painting, Art, 

Rotary's Four-Way Test and Watergate

SOURCE:  "Letters to the Editor:  The Relevant Questions" by Terry L. Gilbert; The Rotarian; August 2019; page 6

KEYWORD:  truth, ethics, questions, character, Rotary

COMMENTS:  If more people asked these questions, there would be fewer scandals.  

I was pleased to see the article by Joseph Epstein in the May issue, "The Four-Way Test in a Post-Truth Era."  After reading it, I located the text of a speech given by John Dean, who served under President Richard Nixon and whose testimony helped spur Nixon to resign in 1974. (Nixon was an honorary Rotarian.)

Dean addressed the District 5670 (Kansas) conference in May 2003.  In his speech, he applied The Four-Way Test to Watergate and the Iraq War.  He summed up the reliability of The Four-Way Test this way:  "Truth, fairness, friendliness, and community assistance are timeless necessities."

Dean said, "The key to this test is not necessarily the answers to the questions.  Rather it is what asking the questions forces you to do -- to think."

He concluded, "I am going to tell you without fear of contradiction that had those of us in the Nixon White House who were involved in Watergate stopped to apply The Four-Way Test--even if only occasionally--there would have been no Watergate.  In short, The Four-Way Test works."

As one who has been stressed almost daily in our post-truth era, I welcome the courage of The Rotarian to print Epstein's article.  I intend to use The Four-Way Test as I judge the actions, speeches, and proposals of U.S. officeholders as they seek my vote and support.