Stephen W. Hiemstra's Blog, page 87

Engendering Prayer

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Almighty and Gracious Father,

Praise be to you, Lord of our hearts, that you engendered and prospered our faith, centered us on your image, and gave us a hope and a dream.

Forgive our wandering eyes and our stopped up ears that we have resisted your calling, turned away from your love, and ran after temptations big and small.

Thank you for the gift of faith, your salvation in Christ, and constant reminders through the Holy Spirit.

Give us not over to our desires, but draw us closer to yourself and the mission of the church. Center our lives on you and you alone.

In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

Engendering Prayer
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
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Centering on God

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Spirituality is faith lived out. After we have repented and been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), but we are still tempted, still sin, and still live daily in a fallen world.

Life is full of Gethsemene moments where we are confronted with painful choices (Matt 26:39). Do we turn to God in our pain and give it over to him—centering our lives—or will we turn into our pain and sulk—de-centering our lives? Because our personalities and our culture are formed by our daily answers to this question, it is important that we focus on God even as our eternal destiny is secure. Christian joy is not just pie in the sky; it is also a life well-lived.

Role of Faith

It is helpful to view faith in terms of priorities. Citing Bruce Leafbald,⁠1 Giglio (2003, 117) defines true worship as “centering our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection on the Lord.” What do we really worship? Giglio (2003, 13) writes: “follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money, and your loyalty … [that] is what you [really] worship.” As the First Commandment reads: “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exod 20:3)

If God is truly the first priority in your life, your faith becomes the denominator against which all other activities in life are measured. Blamires (2005, 44) writes: “To think Christianly is to accept all things with the mind as related, directly or indirectly, to man’s eternal destiny as the redeemed and chosen child of God.” In money terms, it’s like the gold standard of the nineteenth century—all prices were measured in terms of the amount of gold required to make a purchase. Or, following Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem cited earlier, God is the assumption taken from outside our closed world that offers stability to our lives (Smith 2001, 89). By contrast, if God is just one of many priorities, you are at risk of falling into idolatry.

Idolatry as a False Priority

The Bible pictures idols as graven images or statutes (Ps 115:3-8). But this statuesque view of idolatry is less helpful than to view idolatry as misplaced priorities. If something other than God is our first priority, then it is like trying to do business with counterfeit money—you may be able to fool a few people, but pretty soon it will catch up to you. Idols let us down hard when they invariably break, as discussed previously.

The spiritual wanderlust that America is experiencing today starts with misplaced priorities that creates a spiritual vacuum, which may be filled by many substitutes—syncretistic Christianity, alternative religions, and addictions, especially idolatry. But because we are created in the image of God (Gen 1:27), these idols cannot bring the peace that only faith in God can bring.

Beyond Spirituality

Before Saint Patrickin in the fourth century the Irish were thought to be spiritually unreachable. Patrick, as a teenager sixteen-year old, was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold as a slave in Ireland. For six years he worked as a slave caring for his master’s cattle in the Irish wilderness, but later escaped and studied to become a priest in France. He returned to Ireland as Bishop and evangelized the Irish out of his love for them. Patrick’s evangelism was simple, he lived out his faith in front of the Irish and offered them hospitality. Patrick and his companions planted more than 700 churches. The Irish revival later broadened to reach a morbid-bound church in the rest of Europe (Hunter).

By grace, through faith, our salvation is secure. Focusing on the image of God in our daily lives helps to assure that our lives are full of joy, not missed opportunities. The God that loves us wants what’s best for us and wants us to share our joy with those around us. What joy could there be in heaven if on our arrival we discovered that our spouse and children, friends and neighbors are nowhere to be seen? We are blessed to be a blessing (Gen 12:1-3) even in difficult circumstances.

Reference

Blamires, Harry. 2005. The Christian Mind: How Should a Christian Think? (Orig Pub 1963) Vancouver: Regent College Publishing.

Giglio, Louis. 2003. The Air I Breathe. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Publishers.

Hunter, George G. III. 2000. The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West…Again. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Smith, Houston. 2001. Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief. San Francisco: Harper.

Footnotes

1 Course entitled: “Introduction to Church Music,” Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1983 (Gigilio 2003, 140).

Centering on God
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
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Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




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Stinnett and Beam Study Healthy Families

Nick and Nancy Stinnett and Joe and Alice Beam. 1999.  Fantastic Families:  6 Proven Steps to Building a Strong Family.  New York:  Howard Books.

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

One frustration in ministry and counseling is the constant focus on brokenness.  Every conversation seems to feature a page from the DSM-IV, a book that lists psychiatric illnesses—in other words, all the ways people can be broken. After a point, I became curious what healthy families look like.  Eventually, my curiosity led me to a book by Nick and Nancy Stinnett and Joe and Alice Beam called:  Fantastic Families.

Introduction

Stinnett and Beam define a family as: “two or more people who are committed to each other and who share intimacy, resources, decisions, and values” (9).  Obviously, the authors see the traditional family as important in this analysis, but the qualities they focus on are quite general and their comments about faith are minimal.  Strong families have problems just like everyone else, but they are better able to deal with them (8). This book promotes strong families by describing what they look like. Stinnett and Beam write:

“Experience has shown that if your family has problems—even major problems—the situation can be remedied and you can have a fantastic family life.  You can do it by applying in your family the six steps found in this book” (11).

Role of Learning in Health

Clearly, part of a healthy family life is the willingness to learn new things.  If your family spends a lot of time in crisis management mode, learning new things may be a hard requirement to meet.

Family Dynamics Institute

Stinnett and Beam are researchers with the Family Dynamics Institute of Franklin, Tennessee.  Fantastic Families is a study based on a sample of 14,000 families from across all 50 states and 24 countries covering, at the time of writing, about 25 years of research (x-xii).  The book is written in 7 chapters introduced with a preface and introduction and followed by 4 appendices, notes, and bibliography.  The chapters focus on 6 qualities that strong families share in common:

Commitment—these families promote each other’s welfare and happiness and value unity.Appreciation and Affection—strong families care about each other.Positive Communication—strong families communicate well and spend a lot of time doing it together.Time Together—Strong families spend a lot of quality time together.Spiritual Well-being—whether or not they attend religious services, strong families have a sense of a “greater good or power” in life.Ability to Cope with Stress and Crisis—strong families see crises as a growth opportunity (10).Organization

Each chapter then consists primarily of a list of characteristics contributing to each of these qualities.  For example, a committed family has 6 characteristics:

Commitment to marriage;Commitment to each other;Commitment to putting first things first;Commitment to honesty;Commitment to family traditions; andCommitment to the long haul (17-41).Learning to Cope

The chapter on coping with stress was of particular interest to.  Stinnett and Beam offer 6 ideas for coping:

Assess the stress in our life;Commit yourself to an exercise program;Cultivate your sense of humor;Select a hobby that refreshes and pleases you;Periodically review plans concerning death; andUse television and movies as a catalyst for family discussions (176-179).

Probably the most interesting item on this list was a table they provide that rates sources of stress by their required “social readjustment” from 1 to 100 (177-178). At the top of the list, for example, is the death of a spouse (100); …death of close family member (63); …child leaving home (29); …Vacation or Christmas (12).

Assessment

Stinnett and Beam’s Fantastic Families is a helpful book for families willing to learn new things. It would be an interesting book to use in promoting small group discussion.

Footnotes

 www.FamilyDynamics.net.

 American Psychiatric Association. 1994.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.  Fourth Edition.  Washington, DC.

Stinnett and Beam Study Healthy FamiliesAlso see:Hellerman: Church Family is Serious Business Friedman: Families Matter Books, Films, and MinistryOther ways to engage online:Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.netPublisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, Signup

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Limits to Progress: Monday Monologues (podcast), May 23, 2022

 By Stephen W. Hiemstra

This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on Limits to Progress. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).

To listen, click on this link.

Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!

Limits to Progress: Monday Monologues (podcast), May 23, 2022
Also see:



Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018 



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Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
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Prayer for Progress

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Loving Father,

All praise and honor, power and dominion, righteousness, and justice are yours for you loved us first, in spite of our sin and proclivity to rebel against your tender authority.

Forgive our rebellion, duplicity, and wanton covetousness of our neighbor’s possessions, privileges, sons, and daughters.

We give thanks for our creation in your image and the restoration of that image that you undertake day in and day out.

In the power of your Holy Spirit, draw us to yourself and your image, open our hearts, illumine our thoughts, and strengthen our hands in your service.

In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

Prayer for Progress
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
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Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
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Limits to Progress, 2.0

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

The dominant cultural motif in the Bible is not progress, but proclivity of individuals and nations to sin. Although we are created in the image of God, original sin polluted both our hearts and minds by instilling a rebellious spirit in us. Human sin, after Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, grew to the point that God destroyed most of humanity with a flood (Gen 5:5). However, starting out fresh with a new family, Noah’s, proved not to improve the faithfulness of humanity after the original sin of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:6). Even Jacob’s sons, the fathers of the Nation of Israel, sinned in selling their brother, Joseph, as a slave to the Egyptians (Gen 37:28).

Moses critiques the idea of cultural progress, the idea of a righteous community becoming increasing righteous, with this warning:

And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul,  then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. (Deut 30:1-3)

This passage is often taken as a prophecy of the Babylonian exile, but the full cycle is: doing evil, angering YHWH enough to produce historical subjugation, crying to the Lord in need, and raising up a deliverer (Brueggemann 2016, 59). This cultural cycle is illustrated repeatedly in the Book of Judges, as in the story of Gideon (Judg 6-7). An echo is also seen in the story of King David in Psalm 116. Our salvation in Christ also fits into this paradigm.

Limits to Progress

The Enlightenment myth of progress has been popular because of technological innovations and social changes, but both depend on a Christian heritage embodied in the idea of being created in the image of God.

Democracy makes sense when we are all equal before and loved by God, but starts to fray when standards of living come under pressure and social group contend to dominant one another, as we are currently witnessing. Technology need not benefit all economic classes equally becomes innovations are increasingly costly requiring investments that not all groups can afford. Even political dispensing of rights and privileges does not necessary level playing fields among social groups because these rights and privileges must be defended both politically and legally, which costs time, energy, and money, and such redistributions create resentment.

Ultimately, progress is a cultural attribute that depends on shared values and an economic base that are no longer what they were. What culture giveth; culture can take away. The biblical witness is that reversals in cultural progress are the historical norm.

Christian Foundations

The only glimmer of hope cited in the Bible is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that led to the giving of the Holy Spirit and the founding of the church (Act 2:1-4). Yet, outside of faith, even the church is a fallen institution, as we read in the first three chapters of Revelation.

The warning in Revelation of special concern to the postmodern church is the letter to the church at Laodicea. John writes:

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. (Rev 3:15-17)

We could imagine the postmodern church sharing in tribulations similar to those articulated in Deuteronomic Cycle that applied earlier to the Nation of Israel. More generally, Revelation talks about a great tribulation (Rev 7:14) that will occur before the second coming of Christ. This tribulation has all the markings of a reversal of cultural progress and should serve as a reminder that our only hope is in Christ.

References

Brueggemann, Walter. 2016. Money and Possessions. Interpretation series. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.

Limits to Progress, 2.0
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
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Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
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Guelich Exegetes the Sermon on the Mount, Part 2

Robert A. Guelich. 1982. The Sermon on the Mount:  A Foundation for Understanding. Dallas: Word Publishing. (Go to part 1)

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

As a sermon, the Sermon on the Mount is relatively self-contained and not tightly related to the rest of Matthew’s Gospel. If this were not so, one would question the authorship of the sermon.  However, one would hope to see common elements in Jesus’ teaching on different occasions.  Guelich does not pursue this angle; instead, he develops theological themes.

Three Interpretative Lenses

Guelich views the Sermon on the Mount through 3 interpretative lenses: Christology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. Under Christology, the Sermon sets forth Jesus as Messiah who fulfills not just a single prophecy, but all of scripture. With ecclesiology, we see a messianic gathering of Apostles and other disciples who are both reconciled and saved through the Jesus Messiah and distinguished from unattached crowds and critics, such as the scribes and Pharisees. Under eschatology, Jesus announces blessings for the poor and destitute which both congratulate them for their faith but also promise a new identity and relationship with God as they lean into these blessings (27-30).  The tension between the kingdom’s appearance already and not yet informs and complicates each of these interpretative dimensions.

Still, the problem of a tightly woven treatise is that the balance of themes is internal to the argument and the same balance is hard to maintain in commentaries on it.  How do you follow particular threads?  How do you understand them relative to other threads?  Complexity breeds complexity. Each of Guelich’s chapters follows a stylized format:

Translation;Literary Analysis;Notes; andComments (7-9).

The comment section is usually broken up into 3 or more sub-sections unique to that chapter. Guelich sees the Beatitudes as providing structure to the sermon by anticipating later admonitions and warnings.  In the remainder of my comments, let me follow the first Beatitude (blessed are the poor in spirit) through this framework.

Translation

Consistent with Guelich’s translation (62), for example, the first Beatitude reads:  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:3 ESV)  He notes that the same basic beatitude is also found in Luke 6:20 (34) and appears in the second person, not the third person.

Literary Analysis

In his literary analysis, he observes that:  “The content [of a beatitude as a literary form] consists of the blessing and a description of the recipient, usually identified by an attitude or conduct befitting the blessing” (63).   He notes that a total of 44 beatitudes appear in the NT. For example, the Apostle Paul (63) writes:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Rom 4:7-8 ESV)

Paul’s beatitude is a direct quote from Psalm 32:1-2. The implication of Jesus’  use of the beatitude form is that he is building on the wisdom literature of the Old Testament in his sermon.

Notes

In trying to establish a translation for the Greek word, makario, Guelich sees Luke’s Beatitudes more as eschatological blessings while Matthew’s form more of an entrance requirement for the kingdom (65).  In other words, is one blessed now (congratulations) or blessed in the future (as in heaven)?

And who exactly are the poor in spirit?  In a Greek sense, the poor are socioeconomically poor (68). In a Hebrew sense, poor means desperate.  Guelich  writes:

“…the poor in Judaism referred to those in desperate need (socioeconomic element) whose helpless ness drove them to a dependent relationships with God (religious element) for the supplying of their needs and vindication.” (69)

Are they voluntarily poor, spirituality poor, or humble? (72).

Comments

Guelich sees poor in spirit having both Christological and ecclesiological components. The focus on the poor in spirit depicts Jesus Christologically as fulfilling God’s promise through Isaiah 61:1 (97).  In response to John the Baptist’s concern about his messianic ministry, for example, Jesus cites Isaiah 61:1 responding:

“And he answered them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.” (Luke 7:22 ESV)

Poor in spirit also shows his disciples turning to God ecclesiologically being “stripped of all self-sufficiency, self-security, and self-righteousness” (98).

Admonitions

Guelich sees the Beatitudes functioning as a unit together in anticipating the admonitions that follow rather than a one-to-one correspondence (92).  Poor in spirit as humble surely anticipates:

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (Matt 6:1-2 ESV)

The term, poor in spirit, does not appear overtly in this context so the linkage is subtle.

Warnings

Here again, we see in the warnings an echo of the first Beatitude, not an overt reference.  For example, Jesus says:

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matt 7:3 ESV)

The problem here is the opposite of humility—pride.  Someone poor in spirit as humble probably would not be as quick to make this mistake.

Assessment

Robert Guelich has written a careful and engaging commentary on the Sermon on the Mount that is unlikely to be superseded quickly.  It is perhaps surprising to note that this commentary predated (1982) personal computers that have made scriptural study much easier.  This observation only makes his accomplishment all the more amazing.

Footnotes

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20 ESV)

Guelich Exegetes the Sermon on the Mount, Part 2Also see:Books, Films, and MinistryOther ways to engage online:Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.netPublisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com Newsletter: https://bit.ly/East_2022, Signup

 

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Lost Opportunities: Monday Monologues (podcast), May 16, 2022

 By Stephen W. Hiemstra

This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on Lost Opportunities. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).

To listen, click on this link.

Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!

Lost_Opportunities: Monday Monologues (podcast), May 16, 2022
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Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018 



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Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
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Prayer for Guidance

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Holy Father, Beloved Son, Spirit of Truth,

All praise and honor, power and dominion, legislator of righteousness and judge of the shameless for you alone know us and still love us, on our good days and bad. Guide us to be more like you.

We confess that your mercy is often a mystery to us and your grace is unearned for we seldom practice mercy and grace is often beyond our abilities and understanding. Guide us to be more like you.

Thank you for the strength that you provide, the grace that you share, and peace that comes only from you. Guide us to be more like you.

In the power of your Holy Spirit, draw us to yourself. Open our hearts; illumine our thoughts; strengthen our hands in your service.

In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

Prayer for Guidance
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
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Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
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Lost Opportunities

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

The hallmark of a de-centered life is the lost opportunity. When one takes one’s eye off of the image of God, it’s like taking your eye off the ball in a basketball game—the momentary opportunity to score is lost and it cannot be recovered. Timing is everything in life. Likewise, the mark of a de-centered culture is the accumulation of lost opportunities.

Understanding Urban Society

Three characteristics of urban society unsettle most of us: layering, downward mobility, and outmigration.

Layering is the idea that cities grow at the edges, from center out, yielding a picture like rings on an archery target. For the first twenty years, each layer is multigenerational with young families. After twenty years, the younger generation moves out leaving empty nesters. After forty years, that layer begins to die off, leaving seniors and urban blight. Churches tend to thrive during the first twenty years, stabilize in the second, and decline in the third.

Downward mobility is a description of the problem facing the younger generation in the midst of layering. The best educated and most ambitious kids in each generation can afford to live anywhere, including layers that their parents inhabit—the upwardly mobile. In previous generations, upward mobility characterized most kids, but since about 1980 the majority of kids (about eighty percent) can be described as downwardly mobile. Downward mobility implies that one cannot afford to live in neighborhood where their parents live and must move elsewhere just to get by as the standard of living falls.

Outmigration can occur in two ways. The first pattern of outmigration is the product of downward mobility where affluent families loose day-to-day touch with their kids because they cannot afford to live nearby. The second pattern of outmigration occurs when layers suffering urban blight lose their upwardly mobile kids and only retain their downwardly mobile kids. The same mechanism affects areas of rural blight. In both the urban and rural blight scenarios, the economic base of the community has collapsed and outmigration has left the community stripped of its most talented kids creating a poverty ghetto. 

Poverty and Ethnicity

Poverty ghettos are often ethnically uniform, but outmigration, not ethnic discrimination, is the primary cause of their poverty. Prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other Great Society programs, discrimination created ethnic ghettos that appeared as self-contained, autonomous communities where ethnic businesses thrived. Talented and less talented youth both remained in the community and drove its cultural and economic development. 

The move to integrate society has facilitated the outmigration of talented youth from all communities to affluent, multi-ethnic communities where job opportunities prosper their growth. Because of outmigration, society today is a tale of two cities. Ethnically uniform, poverty ghettos have formed as the flip side of the ethnically diverse, affluent ghettos. Attributing this dichotomy to discrimination may be politically expedient, but it mischaracterizes the cause and effect of outmigration.

Economic Pressure

Downward mobility pressures most kids coming of age today. When standards of living fall, most people delay marriage and have fewer kids. My parents married (1952) when my dad was twenty-one. I married (1984) when I was thirty, long after most of my peers. My dad and I both earned doctorates in economics. Today, thirty-something is a typical age for marriage.

In 2017, fertility rates for blacks (1.8 %) and whites (1.7 %) have fallen under the two-point-one percent required to reproduce the population in the United States. For Hispanics (2.0%), fertility rates are higher, but even Hispanics are having fewer children (Mathews and others 2019).

The average life-expectancy in the United States recently fell for three years in a row before stabilizing (e.g. Case and Deaton 2020, 194). The increase in deaths before COVID was due primarily to drug overdoses and suicide (e.g. Tavernise). The theme in rising death rates has been increases in preventable deaths. It is unclear at this point how many of the over nine hundred thousand COVID death since 2020 could be classified as preventable, but clearly many since 2021 were preventable through vaccination and wearing masks.

Layering, downward mobility, and outmigration conspire to pressure standards of living and to stratify the population both by age group, and by economic class. No one expects a lot of old people in college towns or urban areas outside the areas of blight; no one expects a lot of young people retirement destinations or in rural blight areas.

Cultural De-centering

External pressure is painful, but among centered individuals it is not necessarily fatal. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the younger brother strays, wastes his inheritance, and becomes destitute, but he learns from his experience (a hint of centering) and returns to his father (Luke 15). What would have happened to him had he not returned to his father?

What if the Prodigal Son blamed his father for his predicament declaring himself to be a victim and his father a villain and refused to see him any further? Victim, villain, and helpless stories are generally counter-productive because they preclude taking responsibility for solving the problem (PGMS 2012, 116-119), but today we hear them all the time.

What if the Prodigal Son took offense at something his father had said? There is actually a word for this fragile-ego syndrome: Micro-aggression. A micro-aggression is subtle, indirect, or unintentional slight, like not paying enough attention to all members of a group. When it is hard to hear information inconsistent with someone’s self-image or preconceptions of an issue, dialogue dies.

What if the Prodigal Son refused to recognize his father’s authority? One prominent social critique, citing Feud, blames repression (that is, sexual frustration) and social domination specifically on the father’s role in the family (Mancuse 1974, 15).

The point of these what if scenarios is to highlight powerful forces in our society that frustrate centering our lives on God and work to de-center both our faith and relationships.

Importance of Centering

Our secular society generally dismisses the value of religious instruction, even when it comes to teaching simple patience. Four-year olds, given a choice between having one marshmallow now or two later, who choose to wait for two are much more likely to graduate from college than their peers, a stunning result (Mischel 2014, 4-5). In today’s economy in the United States, where downward mobility has replaced upward mobility for about eighty percent of the population, offering godly guidance on personal discipline is a practical concern.

References

Case, Anne and Angus Deaton. 2020. Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Marcuse, Herbert. 1974. Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud (Orig Pub 1955). Boston: Beacon Press.

Mathews, T.J. M.S., and Brady E. Hamilton. 2019. Total Fertility Rates by State and Race and Hispanic Origin: United States, 2017. National Vital

Statistics Reports, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vol. 68, No. 1. January 10. Online: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_01-508.pdf, Accessed: 14 February 2022.

Mischel, Walter. 2014. The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Patterson, Kerry Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler (PGMS). 2012. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Tavernise, Sabrina. 2016. “U.S. Suicide Rate Surges to a 30-Year High.” New York Times. April 22. Online: https://nyti.ms/2k9vzFZ, Accessed: 13 March 2017.

Lost Opportunities
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com



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