Comments for Real Clear Truth

Comment on FAITH: Developing Close Friends by Maria

Maria — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:54:35 +0000

Thank you, Dean. Your words and explanations remind my heart of what life is truly about – precious relationships. It makes me feel good to know that no matter how times change, I can still hold this foundation of meaning as true to my heart and in my life. This is what it’s all about!

Maria
Phx, AZ

Comment on FAITH: Can Christians Dialog on Issues Outside of Faith? by mercerd

mercerd — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:53:10 +0000

interesting material, where such topics do you find? I will often go

Comment on BUSINESS: House of Cards – Part II by azdean

azdean — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:08:07 +0000

Thanks Marcus for dropping by.

When banks are loaning out buckets of cash with literally no questions asked, of course the responsible will not abuse the situation. The problem is that a sizable percentage of the populace either aren’t entirely responsible or simply didn’t realize what they were doing. The whole point of regulations is to prevent this kind of situation. For instance, you would think there might actually be a regulation that requires borrowers to *verify* their income. But apparently not.

But when the regulators (which in the end is Congress) actually encouraged irresponsible behavior, it’s no wonder many took the banks up on the offer of riches (read: homes).

In truth, it took *many* irresponsible people, at all levels, for this mess to get as large as it did. But the primary thing that enabled this irresponsibility to get so far out of hand is that Wall Street found a way (in the form of CDO’s) to push off the consequences of all this irresponsibility and conceal it for so long.

When you see that, then you begin to see why this mess is so big. Irresponsibility is bad enough. Irresponsibility with no consequences is why the world is teetering on the brink right now.

Comment on BUSINESS: House of Cards – Part II by Marcus Goodyear

Marcus Goodyear — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:43:54 +0000

I listened to an economist on a podcast say that the biggest problem was our consumer debt level had risen to 100% of our GDP. The only other time that has happened? 1929.

I agree the banks and the government share plenty of the blame. After all, they empowered us to over borrow.

But we didn’t have to take them up on the offer.

Comment on BUSINESS: House of Cards by Allen Taylor

Allen Taylor — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:30:42 +0000

Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.

Allen Taylor

Comment on LIFE: What is the strangest job I’ve ever had? by azdean

azdean — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:40:31 +0000

Hi Marcus! Yes, and that disaster movie is burned into my mind. Mrs. Hope Jones is gone now, and the land she owned is now built up with homes and stores. But every time I drive by there, I can’t help but think of the day I worked there in the hot and dusty sun and how Mrs. Jones was trying to help, but clearly she had taken in way more dogs than she could ever properly handle.

Comment on LIFE: What is the strangest job I’ve ever had? by Mark Goodyear

Mark Goodyear — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:35:15 +0000

I’m so glad you got our newsletter! And this job sounds much worse than just odd. Dogs dying in your arms from neglect? That’s like something from a horror movie, Dean!

Comment on FAITH: Can Christians Dialog on Issues Outside of Faith? by azdean

azdean — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:04:05 +0000

Ah, the “walking-on-eggshells” fear, or the “who knows what land mine I’ll step on” fear. I think we know those fears well.

Just this last Sunday my 16-year old daughter was asking if I’d stay and talk after church so I could discuss “interesting” topics and no doubt help her win some arguments. I told her I try not to be the one to bring up topics but allow others to do so. And when they do, rather than pounce, I actually affirm whatever I can find to affirm. Needless to say, this disappointed her. But hey, I know what can trigger the land minds. And I know how to help somebody begin to see that I am not there to challenge them but to hear what they are saying and show I appreciate what they care about.

I would love it if I didn’t need to steer a course carefully around the land minds, but sadly too many of us have been trained to guard our beliefs and we all too quickly label people as opponents once they raise any red-flag that shows us they believe different than we do. Personally, I am getting very tired of all the polarization, and that’s why this topic of a simple dialog really appealed to me. May God help us to truly dialog and not fear stepping on the land mines!

Comment on FAITH: “I Saw the Welsh Revival” – Part 1 by Real Clear Truth » Blog Archive » FAITH: Youth and Revival

Real Clear Truth » Blog Archive » FAITH: Youth and Revival — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:21:32 +0000

[...] part 1 of my article, “I Saw The Welsh Revival” (see here), we see that Evan Roberts was “accompanied by two young lady converts” Now why [...]

Comment on FAITH: Can Christians Dialog on Issues Outside of Faith? by Gordon Atkinson

Gordon Atkinson — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:38:44 +0000

Thank you for these wonderful ideas about dialogue. Truly, if I can get a brother or sister in Christ to dialogue with me, then all fear goes away. I say fear because I have learned over time to fear the anger and conflict that comes with theological “discussions” (ie fights) Fear, not as in fear my myself, but more like dreading the unpleasantness. It keeps us apart. Keeps us from learning from each other.

I’ll be featuring this post at the High Calling website.
http://HighCallingBlogs.com