The TOXIC Tongue of Comparison

Words matter.  God speaks loud and long regarding the power of our words.  One prime example, Proverbs 18:21 says, "The tongue can bring both death or life (NLT)."

While there are many expressions of a toxic tongue, comparing ourselves to others leads to words of death. Comparisons can be a carefully laid trap that will lead you down a road of relational ruin.  Sinful comparing tends to measure our own worth through the lens of others' lifestyle or accomplishments.  Ecclesiastes 4:4 notes, "Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors.  But this, too, is meaningless ­– like chasing the wind (NLT)."

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5 Classic Signs of Depression Most People Don’t Recognise

Americans are more depressed now than they have been in decades, even if they don't know it, a new study finds.
Data from 6.9 million adults and adolescents from across the US found that Americans now report more psychosomatic symptoms of depression than similar studies in the 1980s (Twenge, 2014).
Dr. Jean Twenge, the study's author, said:

"Previous studies found that more people have been treated for depression in recent years, but that could be due to more awareness and less stigma.
This study shows an increase in symptoms most people don't even know are connected to depression, which suggests adolescents and adults really are suffering more."

Symptoms of depression that many reported, but which people appeared not to know were signs of depression included:

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Thought from End-to-End: Affordable Email Encryption for Every Lawyer.

Being a lawyer is not an easy job: They carry a special responsibility towards their clients, in particular their obligation to confidentiality. The clients on the other hand want to communicate with their lawyer quickly, preferably via email. A dilemma because emails can be intercepted and read with any laptop. While most lawyers still send their emails openly like postcards, pioneers like Thomas Feil are ready to break new grounds.

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Happiness: 10 Fascinating New Psychology Studies Everyone Should Know

Where we feel happiness in the body, how it affects our genetic code, why it changes with age, unexpected pleasures and much more…

Here are 10 of my favourite recent psychology studies about happiness.

​Hope you enjoy them!

Happiness activates the whole body

Unlike thoughts, the emotions don't live entirely in the mind, they are also associated with bodily sensations.

Thanks to a new study, for the first time we now have a map of the links between emotions and bodily sensations.

Finnish researchers induced different emotions in 701 participants and then got them to colour in a body map of where they felt increasing or decreasing activity.

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Pistorius Faces 15 Years in Prison After Manslaughter Conviction

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scar Pistorius was found guilty Friday of a manslaughter charge that carries a potential penalty ranging from a fine up to 15 years in prison, capping a trial that chronicled the high life and swift fall of a disabled South African hero who shot and killed his girlfriend through a locked bathroom door.

In rendering her verdict, Judge Thokozile Masipa said Mr. Pistorius acted recklessly in firing four shots at what he thought was an intruder lurking in his bathroom. Three of those shots from a 9mm pistol—loaded with hollow point bullets that expand on impact—struck his girlfriend, 29-year old model Reeva Steenkamp. She died almost instantly.

"A reasonable person in possession of his faculties with a similar disability would have foreseen that possibility," Ms. Masipa said as Mr. Pistorius, seated alone on a wooden bench in courtroom in the South African capital, listened impassively.

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House Church Critiques of the Megachurch: 3 Ways to Make it Better

Some people are passionate about the debate between megachurches or house churches. This can be good, but passionate people tend to be enthusiastic to the point that they can exaggerate their position—even when research and data do not back up their claims.

For example, some assert that people are leaving megachurches in droves and are headed toward house churches en masse.

Statistically, there is no real evidence of that.

I was recently asked about house church critiques of the megachurch, recorded what I said, and my team turned it into this brief (and narrowly-focused) article.

So, let me share some thoughts on how that conversation might be made better—from a friendly outsider's perspective.

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From The Career Files: The (Alleged) Uber-ification Of Legal Services

The business of law continues to evolve post-Great Recession. Law firms are dealing with clients who are trimming legal budgets, shunning expensive hourly billing rates and subsidized training of associates, and opting for smaller and more cost-sensitive legal options.

These trends have had a ripple effect. The job market for lawyers—while showing signs of improvement in small pockets—remains depressed, resulting in intense critiques of legal education, downward-trending law school applications, and law schools adapting or closing. Presumably, law students and new lawyers notice these trends and are strategizing accordingly, thinking commercially and entrepreneurially about their careers, and seeking the best legal experience and ROI in a rough macro legal market.

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The language of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism-MTD

This morning on the way in I was listening to an old episode of the unfailingly excellent and indispensable Mars Hill Audio Journal, in which sociologist Christian Smith discussed his findings about American youth and Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. I was struck by the part of his discussion with host Ken Myers about how American teenagers lack the basic vocabulary to discuss religious particularities. They are so theologically ignorant they can't even articulate what their own traditions teach. And in this, Smith suggests, they are like their parents.
Myers asked if there are any data to indicate that teenagers today are any more ignorant than past generations of Americans. Not really, Smith said, but anecdotally, when he interviews older professors, they tell him that young people today are markedly less able to discuss religion to any informed degree. Atheist humanities professor Camille Paglia is also bothered by this, but for different reasons:

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God Still Performs Miracles: An Interview with Mark Batterson

Do we dare believe that God can speak into our lives powerfully and tangibly? Jesus did this. During his earthly ministry he healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, and even raised the dead. What if he would do these things today?

How do you define "miracle" and its place in today's world?

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Why You Should Treasure Apparently Mundane Moments in Life

People rarely miss a chance to record the highlights of their lives.

Phones, albums and social media sites are full to bursting with holiday snaps, wedding videos, baby photos, and all the rest.

But even the more mundane, everyday experiences can provide unexpected joy down the line, new psychological research finds.

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Laws of the Land: Where Is ‘Open Carry’ Legal?

As people on both sides of the debate regarding open carry—the practice of carrying firearms in plain view—have been turning up the heat, more companies are being forced to take a side.

Gun-rights advocates see the practice as a way to normalize gun ownership and deter crime, while gun-control activists believe carrying guns in stores and restaurants is disruptive to the public and encourages violence.

Recently, Target, Starbucks and Chipotle have asked their patrons not to bring their guns. After petitions by gun-control groups such as Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Kroger said it would uphold local and state laws in the 34 states it operates.

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Restaurant's 'Prayer Discount' Sparks Mix Of Praise, Anger

When Jordan Smith got her tab after breakfast at in Winston-Salem, N.C., she was pleasantly surprised to find a 15 percent discount — for "praying in public."

Smith, on a business trip, that she and her colleagues "prayed over our meal and the waitress came over at the end of the meal and said, 'Just so you know, we gave you a 15 percent discount for praying.' "

Smith then snapped a photo of her receipt, complete with a line item for "15% Praying in Public ($6.07)" and posted it to her Facebook page. Not surprisingly, it's gone viral.
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You Can Increase Your Intelligence: 5 ways to Maximize Your Cognitive Potential

While Einstein was not a neuroscientist, he sure knew what he was talking about in regards to the human capacity to achieve. He knew intuitively what we can now show with data—what it takes to function at your cognitive best. In essence: What doesn't kill you makes you smarter.

Not so many years ago, I was told by a professor of mine that you didn't have much control over your intelligence. It was genetic—determined at birth. He explained that efforts made to raise the intelligence of children (through programs like Head Start, for example) had limited success while they were in practice, and furthermore, once the "training" stopped, they went right back to their previously low cognitive levels. Indeed, the data did show that [pdf], and he (along with many other intelligence researchers) concluded that intelligence could not be improved—at least not to create a lasting change.

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Robin Williams’ Death an Opportunity to Look at Depression in the Scriptures

"The human spirit can endure in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?" (Proverbs 18:14).

The shocking news of the suicide death of actor Robin Williams has left millions of people all over the world with a mystery: how could someone known for a whole-face smile that caused multitudes of people to laugh to the point of tears be so distraught that he would take his own life? Many are perplexed, and there are many others who are saying to themselves: if anyone knew how desperately depressed I am, they would be surprised.

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8 Ways to Get Rid of Unwanted Negative Thoughts

It's one of the irritations of having a mind that sometimes bad thoughts get stuck going around in it.

It could be a mistake at work, money worries or perhaps a nameless fear. Whatever the anxiety, fear or worry, it can prove very difficult to control.

The most intuitive method for dealing with it is using thought suppression: we try to push it out of our minds.

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People Choose Electric Shocks Over Sitting Quietly for 15 Minutes and Thinking

Most people would rather be doing something than sitting alone thinking, a new study finds, even if it involves self-administering a painful electric shock.

Across 11 studies, psychologists at the University of Virginia and Harvard University had people sitting on their own in a featureless room for between 6 and 15 minutes (Wilson et al., 2014).

Professor Timothy Wilson, who led the study, which is published in the journal Science, said:

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Beware of Obscurantism

"I can't go to your church, I'm not a Republican."

That was what a pastor friend of mine heard from a neighbor to whom he was reaching out. He eagerly replied, "You don't have to be!" to which his friend responded, "But everyone at your church is."

That's hard to argue when it is true.

So, why does that matter? Well, it matters in a way that might surprise you. You see, this is not a blogpost about politics, but about the gospel—and the need for it to be clearly understood.

Not Politics, But Gospel

The fact of the matter is that the more you to go church, the more likely you are to be a Republican. That's just math. (See my earlier article with cautions about that reality.) The less you go to church, the more likely you are to be a Democrat. (There are individual and group exceptions, but that is what the media call "The God Gap." Don't yell at me about it—I did not create math.)

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Three Judges From Same Court Busted For DWI

One is an outlier. A sad reminder of the legal profession's struggle with alcoholism. Two is a curiosity. Perhaps a coincidence? But when three judges, all from the same court, get charged with DWI over the course of a mere six months, you're looking at a trend.

Just this morning, the third judge in this trend was handcuffed and led away from the scene of an accident. In this case, the courtroom parking lot. That's right, she's accused of running over the gate to the lot and then ramming a parked sheriff's car.

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Former Bergdahl Pastor Calls for Mercy for 'Prodigal Son' Bowe

"Christians are getting engaged in the lynching," he says. "In any other situation, we'd be hugging the parents."

Since his release on Saturday, white-hot controversy has dogged US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was exchanged for five senior Taliban leaders. The Taliban held him captive for the past five years. Bergdahl is being branded as a deserter for abandoning his unit in eastern Afghanistan.

On Sunday at a White House press conference, President Obama with Bergdahl's parents Robert and Jani at his side announced Bowe's release. Earlier this week, Phil Proctor, pastor of Sterling Presbyterian Church, an Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sterling, Virginia, began distributing an email in response to questions he was receiving about the Bergdahls since he served as their pastor and has remained close to the family. In the five years since Bergdahl's capture, there has been a nationwide campaign for his release with many posters describing Sgt. Bergdahl as a POW.

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Empathy: It’s a Win-Win Situation

At a family holiday dinner last week, it finally dawned on me that certain people I consider smart and beautiful consider themselves stupid and hideous.

Granted, I spent most of my life considering myself occasionally stupid and more or less hideous, but no one has ever considered me beautiful, so that's different. Well, almost no one. But those few who did were clearly out of their minds.

It wasn't my family's holiday event. The family in question was a loved one's family, with whom I have spent countless holidays over many years. Not that I always wanted to.

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