... don’t like them. Those who do not conform are certainly in for trouble. I am told that if you put a hen with different markings in a coop where all the other hens have the same markings, the different hen will be pecked to death. So do we dislike and distrust anyone whose life-style is in contrast to ours, especially if the contrast seems to us to be a condemnation of our life-style; so we peck away. That’s why Socrates was killed. He was always compelling men to think, to examine themselves. The world ...
... and she can’t like or love anyone else until she learns how to feel good about herself.” Self-hate is so dangerous. It can lead to a volatile jealousy and cause us to hurt other people, even those closest to us. III. THIRD AND FINALLY, DISLIKING OURSELVES CAN LEAD TO SELF-PITY. Remember how Charley Brown put it: “I know the world is filled with hatred because the whole world hates me!” This kind of self-pity causes us to look for crutches… temporary attempts at “pick-me-ups” like drugs or ...
... talk about “self fulfilling prophecy:” when we expect something negative to happen, that expectation helps to make it happen. For example, we may expect people to dislike us. We become angry because we don’t know why they should dislike us. We begin to resent them for disliking us. Our resentment shows through, and, surely enough, they begin to dislike us! Self fulfilling prophecy! I remember an epitaph a pessimist wrote for his own gravestone. He wrote: “I expected this, and here I am!” It’s ...
... . Some of the students taking the test could think of only one person, others listed as many as fourteen. But the interesting fact that came out of this bit of research was this: Those who disliked the largest number of people were themselves the most widely disliked.5 You will find that the more likable you are, the more likely you are to like other people, and to be liked by them. One of the greatest lessons I have ever learned on how to be a friend, came from a statement made by Dale Carnegie, the ...
... . Some of the students taking the test could think of only one person, others listed as many as fourteen. But the interesting fact that came out of this bit of research was this: Those who disliked the largest number of people were themselves the most widely disliked.1 But now only must you be a good friend, you must choose good friends. Now I believe we ought to be friendly with sinners, because Jesus was a friend of sinners. But I believe those that we should allow to be friends of ours, by and large ...
... . Some of the students taking the test could only think of one person. Others listed as many as fourteen. The interesting fact that came out of this bit of research was this: those who disliked the largest number of people were themselves the most widely disliked. [[3]] You will find that the more likeable you are the more likely you are to like other people and to be liked by them. One of the best selling books of all time was written by a man named, Dale Carnegie, who wrote a best selling book entitled ...
... will come to you." The man came back sometime later to report he did just that. "But it was raining," the man said. "I got all wet and felt like a fool." "Well," said the bishop, "that's progress." Sometimes petty criticism comes from personal dislike. There are people who will oppose you no matter what position you may take on an issue. They have what the psychologists call a "hidden agenda." It's a fairly well accepted fact that some people having never fully worked through problems with authority will ...
... the adoration, if you will - of good art. That is a driving compulsion with them - to bring forth the best of all possible artistic endeavors. Within the church the same understanding of unity holds. Many people out of many backgrounds with many likes and dislikes are gathered and called by God to be saints. (Remember last week’s theme born of the verses just preceding the ones before us today?) They bring with them a variety of gifts, something Paul has just commended in the Corinthian congregation - the ...
... shall love your neighbor as yourself." What a goal for this life! To love everybody, even the repulsive and those who dislike us. Remember, Christian love does not mean to like somebody. It means to want what is best for another person, to seek his or ... her highest good. If you're a Republican, can you do that for the Democratic politician you dislike most? Do you truly want what is best for the militant Muslim who is trying to stamp out Christianity in the Sudan? My ...
... seems to be that many Jews, reading this story, would see themselves in Jonah. The story is that the word of God came to Jonah to go to Nineveh, and to preach to the people of "that great city," and call them to repentance, but Jonah disliked that prospect and hopped on a ship bound in the opposite direction, to Tarshish. The obvious implication was that not only Jonah, but the Jewish people were disobedient to God. God said to do one thing, and Jonah did the opposite. The ship Jonah boarded sailed out ...
... a support to his freedom? To understand and to be understood is the open door out of isolation." Some people take a devilish joy in not liking people. In his book, How to Live 365 Days a Year, Dr. John A. Schindler says, "Some people dislike everybody: They dislike practically everyone from the President, whom they have never met, to their next-door neighbor whom they wish they had never met." But can we afford to see everyone as a walking irritant? Can we afford to be so sorry for ourselves that we leave ...
... built-in feelings about it that make it very unpleasant for them to work, especially when it is required. Now this could be looked upon as a handicap. We don't punish others with handicaps. Our society provides for them and should do the same for those with a natural dislike for work. Why can't we live and let live with each to his own style?" End of quote. (1) That's a different attitude. My guess is that it is the attitude of more people than we might imagine. I am not agreeing with the writer of this ...
... matron who received a surprise visit from a clergyman. This was a man she detested. In spite of the matron's deep dislike for this man, however, she was a gracious host to him. She served him tea and cookies, laughed at his jokes, complimented ... died of a massive stroke. Arthur Gordon has always wondered if the woman was overcome by the extreme effort required to be charming to someone she disliked. (6) No amount of charm can make up for a heart full of hate. In order to live a life that is pleasing to God, ...
... newspaper, and the Fourth Gospel as the editorial page. Admittedly, the Fourth Gospel is different, and those differences have caused problems for Christians down through the ages. If it were the “conservatives” who disliked John during the Church’s first centuries, it has been the so-called “liberals” who have disliked it in more recent years. Up until very recently, many scholars asserted that it could not possibly have been written by John, the son of Zebedee, the fisherman who left his nets to ...
... find it easy to talk to strangers about faith matters. And I am a bit suspicious of those who do. Some of them sound much too glib and much too shallow to me. Philip gives one the impression of a man who really disliked having responsibility. He disliked making decisions. When you are a person with that kind of personality, William Barclay suggests, there are but two courses of action open to you. You either do nothing or you have the strength of character enough to know your own weaknesses and shortcomings ...
... kept calling me back to an old poem by G. K. Studdert Kennedy. He was one of the great unconventional preachers in England the first part of this century. Someone once said that his preaching won him many enemies: "Some disliked him because they misunderstood him; others disliked him because they understood all too clearly (Clyde E. Fant, Jr, William M. Hinson Jr, Editors, 20 Centuries of Great Preaching, Volume 9, page 243). Studdert-Kennedy wrote a poem in which he pondered what would happen if Jesus came ...
... , appreciation-confusion, with Gary Larson's "Far Side" cartoons. I vacillate between like-dislike, appreciation-confusion. I keep on reading them, and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's because he gives me something now and then to flavor a sermon. Such is the case with this one. It depicts a bug resting on a leaf which gently sways over a lovely ...
... that works for boomers lose religion and it governs still can only apply when one has something to lose. Busters were given little religion to lose, so they are rudderless and governless. In 1994, Colorado based Group magazine asked 100 northern Colorado busters what they like and dislike about church. Given busters' irreverence and proneness to poke fun, Group was asking for it. Here's what they found. The top reason busters like church? 1. Being with friends 2. Learning about God The top reasons busters ...
... . As they came to Jericho, a great crowd gathered to see Him. Zacchaeus was in the crowd. The scriptures tell us that he was a “chief tax-collector and rich”… and that he was despised and disliked by the people of Jericho… probably for a number of reasons. 1. For one thing, they disliked Zacchaeus because he was the chief tax-collector. He was responsible for gathering the hated Roman Tax on the products of Jericho, such as balsam… and upon the costly imports from Damascus and Arabia. In the day ...
... of Representatives speedily passed the articles of impeachment, and it seemed the Senate would handily amass the two-thirds vote necessary for conviction. It was thought that Senator Ross, who had an expressed dislike for President Johnson, would vote for the president's removal. And if he had followed his likes and dislikes, he probably would have. But the obscure senator from Kansas searched his soul for the right thing to do. To the dismay of most of his colleagues, and the majority of his supporters ...
... to forgive our friends! It’s not hard to forgive our families and our children and those who think and act like we do. That’s not forgiveness. That’s just simple reconciliation. But today, think of that person who has been lodged in your heart, who you dislike, or disagree with, or just plain don’t want to associate with. Think of that person, or maybe a whole group of people, who you can’t relate to, and feel you can’t get close to, because there’s a wide divide between you and them. Today ...
... , prefers face-to-face encounters; deep feelings; committed to helping others; compassionate; enthusiastic; always searching for meaning, authenticity, and self-identity; natural rescuers.” The final type of prayer is the Franciscan Prayer. This prayer is “free; unconfined; impulsive; dislikes being tied down to rules; loves action; easily bored with the status quo; crisis-oriented; good trouble-shooters; flexible; open-minded; adaptable; willing to change position; tend to live very much in the present ...
... service. Knowing how sick he was, knowing that our doctors had done all they could, there wasn't really anywhere I could turn except for some miraculous cure. "This Jesus fellow has been making quite a stir in these parts. I know that some of the people in power dislike him, but the common people are attracted to him. There are all sorts of claims that this Jesus has done miracles. Some even say he walks on water, but I know that some of Rome's enemies think that the Legion walks on water. I haven't seen ...
... , maybe we would view it differently. Usually there are two sides to every issue, and seldom are they equal. There is often more wrong on one side than the other. We must not spend time accumulating a list of people on the other side of an issue whom we dislike. We are free to oppose any issue, but we need not hate the persons who support it. If we hate the person, we must forget the issue. Jesus dealt with issues. And we must make sure that our anger is addressed to issues, not to people. The third thing ...
... . Soon after East and West Germany united Jesmina began to resent East Germans and the Eastern Europeans who poured into her homeland by the thousands. Jesmina came to the United States and met Marta, a Czech, one of those Jesmina had come to dislike so intensely. She and Marta quickly became friends, and now both of them were outsiders whose presence was resented by some Americans. This little vignette reminds us how much our world is like the divided world in which Jesus of Nazareth and the evangelist ...