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An inspiring little book you can read on the run (chapters are short). It's based on the simple premise that people have an innate capacity for happiness and when happy, we are much more competent, productive, and creative. It's a kind of roadmap of the various, often unconscious, distractions that create internal anger, depression and especially worry. When aware of these negative distractions, we are able to deal with each one more effectively and our lives are greatly improved.
Carlson, a practicing psychologist and stress consultant, makes a powerful point that we have two psychological modes most of the time: Reactive and responsive. The reactive mindset impairs our judgement and decision -making; we are overly critical and negative. The responsive state of mind is relaxed; we see the big picture; we are flexible, calm and at our best. Your level of success is a direct relationship with the amount of time you spend in the responsive state of mind.
A good, fast read that will pick you up and maybe change you for the better.
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1. The Creationism position (for some reason the only position that is an "ism") was blandly proclaimed in a lengthy and mostly uninspired essay by Wayne Friar and Gary D. Patterson. Although I had never heard of them, I suspect they are part of some mutual admiration society overusing phrases in their supposedly critical response essays like "we commend", "we join", "we agree that" and "we share." They sacrificed the sharp sword of intellectual debate for the blunt instrument of patronizing accolades.
2. Jean Pond's position of Independence is ridiculous -- she plainly stated that belief in Christ "requires faith beyond reason" (p. 242) when taken in context implies that faith is not reasonable. Additionally she quotes Sagan, Dawkins and Gould with respect normally granted only to the Pope. She gives particular credence to Gould's NOMA principle (loosely put: an intellectual wall of separation between science and 'religion'.) She quotes Dawkins and Gould effectively stating that theology is the study of nothing (maybe the wall is a fence to keep God out?). Pond gently reminds the readers that they are the exception rather than the rule, but then doesn't follow through by affirming that the study of theology is the study of anything. She seems to throw up her arms in confusion because of the proliferation of denominations and the use of the Scriptures for both sides of crucial issues like homosexuality and the ordination of women.
3. I like Stephen Meyer's philosophical approach in the Qualified Agreement position -- at least he had guts to disagree with Pond and Van Till, something that Friar and Patterson were reticent to do. He exposes the Independence and Mutual Partnership's (see below) acceptance and promotion of what I call the "myth of religious/metaphysical neutrality." Additionally Meyers is strong when discussing the classical proofs of God and how those arguments can be resurrected by new discoveries, particularly in the area of information science.
4. Lastly, Van Till propounds the Mutual Partnership position where science and Christian theology are "partners in theorizing." Although his position is solidly evolutionary, I found his principle of robust formational economy (RFE) [Jean Pond found that phrase to be a mouthful -- one might say "say that three times fast."] interesting although not convincing. His desire is to take a razor blade to the idea of 'creation' by separating them into two distinct phases or arenas: the initial concept (dare I say 'design') and the actual formation or creating (read naturalistic evolution). Therefore, if I'm reading him correctly, Van Till gives all the credit to God for designing a system that is self-creating. Obviously God kicked off the process, but He's just watching it unfold perhaps like some Cosmic Couch-Potato Deity. Stephen Meyer is correct in his assessment that this is close to, if not fully developed, Deism. In advocating the RFE principle, Van Till rejects the artisan, craftsman or builder concepts. I think he does so to the detriment of the Holy Scriptures where God compares Himself to the Potter and we his creatures to the clay pot. The Potter doesn't just intellectually design His creation, but intimately molds his creation.
All of the contributors to this volume, including the editor, for the most part ignore important points in the first few chapters of Genesis. 1) God speaking the creation into existence; 2) the Fall and it's ramifications (the various curses and introduction of death); 3) the supposedly historically accurate reports of great life spans prior to the Flood; 4) the Judgment of Yahweh on sin in the Flood (and by extension the Apostle Peter's reminder of a future judgment by fire); and 5) the divine origin of human languages. One item worth noting is the simple, yet interesting, chart on the classification of the sciences by Arthur Peacocke (Theology for a Scientific Age) as modified by Nancey Murphy (Reconciling Theology and Science) -- perhaps their books will shed more light on the topic of Science and Christianity than this work compiled by Richard F. Carlson.
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I think I may outgrow this book.. but is a good place to start.
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"An aim is not the only fortune worth finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands but in the heart itself." - Robert Louis Stevenson.
If you want to read a book with substance AND references, read Self-Help Stuff That Works by Adam Khan. No big marketing campaign there, just good solid principles backed up by research and tested by time.
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I really like Richard Carlson's books from earlier days. I guess he has made to money now to write them himself.
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