Hey Everyone,

I was going through my old e-mail and ran across one of those chain e-mails I filed away. The writer swears this is a true story, and it may very well be. Either way its pretty cool tale so I thought I’d share it with you!

Dan

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This is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago at USC.

There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist.

His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester to prove that God couldn’t exist.

His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic.

Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever really gone against him because of his reputation.

At the end of every semester on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students, “If there is anyone here who still believes in Jesus, stand up!”

In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, “Because anyone who believes in God is a fool.”

If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking Such a simple task to prove that He is God, and yet He can’t do it.”

And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces.

All of the students would do nothing but stop and stare.

Most of the students thought that God couldn’t exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but! For 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up.

Well, a few years ago there was a freshman who happened to enroll.

He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about his professor.

He was required to take the class for his major, and he was afraid. But for three months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said, or what the class thought.

Nothing they said could ever shatter his faith…he hoped.

Finally, the day came. ! The professor said, “If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!” The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom.

The professor shouted, “You FOOL!!!

If God existed, he would keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!”

He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleat of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away unbroken. The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man, and then ran out of the lecture hall.

The young man who had stood, proceeded to walk to the front of the room and shared his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of His power through Jesus.

Enjoy!

Dan

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Bar Stool Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. ‘Since you are all such good customers, he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

‘I only got a dollar out of the $20,’declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,’ but he got $10!’

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!’

‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’

‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where t he atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Take a look at this video:

Are there things in your life that are right in front of you that are missing just because you are not paying attention?

Dan

Shocking Title? I hope not. I read two things this week that have really been tugging at me.

First was a quote - I can’t remember where it is from but to paraphrase:

“Religion doesn’t save people. You are saved through your faith in Christ.”

Second was a anecote from another newsletter that I receive from Crucial Conversations, which deals with how and when to have those tough critical conversations that everybody dreads. In the anecdote, a lady was asking a question about vulgarity in the workplace. Apparently their company has a written policy that prohibits “name calling” and requires treating other employees with respect. In one instance, and in a totally appropriate application, the woman had a “crucial conversation” with an employee that had been calling another employee unflattering names. Her question then, by extension, was regarding a woman a few cubicles down who had a tendency to call her computer names. By extrapolation she was asking the expert if the company policy extented to treatment of inanimate objects…and should she be subjected to hearing the woman berate her computer. (Though, I also agree that there is an element of respect that extends to the need for orderly conduct.)

I thought the expert handled it very well - however, the comment that struck me was a challenge to the woman to assess whether she was disengenuously using the company policy to further her own personal sense of propriety. Meaning, is this a personal issue or is this a policy issue? It wasn’t that the issue shouldn’t be addressed, but on what grounds should it be addressed.

Combined with the first statement paraphrased above, this idea hit me like a brick between the eyes. How many of us call on “scripture” to back ourselves into a validated sense of our own personal position? As Christians, in the religious sense, I think we may spend too much time judging others and deriding them for offending our delicate sensibilities. It occurred to me that many times these are personal problems, not spiritual issues. Not saying that we don’t need to learn to resolve personal differences, but it’s important to understand the true basis of discussion.

Here’s the acid test for me. Have you had a personal opinion, and then gone to the scripture purposely to find things to validate that position - essentially to judge the “bad behavior” of others? This is a sword that swings both ways. I seem to remember Jesus drawing a line in the sand over such a quandary.

How’s that for deep thoughts on Tuesday? I’m quite sure I don’t have all the answers here, I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Dan

A very good friend of mine has a quote on his e-mails that reads:

I just love that quote. As humans, when things aren’t going particularly well (or even when they are) I think we often doubt. That spectre appears and we hear the voice that questions “Does God Exist?”

My life experience has proved to me that He does, which obviously changes the equation, but for argument’s sake let’s take a more neutral position.

Not even discussing the moral aspects, which to you is the better way to live? I’m not talking about your feelings about “the Church”, or about the your perceptionns about organized religion. Just the basic question - what if you knew right now that God existed, would it change the way you think about your life?

Dan