P: This is such a neat little book that is packed full of truths for the Christian life. I read it in a sitting but it has reminded me of my need to put my trust in God's faithful promises in the Bible--each and every one of them!--because He is a God who never lies. I have often fallen prey of the lies that the Enemy throws at us.
-Take time to take up your Sword: "That means reading, studying, and meditating on the Bible daily. e.g. Jesus in the wilderness, knowing how to respond to the devil with God's Word. Often we feel frustrated about the bad things in life and get tired when we have God's Word there already. "All we need to do is obey the words of Jesus and abide in that Word and we'll have an answer for any lie or temptation Satan throws our way." p.47
-"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Ps 16:11
"By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward." Heb 11:24-26
-"The only question each of us has to answer is, Whose words am I going to believe? Those of a spiritual enemy who hates us more than we can imagine, or those of a heavenly Father whose love for us surpasses our ability to comprehend?" p.91
12 Oct 2017
Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2005
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Monday, October 9, 2017
34. What your money means and how to use it well - Frank J. Hanna
PART I What your money means
"Are we spending our money as we ought?" p.13
How much money is enough?
-The essentials/fundamentals:
bare necessities (genuine needs, profession-related needs e.g. the US president's need for a White House + beneficial needs (=those things which are good for us, but whose lack does not ordinarily prevent us from becoming the persons--physically, mentally, and spiritually--that we are meant to be." p. 42 e.g. money for summer school in Russia)
-Non-essential wealth
"Yet the possession of much wealth increases the weight of care, which is a great distraction to a man's mind." -St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) p.85
The Law of Rising Expectations: The more we expect from something, the more vulnerable we are to disappointment and the unhappiness and vices that come from it." p.93
-Deut 8:17-18 'But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth..." p.109
-Wealth should be valued by the ends it serves:
"Money never remains just coins and pieces of paper. Money can be translated into the beauty of living, a support in misfortune, an education, or future security. It also can be translated into a source of bitterness." -Sylvia Porter (1913-1991)
-the universal destination of goods. Our non-essential wealth is for others who do not have the fundamentals.
-Conclusion: "We must seek to employ our money in the service of values, not whims and pleasures. We must rule our money rather than letting it rule us. We must extract from it meaning and values that were not formerly there. By doing so, we add strength and goodness to the community in which we are members. We grow in love and wisdom and make it easier for others to do so, too." p.120
PART II: What your money calls you to be
-Vocation= life-calling. We are called to a task that is uniquely ours for our time on earth. p.129
1. Virtue
2. To create wealth; "some people have a vocation to create wealth" e.g. John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) "I believe the power to make money is a gift from God...to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind. Having been endowed with the gift I possess, I believe it is my duty to make money and still more money and to use the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience." p.140
-God gives people the vocation to create wealth so that they can grow in humility and help others, just like the gift of music etc.
3. Giving
"Riches are for spending, and spending for honour and good actions." -Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
-don't wait to give later, give now. Why? because public money e.g. tax money given to the government becomes less wisely used vs. you knowing how to give to others in a helpful way, cultivating virtue etc. "That you have such money, a unique background, and your own talents and opportunities is a sign that you have a particular calling, a task, a responsibility that is your own and not anyone else's." p.161
-faith in Providence: that God will guide the hands of others in their work
3 goals of the author in the book:
1. To show you that your money has a meaning that is intimately bound up with the meaning of your life: you have been called to help bring about the universal destination of goods.
2. To show you the two paths to follow: wealth creation & giving now
3. To take the first, difficult steps down the path to regular, sustained giving.
p.174-5
Deut 14:22 "Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field."
tithe regularly
"Indeed, too severe a scrutiny of those to whom we give (or may give) can nurture in the soul such a distrust of others that the very love which originally motivated our charity gets snuffed out..." In our giving, we must be prudent, but never hard. p.206
"Society can be changed on four levels: cultural, political, organizational, and personal. Generally speaking, the greatest breadth of change happens at the cultural level, while the greatest depth of change happens at the personal level." p.217 Use the Principle of Leverage: Support efforts that bring about the greatest multiplication of results from the time or money you contribute. p.218
The Ten Rule of Thumb for Donors-the author gives practical advice on the wisdom of giving.
P: Most of the ideas in this book I already know and are not revolutionary but I did find the practical input from the author as a successful businessman who has real life experience of handling money insightful. That being said, this book seems to be geared more towards businessmen in the way the author addresses his audience about how to create wealth and to give vs. other vocations.
9-10 Oct 2017
New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 2008
"Are we spending our money as we ought?" p.13
How much money is enough?
-The essentials/fundamentals:
bare necessities (genuine needs, profession-related needs e.g. the US president's need for a White House + beneficial needs (=those things which are good for us, but whose lack does not ordinarily prevent us from becoming the persons--physically, mentally, and spiritually--that we are meant to be." p. 42 e.g. money for summer school in Russia)
-Non-essential wealth
"Yet the possession of much wealth increases the weight of care, which is a great distraction to a man's mind." -St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) p.85
The Law of Rising Expectations: The more we expect from something, the more vulnerable we are to disappointment and the unhappiness and vices that come from it." p.93
-Deut 8:17-18 'But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth..." p.109
-Wealth should be valued by the ends it serves:
"Money never remains just coins and pieces of paper. Money can be translated into the beauty of living, a support in misfortune, an education, or future security. It also can be translated into a source of bitterness." -Sylvia Porter (1913-1991)
-the universal destination of goods. Our non-essential wealth is for others who do not have the fundamentals.
-Conclusion: "We must seek to employ our money in the service of values, not whims and pleasures. We must rule our money rather than letting it rule us. We must extract from it meaning and values that were not formerly there. By doing so, we add strength and goodness to the community in which we are members. We grow in love and wisdom and make it easier for others to do so, too." p.120
PART II: What your money calls you to be
-Vocation= life-calling. We are called to a task that is uniquely ours for our time on earth. p.129
1. Virtue
2. To create wealth; "some people have a vocation to create wealth" e.g. John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) "I believe the power to make money is a gift from God...to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind. Having been endowed with the gift I possess, I believe it is my duty to make money and still more money and to use the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience." p.140
-God gives people the vocation to create wealth so that they can grow in humility and help others, just like the gift of music etc.
3. Giving
"Riches are for spending, and spending for honour and good actions." -Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
-don't wait to give later, give now. Why? because public money e.g. tax money given to the government becomes less wisely used vs. you knowing how to give to others in a helpful way, cultivating virtue etc. "That you have such money, a unique background, and your own talents and opportunities is a sign that you have a particular calling, a task, a responsibility that is your own and not anyone else's." p.161
-faith in Providence: that God will guide the hands of others in their work
3 goals of the author in the book:
1. To show you that your money has a meaning that is intimately bound up with the meaning of your life: you have been called to help bring about the universal destination of goods.
2. To show you the two paths to follow: wealth creation & giving now
3. To take the first, difficult steps down the path to regular, sustained giving.
p.174-5
Deut 14:22 "Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field."
tithe regularly
"Indeed, too severe a scrutiny of those to whom we give (or may give) can nurture in the soul such a distrust of others that the very love which originally motivated our charity gets snuffed out..." In our giving, we must be prudent, but never hard. p.206
"Society can be changed on four levels: cultural, political, organizational, and personal. Generally speaking, the greatest breadth of change happens at the cultural level, while the greatest depth of change happens at the personal level." p.217 Use the Principle of Leverage: Support efforts that bring about the greatest multiplication of results from the time or money you contribute. p.218
The Ten Rule of Thumb for Donors-the author gives practical advice on the wisdom of giving.
P: Most of the ideas in this book I already know and are not revolutionary but I did find the practical input from the author as a successful businessman who has real life experience of handling money insightful. That being said, this book seems to be geared more towards businessmen in the way the author addresses his audience about how to create wealth and to give vs. other vocations.
9-10 Oct 2017
New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 2008
33. In Pursuit of Equity: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in 20th-Century America - Alice Kessler-Harris
The conception of law makers' (influenced by the overall societal attitude) views on gender roles in families affect how they distribute taxes for men and women who work, and also the development of social security. It is interesting to see how societal attitudes affect the rights of workers. [preconceptions that have shaped the experience of women]
The author shows the development of social policy from the New Deal to the 1970s, showing the deeply embedded set of beliefs that had distorted seemingly neutral social legislation to further limit freedom and equality of women. "Government rules generally sought to protect women from exploitation, even from employment itself; but at the same time, they attached the most important benefits to wage work. To be a real citizen, one must earn--and most policymakers (even female ones) assumed from the beginning that women were not, and should not be, breadwinners. Kessler-Harris traces the impact of this gender bias in the New Deal programs of Social Security, unemployment insurance, and fair labor standards, in Federal income tax policy, and the new discussion of women's rights that emerged after World War II."
-a lack of individual economic freedom for women and old assumptions up till the 1960s and '70s (but the break-down process is not complete yet)
P: I chose to read this book because of its title and even though it is quite a boring read for me as I am not knowledgeable in either US history, economics, or legislation, I found myself just reading over the names of policy makers and policies. The only part I could understand was the gender roles and their concerns about how wage-earning relate to the providence for families. I guess I was expecting more discussion about the actual settings in families and stories of real people in workforces rather than the process the policymakers went through.
1-9 October, 2017
New York: Oxford University Press, 2001
The author shows the development of social policy from the New Deal to the 1970s, showing the deeply embedded set of beliefs that had distorted seemingly neutral social legislation to further limit freedom and equality of women. "Government rules generally sought to protect women from exploitation, even from employment itself; but at the same time, they attached the most important benefits to wage work. To be a real citizen, one must earn--and most policymakers (even female ones) assumed from the beginning that women were not, and should not be, breadwinners. Kessler-Harris traces the impact of this gender bias in the New Deal programs of Social Security, unemployment insurance, and fair labor standards, in Federal income tax policy, and the new discussion of women's rights that emerged after World War II."
-a lack of individual economic freedom for women and old assumptions up till the 1960s and '70s (but the break-down process is not complete yet)
P: I chose to read this book because of its title and even though it is quite a boring read for me as I am not knowledgeable in either US history, economics, or legislation, I found myself just reading over the names of policy makers and policies. The only part I could understand was the gender roles and their concerns about how wage-earning relate to the providence for families. I guess I was expecting more discussion about the actual settings in families and stories of real people in workforces rather than the process the policymakers went through.
1-9 October, 2017
New York: Oxford University Press, 2001
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