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Money. Supreme value. Treasure. Security.

This article looks at the Biblical conversation of money. Why is money such a big deal?

Why does money corrupt like few other truths? Why does money fall as the top two reasons for divorce?

Why did 10,000 people commit suicide over money during the Great Recession?

The offspring of the first family in Genesis melted down over money. Cain and Abel brought their finest to God as offerings, a symbol of love and respect. Abel brought the best of his resources, Cain brought second rate thrift shop baubles.

The result? Murder.  Cain felt rage over the adulation Abel received for the premium five star gift…Cain’s bargain brand last minute clearance table offering was clearly a symbol of shame and ingratitude.  The result? Brother kills brother in cold blood.

Judas operated as Jesus’ Chief Financial Officer.  Judas kept the books and money while cheating the ministry.  Judas’ last act was in real estate. He bought a field and committed suicide on the property.  All this for…a corrupt spirituality of betrayal mingled with money.

World War 2 was waged in part over money. The Allies wreaked revenge for WW1 atrocities by shaming the Germans with the Guilt Clause worth about 400 billion in today’s market.  The pressure of the tax and the pain of depression era economics gave Hitler fuel to press for war. 70 million people died worldwide. In part…over money.

Let’s look at some Scriptures about money and see if we can get some clarity. The passages we will examine connect to what and whom we love or where our heart locates.

Genesis 4 New International Version

Cain and Abel

4 Adam^[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.^[b] She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth^[c] a man.” ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴ And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Ecclesiastes 5:10

Este artículo analiza la conversación bíblica sobre el dinero. ¿Por qué el dinero es tan importante?

¿Por qué el dinero corrompe como pocas verdades? ¿Por qué el dinero cae entre las dos razones principales para el divorcio?

¿Por qué 10.000 personas se suicidaron por dinero durante la Gran Recesión?

La descendencia de la primera familia en Génesis se derrumbó por el dinero. Caín y Abel trajeron lo mejor de sí mismos a Dios como ofrendas, símbolo de amor y respeto. Abel trajo lo mejor de sus recursos, Cain trajo chucherías de tiendas de segunda mano.

¿El resultado? Asesinato. Cain sintió rabia por la adulación que recibió Abel por el regalo de cinco estrellas de primera calidad… La oferta de la mesa de liquidación de última hora de la marca de ganga de Cain fue claramente un símbolo de vergüenza e ingratitud. ¿El resultado? Hermano mata a hermano a sangre fría.

Judas actuó como director financiero de Jesús. Judas se quedó con los libros y el dinero mientras engañaba al ministerio. El último acto de Judas fue en bienes raíces. Compró un campo y se suicidó en la propiedad. Todo esto por… una espiritualidad corrupta de traición mezclada con dinero.

La Segunda Guerra Mundial se libró en parte por dinero. Los Aliados se vengaron de las atrocidades de la Primera Guerra Mundial al avergonzar a los alemanes con la Cláusula de Culpabilidad por un valor aproximado de 400 mil millones en el mercado actual. La presión de los impuestos y el dolor de la economía de la era de la depresión le dieron a Hitler combustible para presionar por la guerra. 70 millones de personas murieron en todo el mundo. En parte… por dinero.

Miremos algunas Escrituras sobre el dinero y veamos si podemos obtener algo de claridad. Los pasajes que examinaremos se conectan con qué y a quién amamos o dónde se ubica nuestro corazón.

Génesis 4 Nueva versión internacional

Caín y Abel

4 Adán[a] hizo el amor con su esposa Eva, y ella quedó embarazada y dio a luz a Caín.[b] Ella dijo: “Con la ayuda del Señor he dado a luz[c] a un varón”. 2 Más tarde dio a luz a su hermano Abel.

Ahora Abel cuidaba rebaños, y Caín labraba la tierra. 3 Con el transcurso del tiempo, Caín trajo algunos frutos de la tierra como ofrenda al Señor. 4 Y Abel también trajo una ofrenda, porciones de grasa de algunos de los primogénitos de su rebaño. El Señor miró con agrado a Abel y su ofrenda, 5 pero a Caín y su ofrenda no miró con agrado. Entonces Caín estaba muy enojado, y su rostro estaba abatido.

6 Entonces el Señor le dijo a Caín: “¿Por qué estás enojado? ¿Por qué tu rostro está abatido? 7 Si haces lo correcto, ¿no serás aceptado? Pero si no haces lo correcto, el pecado está agazapado a tu puerta; desea tenerte, pero tú debes gobernarlo”.

8 Entonces Caín dijo a su hermano Abel: “Salgamos al campo”. [d] Mientras estaban en el campo, Caín atacó a su hermano Abel y lo mató.

Deuteronomio 15:7

7 Si alguno es pobre entre tus hermanos israelitas en alguna de las ciudades de la tierra que el SEÑOR tu Dios te da, no seas duro de corazón ni tacaño con él.

2 Crónicas 1:11-12

11 Dios le dijo a Salomón: “Ya que este es el deseo de tu corazón y no has pedido riquezas, posesiones u honor, ni la muerte de tus enemigos, y ya que no has pedido una larga vida sino sabiduría y conocimiento para gobernar pueblo mío sobre el cual te he puesto por rey, 12 por tanto, te será dado sabiduría y conocimiento. Y también te daré riquezas, posesiones y honor, como ningún rey que hubo antes de ti jamás tuvo ni después de ti tendrá.

Eclesiastés 5:10

10 El que ama el dinero nunca se sacia; quien ama la riqueza nunca está satisfecho con sus ingresos. Esto también no tiene sentido.
Mateo 6:21

21 Porque donde esté vuestro tesoro, allí estará también vuestro corazón.

Mateo 6:24

24 “Nadie puede servir a dos señores. O aborrecerás a uno y amarás al otro, o serás devoto de uno y despreciarás al otro. No se puede servir a Dios y al dinero a la vez.

Mateo 26:14-15

Entonces uno de los doce, que se llamaba Judas Iscariote, fue a los sumos sacerdotes y les dijo: ¿Qué me daréis si os lo entrego? Y le pagaron treinta piezas de plata. Y desde ese momento buscó una oportunidad para traicionarlo.
Lucas 16:13-15

13 “Nadie puede servir a dos señores. O aborrecerás a uno y amarás al otro, o serás devoto de uno y despreciarás al otro. No se puede servir a Dios y al dinero”. 14 Los fariseos, que amaban el dinero, oyeron todo esto y se burlaban de Jesús. 15 Él les dijo: “Ustedes son los que se justifican a sí mismos ante los ojos de los demás, pero Dios conoce sus corazones. Lo que la gente valora mucho es detestable a los ojos de Dios.

Juan 12:5-6

María unge a Jesús
…5 “¿Por qué no se vendió este perfume por trescientos denarios y el dinero se dio a los pobres?” 6Judas no dijo esto porque se preocupara por los pobres, sino porque era ladrón. Como guardián de la bolsa de dinero, solía tomar de lo que se ponía en ella. 7“Déjala en paz,” respondió Jesús. “Ella estaba destinada a guardar este perfume para prepararse para el día de Mi entierro…

Juan 13.29

Como Judas estaba a cargo del dinero, algunos pensaron que Jesús le estaba diciendo que comprara lo necesario para la fiesta, o que diera algo a los pobres.

Hechos 1:18-19

…17Él era uno de los nuestros y participaba en este ministerio.” 18( Con el pago de su maldad, Judas compró un campo, y cayendo de cabeza, se reventó por la mitad y todas sus entrañas se derramaron. 19Esto fue notorio a todos los que habitaban en Jerusalén; por eso llamaron aquel campo en su propia lengua Akeldama , es decir, Campo de Sangre.)…

Romanos 13:8

8 No quede ninguna deuda pendiente, excepto la deuda permanente de amarse unos a otros, porque quien ama a los demás ha cumplido la ley.

Colosenses 3:5

5 Hagan morir, por tanto, todo lo que pertenece a su naturaleza terrenal: fornicación, impureza, lujuria, malos deseos y avaricia, que es idolatría.

1 Timoteo 6:10

10 Porque raíz de todos los males es el amor al dinero. Algunos, ávidos de dinero, se extraviaron de la fe y fueron traspasados de muchos dolores.

Hebreos 13:5

5 Mantengan sus vidas libres del amor al dinero y estén contentos con lo que tienen, porque Dios ha dicho: “Nunca los dejaré; nunca te abandonaré.”

https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/money-bible-verses/

Cada uno de estos pasajes conecta el dinero con quién y qué amamos. El primer motivo del asesinato fue el dinero y la ira que puede provocar. Dios nos da que debemos tener una mentalidad afín. El corazón de Salomón latía por su pueblo y no por los recibos de caja. Amar la riqueza filtra la alegría. El corazón es donde yace el tesoro. Muéstrame el dinero y te muestro mi corazón. No se puede servir al dinero como prioridad. La primera devoción es Dios que detesta la codicia. El amor que tenemos por el otro fomenta un presupuesto libre de deudas. Si me endeudo, ¿significa esto que mi amor disminuye? La codicia es adoración. Una aventura con el dinero sienta las bases para el fracaso. El dinero roe las raíces de la fe y trae dolor. Dios es nuestro más sincero apego… no el dinero.

Quadragesima Aporna

Pornless Lent or Forty Days of Fornication Free Leadership

Lent is a rich tradition of the Christian Church observed by many branches of faith. The Latin term is, Quadragesima, forty days.  My family and I have observed Lent and enjoy the spiritual reflection as a prelude to Easter.  Lent begins on Ash Wednesday March 6, 2019 with the traditional placement of ash on the worshipers forehead signifying humility and repentance.  Lent culminates forty days later on Easter Sunday  April 21, 2019 celebrating the resurrection of Christ. Between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday are forty days of deprivation. Worshippers surrender some pleasure to focus on the work of Christ on the cross and His resurrection from death.  There are many sacrifices such as giving up television, donating finances to a worthy cause, self inflicted pain, food or drink, abstinence from sexual intercourse, the internet, games, you name it. The goal is to purge oneself and attach to Christ in meaningful transformational ways.

During the 2019 Lenten season while church leadership attend additional worship services and deprive themselves of some pleasure, stats tell us they will at the same time participate in pornography at the same levels as non church goers.  In the Bible belt porn is consumed for longer durations than other parts of the country according to a report by Pornhub.

The irony is apparent and real. There are no stats of church folk differing from unchurched people in divorce rate, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and porn use. Name the denomination and the stats are the same as non affiliated unchurched people. Porn use typically follows hormone transfer diminishing with age. This means that the higher the stats in a demographic the younger the user.

May I reflect on my experience as a pastor for 30 years?  Church leaders have no different porn use  statistically than non churched folk. My anecdotal report although unscientific, is consistent with current data.  In fact the use of porn, prostitutes, and paramours by board members of evangelical churches  I served exceeded any story of unchurched congregants with problematic sexuality.

So, lest we fall into the quagmire of shame and condemnation, let’s look to solution, yes?

What if you call your spiritual leaders to forty days free from porn in your church? What if at the same time you challenge them to healthy sexuality? What do you think may happen if leaders purge themselves of the idolatry of sex addiction?  What do you believe the Spirit of God may do among you? How meaningful will this season of renewal become?

So here goes.  I am challenging you to invite your church leadership to give up porn for lent. Forty days of porn free leaders with a parallel focus on the healthy sexuality of Jesus?

May I give you some pointers as a pastor, sex addiction therapist, and clinical sexologist?

First your leaders may feel anxiety over the idea. Pushback. In sex addiction treatment we speak of an 18 month to two year grief period mourning the loss of the attachment to images of porn.  Porn becomes a need and requires recovery and healing.  The prefrontal cortex may begin to go offline with decreased blood flow and heightened dopamine transfer in the limbic system. Decisions may be clouded and anger actually increase at the idea a pornless Lent.

When you challenge your leadership, do not ask if they view porn, ask them what porn blocking software they have installed to protect themselves and their families. Open DNS is free and will remove any barriers for porn blocking dialogue.  People in recovery take precaution about their drug of choice.  They are careful and feel respect for the power of worshiping other gods.

Watch for symptoms of elevated anxiety, irritability and possible cross addiction. Addicts often replace one drug of choice for another.

The anxiety felt can be shame based and actually increase sexual fantasy. The fantasy neural pathway is driven by shame. Diminish toxic shame and fantasy decreases accordingly.

But after the withdrawal symptoms, your leaders can find freedom. The beauty of sobriety and intimacy with God does return. King David said it after his binge on sex and murder, “Restore to me the joy of my salvation….”  Your leadership can find pleasure in God…once again. Psalm 51

Think about the power of between 1-2 billion Christians this Lenten season who seek intimacy with God rather than intimacy with pornographic images?  What if their deepest secret is love for God rather than what they keep from their partner behind closed doors?

Forty days. Porn and fornication free leadership. Tell your leaders you love them. You are compassionate and praying for them. Ask them how you may support their leadership. And feel free to ask them about their anxiety.  Is it Jesus they love or do images possess more power?

Ask them. Challenge them. Forty days to freedom.

I have put together a Quadragesima, 40 days of reflections, videos, and challenges for Lent.  I hope you enjoy them. Reach out to me, I will help you, friend.

Quadragesima Aporna

Forty Days Porn Free

Days 1-9 Read one of the Loci daily for The Systematic Theology of Healthy Sexuality. Also check out the free videos on Healthy Sex Volumes One and Two. Each Volume has three parts, totaling six episodes.

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/915

Healthy Sex Volume One Part One https://subspla.sh/dkx9fvf

Recovering from porn addiction must attend to the underlying drivers of the behavior. What are the anxieties beneath your story of porn use?  What is your pain? Follow the pain and you will recover-Carnes.

Days 10-19 Read and Reflect on one of the Ten Commandments for Single Christians daily.

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/919

When I treat porn addicts, I begin with their trauma narrative. The pain becomes a complex network of anxieties driving dopamine through addiction neural pathways. Attend to the trauma and you will find relief. Attend to all your trauma, wire by wire.

Day 20: Read and Reflect on Conscious Awareness and Maturity.  Also, check out the satirical video on anonymous sex called, Tinderella.

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/962

Tinderella and Anonymous Sex https://subspla.sh/cr8yv66

As a matter of practicality in porn recovery, I replace the sexual behavior with a meaningful relationship. Do you have a healthy friendship, small group, mentor you can replace your porn with? For each behavior replace it with a different healthy relationship.

Day 21: Read and Reflect on Attachment Heals and Healthy Sexual Boundaries for Children.

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/948

Healthy Sexual Boundaries for Children https://subspla.sh/h7qt5sm

The drive you feel for porn develops between the ages of 0-4 during the growth of grey matter.  Can you reflect on your narrative between those ages? You will find the need you have for porn developed during those years. Did someone leave you? Were your care givers present and attentive?  If not, your brain formed to compensate for these losses. Now, you can attend to your story.

Day 22: Please read and reflect on Parenting Same Sex Children and  the video Healthy Sexual Boundaries for Students.

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/895

Healthy Sexual Boundaries for Students https://subspla.sh/z6pm7mq

Compassion forms from the anterior cingulate located in the prefrontal cortex.  When we use porn, dopamine transfers in the limbic system depleting blood flow from the anterior cingulate and compassion begins to go offline, disable. When we practice compassion, the anterior cingulate activates and we become consciously aware.  Compassion is everything in recovering from porn. Compassion for you…compassion for the victims of porn…compassion for what and whom God loves.

Day 23: Please read and reflect on Shame.

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/823

All of my porn addict clients experience shame as the underlying driver of their addiction. The shame of a mother who did not give good enough care, a father who leveled performance based conditional love, a mother who propositioned her son for intercourse, a distant mother incapable of intimate connection, a father who abandoned his son, a child sexually assaulted by a camp counselor, et. al.  Shame underlies every porn addict I treat. So, what do you think will happen to your porn if we attend to your shame?

Day 24: Please read and reflect on Loving God LovingYou.

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/821

I love treating sex addicts. At some point during the treatment he awakens to the love of God and the new possibility of…loving herself. The transformation is stunning. I think I am addicted to not being addicted.

Day 25: Please read and reflect on Compassion.

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/808

Mirror neurons form in the premotor cortex of the prefrontal lobe.  We mirror attitudes, language, and behavior from this grey matter structure.  When I show compassion to a porn client, he/she always experiences inner compassion for self. God’s main term to define Himself is…The God of Compassion. Show compassion. Be compassionate. Watch the world and porn change around you.

Day 26: Please read and reflect on the video, The Neuroscience of Porn Addiction.

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/702

How are your withdrawal symptoms from porn on day 26?  Have you replaced your porn with a relationship?  Have you slipped? Sunday is the most prolific day for porn use in north America.  Did you use after church?  Start again. Don’t quit. Persevere to the end. The brain can rewire in 90 days. This is possible. With God all things including recovery from porn as a church leader is possible.

Day 27: Please read and reflect on The Image of God, Imago Dei.

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/817

The age of the first time porn user in America is 10. Soon that number will be 6, the age of a child who can operate a tablet and navigate the internet.  When you feel weak, will you recover for your children and grandchildren? Think about a generation of church board members wired to porn. Their compassion disables, self awareness diminishes, anger and irritability increase. Now think about church leadership recovering from porn…compassionate, aware of the delicate working of the Holy Spirit, and able to regulate anger neural pathways?

Day 28: Please read and reflect on Meditation=Amazing Transformation

https://wordpress.com/post/glenmaiden.com/924

Are you experiencing relief and the pleasure of recovery from porn? Are you free?  Your porn profile wires in the brain between the ages of 5-8.  Who and what comprised the people, places, things, sites, sounds, smells of kindergarten through 3rd grade?  You will find a direct connection to the porn you watch. Mind. Blowing.

Day 29-40: Please read and reflect on Imago Curo 101-112, one meditation per day for twelve days.

Imago Curo 101 https://subspla.sh/29z6xsh

The beauty of our work disconnecting from porn reconnects the prefrontal cortex. This is called conscious awareness.  The compassion center of the brain, the anterior cingulate, and the self awareness portion of the brain, the insular cortex, both regain blood flow and activate. Compassion and awareness now regulate addiction neural pathways forming from the limbic system. You are whole now. Do you feel it? Leader, I will be honored to assist you.

Jesus spoke more about money than he talked about heaven and hell, and heaven and hell combined.

Why?  Jesus was no tacky televangelistic salesman…He does not require a payment book from you the thickness of a Bible. If He did, He would be no deity. Jesus speaks of money because of love.

The Spirit of God identifies through story telling and proverb, the precise locale of the human heart.  He states that our money and our heart share the same space. If you were to Google Map the address of your heart, you would find the precise longitude and latitude of your bank account.

Stay with me for a moment. Look at my bank statements and you will see what I love.  You will find charities I support, government entities to whom I render, and wait for it…Amazon.com!  Oh Lordy, that one click shopping is amazing, yes?  Love those thank you messages “for your purchase” from Amazon.com! On closer examination of my order history you will discover grandchildren.  You will see robotic legos, stroller, blocks, space shuttle carseat, clothing for tiny legs and arms, children’s medical supplies…all for the grandchildren we adore.

Google Map my heart and and you will find both bank account and toothless grin of grandchild in the same space.

God does not need your money. He wants your heart.

Today…do you have the compassion for yourself to examine the longitude and latitude of your heart? You may find it in your order history.

^“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”-Jesus  Matthew 6.21

Scriptures on Money

Bible Verses About Money

Bible verses related to Money from the King James Version (KJV) by Relevance

Hebrews 13:5 – [Let your] conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

1 Timothy 6:10 – For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Matthew 6:24 – No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 – He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this [is] also vanity.

Matthew 6:19-21 – Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:   (Read More…)

Luke 12:33-34 – Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.   (Read More…)

1 Timothy 6:17-19 – Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;   (Read More…)

Proverbs 13:11 – Wealth [gotten] by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.

Matthew 6:31-33 – Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?   (Read More…)

Proverbs 22:7 – The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower [is] servant to the lender.

Acts 4:32-35 – And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any [of them] that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.   (Read More…)

1 Timothy 5:8 – But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

Proverbs 13:22 – A good [man] leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner [is] laid up for the just.

Acts 2:44-45 – And all that believed were together, and had all things common;   (Read More…)

Luke 16:11 – If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true [riches]?

Proverbs 30:8-9 – Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:   (Read More…)

Proverbs 22:1 – A [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches, [and] loving favour rather than silver and gold.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 – Behold [that] which I have seen: [it is] good and comely [for one] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it [is] his portion.   (Read More…)

En Espanol

Jesús habló más sobre el dinero que sobre el cielo y el infierno, y el cielo y el infierno combinados.
¿Por qué? Jesús no era un vendedor tele-evangelista de mal gusto… Él no requiere de usted un libro de pagos del grosor de una Biblia. Si lo hiciera, no sería una deidad. Jesús habla de dinero por amor.

El Espíritu de Dios identifica a través de la narración de historias y proverbios, el lugar preciso del corazón humano. Afirma que nuestro dinero y nuestro corazón comparten el mismo espacio. Si tuviera que buscar en Google Map la dirección de su corazón, encontraría la longitud y latitud precisas de su cuenta bancaria.
Quédate conmigo por un momento. Mira mis extractos bancarios y verás lo que amo. Encontrará organizaciones benéficas a las que apoyo, entidades gubernamentales a las que rindo, y espérelo… ¡Amazon.com! Dios mío, comprar con un solo clic es increíble, ¿no? ¡Me encantan esos mensajes de agradecimiento “por tu compra” de Amazon.com! En un examen más detallado de mi historial de pedidos, descubrirá nietos. Verá legos robóticos, cochecitos, bloques, asiento de automóvil del transbordador espacial, ropa para piernas y brazos diminutos, suministros médicos para niños… todo para los nietos que adoramos.
Google Map mi corazón y encontrará tanto la cuenta bancaria como la sonrisa desdentada del nieto en el mismo espacio.
Dios no necesita tu dinero. Él quiere tu corazón.
Hoy… ¿tienes la compasión por ti mismo para examinar la longitud y latitud de tu corazón? Puede encontrarlo en su historial de pedidos.

“Porque donde esté vuestro tesoro, allí estará también vuestro corazón.”—Jesús Mateo 6.21
Escrituras sobre el dinero
Versículos de la Biblia sobre el dinero
Versículos de la Biblia relacionados con el dinero de la versión King James (KJV) por relevancia
Hebreos 13:5 – [Que vuestra] conversación [sea] sin avaricia; [y estad] contentos con lo que tenéis; porque él ha dicho: Nunca te dejaré, ni te desampararé.
1 Timoteo 6:10 – Porque raíz de todos los males es el amor al dinero, el cual codiciando algunos, se extraviaron de la fe, y fueron traspasados de muchos dolores.
Mateo 6:24 – Ninguno puede servir a dos señores; porque o aborrecerá al uno y amará al otro; o si no, se apegará a uno y menospreciará al otro. No podéis servir a Dios ya las riquezas.
Eclesiastés 5:10 – El que ama la plata no se saciará de plata; ni el que ama la abundancia con aumento: esto también es vanidad.
Mateo 6:19-21 – No os hagáis tesoros en la tierra, donde la polilla y el orín corrompen, y donde los ladrones minan y hurtan:   (Leer más…)
Lucas 12:33-34 – Vended lo que poseéis, y dad limosna; haceos bolsas que no se envejezcan, tesoro en los cielos que nunca se agote, donde ladrón no llega, ni polilla corrompe. (Lee mas…)
1 Timoteo 6:17-19 – A los ricos de este mundo manda que no sean altivos, ni pongan la esperanza en las riquezas, las cuales son inciertas, sino en el Dios vivo, que nos da todas las cosas en abundancia para que las disfrutemos; (Lee mas…)
Proverbios 13:11 – Las riquezas [obtenidas] con vanidad disminuirán, pero el que las recoge con trabajo aumentará.
Mateo 6:31-33 – Por tanto, no os afanéis, diciendo: ¿Qué comeremos? o, ¿qué beberemos? o, ¿Con qué nos vestiremos? (Lee mas…)
Proverbios 22:7 – El rico se enseñorea de los pobres, y el que pide prestado [es] siervo del que presta.
Hechos 4:32-35 – Y la multitud de los que habían creído era de un solo corazón y de una sola alma; ninguno de ellos decía que algo de lo que poseía era suyo; pero tenían todas las cosas en común. (Lee mas…)
1 Timoteo 5:8 – Pero si alguno no provee para los suyos, y mayormente para los de su casa, ha negado la fe, y es peor que un incrédulo.
Proverbios 13:22 – El [hombre] bueno deja herencia a los hijos de sus hijos, y la riqueza del pecador [está] guardada para el justo.
Hechos 2:44-45 – Y todos los que habían creído estaban juntos, y tenían todas las cosas en común; (Lee mas…)
Lucas 16:11 – Así que, si en las riquezas injustas no fuisteis fieles, ¿quién os confiará las [riquezas] verdaderas?
Proverbios 30:8-9 – Quita de mí la vanidad y la mentira; no me des pobreza ni riqueza; aliméntame con comida conveniente para mí:   (Leer más…)
Proverbios 22:1 – Más vale el nombre [bueno] que las grandes riquezas, [y] el favor amoroso más que la plata y el oro.
Eclesiastés 5:18-20 – He aquí [lo] que he visto: [es] bueno y hermoso [para uno] comer y beber, y gozar del bien de todo su trabajo que toma debajo del sol todo el días de su vida que Dios le da, porque es su porción. (Lee mas…)

The Twelve Steps have assisted recovering people to find sobriety for over half a century. The principles are much more ancient founded upon the transformative work of Christ over 2000 years ago.

Seven of the Twelve Steps connect directly to spirituality. This is no accident. Spirituality touches transcendence, the truth behind drug use.  When an addict uses, she transcends her pain momentarily in the attempt to relieve its anxiety.  It makes sense that a careful attending to one’s spirit (non material truth) can heal addiction neural pathways.

The final three Steps touch conscious awareness and maturity.  Steps 10-12 teach the recovering addict to continue healthy self examination, spirituality, and giving the gift to others.

Are these not the character traits of the aware and the mature mind? I am focused on continued growth, humble enough to admit wrongs, praying-meditating on the ability of the prefrontal cortex to be aware of God committed to His will and power.

These are the traits of the mature.  A vet posted in a comment that he has been betrayed more by pastors than his brothers in the military. I agree.  We live in an era of replacing the sacred spirituality of conscious awareness and maturity with Nihilism.

The greatest betrayals whether from the clergy pedophile, or corrupt politicians in ecclesiastical organizations have emerged in this era. The pedophile and the politician alike project the nothing-matters-but-the-moment Nihilism of our culture.

Can we project a new vision?  One of connection with spirituality and maturity?  The Steps and their spiritual results have never been more relevant in a Nihilistic culture. Ongoing growth with humility matter, spirituality with conscious awareness transcends Nihilism, and the awakening that results…stunning.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with
God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and
the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to
carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our
affairs

Diseased Addiction Neural Pathways are caused by unhealthy attachment to substances or relationships

The noun disease derives from a 13th century AD French word, aise, meaning peace of mind, balance, comfort, or well being.  The 13th century French verb is aiser, to help, to assist, give ease, bring to balance, mitigate, relieve from pain or care. Farmer states that ease is an 1861 slang term for “contenting a woman” sexually. ETYMONLINE

(This is an MRI of the grey matter of the brain. During the years 0-4 we form the foundation for relationships; anxiety regulation system, bonding, compassion, and the immune system.)

The word disease is built on the word aise which means balance. Add the prefix, des or dis meaning without and you have the word, disease, meaning imbalance.  Therefore disease in our conversation of addiction as disease means addiction neural pathways are imbalanced or dis-eased.

Our goal is to become people of balance, our sobriety is known for our ability to regulate anxiety of grief, resentment, trauma, or pain.

The anxiety regulation system which brings balance to diseased addiction neural pathways is driven by the attachment system which connects to intimate relationships.  We regulate our anxiety by attaching to God, to our support group, our healthy friends and family, and our therapist.

Attachment comes from the French word, attaché, which means “nailed or fixed to”. Philip Flores in his book Addiction as an Attachment Disorder 2004 focuses the work of recovery on attaching to others. He states:

     Attachment to others is as vital as the drive for sex or food. 

     Attachment regulates anxiety through transfer of oxytocin     

     and vasopressin. 

     Attachment increases density of opioid receptors and the ability

     to self soothe.      

    Without attachment 75% of infants die. (Flores, 2004)

(Diffusion Tensor Imaging of white matter neuro pathways. The “wires” connect to the grey matter for relationships formed between 0-4. Between the ages of 5-8 these wires form connecting us to people, places, things, sites, sounds, and smells.  This is called the arousal template. These neural pathways are made of fat, water, and protein. These pathways can change.)

“Intimate long lasting relationships are an integral part of human nature and the ability to establish long lasting gratifying relationships is directly related to the quality of early attachment experiences.  Difficulty overcoming ineffective attachment styles (Ainsworth 1989) can leave certain individuals vulnerable to addictive compulsions as compensatory behavior for their deficiency.   Louie (1996) emphasizes the primacy of this biologically driven need: ‘Attachment is not just a good idea, it’s the law.’” (Flores 2004) 

Without attachment both the compassion and the bonding systems do not develop.  We have difficulty expressing and receiving compassion and we may struggle to bond in healthy ways.

Every thought, word, deed has a physical structure in the brain wired by genetic code or experience.  These physical structures, or neural pathways, are either eased or diseased, balanced or imbalanced. We can with intentional focus of healthy relationships with God and each other attend to imbalanced neural pathways bringing ease and balance to that which was diseased.

Our sobriety is the beautiful process of bringing balance to imbalance, wholeness to lives fragmented by pain. Attaching to God, our support group, our healthy friends, and an amazing therapist…heals.

Sobriety is physiological and psychological balance from healthy attachment to intimate relationships.

Sobriety possesses a beauty among all the experiences of life.  Healing diseased addiction neuro pathways, mending broken relationships and meaning making of pain rival the richest events in our lives like the birth of a child, forgiveness, compassion for others and love for self.

Let’s define sobriety.  Multiple dictionaries describe the 14th century Old French term sobriete, in the positive sense meaning moderation, steadiness, clear of mind altering substances, life balance, or the human condition at birth. The early 15th century Latin term ebrietas, ebriety, means the state or habit of intoxication.

Therefore in this context sobriety is life balance opposed to ebriety which means the state of intoxication and life imbalance.  When a patrolman does a field sobriety test for a driver suspected of driving under the influence, the officer assesses the balance of the suspect physically, verbally, and cognitively. Imbalance in the driver will provoke the officer to administer a blood alcohol content test. The criteria for arrest is not presence of a substance, but sufficient alcohol content as to cause impairment.

So, can we agree that sobriety is life balance without impairment of substances or problematic behaviors?

The right hemisphere of the brain stores an internal working model of a child’s relationships, determining how she handles her feelings (Schore 2002, 14). A securely attached person accepts her feelings and regulates her anxiety by paying careful attention to it. She regulates herself as others regulated her. In contrast, an insecurely attached person reacts as if others will reject her feelings and anxiety. Feelings, perceived as dangerous, trigger unconscious memories of early relationships, which take the form of anxiety (Schore 2002, 21). The hippocampus, immature until the third or fourth year of life, remembers only the quality of early experiences— the somatic sensations and behaviors (De Rijk, Kitraki, and De Kloet 2010, 142; O’Keefe and Nadel 1978). Feelings trigger anxiety: bodily memories of an insecure attachment, sensations when anxiety was not regulated. These primordial representations of bodily states are the foundation on which all emotional growth and future experience proceeds.

Jon, Frederickson (2013-07-01). Co-Creating Change: Effective Dynamic Therapy Techniques (p. 27). Seven Leaves Press. Kindle Edition.

Since boyhood, my heart has beaten compassion for Native Americans. My mother told stories of our great great grandmother, Sarah Bond, who was a Native Pawnee. Grandma Sarah had dark beautiful eyes with prominent features of the plains Natives of North America. Sarah was born in 1841 and died a century later. Mother spoke of her raven hair woven in a thick braid flowing to her waist. Grandma Sarah lived during the aftermath of the Native American genocide called the Trail of Tears, the forcible government removal of Natives from the south east to Oklahoma. 4 thousand men, women, and children were killed by the United States Government through exposure, disease, and starvation. Forced to march nearly 1000 miles through the worst winter of the era, two generations perished .The young and the very old did not survive.

My grandmother did not march on the Trail of Tears. She witnessed other atrocities. Her Pawnee community declined from 12,000 in 1830 to 3400 by 1859 when she was 18 years old. By the time she turned 60 her proud nation numbered only 633. Grandma Sarah witnessed the decline of her people and culture by 94.725% during her lifetime. Think about 9 out of 10 of your friends and family perishing without a next generation to carry on.

How do I transform politically correct compassion to justice for the genocide of our family members? How do I personally move from heart felt empathy to cultural redemption? How do I conduct myself with the knowledge of murder and injustice at epic levels?

Cultural shift begins with boyhood compassion and belief. A great leader once said, “You must have the belief of a child.” The wonder of a boy, the passion of a man, and the belief in a God who brings truth and redemption change culture.

So, let’s examine our collective story with compassion and belief.

Understanding the genocide and dehumanization of Native Americans does not begin in the New World at Plymouth Rock. The wince of pain began in Europe. Our forefathers who sailed to and formed the 13 Colonies fled genocide and dehumanization in Europe at the hands of…political Christian parties. I enjoy writing, but I fear that my own bias and pain may dictate the following. So, I will cite the historical narrative with quotes.

“The religious persecution that drove settlers from Europe to the British North American colonies sprang from the conviction, held by Protestants and Catholics alike, that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society. This conviction rested on the belief that there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens. Nonconformists could expect no mercy and might be executed as heretics. The dominance of the concept, denounced by Roger Williams as “inforced uniformity of religion,” meant majority religious groups who controlled political power punished dissenters in their midst. In some areas Catholics persecuted Protestants, in others Protestants persecuted Catholics, and in still others Catholics and Protestants persecuted wayward coreligionists. Although England renounced religious persecution in 1689, it persisted on the European continent. Religious persecution, as observers in every century have commented, is often bloody and implacable and is remembered and resented for generations.”

Do you see it? Theological exclusivism of political Christian parties imposed the saving of souls through violence.

A warrior from the Viet Nam war era said to me, “You must first dehumanize your enemy before you do what you do to them.”

I suggest that the theological exclusivism of European Christianity drove a violence fueled by dehumanization. Again, let’s examine the historical narrative.

“David van der Leyen and Levina Ghyselins, described variously as Dutch Anabaptists or Mennonites, by Catholic authorities in Ghent in 1554 were strangled and burned. Van der Leyen was finally dispatched with an iron fork. Bracht’s Martyr’s Mirror is considered by modern Mennonites as second only in importance to the Bible in perpetuating their faith.

Jesuits like John Ogilvie (Ogilby) (1580-1615) were under constant surveillance and threat from the Protestant governments of England and Scotland. Ogilvie was sentenced to death by a Glasgow court and hanged and mutilated on March 10, 1615.

On October 31, 1731, the Catholic ruler of Salzburg, Austria, Archbishop Leopold von Firmian, issued an edict expelling as many as 20,000 Lutherans from his principality. Many propertyless Lutherans, given only eight days to leave their homes, froze to death as they drifted through the winter seeking sanctuary. The wealthier ones who were allowed three months to dispose of their property fared better. Some of these Salzburgers reached London, from whence they sailed to Georgia. Others found new homes in the Netherlands and East Prussia.

The slaughter of Huguenots (French Protestants) by Catholics at Sens, Burgundy in 1562 occurred at the beginning of more than thirty years of religious strife between French Protestants and Catholics. These wars produced numerous atrocities. The worst was the notorious St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris, August 24, 1572. Thousands of Huguenots were butchered by Roman Catholic mobs. Although an accommodation between the two sides was sealed in 1598 by the Edict of Nantes, religious privileges of Huguenots eroded during the seventeenth century and were extinguished in 1685 by the revocation of the Edict. Perhaps as many as 400,000 French Protestants emigrated to various parts of the world, including the British North American colonies.

Huguenots at least matched the harshness of the persecutions of their Catholic opponents. In a period propaganda piece, a priest is disemboweled, his entrails wound up on a stick until they are torn out. In another illustration a priest is buried alive, and Catholic children are hacked to pieces. In another propaganda piece, alleged to have occurred in the village of Mans, was “too loathsome” for one nineteenth-century commentator to translate from the French. It shows a priest whose genitalia were cut off and grilled. Forced to eat his roasted private parts, the priest was then dissected by his torturers so they can observe him digesting his meal.

Irish Catholics of approximately one hundred Protestants from Loughgall Parish, County Armagh, at the bridge over the River Bann near Portadown, Ulster were slaughtered. This atrocity occurred at the beginning of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Having held the Protestants as prisoners and tortured them, the Catholics drove them “like hogs” to the bridge, where they were stripped naked and forced into the water below at swordspoint. Survivors of the plunge were shot.

Puritans were English Protestants who wished to reform and purify the Church of England of what they considered to be unacceptable residues of Roman Catholicism. In the 1620s leaders of the English state and church grew increasingly unsympathetic to Puritan demands. They insisted that the Puritans conform to religious practices that they abhorred, removing their ministers from office and threatening them with “extirpation from the earth” if they did not fall in line. Zealous Puritan laymen received savage punishments. For example, in 1630 a man was sentenced to life imprisonment, had his property confiscated, his nose slit, an ear cut off, and his forehead branded “S.S.” (sower of sedition).

Beginning in 1630 as many as 20,000 Puritans emigrated to America from England to gain the liberty to worship God as they chose. Most settled in New England, but some went as far as the West Indies. Theologically, the Puritans were “non-separating Congregationalists.” Unlike the Pilgrims, who came to Massachusetts in 1620, the Puritans believed that the Church of England was a true church, though in need of major reforms. Every New England Congregational church was considered an independent entity, beholden to no hierarchy. The membership was composed, at least initially, of men and women who had undergone a conversion experience and could prove it to other members. Puritan leaders hoped (futilely, as it turned out) that, once their experiment was successful, England would imitate it by instituting a church order modeled after the New England Way.”

A little boy who survived the 911 terror attack on the Twin Towers colored a picture of the macabre scene. He drew the towers, the smoke, the planes, and victims leaping to their deaths. He also approached the horror with compassion and belief. At the bottom of the Twin Towers where the victims fell to their deaths, he drew a…trampoline. His reason? Compassion and belief. He felt empathy with belief in the future. If this pain were to happen again, the afflicted survive by landing on the trampoline and landing safely.  Childlike compassion and belief possess the power to heal.

The perpetrators of genocide and dehumanization were victims of the same atrocities they inflicted on Native Americans. Besel van der Kolk states that our bodies remember trauma. This sensory information stores within the immune system, specifically in memory neurons. Our bodies never forget atrocity. The trauma re enacts so the body can process the pain and recover. The murder and injustice inflicted upon European immigrants repeated against Native Americans.

What you also did not see in the drawing of the tiny 911 survivor was revenge against the terrorists. His boyhood compassion beat for the victims. His belief created a new ending. Changing culture requires compassion. Redeeming injustice with healthy belief changes the human heart. Boyhood compassion and belief begin to heal the hurt within.

http://www.pawneenation.org/page/home/pawnee-history

Post Traumatic Re enactment: Christian Persecution Re enacts in Native American Genocide and Persecution

http://a.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html

In our performance shame driven results-are-the-only-means-to-the-end culture, we fight back. Our weapons?  Meditation. We refuse to permit the politics of corporate church and America to poison our families and heart. Check out these passages on meditation. Look at some of the points of beauty with me.

Meditation connects the left side of the brain, Broca’s area, with the right side of the brain where the working model for relationships forms.

In our work of Imago Curo, Caring for the Image of God within,  we focus on the vagus nerve endings in the chest area. We deliberately use words to attach to affect and the Vagus system.  We reconnect our system using meditation. You will love it, your body will thank you for it. You will sense a diminishing of toxic shame and nearness to God that may have escaped you in the corporate maelstrom of post modern church politics.

(This structure is called the Cingulate Gyrus responsible for processing pleasure, pain, and addiction neural pathways. When we meditate, reward structures wire from this part of the brain. Meditation changes the shape of the brain and our awareness of God and each other.)

Bible search results from Biblegateway.com…Thank you.

People love the conversation of healthy sexuality. People of faith, atheists, agnostics, same sex, intersex, non binary, heterosexuals…all say the same things to me. They feel more whole after healthy sexuality conversations. So, I have been working on some healthy perspectives for single Christians living in a sexualized culture.  Here we go with the first round of “Ten Commandments of Intimacy for Single Christians.” Check it out, I would love to hear your input.

10 Commandments of Intimacy for Single Christians

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart mind and soul and love thy friends with the same healthy passion.

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22.36-40

Thou shalt connect in intimate moments with God when you drive, before meetings, when you lie down and when you rise for work.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6.6-7

Thou shalt love the image of God within you caring for your body, mind, and soul with compassion and gratitude.

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Leviticus 19.18

Thou shalt share a moment of beauty each week with a friend.

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27.4

Thou shalt demonstrate non genital affection each day.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3.12

Thou shalt give thy story as a gift to a friend daily.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5.11

Thou shalt laugh often with thy friends.

…a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…. Ecclesiastes 3.4

Thou shalt make meaning of thy pain with thy healing community of friends.

…and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Isaiah 61.3

Thou shalt be content with sexual sobriety.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Philippians 4.11-12

Thou shalt give thanks for the gift of singleness.

 I wish that all of you were as I am (single). But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. 1 Corinthians 7.7