Is Lent a Loser?

Abstinence and charisma. A recent Time magazine cover extolled Angelina Jolie’s “movie star charisma.” Barak Obama has been christened “The Democrats’ Charisma Doctor.” As his star rises, Hillary Clinton has seen her once formidable lead in several primary states shrink. At the beginning of 2007, several Democratic strategists urged Clinton to unleash a “charisma offensive”…

Unforeseen Consequences

Wealth and legacy. Over the next 50 years, the United States will experience a massive intergenerational transfer of wealth, with the assets passing from one generation to another estimated at more than $40 trillion. For those on the giving or receiving end, it’s wise to remember Robert K. Merton’s influential 1936 article “The Unanticipated Consequences…

Dilemmas and Distortions

“We humbly suggest you consider doing… both.” With a rapier wit that could devastate opponents in parliamentary debate, William Wilberforce was first elected to Parliament in 1780 at the age of twenty-one, along with his college friend William Pitt. Wilberforce understood what Germany chancellor Otto Von Bismarck keenly observed one-hundred years later – that laws…

Studs and Sheetrock

“Where’s Jesus?” It’s not uncommon for well-meaning Christians to assume they must mention Jesus’ name and include a steady stream of Scripture in as many conversations as possible – or they have failed the Lord. When Christ’s name is not front and center, they ask: “Where’s Jesus?” One friend put it this way: “Christians talk…