Here is the section from my new book on Jonathan Edwards.Here is another great American who utilized the power of resolutions in his life. Have you implemented RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE into your life? Let’s start a resolution revolution together. Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Jonathan Edwards was a preacher, theologian, a missionary to Native Americans, and shortly before his death, accepted the Presidency of the College of New Jersey (Princeton University).

Edwards “is widely acknowledged to be America’s most important and original philosophical theologian.”

Furthermore, Author George Marsden, writes,

“Edwards was extraordinary. By many estimates, he was the most acute early American philosopher and the most brilliant of all American theologians.At least three of his many works – Religious Affections, Freedom of the Will, and The Nature of True Virtue – stand as masterpieces in the larger history of Christian literature.”

But Edwards began his ministry with little advanced billing.

His first pastoral position in 1722, at 19 years of age, was far away from his Connecticut hometown, in New York City, then a thriving metropolis of 10,000 people.

Dr. Stephen Nichols, author of The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, writes of the young pastor,

“Amidst all of this uncertainty and flux, this young man, Jonathan Edwards, needed both a place to stand and a compass for some direction. So he took to writing. He kept a diary and he penned some guidelines, which he came to call his ‘Resolutions.’ These resolutions would supply both that place for him to stand and a compass to guide him as he made his way.”

A.C. McGiffert described Edward’s method of resolutions, “Deliberately he set about to temper his character into steel.”

Tempering is a process to “toughen” the metals, just as written resolutions “toughen” the internal person through study and course corrections.

The tempering process takes time, but the internal fortitude and self-mastery gained living one’s convictions, not one’s preferences, is worth any price.

Jonathan Edwards dutifully wrote out 70 Resolutions (see appendix) between 1722 and 1723.

Edwards committed to read the 70 Resolutions once per week for the rest of his life, and fulfilled that commitment, reading the resolutions more than 1,800 times over the next 35 years.

Here are two of his resolutions.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

2. Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this resolution.

Edwards would have many occasions to apply his resolutions.

After his pastoral service in New York, on February 15, 1727, Edwards joined his father-in-law, Solomon Stoddard’s congregation in Northampton, Massachusetts.

In 1729, Stoddard died, leaving Edwards the sole minister in charge of one of the largest, wealthiest and proudest congregations in the colony.

Stoddard, in his later years, had introduced several doctrinal changes not founded upon scriptures.

Edwards, being new, continued the innovations when he assumed pastoral leadership.

But, in 1749, after years of successful ministry and intensive biblical study, Edward’s conscience balked at the doctrinal errors, precipitating an angry response from church members.

The controversy concluded with Edward’s dismissal by the margin of one vote.

Many would have railed against the injustice, but Edwards, dignified as always, preached his farewell sermon with the truth, love and grace, exiting Northampton without rancor or bitterness.

Edwards was, as Randall Stewart wrote, “Not only the greatest of all American theologians and philosophers but the greatest of our pre-19th century writers as well,” making his gracious humble spirit even more impressive.

He didn’t fight for his rights; instead he merely accepted the ruling as God’s Will, taking a position as missionary to the frontier Indians.

Edwards consistently displayed a grace-filled spirit of forgiveness to his many detractors, some who, years later apologized for their involvement in the misinformation spread.

Can one imagine the infamy of being associated with the congregation that dismissed one of the best theologians and philosophers in American history?

But Edwards, in his final years, never missed a beat, writing several classics of Christian literature, leaving an enduring testament to the power of character-based resolutions to transform a person from the inside out.

Edwards faithfully lived his principles externally because that is who he had become internally.

Specifically, he didn’t just give lip service to his resolutions, he truly lived them.

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Orrin Woodward is the co-founder of TEAM, a leadership development and training company, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Launching a Leadership Revolution.

Named by the International Association of Business as a Top 10 Leadership Guru, he is dedicated to building leaders and entrepreneurs and promoting freedom and prosperity.

Orrin blogs regularly at Orrin Woodward. He lives in Port St. Lucie, Florida with his wife and four children.

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She wasn’t exactly keeping up with me. I turned, amidst the crowd, to discern why. A moment’s glance contained the explanation: she was trying to walk on the tiles of a certain color while dodging the rest. “Do it with me, daddy!” she gushed.

And I couldn’t help but comply. It didn’t matter that we were surrounded by a hundred busy travelers eagerly making their way around us in the world’s busiest airport, this was one of those moments you just don’t miss.

On three flights she sat confidently in her chair awaiting takeoff while singing beautifully made up words and melodies.

She also filled my head with questions. Most I would try to answer, until she dug deeper with “why?” and “how come?” Usually these were directed at the strange behavior of adults as seen through the eyes of a seven year-old, and, usually I was reduced to inadequate answers.

She heard things I’d long tuned out, saw things to which I’d grown blind, and discerned things that never would have occurred to my frenzied mind. She was bright, big-eyed, cheery, and alert. She was playful, positive, hopeful, and carefree. She was happy, inquisitive, demonstrative, and content. In short, she was everything the adults around her were not.

Have we lost so much? I asked myself. The distance between her perspective and our adult reality was enormous. Sure, you could say, she doesn’t yet know about how people can treat one another, how unfair the world can really be, how the pain of loss or tragedy can sting.

She hasn’t seen how the hurtful actions of others seem to remove something from deep inside us that doesn’t get replaced, how lies prevail on the open airways, how evil appears to flourish, how systems and cartels and constructs seem to grow in strength in conspiracy against the simple, good, and holy.

She doesn’t know about legal procedures, corporate hog-wash, fine print, buzzwords, punching a clock, political gamesmanship, back-channeling, gossip, back-stabbing, libel and slander, taxes, government scandal, and the encroachment of political correctness which is anything but what it suggests.

Then it occurred to me that much of what makes her so alive is what she doesn’t know – and therein lies the trick: To make our way upward in age without sinking correspondingly into cynicism. In essence, to know and still glow.

I know God is on the throne. I have the true, deep joy that only faith in Christ can bring. I’m not talking about an absence of that (though I can’t figure out how those without Christ in their lives don’t fall into complete despair). Rather, I’m talking about the friction of adult living that sands the cheeriness off of us, dimming the brightness, suppressing the playfulness, and parking our light under a bushel.

If only we could find a way to stay closer to that original spark of wonder and awe. If only we could retain a bit of that perky positivity.

I don’t have all the answers here, to be sure. Even considering that fact that I might be helplessly self-deceived, thinking that I’m a pretty positive, fun-loving guy; that time with my daughter illustrated to me how far I’m removed from the best of child-like faith and wonder. So I thought about it, and then I thought some more, watching her.

If I may be so bold, allow me to make some suggestions to us all on how to retain a bit of that childhood spark, or bring it back. Just because we are grown-ups doesn’t mean we have to be shriveled-ups or given-ups. What if we all:

1. Assumed that everyone we met was interesting and nice?

2. Entertained ourselves with playful games and songs at the most inopportune times?

3. Asked questions like we didn’t know the answers, and didn’t care who thought what of our questions?

4. Smiled as a knee-jerk response to almost anything that came our way?

5. Looked to each new person as a new friend?

6. Got excited about approaching holidays?

7. Gazed in wonder at something tiny?

8. Gasped in amazement at something mighty?

9. Giggled heartily at something funny?

10. Cried sincerely at something sad?

11. Prayed fervently for something only God could do?

12. Told others “I love you” in heartfelt spontaneity?

13. Tried to make up jokes for the sheer joy of seeing someone else laugh?

14. Made sounds to entertain ourselves?

15. Invented games out of the simplest situations and/or materials?

16. Had a clear understanding of right, wrong, and fair?

17. Had a strong desire for the comfort of family togetherness?

18. Made crafts and art for the sole purpose of giving them to others?

19. Had almost no consideration for the passing of time?

20. Truly wanted to help those who are worse off than ourselves?

Who among us hasn’t seen the above behaviors exhibited by children? Better yet, who among us wouldn’t like to return to at least some of them?

Just because we’re adults doesn’t mean we have to act like it! We can know, we can grow, but we can still glow! It won’t come naturally, but we can retain some of what they have to teach us even as we’re so busy teaching them to be like us. Perhaps we should make it a bit more of an even, two-way exchange!

(For these suggestions I’d like to thank my children, who provided them without having to say a word. You show me more about how to live every day.)

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Chris Brady co-authored the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Weekly, USA Today, and Money Magazine best-seller Launching a Leadership Revolution.

He is also in the World’s Top 30 Leadership Gurus and among the Top 100 Authors to Follow on Twitter. He has spoken to audiences of thousands around the world about leadership, freedom, and success.

Mr. Brady contributes regularly to Networking Times magazine, and has been featured in special publications of Success and Success at Home. He also blogs regularly at Chris Brady.

He is an avid motorized adventurer, pilot, world traveler, humorist, community builder, soccer fan, and dad.

Connect With Chris:

1. Commit to twenty minutes daily.

Start out with a commitment to at least ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes in the evening.  Wear loose fitting comfortable clothes and sit in a comfortable chair with your back straight.  Choose a place where you’ll be undisturbed by phones, people, etc.

It is recommended not to meditate in bed.  Practicing in the same location is preferable to building a long-term meditation practice.

2. There is no right or wrong

This is a spiritual discipline in which the rules differ from any other activity.  It is the only life exercise where there is nothing specific to accomplish—there is no goal to do. It is spiritual exercise to experience yourself as a Divine Being, not a human doing. Just showing up to do it is the win.

3. Close your eyes and follow your breath.

Close your eyes and begin breathing deeply.  Follow your breath inward, listening to the symphony of your breath.

In meditation, the focus on breath is important because it is the gift of life itself.  The ancient holy sages believed each inhale was a new spiritual opportunity from God, and each exhale symbolized all that no longer served you, and as a kind of death in itself.  Thus, the Latin word spiritus means “breath” and is the root of the word “spiritual.”  Focus deeply on elongating your incoming and outgoing breath.

4. Silently repeat your mantra.

Mantra is a Sanskrit word meaning “thought seed.”  Meditating allows us to plant new seeds in the garden of life via repetition of a mantra.  Pick a phrase (mantra) that inspires you or one that resonates within you as the right one.

After a minute or two of deep, focused breathing, begin repetition of your mantra over and over.  Silently repeat the first half of the phrase on the inhale breath, and then finish the last half of the phrase on the exhale.

A few suggested mantras:

“I am one with the love of God.” (Non-denominational Spiritual)

“The Lord is my shepherd.” (Protestant or Catholic)

“I am one with my Father in Heaven.” (Mormon)

“Thy will be done Lord.” (Christian)

“Om mane padme hum.” (Buddhist)

“Ya Baha’u’lluh Abha.” (Baha’i Faith)

“La illaha il Allah.” (Sufi/Muslim)

“Om Shivaya namah.” (Hindu)

“Sh’ma Yisroel.” (Judaism)

“I am that I am.” (Unity)

5. When thoughts intrude, bless them, and go back to repeating your mantra.

Remember the ego must try to derail your efforts.  It does so with a barrage of random meaningless (or even meaningful) thoughts.

Some days are worse than others, and this is absolutely normal, so don’t judge it—just watch it.  It may take you a moment to even realize you’re in thought.  If you do find yourself thinking, just passively say “Bless you” or “Thanks for sharing” and go back to mantra repetition.

6. Mustering all possible power, fix your awareness firmly on the mind and watch it unrelentingly.

Before ending your meditation, concentrate every iota of your power on peering directly at the mind.  It will stop instantly.  Just stay fully present with intent focus, not exerting undue effort or struggle.

The mind will be stunned into peaceful alignment and you will experience true peace and freedom.  With practice, you will be able to hold this still point longer and longer.  Just experiencing it at first is startlingly joyful and inspirational.  This is the God-Self Awareness Point.

7. When finished, take time to re-enter your day carefully.

Sit quietly for a minute to allow a gentle return to normal consciousness.  Then open your eyes, sitting still for another minute before rising.

How to Practice

If your preferred mantra is “I am one with the love of God,” you will repeat it this way: Recite in your mind the first half of the mantra while inhaling (“I am one with..”), then recite the second half on the exhale (“…the love of God.”).

Continue breathing as you repeat this mantra non-verbally.  After five to ten minutes, you’ll feel the mind get very restless—and this is where most people quit.  If you can stay with it a little longer, the mind will begin to settle down.

At that moment, look with intense focus directly at the mind.  Be the unwavering witness, peering with the light of awareness at the mind.  It will stop completely and you will experience the God-Self Awareness Point.  There will be stillness and complete peace.  Once you find it, you will never lose the ability to reconnect to it again.

In meditation, you are like a jet plane taking off in a torrential rainstorm.  As you begin to meditate, there may be uncertainty—just like the plane taking off in the rain.  The jet climbing through the rain, wind, and thunder is much like the noisy thoughts of fear, doubt, and worry one experiences in meditation.  Then the jet enters the cloud layer, and in meditation this represents the G.A.P.

This point is the leap of faith as you move from ego-self (below the cloud) to God-Self (above the cloud).  When you are flying through clouds it is bumpy and turbulent.  The pilot is visually blind, and flying on instruments only—he is flying on faith. Suddenly the jet breaks out of the clouds and enters a magnificent field of crystal clear blue sky in which the sun is brilliantly shining.

It is interesting to note that the blue sky is there even though you don’t see it when you are beneath the clouds.  Similarly, Soul Purpose exists even though you may not directly see it.

There are other tools to help transcend the thinking mind that can be useful during meditation.  These may include a sacred picture or object, music, incense, or other aids that initiate transcendent energy.

Highly visual people are often guided in reaching deeper meditation by unrelentingly fixing their focus onto an external object of symbolic Divinity.  You may have a favorite picture of Jesus Christ, Buddha, Krishna, or Shiva; a Torah or a Lotus or the Sacred Heart; or some other image sacred to you.

For people who have no such image, another object can work just as well.  It may be a nature scene, a flower, or even a candle. Some religious practices forbid this, but do allow some aspect of traditional chant or repetition that takes the student to deeper levels of consciousness.

These are the pragmatic details for practicing meditation, but the more important idea is the commitment to stay with it.  Some days may be frustrating, some days may be revelation, but showing up every day is the win.

As you utilize higher mind, you have created the connection to the spiritual realm.  By consistently creating a singular focus, you emanate a strong high-frequency vibration that develops spiritual will.  The will is an unstoppable power, in that will and faith are of the spirit and are the two important essences that complete the transcending of the mind.

The mind does not “do” faith, nor does it comprehend the will.

It has been said that faith equals belief minus evidence.  The intellect is based upon logic and is therefore linear.  Because faith is non-linear, the intellect views it as illogical and naively irrelevant.  Will is similar in that it is an aspect of the spirit.  As it gets stronger through the spiritual discipline of meditation, your ability to be more disciplined in other life areas is strengthened tremendously.

This has been confirmed via spiritual healing groups like Alcoholics Anonymous.  Through connecting to their Higher Power via fellowship, prayer, and meditation, the willpower of individual alcoholics is exponentially increased.  With a renewed faith and an increased will, the ability to heal the fatal disease of alcoholism was finally discovered.

The same will occur for you, including the discovery of your Soul Purpose, as you commit to practice meditation.

With practice, one becomes the witness, and then eventually becomes the awareness itself. Witnessing eliminates the personal illusion of perception, replacing it with spiritual vision.  The illusion of me slowly dissolves into the realization of the I Am. This is how the ego-thinking mind is transcended.

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Steve D’Annunzio is the founder of the Soul Purpose Institute, the author of The Prosperity Paradigm, and a productivity trainer and life success coach to Fortune 100 executives, professional athletes, and high-performance entrepreneurs. For twenty years, he has been helping people identify their passion, develop it into a business idea, and deliver it to the world.

A member of the Transformational Leadership Council, Steve has shared the stage with world-changers like Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Jack Canfield, and Barbra-Marx Hubbard.

He uses principles of higher awareness to inspire others to be far greater versions of themselves than they ever knew to be possible. By combining scientific and spiritual truth, he co-creates inner transformations for people to experience more outer prosperity in their life.

He is an author and composer of many books, paradigms, and artistic projects that have the common theme of alleviating human suffering and enhancing joy.

Steve lives with his family in Rochester, New York.

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The Creator designed the universe for our benefit. Natural laws are the code of the universe, the rules of existence that determine our happiness or lack thereof.

Living in accordance with the laws brings us peace, happiness and prosperity, while being misaligned with them brings about inner turmoil, suffering, and poverty.

This means that there’s a specific way to become happy—happiness is not a haphazard, random proposition. It means that you can’t be happy doing whatever you feel like doing heedless of the consequences.

It means that although you are free to make choices, you are not free to choose the consequences of your choices. It means that there are natural results to all of your thoughts and actions, results that were determined with the creation of the universe.

Many feel uncomfortably constrained by this concept, the idea that we must live in accordance with natural law in order to find happiness, the idea that freedom implies duty.

However, this misguided feeling comes from simply not understanding the loving nature of natural law.

Natural law is like a kite string and you are the kite—on the surface it may appear that the string holds the kite down, and that by cutting it the kite will fly higher. The reality is that the kite will tumble to the ground; the string is precisely the thing that allows the kite to fly.

Natural laws are what allow you to fly and achieve your highest potential; by breaking them you will fail in your attempts to find happiness.

Happiness & Soul Purpose

Finding and consistently living your Soul Purpose is the only way to achieve lasting happiness and deep fulfillment. It is the highest context of happiness and the greatest possibility of achievement.

One can generically live a life of relative virtue and contribution and find a measure of happiness, but Soul Purpose is the apex, the highest form of happiness.

Anything less than Soul Purpose is mediocrity relative to what you could have become and how happy you could have been.

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” -Gandhi

While happiness is the constant North Star, Soul Purpose is the compass that points to the star and shows you how to get to it. Happiness is the destination; Soul Purpose is the path. Happiness is the why; Soul Purpose is the how.

When you choose to rewrite your story, that story will be—or at least should be—a reflection of your Soul Purpose.

The process of co-creating with God gets you ever closer to the mission you were born for. The more and better you rewrite your story, the more in alignment with your Soul Purpose you will become.

The ultimate purpose of discontentment is to prod you closer to your Soul Purpose; the more conscious you are of the purpose of discontentment the easier and faster you will find and live your divine purpose.

While happiness is a “pull” force, discontentment is a “push” force. In either case, the message is the same: Transcend pain, suffering, and discontentment and achieve lasting happiness by finding and living your Soul Purpose.

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be. Your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.” -James Allen

Soul Purpose provides the solution to all human defects.

• Who are we? We are divine spiritual beings, in a body, and we have a mind.
• Why are we here? To fulfill our Soul Purpose.
• Where is “here?” This life is a testing ground, an opportunity to see if we will remember God, choose love, and create value or if we will remember our ego-self, choose fear, and take value.
• How can we place the content of life (money, sex, status, etc.) in the proper context and find lasting happiness, rather than fleeting pleasure? By surrendering the ego-self to God and living Soul Purpose.

Although you may not be fully aware of how to find it, you are hardwired to pursue happiness.

God gives you pain and discontentment in order that you might understand and enjoy happiness and to push you ever closer to the purpose for which you were born. The highest form of happiness, and the way to achieve it, is by finding and living your Soul Purpose.

To do so, however, requires operating from the spiritual realm, where your Soul Purpose exists fully formed, rather than the physical and mental realms.

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Steve D’Annunzio is the founder of the Soul Purpose Institute, the author of The Prosperity Paradigm, and a productivity trainer and life success coach to Fortune 100 executives, professional athletes, and high-performance entrepreneurs. For twenty years, he has been helping people identify their passion, develop it into a business idea, and deliver it to the world.

A member of the Transformational Leadership Council, Steve has shared the stage with world-changers like Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Jack Canfield, and Barbra-Marx Hubbard.

He uses principles of higher awareness to inspire others to be far greater versions of themselves than they ever knew to be possible. By combining scientific and spiritual truth, he co-creates inner transformations for people to experience more outer prosperity in their life.

He is an author and composer of many books, paradigms, and artistic projects that have the common theme of alleviating human suffering and enhancing joy.

Steve lives with his family in Rochester, New York.

Connect With Steve:

“Don’t make that face! It might freeze that way!” It’s a silly little thing parents say to kids. We’ve all heard it. Even as children we knew it wasn’t true. But now I’m aging and I realize something profound: it was true! There are lines in my face representing the most dominant facial expressions

I’ve been making all these twenty-nine years, and from the looks of it, I’ve been spending a lot of time making a lot of faces! I guess I should have listened.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the inevitable aging process instead froze smile lines on our faces; if our most dominant facial expression indicated happiness and contentment? To me, it seems, that’s precisely what most people wish for. In fact, throughout my life,

I’ve noticed that one of mankind’s highest aspirations is to “Be Happy.” If you observe how people behave, they do a lot of what they do in order to make themselves feel happy. I’ve had more people than I can remember tell me, “I just want to be happy.”

The strange thing is, however, that most people seem to be terrible at predicting what will make them happy. They chase after this thrill, or that one. They rearrange their lives around a new job, a new challenge, a new relationship, a new hobby, or a new anything else.

It’s this next thing that’s going to make them happy. “As soon as” they:

1. get into college
2. get out of college
3. get married
4. get divorced
5. have kids
6. have the kids move out
7. make it to the weekend
8. go on vacation
9. get out of debt
10. get that promotion
11. get that recognition they think they deserve
12. get that new car

And the list goes on. But how often does the attainment of the items on this list actually make someone happy? How often are people right about that next thing producing happiness in their lives?

Answers to these questions have launched researchers on quests for many decades. There is even a strange sounding “Science of Happiness” category in which behavioral “experts” dig into the components of happiness. Predictably, however, these experts can’t come to an agreement on just what comprises happiness and what produces it over the long term.

There are many interesting theories.

One theory posits that happiness is like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Like a pyramid with the most essential elements such as food, air, water, rest and sleep at the bottom, once those needs are met the next level is safety, including shelter, security, protection, and stability.

Once those needs are met the next level is love and belonging, comprised of family and friend relationships. Higher still is self-esteem which includes achievement, status, and responsibility. The top is the high-sounding self-actualization, which is made up of fulfillment, self-sufficiency, creativity, morality, and authenticity. Ascending this pyramid supposedly makes one more happy.

Another theory says we are happy when we have the perception of control over events, paired with a noticeable amount of progress in our endeavors, along with a connectedness to others, and finally with a vision toward something of higher meaning than ourselves.

Still another one gives the memorable phrase, “Someone to love, somewhere to go, and something to do.”

Yet another says happiness comes from three levels; pleasure, passion, and purpose. Purpose being the most important, pleasure the least.

Aristotle said, “happiness is the only thing men desire for it’s own sake,” meaning, everything men desire they desire because they think it will produce happiness. They are all secondary pursuits to the main goal: happiness.

Happiness, as indicated by the wide range of theories and humongous amount of focus placed upon it by seemingly everyone, is important to us. It is behind nearly everything we do. It drives us, motivates us, and dictates our behavior. It’s just that it is mostly beyond us. We cannot obtain it from direct pursuit.

So how do we obtain happiness?

Whenever I forget all about my own happiness and get committed to helping make others happy, I find that happiness boomerangs around back to me. On the contrary, when I do things to make myself feel happy directly, at best, they are fleeting moments of shallow happiness, not the lasting, deep, meaningful happiness for which our hearts truly yearn.

And that brings me to my point, the making of which I trust will bring you happiness, but perhaps not as much as when I bring this article to an end! Nonetheless, I bring you to this: happiness, despite all the indicators and theories and focus, is not our true goal. We only think it is.

Blaise Pascal, the seventeenth century French mathematician, philosopher, inventor, and all-around smart guy, once said:

“There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

When I got what I thought I wanted, I found out I didn’t really want it. All the while the answer was there before me. I had been created by a loving God and was built to find my rest in Him. I could run, I could hide, but my heart would bear me out: there was no happiness in the things I thought would make me happy. There was nothing but theories and the next thing to pursue.

I can’t write about happiness without unmasking it for what it is: a fickle flirt. Happiness is a temporary feeling that comes and goes. It teases us into wasting our time and energies toward its attainment, when all along It is not our highest aspiration, though we may think it is.

What we are truly seeking is deeper and more permanent than happiness: what we are truly seeking is something called Joy.  It is not a synonym for happiness, but rather the actual article for which happiness is a mere impostor.

It is the true object of our hearts, and as Pascal states so eloquently, it can only be found through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In that condition, our existence makes sense, our heart finds its true longing, our soul finds its rest, and our whole being is flooded with the joy that only He can give.

Joy doesn’t come and go based upon circumstances. It doesn’t rely on a situation or outcome. It is deep, permanent, divine, and lasting. It is also what we’ve been searching for all along.

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Chris Brady co-authored the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Weekly, USA Today, and Money Magazine best-seller Launching a Leadership Revolution.

He is also in the World’s Top 30 Leadership Gurus and among the Top 100 Authors to Follow on Twitter. He has spoken to audiences of thousands around the world about leadership, freedom, and success.

Mr. Brady contributes regularly to Networking Times magazine, and has been featured in special publications of Success and Success at Home. He also blogs regularly at Chris Brady.

He is an avid motorized adventurer, pilot, world traveler, humorist, community builder, soccer fan, and dad.

Connect With Chris:

“To travel is to take a journey into yourself.”   -Danny Kaye

If you were embarking on a journey, you would start out with a destination in mind.

You would need a map, directions, and a compass. You would need a functioning vehicle, as well as fuel. You would need to understand the terrain.

It would also be nice to be aware of any detours, roadblocks, and dead ends you may encounter in the journey so that you could overcome them as they arose.

In the case of the journey of life, lasting happiness is the destination. Soul Purpose is the compass, the spiritual realm is the mode of transportation. Spiritual disciplines are the fuel.

Soul Purpose Roles are the directions, and the Four Stages of Living Soul Purpose represent the terrain.

Understanding this whole picture is your map.

Happiness: The Destination

The ultimate goal of all human beings is lasting happiness. Happiness is what drives and motivates us.

Without an understanding of the purpose of life and how to properly navigate it, most of us seek happiness in counterfeit and deceiving ways. While we have an intrinsic desire to seek it, few know how it can actually be found.

Hence, short-term pleasure often prevails over long-term joy.  False security, based in external factors such as corporate and government benefits, is confused for the true security of Soul Purpose.

Selfish greed replaces selfless service, pride trumps humility and true confidence, and stifling fear crowds out the beauty of love.

All of these counterfeits are a result of living from the ego-self, rather than the God-self. Finding happiness requires an understanding of who you really are—that you are a spirit in a body that has a mind. You are not your body, nor are you your mind.

The vehicle in the journey of life is your body, while your mind is the on-board computer. Your spirit is you, the driver. Living a life that is driven by physical urges and/or mental calculations is like a car attempting to drive itself.

True happiness is found by connecting with your God-self and bringing your Soul Purpose to the world in the most meaningful, powerful, and sustainable way possible.

The Spiritual Realm: The Mode of Transportation

There are three realms that we choose to live in and to take our mode of being from: the physical realm, the mental realm, and the spiritual realm. The physical realm is obviously the purview of the body—those operating from this realm are controlled by physical appetites such as food, alcohol, drugs, sex, etc.

In the mental realm we raise our consciousness slightly by using our reasoning ability, yet we are controlled by the mind.

In the spiritual realm we access the highest plane of reality, the realm from which we can control both the body and the mind.

Suppose you lived in New York and you wanted to get to London. Obviously, the only way to do so is to fly.

Operating from the physical realm is like having a bicycle to take that journey, while the mental realm can be compared to having a car. Although a car is definitely better than a bike, in either case you’re unable to reach your destination.

Operating in the spiritual realm is like gaining access to a jet: not only are you able to make the journey, but also your altitude, and thus your perspective, are dramatically improved. In the physical and mental realms you do have certain parameters of mobility, yet you’re navigating in the wrong places.

The “jet” of the spiritual realm allows you to fly over the prohibitive ocean of the ego-self in all its manifestations.

You cannot reach the destination of happiness through Soul Purpose in the physical and mental realms. It is impossible. The only way to reach your desired destination is to get into and stay in the spiritual realm.

By doing so you transcend the limitations of the body and the mind and access infinite power, a power that few even know exists.

Spiritual Disciplines: The Fuel

What would happen if you tried to put automobile fuel into a jet engine? It wouldn’t operate, of course. Having the spiritual realm “jet” is not enough; you must also have the proper fuel to make it fly. The vehicle of your soul simply cannot fly without the fuel of spiritual disciplines.

While Soul Purpose is who you are, spiritual disciplines are what you do to become your best self. They are daily routines that must be diligently performed in order to reach the spiritual realm.

Although there are many more than these, we will focus on five core disciplines from which all others flow: Awareness, Pattern Interrupt, Reality Statement, Instant Prayer, and Love Meditation.

Notice that these five form the acronym A.P.R.I.L.

Spiritual Roles: The Directions

In my research I have identified twelve core Soul Purpose roles. Although there are infinite manifestations of each, every individual has one of these roles as their primary Soul Purpose theme. The roles describe how individuals view the world and interact with others, with whom they like to associate, the suffering that they alleviate, and the way that they serve.

Learning your role is similar to taking a personality or aptitude test, only with much greater depth.

Suppose you are a resident of Chicago, a city with a population of nearly three million. All three million residents have a map and they all have the goal of getting to City Hall. Even though they have the same map and are going to the same place, would they not all use different directions and take a different route to get there, since they’re all coming from different places?

Your Soul Purpose role is similar; although you share the same destination and map as everyone else, your particular path will be unique.

Four Stages of Living Your Soul Purpose: The Terrain

The four stages required to discover and bring your Soul Purpose to the world are 1) dissolving the ego, 2) living with an awakened spirit, 3) discovering and declaring your Soul Purpose value proposition, and 4) designing your business and Soul Purpose marketing plan.

It is in the four stages that the metaphorical rubber hits the road. This is the practical phase of the Soul Purpose process.

Understand that in any journey the map is different than the terrain. A road map can show you how to get from Los Angeles to New York but will tell you very little about the mountains, rivers, and deserts you will cross, nor will it tell you the condition of the roads.

The map can show you how to live your Soul Purpose, the terrain you will travel is different than the map. In the four stages you will learn how to successfully navigate the actual terrain by translating ideals into practical action.

Soul Purpose: The Compass

Although we’ve already discussed Soul Purpose at length, now you are able to understand this “compass” in its proper context and from a holistic perspective. Throughout your life’s journey you may stray by falling prey to the ego-self, yet Soul Purpose never wavers no matter what errant paths you take.

Buried by fear though it may be, it is always in your heart. It always calls for you to take one particular direction whether you’re listening or not.

Life’s Lessons: Detours

In His infinite wisdom the Creator has built detours into the journey of life in order that we may learn valuable lessons and become stronger, more humble, more submissive, and more capable of serving others and achieving our highest potential.
Detours are precessional.

Precession, a term coined by Buckminster Fuller, means the side effects of a system in motion. Precessional effects are the oft-unseen byproducts of your direct actions. They are like ripples in water from dropping a stone; although the stone goes straight down, the ripples flow outward.

With our limited perspective, we often focus solely on our direct actions, and crave direct results to flow from those actions. When we do not get what we want, or what we think we deserve based on our efforts, we feel frustrated by it.

But think of a honeybee: A honeybee can spend all day looking for nectar, go back to his hive feeling frustrated after a fruitless search, and yet, unbeknownst to him, will still be fulfilling a profound purpose, that of cross-pollination.

It is because of precession that submitting to the will of God, rather than imposing our ego desires, is absolutely critical. You may think that you’re supposed to do one thing, yet God has different plans for you.  Some plans that appear to be taking you further away from your purpose in actuality get you closer to it in the long run.

The Ego: Roadblocks and Dead-Ends

While lessons and detours are placed in our path by a loving God, roadblocks and dead-ends are self-imposed limitations from the ego-self. These include fear, pride, complacency, hedonism, and selfishness.

Detours can be navigated fairly easily, especially with the right tools and understanding; roadblocks lead to an overwhelming feeling of being “stuck.” Detours are unavoidable and necessary for our progression; roadblocks are optional.

Many people ask why so much suffering exists in the world if we have a loving God, without realizing that most of our suffering is self-imposed.

Fortunately, if you’ve been stuck in the ego-self in the past, this is the helping hand that will pull you out of the rut and get you on your way. I myself was stuck in the ego-self for many years until powerful experiences and wise mentors set me straight.

This life is a journey that can be either joyous or frustrating, satisfying or disappointing, exciting or boring, full of love or full of suffering. What determines your outcome is your level of knowledge and conscious awareness and your discipline.

You now have an overview of the journey—a map, if you will—that can be used to successfully navigate the wilderness of earth life and arrive at the destination of lasting happiness. Now it’s time to expand your knowledge of each component of the map, in order to increase your motivation and therefore your discipline.

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Steve D’Annunzio is the founder of the Soul Purpose Institute, the author of The Prosperity Paradigm, and a productivity trainer and life success coach to Fortune 100 executives, professional athletes, and high-performance entrepreneurs. For twenty years, he has been helping people identify their passion, develop it into a business idea, and deliver it to the world.

A member of the Transformational Leadership Council, Steve has shared the stage with world-changers like Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Jack Canfield, and Barbra-Marx Hubbard.

He uses principles of higher awareness to inspire others to be far greater versions of themselves than they ever knew to be possible. By combining scientific and spiritual truth, he co-creates inner transformations for people to experience more outer prosperity in their life.

He is an author and composer of many books, paradigms, and artistic projects that have the common theme of alleviating human suffering and enhancing joy.

Steve lives with his family in Rochester, New York.

Connect With Steve:

People need to believe. They need to believe that something magical, transcendent, other-worldly, or divine will allow for positive outcomes.

They need to believe that statistical probability, reason, and science cannot adequately calculate the likelihood that future events will occur as predicted.

Some of the more gullible believe that sexual attraction will ensure lasting happiness or that will power and the latest diet prophet will have them wearing a size two by October.

People need to believe in a being or group that can deliver mystical, positive outcomes. As faith in the Judeo-Christian God has retreated, other charlatans, impostors, and imitators have gained ground.

Faith has not diminished; it has shifted.

Never is this more evident as a national phenomenon than has been shown by the election of Barack Obama. He was elected on faith in the unseen, untried and untested. He was elected on promises of goods that have not and will never be delivered.

He is not alone in his message of mystical over-delivery. John McCain could not have delivered on his promises either.

Any successful candidate must harness the faith of the people, however misguided.

The Obama camp understood this and created a campaign that emulated a religious revival but in secular garb, and like other revivals, faith in the promised, yet unseen was the campaign’s core message.

HOPE was chosen over FAITH only to avoid an overtly religious reference.

Modern politicians have borrowed a page from 14th century Christian history. Leaders of Christianity of the day were sure that they would lose their positions of power if the scriptures were able to be read by the masses.

They believed, rightly, that the proliferation of the doctrine of Christ as revealed in the Bible would ennoble and liberate the masses who would then require conditions, such as accountability to a clear standard, of their clergy.

This accountability was intolerable to the degree that when William Tyndale published and distributed what became known as the Tyndale Bible to the masses in England, he was arrested by church authorities, held in prison for over a year, tried for heresy, strangled and burned at the stake.

A knowledgeable public, even in 14th century England, would have little tolerance for mischievous ministers who would fudge doctrine for the political expediency of cajoling vile Henry VIII.

Accountability is also intolerable to modern politicians. These political priests would rather have their works shrouded in darkness. If they can mystify an opiated public, they can create multiple unholy alliances with modern Henry VIII.

Today’s remedy is similar to Tyndale’s. If a public is informed and engaged, mountainous works of darkness and debauchery will be exposed. A politician’s aspiration will cease to be Caesar and turn to emulation of Teresa of Calcutta.

A knowledge of logic, statistics, history, civics and economics applied to the Constitution (the how) and the Declaration (the why) will reign in false priesthood such as a rogue justice department whose civil rights division suffers a fondness for political alter boys. It will depose would-be tyrants, and it will curb wanton debt inebriation.

Regardless of your political ideology, it’s time to engage. Have faith, but bring to bear all of your intellectual and informational faculties.

If your faith is well-founded, it will be enhanced by rigorous testing.

********************

David B. Grant is the founder of Summa Logica Productions, which promotes formal logic training, particularly among youth, and helps you become a better thinker, reader, and writer. He is the author of Joseph Spider and the Fallacy Farm.

David holds degrees in Philosophy (BA) and Business (MBA) from Brigham Young University. He teaches Entrepreneurship and Operations at Southern Utah University.

He resides in Cedar City, Utah with his wife and five children.

This is part three of a three-part series. Read part one here, and part two here.

Breaking through the ceiling of the mental realm and into the spiritual realm comes through acceptance. Acceptance appears to be a very unreasonable mode to the mind, which is why this step is so difficult for most people.

In acceptance mode, a person lives the natural laws of the universe to the degree where they are able to say in all situations, “I remember you God, and you never send me anything that isn’t for my highest good. I don’t have to like it but I accept it.”

At this mode comes the realization that there are no accidents in the universe; the universe is exactly as it should be.

In the mental realm, when “bad” things happen to people, many reason that it’s because they are being punished by God.

God doesn’t punish, however; human beings punish. When God sends us something to encounter, if we resist it, then we’re the problem, not Him. The moment we can accept it is the moment we can experience a monumental breakthrough in consciousness.

The minute we accept the lesson, it discontinues. On the other hand, that which we resist persists.

To enter the spiritual realm, learn to deal with things that you perceive as negative by asking yourself what you are to learn from the experience.

Ask God questions like, “What does this mean? What is this supposed to teach me? How can I be grateful for this experience?”

Discontentment and pain are perhaps the greatest gifts that we have received from God, if we can arrive at acceptance mode and view them through those enlightened eyes.

The degree to which we can begin to love the things that give us pain and frustration is the degree to which they will disappear.

One critical step in this process is to stop taking anything personally. Imagine if no one were ever able to make you angry or hurt your feelings again. Imagine if no one ever had permission to make you feel guilty, or get you to take rejection personally. How powerful would that be?

In many respects, the spiritual realm may seem completely opposite of the mental realm, and may appear to be unreasonable.

Yet this is true simply because of the extreme limitations of the mental realm; the eye cannot see and perceive so many of the critical, empowering truths of the universe. They must be perceived and acted upon on a higher plan, a higher level of conscious awareness.

When a person is in Central Park in New York City, they don’t know the city, and they’re trying to find Broadway and 5th Avenue, it’s difficult because of the altitude. But if that same person were to look down on the city from a high perspective, the task would become infinitely simpler because of the increased perspective.

Furthermore, attitude corresponds with altitude; the higher the altitude the better the attitude.

Our perspective changes as we climb higher on the Stairway of Selves. Each step contains an encyclopedic volume of different thoughts, beliefs, inventions, insights, possibilities, and relevant questions.

The higher we climb, the better questions we ask God and the universe. When “negative” things happen on the lower levels, we ask “Why me?”; when the same things happen to us on the higher levels we ask “What does this mean, God, and what am I to learn from it?”

We awaken to our Godself and begin shedding the egoself. We begin accessing the healing forces of the universe.

The discontentment that occurs in acceptance mode is the fact that, in this mode, there are still unsolicited thoughts that roll through the mind that we are largely unable to control.

Have you ever lain awake at night, unable to sleep because the mind is so noisy and you can’t seem to turn it off?

The reason why you are unable to turn it off is because you are not the mind. You have a mind — just like you’re not the body; you have a body, but your body is not your essential Self.

When you eat breakfast, the body digests the food without any commands from you. You don’t need to sit there and command, “Body: process spatial intuitive process, process logical analytical function, digest the food, make sure my heart beats, make sure I continue breathing,” etc.

The body does it of its own accord because it’s subject to higher programming.

The same applies to the mind: it functions with or without commands from you. You are not your mind; you are a spirit in a body that has a mind.

Renee Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” This is precisely opposite of the truth. The truth is actually, “I am, therefore I think.” Just like money, the mind makes a terrible master and a fabulous servant.

In acceptance mode, the mind is still, to a certain degree, running the show. The spiritual discipline needed to transcend this discontentment and break through to the next mode is the surrendering of your personal will and dedicating your life to the service and will of the Divine.

Submission leads us from acceptance to wisdom mode. In acceptance mode, a person honors their thinking above their Godself because they identify themselves with their thoughts, with their mind. This is not so in wisdom mode; in wisdom mode, the mind becomes silent and still.

When we create from a higher context or point of potential, it always occurs by creating a space in which it can develop. Without space for something new to operate and grow, it is impossible to transcend to higher levels; the first step of transcendence is to create a new space for the higher level to operate.

This is the purpose of discontentment; when handled appropriately it aids us in creating space for the next level of consciousness to emerge.

The power of wisdom mode is that it allows us a dramatically increased ability to create space for new and higher things to emerge in our lives. This is the mode where meditation becomes a real, tangible, effective, and powerful tool for us.

Wisdom mode allows us to clear our minds and be present in the moment, rather than letting our minds dominate our consciousness with fear, doubt, and worry.

The more clear, still, and present we are, the more we tap into the infinite, the Sacred Path, and our Soul Purpose. The possibilities of all these things begin erupting spontaneously as we clear away the debris of the physical and mental realms and uncover who and what we really are.

This is why creation is more a process of discovery than it is a process of development.

In the mental realm we push, we struggle, we push through with effort. The spiritual realm is the opposite; in the spiritual realm, we let go, we surrender, we relinquish, we accept. We surrender attachments, control, and a desire to get our way.

We are no longer attached to being right, and therefore, we no longer feel a need to make other people wrong. This is what is so powerful about the spiritual realm: it’s gentle, joyful, and powerful, because it’s effortless. We do not command the mind; we relinquish the noise of the mind to God.

At this point, the light of the Godself begins to shine through and we become a sort of “antenna” of wellness wherever we are.

Whereas in the past we may have prayed, now we both pray and meditate; prayer is speaking to God, meditation is listening to God. Now we are able to hear what was already there but we were prevented from hearing because of the physical and mental layers blocking our hearing.

The life results in wisdom mode are truly transcendent because we have surrendered our personal will to the Divine will, and so the Divine is able to use us as an instrument in the world. What have we transcended? The mind. The mental realm.

Strangely, there is also discontentment in wisdom mode. That discontentment is the fact that, because now we are in touch with the Divine, we know there’s something more, something higher, something greater.

Wisdom is the state of no mind, but there’s something missing in that state, and that is love. Wisdom is a state of emptiness; you’ve created positive space, yet now that space must be filled with something.

As that space is filled with love, we enter a whole new domain of revelation and of being. Love mode is surrounding yourself with other people and helping them through your Soul Purpose.

Love mode is epitomized by people such as Mother Theresa, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s characterized by such an intense form of being that it leads to effective action in the world. In love mode, we start seeing the world as perfect.

Even at love mode, however, there is still something higher. The small piece of discontentment that pushes us to the highest mode of consciousness — unconditional love — is that in love mode, we still find ourselves reserving love for people that earn it or deserve it.

When we are around negative people, we still feel a tinge of, “Why do they have to be so negative?”, which leads to us withholding our love from them. Loving the unlovable is difficult, and yet it is what can occur at the highest level of unconditional love.

A person will quickly find in love mode that they suffer by limiting their love, and then move to unconditional love mode. This does not mean that we want to be around those that are difficult to love, yet we still love them.

Desire mode sees the world as a trap; pride mode sees the world as a chessboard, the higher levels see the world as a school; and love mode sees the world as being perfect.

In unconditional love, we are able to feel, express, and show love for even the villains of the world, because we understand that they too have a purpose.

At the top of the Stairway of Selves is the God-self existing fully enlightened. Every single person in the world is fully enlightened right now, but most of them simply don’t realize it because of the obstacles in the way blocking their path.

The sun is always shining regardless of our ability to see it at any given moment. Our goal isn’t to develop into an enlightened being; our goal is to discover that our enlightened self exists right now.

*********************************

Steve D’Annunzio is the founder of the Soul Purpose Institute, the author of The Prosperity Paradigm, and a productivity trainer and life success coach to Fortune 100 executives, professional athletes, and high-performance entrepreneurs. For twenty years, he has been helping people identify their passion, develop it into a business idea, and deliver it to the world.

A member of the Transformational Leadership Council, Steve has shared the stage with world-changers like Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Jack Canfield, and Barbra-Marx Hubbard.

He uses principles of higher awareness to inspire others to be far greater versions of themselves than they ever knew to be possible. By combining scientific and spiritual truth, he co-creates inner transformations for people to experience more outer prosperity in their life.

He is an author and composer of many books, paradigms, and artistic projects that have the common theme of alleviating human suffering and enhancing joy.

Steve lives with his family in Rochester, New York.

Connect With Steve:

This is part three of a three-part series.

Read Part I Here
Read Part II Here

I asked my good Christian friend and Muslim expert, Mark Siljander, to weigh in on this subject. Here is his reply:

“I would humbly suggest your students read A Deadly Misunderstanding. Many of their questions will be answered and much more.

I also recommend they read this article by Karen Armstrong that responds to some of the violent Qur’anic verses.

Also one must keep in mind that the Qur’an was written during a time of constant battles against the new Muslims, so several passages indeed deal with warfare.

The radicals use verses like 4:89 & 2:191 that say: ‘slay [enemies] wherever you find them!’ against the West and numerous verses that speak of Jihad and promises to martyrs.

However, it is more prudent to undermine the extremist interpretation with the historical context and correct meanings of key words.

For example, these two verses refer to the people of the Quraishi tribe who persecuted the Muslims wherever they found them and hence, gave permission to the early Muslim community to fight back.

Even better, we should emphasize the verse just after (4:90), ‘But, if they depart from you, and make not war against you and offer you peace, the God alloweth you no occasion against them.”

And the verse just before (2:190) that says “but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not aggressors.”

What about ‘Jihad’?  Actually, it is an Aramaic word that means internal ‘struggle’ NOT  external ‘holy war.’

And the 72 virgins? Sorry for the wasted deaths, but the word in the Qur’an is also Aramaic that actually means ‘pure (white) grapes’ and just for the record, there is no ’72′ mentioned anywhere.

Perhaps we should encourage focus the attention of the world on verses in the Qur’an such as, ‘Thus, if they let you be, and do not make war on you, and offer you peace, God does not allow you to harm them (4:90) but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not aggressors.’

‘The only permissible war is one of self-defense. Muslims may not begin hostilities (2:190).’

I am not an apologist for Islam or the Qur’an, but it behooves us all to encourage a nonviolent interpretation allowing the arguments our scholars use for the over 1,000 violent verses in the Bible.

• Historically contextual & hence not meant for today;
• Metaphorical;
• Misunderstandings of the rabbinical and Eastern traditions, parables, axioms, etc.; and
• Mistranslations of the original language.

In terms of the other verses pertaining to trinity and the nature of Jesus the Messiah; they are outlined in A Deadly Misunderstanding and I would refer you to review and then have them ask questions they feel the book does not or inadequately addresses.

Blessings dear Friend;
Mark Siljander”

I am not denying that there is a real threat from adherents of a radical interpretation of the Qu’ran. I am not saying that the world does not have terrorist elements in it, because is certainly does.

Careful study of original sources and documents is vital to understanding others, and certainly should be engaged in before we accuse persons of any particular belief or intention.

If the threat is large, perhaps the best defensive posture we could take is to become the best Christians we can be. America would be a better place if we all more fully embraced our espoused religions.

Who can judge the intent of a person’s heart? How do we really know what others intend to do or not do?

Trust in God the scriptures say. At the very least, we should thoroughly and personally read the scripture and history of a people before we judge them.

And even before we do that, it might be a good idea to read our own scripture first.

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Shanon Brooks is the President of Monticello College, the Director of Education and Training for Humanitarian Visions International, S.A., and a founding partner of the Center for Social Leadership. He co-authored Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens.

Shanon and his wife Julia are raising their six children in Monticello, Utah.

Connect With Shanon:

This is part two of a three-part series.

Read Part I Here

The Qu’ran has been translated into over 100 languages. There are more than 20 English translations of the Qu’ran.

Admittedly, most of us know little of this religion as there are no more that 1 percent of Americans who claim adherence to this faith.

I am not a scholar of the Qu’ran. I am however, well versed in the Bible and have studied it for many years. It is important to remember that the Qu’ran is at least in one sense, a history for the Muslim People, just like the Old Testament is a history of the Israelites.

In fact, I find the two to be very similar, as I recall the command of God to the Israelites under the leadership of Joshua.

In the Book of Joshua, Gods commanded his people — the believers — to kill and destroy all who would not convert and follow Jehovah. In biblical terms, this is called Anathema.

In the Old Testament, the word, anathema is generally used as the rendering of the Hebrew word — herem — , derived from a verb meaning

• to consecrate or devote; and
• to exterminate. 

Any object so devoted to the Lord could not be redeemed (Num. 18:14; Lev. 27:28, 29); and hence the idea of exterminating is connected with the word.

The Hebrew verb (haram) is frequently used to communicate the extermination of idolatrous nations. It had a wide range of application.

Christians believe that Joshua and the Israelites were commanded by God to commit anathema on the inhabitants of the City of Jericho. That is, to kill every man, woman, child, and living creature.

Today, that sounds a bit extreme, but faithful Christians see it as a matter history and being the truth.

If I were not a Christian and I read the Book of Joshua, believing that it was Christian scripture, could I come away with the impression that all Christians were commanded to kill all non-Christians? It is very possible.

By the way, Joshua and the Israelites went on for years, committing anathema throughout Palestine; destroying whole cities and reeking havoc on the civilizations of the Amorites, Cannanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

Does the Old Testament give Christians today the continued mandate to kill all non-believers? All but the most fanatical of Christians would likely answer no.

Have Christians since the Old Testament times ever used scripture as a means of justifying bloodshed? A quick perusal of history will show countless examples over hundreds of years of this being the case.

Today, Christians view the Old Testament primarily as a historic account, a portion of the annals of the Middle East. We certainly do not take God’s commands to Joshua as something we should devote ourselves to in the 21st Century.

Today, Christians are commanded to take a different path than Joshua. My religion, specifically the words of Christ, tells me to:

Luke 6:27 (GNT)
But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

Other Translations of Luke 6:27

But I say vnto you which heare, Loue your enemies, doe good to them which hate you. – King James Version (1611)

But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you – New American Standard Version (1995)

But I say unto you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you,
- American Standard Version (1901)

But I say to you who give ear to me, Have love for those who are against you, do good to those who have hate for you, - Basic English Bible

But I say to you who give ear to me, Have love for those who are against you, do good to those who have hate for you - Darby Bible

But I say to you that hear: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. - Douay Rheims Bible

Lu 6:27-36 Love your enemies. These precepts are found in Matthew’s report in their connection. See PNT “Mt 5:44″. – People’s Bible

But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to them who hate you, - Webster’s Bible

But to you who are listening to me I say, Love your enemies; seek the welfare of those who hate you; – Weymouth Bible

But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, – World English Bible

But Y seie to you that heren, loue ye youre enemyes, do ye wel to hem that hatiden you;
- Wycliffe Bible

`But I say to you who are hearing, Love your enemies, do good to those hating you,
- Youngs Literal Bible

Here, the full idea is presented:

27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the [one] cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not [to take thy] coat also.
30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask [them] not again.
31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
34 And if ye lend [to them] of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and [to] the evil.
36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. King James Version

To be continued…

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Shanon Brooks is the President of Monticello College, the Director of Education and Training for Humanitarian Visions International, S.A., and a founding partner of the Center for Social Leadership. He co-authored Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens.

Shanon and his wife Julia are raising their six children in Monticello, Utah.

Connect With Shanon: