Book Review

Three Simple Rules - A Wesleyan Way of Living by Rueben P. Job

This is a small book and a quick read, less than 100 pages, that briefly looks at the three simple rules of living by Wesleyan standards. There are also guidelines for daily prayer at the end of the book.

The three simple rules are:

• Do no harm
• Do good
• Stay in love with God

On the surface these are truly three simple rules. However, practicing and living by these rules is much more challenging.

The author attempts to back up the rules with Scripture and episodes from the life of Christ. However, the author does not go into enough detail to fully develop his practical application of the three simple rules.

I also noticed a couple of "liberal" ideas slipped into the book.

For example, on page 27 the author writes, "Yet, even a casual reading of the gospel suggests that Jesus taught and practiced a way of living that did no harm."

Really? When I "casually" read the account of Jesus and the demon possessed man in the country of the Gadarenes I see Jesus casting the demons into a herd of pigs which all run off a cliff and drown in the water below.

The pigs were obviously harmed, but beyond that the farmers lost their livelihood. Yes, I know Jesus didn't "harm" the pigs or the farmers and I am familiar with the permissive will of God. My point is that a casual reading of the Gospel probably will find Jesus doing "harm." Jesus was/is not the nice guy that many liberals teach that He was/is.

Another sentence I have issue with is on page 31. "To do no harm means that I will be on guard so that all my actions and even my silence will not add injury to another of God's children or to any part of God's creation."

Again, I say really? Is this how Jesus lived? I know Jesus served fish, even for breakfast one morning. I don't know the details about how he prepared it, but I suspect harm did come to the fish.

If I remember correctly, and I do, Jesus also spoke some harsh words to the Scribes, Pharisees, and others.

In conclusion, this book does provide some good material, but not enough to make it a recommended read. If however, you are looking for something quick to read and think about then this would be an okay book.

Quest for the Perfect Shave

A couple of months ago I decided I was finally fed up with my electric razor. I would shave every morning, but by lunch time it would look as if I didn't even shave for the day. My face was never smooth.

It just so happened around the same time, when I got my money Money magazine it had an article about shaving in it. The article was simply a reference to a blog about shaving. Of course, the blog recommended shaving with an old fashioned safety razor.

I decided to start my own shaving experiment to see what the best option is to get the closest comfortable shave. I figure I'll give each razor a two month trial. I also expect the blade to last about 1 month. I figure I shave 6 days a week, so that is maybe about 24 or 25 shaves, not unreasonable in my opinion.

I have several razors that I will be testing out:

• Bic Comfort 3 Advanced
• Mach 3
• Sensor
• Old Fashioned Safety Razor made by Gillette
• Gillette Fusion ProGlide
• Schick Hydro 5
  

I purchased the Gillette Fusion ProGlide and Schick Hyro 5 razors for cheap, on sale with coupons. The other razors were already in my arsenal.

Check back in a couple of weeks for the first review of the Bic Comfort 3 Advanced disposable razors.

Book Review

The Holy Bible - New Testament - ESV
isbn: 1-4335-1052-9

This is an inexpensive "give-away" Christmas edition New Testament Bible. While the print is pretty small in this Bible it does make a nice gift. This is the English Standard Version (ESV).

This Bible does have some nice features including:

• a reflection reading for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
• a "Where to find help when you are ..." guide
• a "What the New Testament says about ..." guide
• a 30 day reading plan
• a 6 month reading plan
• a section that describes "God's plan to save you"

Overall, I really enjoyed the ESV translation. It held to the literal translation of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, but uses words that people are more familiar with today.

Typically, I use the New King James Version for reading in Church and the New American Standard for a literal translation. I find myself using the ESV more and more for quick lookups now.

RESULTS: 2010 General Primary Election

Here are the results versus my recommendations for the 2010 General Primary Election in Pennsylvania on May 18th.

US Senator: Peg Luksik - LOST
Governor: Samuel E. Rohrer - LOST
Lt. Governor: Daryl Metcalfe - LOST
Rep in Congress: William Russell - LOST
Special Election for Rep in Congress: William Russell (write in if available) - LOST
Rep in General Assembly: Dave Reed - WON (but there was no one running against him)

It looks like this fall's elections will be nothing but trouble. The wrong people are already on the ballot. I suspect I will either be voting for the independents (if there are any) or else I will be writing my name in for everything.

2010 General Primary Election

Here are my recommendations for the 2010 General Primary Election in Pennsylvania on May 18th

US Senator: Peg Luksik
Governor: Samuel E. Rohrer
Lt. Governor: Daryl Metcalfe
Rep in Congress: William Russell
Special Election for Rep in Congress: William Russell (write in if available)
Rep in General Assembly: Dave Reed

We'll see what the election brings!

ACT mouthwash

As usual I am always thinking here at Doe Valley.

The other day I was evaluating which ACT mouthwash to purchase: Total Care or Restoring. I ended up getting the Total Care because the label had more check marks on it than the Restoring version.

When I returned home I compared the Total Care to the Restoring. It turns out the ingredients are identical. So I decided to email the ACT company to find out what the difference is.

As it turns out the Total Care is supposed to kill more germs. Total Care also costs more.

The interesting part of this story is the difference between the larger 33.8 ounce bottles and the smaller 18 ounce bottles.

Of course, I bought the larger bottle, because it seemed liked the better deal.

As it turns out the 33.8 ounce bottles are meant to be used twice a day so there is only half as much fluoride in it as compared to the 18 ounce bottle.

The moral of the story is don't let the marketing genius fool you. Compare prices. Compare ingredients. Know what you are buying.

Arlen Specter Ad

Usually I don't pay much attention to the political ads because they are usually just one person twisting the facts and attacking the other candidate.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see Arlen Specter's latest ad. In the ad, Specter does not attack any of his opponents. He simply states what he stands for and has stood for. Here are the four points in his ad.

1. Voted 20 times to raise the minimum wage
2. Fought China's illegal trade practices
3. Worked for increased health care
4. Lead fight for stem cell research

Great. That clears it up for me.

1. I am against a minimum wage for various reasons. I believe business owners should pay there employees a fair wage for their work, not be forced to pay what the government tells them to pay. Minimum wage increases usually hurt small businesses the worst and can cause unemployment to rise.
2. Personally, I like getting the best bang for my buck, so I don't mind buying stuff made in China. Yes, I do have a problem with human rights violations anywhere in the world, but that is not what Specter fought about.
3. By increased health care, Specter means the heath insurance bill, which I am totally against. People do not need nor should they be required to have health insurance. Yes, people should have access to affordable health care. One of the main problems with health care is the fact that lawsuits drive up the cost. And for those of you who don't know, Specter earned his law degree from Yale.
4. As for stem cell research, I am still not quite sure I understand what it is all about and no one seems to really be able to explain it exactly. But if stem cell research involves experimenting with a human life then it is wrong.

So, as I said that clears it up for me. No need to vote for Specter. Thanks for the Ad!

Firefighters Charitable Foundation

About two weeks ago, I received a call from someone at the Firefighters Charitable Foundation asking for a donation. Of course, they don't start the conversation out that way. They start out asking if you have ever known a victim of a fire. Obviously, most people have. So I answered, "Sure."

The guy didn't really seem to know how to respond, so he said "OK" and continued reading his script. I continued listening to his pitch and then of course he asked if I would donate money. I told him to send me me some information about the foundation along with a financial report so I could evaluate their organization.

He responded, "Great, how much will you donate." I told him again, that it would depend on their organizations financial report. He said, "Ok, do you think you will donate $25?" Again, I stated that I need to read the financial report first. Finally, the guy reiterates everything we already talked about and said he would mail me the information.

This week I received a letter in the mail from the foundation. Inside the envelope was a pamphlet, a letter asking for a $25 donation, and a return envelope. No financial information at all.

I did like the PS on the bottom of the letter, "P.S. An additional gift of $2.00 to your original pledge can help raise additional funds." Really? If I give you 2 more dollars, that is more money you would have? Wow, I never realized that. Thanks for the tip!

I was simple going to pitch the information, but I thought I will at least spend a few minutes looking up the website to see if they have any financial information available there. For whatever reason the website would not load.

So I decided to try one more thing. I checked them out on Charity Navigator. The latest data available was for the year ending 2007. Their revenue was $4.1 million. The expenses were $4.2 million.

So far, it doesn't sound too good. They spend more than they make. As I continued to look more closely at the data I saw that $3.5 million was spent on fundraising and $245,000 was spent on administration. So that means about 91% of their revenue last year went to something other than the main purpose of the foundation!

Conclusion:
If you want to donate to victims of fires, your best bet is to support your local agencies. Always evaluate who you are giving money too. You might be surprised to find out where your money is going.

Always thinking here at Doe Valley.

Book Review

The Faith-Based Millionaire by Jay Peroni

This book claims to be a "practical how-to book" regarding faith and finances. There are 12 easy to read chapters containing information about aligning your finances with your faith. I cannot say that any of the advice was outstanding though.

The book can easily be summarized by saying, trust God with your finances, do what He would want you to do with "your" money. Give to God, spend wisely, save and invest as much as possible so that you can help others.

There didn't seem to be much "practical" advice about investing other than saying hire a professional if you do not have the time to evaluate companies for their moral, social, or religious activities. Obviously, don't invest in companies that violate your principles.

It almost seemed to me that the author wrote this book to promote his website and his faith-based advising business.

Overall, this book is worth a read. There are a few tidbits of information that could help you out. This isn't a book you would refer to often, so it would be better to borrow the book from a library and save yourself some money.

Book Review

The Message - The New Testament in Contemporary Language
by Eugene H. Peterson

This book is a "translation" of the New Testament in modern English, it is almost translated the way someone would talk to their friends.

This is a special edition for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Throughout the book there are thoughts from Billy Graham about a particular topic, usually something that is discussed in that part of Scripture. Each book of the Bible also has a brief introduction. This book was easy to read, almost like a normal paperback book. The font size was just right.

I enjoyed reading this translation. However, I would not recommend it to the new student of the Bible. In my opinion, this version loses to much of the original wording, especially for some of the theological issues.

There were some interesting insights that Peterson translates, especially some of the parables of Christ. However, I did not like the way Peterson translated other says of Christ, especially some of the "I am" statements ("I am the road!").

Overall, I would recommend reading this book only after you are familiar with a good, accurate translation of the Word of God.




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