Jesus' Criticisms of Religious Leaders

Here is a list of Jesus' criticisms about religious leadership in his day:

They did not practice what they taught (hypocrisy). 

They put heavy burdens on others but not themselves (legalism). 

They sought and loved public recognition (pride). 

Status, respect and titles were important to them (arrogance). 

They locked people out of the kingdom (judgmental). 

They established laws to benefit themselves (greed). 

They neglected to emphasize justice and mercy (bias). 

They were accomplices to silencing the prophets (oppressive).

George Johnson, Critical Decisions in Following Jesus, CSS Publishing Company

We are all equal creatures before God

"When you realize that we are all equal creatures before God, you can help others without being patronizing and superior, and you can receive without being degraded."

~ Rev. Dr. Diogenes Allen (1932-2013), Theologian, Professor of Philosophy, Princeton Theological Seminary

"Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but more have fallen by the tongue."

"Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but more have fallen by the tongue."

~ Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 28:18

"Lord God, please bless them and change me."

"Lord God, please bless them and change me."

~ traditional prayer, author unknown,
for remaining calm when unjustly criticized

“Putting things off is the biggest waste of life" Seneca

“It’s not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”

~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow, and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”

~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Betty White quotes

Betty White quotes

“I'm a teenager trapped in an old body.”

~ Betty White

“If one has no sense of humor, one is in trouble.”

~ Betty White, If You Ask Me: And of Course You Won't

“Why do people say "grow some balls"? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.”

~ Betty White

“I don't care who anybody sleeps with. If a couple has been together all that time -- and there are gay relationships that are more solid than some heterosexual ones -- I think it's fine if they want to get married. I don't know how people can get so anti-something. Mind your own business, take care of your affairs, and don't worry about other people so much.”

~ Betty White

“You can lie to anyone in the world and even get away with it, perhaps, but when you are alone and look into your own eyes in the mirror, you can’t sidestep the truth. Always be sure you can meet those eyes directly.”

~ Betty White, If You Ask Me: And of Course You Won't

“That’s when you have to remember that image in the mirror and not let success get to you. It is important that you not believe your own publicity. Be grateful for whatever praise you receive, but take it with a grain of salt.”

~ Betty White, If You Ask Me: And of Course You Won't

“However, if one is lucky enough to be blessed with good health, growing older shouldn’t be something to complain about. It’s not a surprise, we knew it was coming—make the most of it. So you may not be as fast on your feet, and the image in your mirror may be a little disappointing, but if you are still functioning and not in pain, gratitude should be the name of the game.”

~ Betty White, If You Ask Me: And of Course You Won't

“It's your outlook on life that counts. If you take yourself lightly and don't take yourself too seriously, pretty soon you can find the humor in our everyday lives. And sometimes it can be a lifesaver.”

~ Betty White

“My mother always used to say: The older you get, the better you get, unless you’re a banana.”

~ Betty White

tyranny sincerely exercised "for the good of its victims"

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

~ C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)

“Family isn’t always your relatives."

Our Class is a Family
by Shannon Olsen

“Family isn’t always your relatives. It’s the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile, and who love you no matter what.”
Teachers do so much more than just...

"If you forgive your enemies, it messes up their heads."

"I learned some invaluable lessons in Nashville that apply to both farming and show business:
Do not corner something you know is meaner than you;
keep skunks of all kinds at a distance;
if you forgive your enemies, it messes up their heads." 

~ Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson, Turk Pipkin (2006). “The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart”, p.53, Penguin
http://www.azquotes.com/author/10736-Willie_Nelson

“Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”

“Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”

~ Marilyn Monroe

"Everything you love will probably be lost, but ... will return in another way."

"Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way."

~ Franz Kafka

Leadership - Brené Brown

"A leader is any person who holds themselves accountable for finding the potential in people and has the courage to develop that potential."

~ Brené Brown

"the past has been abolished" - George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

"Do you realize that the past, starting from yesterday, has been actually abolished? If it survives anywhere, it’s in a few solid objects with no words attached to them, like that lump of glass there. Already we know almost literally nothing about the Revolution and the years before the Revolution. Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
Part Two, Section 5

"How many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you?"

 "When you get to my age, you'll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. 
That's the ultimate test of how you have lived your life. 
The more you give love away, the more you get."

~ Warren Buffett