Time to close a door?

Predictably Irrational:
The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
by Dan Ariely

A hungry donkey approaches a barn one day looking for hay and discovers two haystacks of identical size at the two opposite sides of the barn. The donkey stands in the middle of the barn between the two haystacks, not knowing which to select. Hours go by, but he still can’t make up his mind. Unable to decide, the donkey eventually dies of starvation.

We like options. My friends will tell you that options are bad for me, they joke that I need to get to a restaurant at earlier than everyone else so that when they show up, I know what I want to eat and drink and can order with the rest of them.

But we have a problem. We don't like to close doors. Ariely conducted various experiments with students to study this behavior and found that even though picking a single door would have been more beneficial for the student, every student made sure to explore each door and worked to make sure those doors remained open.

Besides decision making and having options, there's another area in our lives where this impacts us. This is where behavioral economics comes into play. We don't like the idea of losing something and this is very evident on sites like Ebay where bidding is at play. When someone places the highest bid on an item, they start to anticipate ownership of that item and imagine life with that item. They take a virtual ownership. And this drives them to keep the highest bid. They can no longer imagine not having the item.

We have an irrational compulsion to keep doors open.

We need to allow some doors to close, lest we become like the donkey and starve ourselves in indecision.


Also see Decision Making: Everything is Relative for more review on this book.

Decision Making: Everything is Relative

Predictably Irrational:
The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
by Dan Ariely

As it turns out, positive expectations allow us to enjoy things more and improve our perception of the world around us. The danger of expecting nothing is that, in the end, it might be all we’ll get.

Thanks to Facebook, of which I both like and dislike, I was presented with an add for Blinkist. Blinkist is a site that promotes learning and personal growth. If your "to-read" list is like mine, I have more books I want to read than I'll ever be able to get through. Blinkist solves this by giving providing subscribers the key ideas and concepts from over a thousand non-fiction books in under 15 minutes in audio or print form. Think of it as Spark notes in a way.

That's how I came across Predictably Irrational. This is not a book I'd normally pick up, but to test how Blinkist works, I thought I'd listen to their audio snippet, then start reading the book to see how the they compare and what is missed by not reading the book. All in all, Blinkist is nice if you want to get the general idea, but obviously reading the book will lend to more incite on what is presented.

Anyway, enough about Blinkist. Now, time for some "bright ideas" I am getting from this book.

Psychology of Marketing

The book is basically about behavioral economics, the way in which humans behave and make decisions. Back in college, I remember talking about the use of psychology in marketing. Everything from the way a store is laid out to the colors on the walls has to do with how we respond and make decisions.

In this book, there were some very revealing details that I never put much thought into. For example, the way we determine whether or not the price for a product is a good deal. Ariely conducted a study in which studetns were to right down the last two digits of their social security number, then they were asked what they would be willing to pay for a number of products. The result? Students whose last two social security digits were higher were willing to pay more for products than students with lower numbers. This is what Ariely referred to as the anchor. And it can be anything really. It could have been the current temperature. It's relativity in pricing, we see a number and use it as a baseline for purchasing decisions. He also talked about first impressions (the first new product to market sets the price, the anchor, by which we compare all other related products).

We also try to compare similar products and base pricing on that. Restaurants will often overprice their most expensive item on the menu so that when you compare it to the second most expensive, the second meal looks like a better deal.

perception of value, in medicine, soft drinks, drugstore cosmetics, or cars, can become real value.

Another interesting thing is how we perceive value. Ariel conducted a study in which students were given pain medication. In one group, students were told the medication was very expensive, and they reported higher percentage of relief than the students who were given the medication and told it was less than a $1. The result: we expect more when we pay more, and sometimes this blinds us to value the more expensive item higher.

All in all, this was a very good book on our buying habits and how we don't really have a rational way in which we make decisions. I highly recommend this book, especially now that we are coming up on the holidays and everybody is out buying stuff.

Pain and Suffering

The Pain of the World and the Purposes of God
John Piper
http://pca.st/Rpcl

Recently listened to "The Pain of the World and the Purposes of God" from John Piper. Here's a general outline of his main points (a link to the sermon can be found above.

Why do we have a world that’s full of pain and suffering?

• God has ordained in his mercy that sometimes very unbelieving people wake up to his reality because of pain, not because of it’s absence.

2 Answers that are wrong as to why there is evil in the world:

• God isn’t in control
• Matthew 10:29
• Matthew 8:27
• God is in control. Whatever he permits or causes he does so by design.
• God is evil
• God is light, in him there is no darkness at all
• Psalm 93
• “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord Almighty”

4 Correct Answers to why calamities exist::

• The reason calamities exists because God planned a history of redemption (before the world existed). And according to that plan permitted sin to enter into the world so that then there could be a history of mersible redemption from sin.
• 2 Timothy 1:9
• God gave us grace, in Christ, before the world began through the crucifixion of Christ. For that to be true, there had to be sin.
• “It is not sin to will that sin be…It is not sin for God to will that sin happen.”
• God subjected the natural world to futility...God put the natural world under a curse so that the physical horrors of that corruption (disease and death) would become a vivid picture, parable, of the horrors of moral evil, sin. In other words, natural evil exists in the world as a sign post, a parable, of the horrors of moral evil.
• Adam, in the garden, hit God with his heart: “I don’t trust you any more, I’m going to do this myself.”
• Romans 8:20-21
• So that the followers of Jesus Christ would be able to experience and display the profound God-honoring truth that Christ is more precious to us than anything we could lose in this world.
• To make a place for Jesus Christ to suffer and die. If this world didn’t exist, Jesus wouldn’t have a place to suffer and die. “
• The reason there is terror is so that Christ can be terrorized. The reason there is trouble is so that Christ could be troubled. The reason there is pain is so that Christ could feel pain. This world became what it is so that Christ could enter it and feel all of it.”
• Romans 5:8

There are two points that I wanted to call special attention to.

"It is not a sin to will that sin be....It is not sin for God to will that sin happen" - I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Did God will for sin to happen? Piper was making the point that for grace to happen, Christ would've needed to suffer on the cross, and according to 2 Timothy, grace was given to "us in Christ Jesus before the ages began", therefore sin was willed. I'm not sure I agree with this necessarily, but it's something to think about. Perhaps God has allowed sin to happen so that grace can happen, but then you have to ask why allow it at all? Why do we need to experience grace. Why not prevent sin? I think Piper brings that up in the other point I wanted to draw attention to.

"God subjected the natural world to futility...God put the natural world under a curse so that the physical horrors of that corruption, disease and death, would become a vivid picture, parable, of the horrors of moral evil, sin. In other words, natural evil exists in the world as a sign post, a parable, of the horrors of moral evil." This is perhaps my favorite quote from the entire sermon. It's not enough for us to be told something is wrong or harmful, especially when the effects can't be seen, and that's exactly how it unrighteousness, unholiness, is, damaging to the soul and our union with God. To make that clear, we have been given very real and visible consequences to sin, to our disobedience to God. And once we have seen those consequences, we ought to draw closer to God; we ought to find ourselves wanting to stay away from sin. Sin may look appealing, but seeing the consequences, grace should look that much more. Creation was unwillingly subjected to such consequences by Him who willed it (God), in the hope, the anticipation, that it would be set free, through Christ and the cross.

"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." - Romans 8:20-21

Elephant Room: Thoughts, Quotes, Remarks

It's been a month since the The Elephant Room Round 2 event, and since I haven't really posted my reflections and thoughts from the second round, I thought now would be a good time to do that.

Background - About The Elephant Room
This was the second round, hosted by James MacDonald, and the idea behind The Elephant Room is to get pastors together in one room and talk about various issues that the Church is facing as a whole, or talk about issues that pastors are facing in leading the Church.  There are a total of 7 conversations/topics and 7 pastors (including James MacDonald).   For each conversation, there are two pastors in the hot seat and moderated by a third pastor (typically James or Mark Driscoll).  More information can be found at http://www.theelephantroom.com/.

To summarize, below are each of the conversations and a quote or two that I took away from each conversation.  Note:  The quotes below are rough quotes and may not be exact, but the concept should be the same nonetheless.


A Little Help - The Future Of Denominations & World Missions (Jack Graham | Mark Driscoll)
This conversation discussed denominations and their role today.  Are denominations still relevant?  What is the difference between denominations and networked churches?  Harvest Bible Chapel would be a network of churches in that each church is its own entity, and while they all follow a same/similar format, each one operates individually and not a top-down approach.  All pastors would agree that whether your church is part of a denomination or not, the importance is sharing the Gospel.  James MacDonald said, "Less control, more empowerment to get the Gospel out."  Denominations are just as relevant as independent churches, as long as the Gospel is being preached.

The Gospel - What's Essential For The Gospel & Presenting It (Crawford Lorritts | Steven Furtick)
Basically the point here is what must be included when sharing the Gospel (ie. what teachings or beliefs make up the Gospel).  Each pastor also believes that we need to do less watering down of the Gospel and present it as is.  "The message of Jesus is offensive (double meaning):  it offends and it is on the offensive, moving forward", Steven Furtick.  Christians, including some pastors, try to soften or water the Gospel with fear that presenting it as is would offend people.  Christianity isn't about making everybody feel good about themselves and softening the reality of Hell.  Hell exists, Hell is real, and we need to stick to what the Bible says, not create  a feel good, everybody wins doctrine.  "When you're drowning in Lake Michigan, don't describe the color and features of the rescue boat.  Point them to Jesus and don't cloud the cross.  It is simple and beautiful as it is," Crawford Lorritts.  My favorite quote from this section was by Mark Driscoll, "It's easier to be a critic than a pastor."

A Hard Day's Night - Burn Out & The Pressures Of Ministry (Wayne Cordeiro | James MacDonald)
Ministry burn out is no secret, and some say it is the inevitable.  For this conversations, the pastor's talk about warning signs and how to prevent burn out before it happens.  There were a lot of quotes that I liked in the section, but here are a few:  "50% of leadership is self management," Wayne Cordeiro.  "We don't forget we're pastors, we forget we're human," Wayne Cordeiro.

Ticket to Ride - "Majors" Of Christianity, Sound Doctrine (T.D. Jakes | Mark Driscoll)
This conversation talked about the use of labels and the doctrines or theology that we believe.  "We believe different things...Everything we believe doesn't fully describe God and all that He is," said T.D. Jakes, "When we get to know people by their labels, then comes all of the baggage that defines those labels,."  Despite some differences that T. D. Jakes has from the other pastors that were in the room, there was a relief in the room when T. D. Jakes professed the core doctrines of theology.  My favorite quote here is from James MacDonald, "I am leery of people who try to erase mystery and replace it with certainty, all in the name of sound doctrine."

Come Together - Racial Doctrine in Church (Jack Graham | T. D. Jakes)
It is obvious in our Church today that there is a lack of cultural diversity, and this conversation seeks to bring more diversity to the Church.  "There was more cultural diversity in the 50s and 60s than there is now," Crawford Lorritts.  "The thing that God hates most, if He could ever get a voice in church, is Pride," T.D. Jakes said, "God uses the most culturally diverse people in the Bible," (speaking of people like Moses and Paul).

Help - What To Do When Staff Morally Fails (Wayne Cordeiro | Crawford Lorritts)
Not only do many people burn out in ministry, some fall to sin while serving, and this conversation talks about  dealing with those who fall morally, including pastors and other staff members.  In dealing with those who are in ministry and fall morally, Crawford Lorritts said "If they are negotiating, they have not repented.  If they are concerned about their image/reputation, they have not repented."  Wayne Cordeiro said, "It is better to confess than it is to admit."

We Can Work This Out - Christian Relationships, Associates, & Contexts (Steven Furtick | James MacDonald)
One of the James' biggest points and goals of the Elephant Room is to get to know other pastors and people before getting to know them by their label or what others say, and something that I have come to practice myself when I hear things about various pastors or people (though I am not perfect in this area).  "I'm gonn start getting in a room with people and get to know them before I draw conclusions about them," James MacDonald said.  Instead of starting with Googling people and drawing conclusions, we should get to know them a little first.  Sounds clips taken out of context can mean something different than in context.  And as said previously, it is easier to be a critic than a pastor.

There was a lot to take away from the Elephant Room.  I always enjoy it when pastors can get together, differences aside, and have a civil conversation.  While others wanted more of a debate or argument, James MacDonald has said that his goal with the Elephant Room is to simply bring unity among pastors and the Church.

Internet Blackout: Just a Day or the Future?

If you experience problems on the web tomorrow, Wednesday January 18, 2012, it may not be your computer or connection.  Some companies, such as Wikipedia and Mozilla, have announced that their sites are going dark in opposition to the SOPA bill (H. R. 3261), which will be discussed by the House Judiciary Committee in February.

Photo by: Samuel Anderson (Gravity)

So, what is SOPA?  SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act (also known as Protect IP Act, PIPA, in the Senate), is an attempt by the media industry to stop online piracy.  Sounds good right?  Wrong.  The content in this bill are vague enough that it could cripple the internet as we know it.  Ever shared a song or music video on Facebook?  Under this bill, Facebook would be responsible for the content shared by its users.  If a user shares a song or video on Facebook, this will would allow the media industry to shutdown Facebook.  Same goes for any other site.  We could say good by to user-generated content, including blogs (which will probably be the first to go).

Do you use Dropbox or online storage sites?  Since those sites could potentially be used for piracy, they too could be shut down.

The title of the bill sounds good, but in the end, it will(!) cripple the internet.  We need to make sure this bill does not go through.  Here's a video to help explain SOPA:




PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

For more information about this bill, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act (although you may not be able to on Wednesday, annoying and another reason to stop SOPA).

Also, you can sign a petition at http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa

Or, the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), which will be participating in Blackout Day, also has detailed information about the bill and a place to send a message to your local representative(s):  http://blacklist.eff.org - just enter your zip code and street address to send message (on the left of the page).

Happy Blackout Day and may the internet live on while SOPA does not!

- Other Sources:
  Reuters - Internet Blackout Against U.S. Law Fails To Enlist Big Sites
       http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/18/us-internet-protest-idUSTRE80H01U20120118
  CBS News - Wikipedia, MoveOn, Reddit, Mozilla Shuts Down to Protest SOPA/PIPA, How to Prepare
        http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57360174-501465/wikipedia-moveon-reddit-mozilla-shuts-down-to-protest-sopa-pipa-how-to-prepare/