Communication skills are essential to workers of the future. They are already essential to Pastors and Church Workers but Christian Education falls woefully short in that area of training.
Over two Million people have purchased our books and materials on building great relationships and several thousands have attended our classes. For that we are extremely thankful but so much more must be done.
All caring in churches demand great skills.
All great teaching demands it.
All outreach and evangelism demand it.
All healthy families demand it.
Why do so many seminaries and schools leave it out?
It is also a mystery how we can prevent such tragic events.
The press tends to print stories that suggest suicide is caused by one major factor like being bullied. Of course when a child is the victim of bullying they would certainly react strongly but as far as research goes the link between the two is pretty weak.
The data I have seen seems to focus more on the link between family dysfunction and self harm. Adverse Childhood Event Research (ACE Research) has found a strong correlation between the losses of family members through death, disease, depression, drugs, incarceration, etc tends to leave children very vulnerable to childhood and adult dysfunction.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Seniors and the charities they support can greatly benefit from the tax laws.
Millions of Americans will no longer get tax deductions for their charitable donations this year. But givers age 70½ or older often have a great way to get around this change.
It involves making donations directly from a traditional individual retirement account to one or more charities by using a smart move with a clunky name—qualified charitable distribution, or QCD.
“This transfer is usually the best way for IRA owners older than 70½ to do their giving,” says IRA specialist Ed Slott.
A growing number of IRA owners can use this maneuver. Roughly 3.2 million U.S. residents turned 70 in 2018, about 50% more than in 2010, according to estimates based on U.S. Census Bureau data.
The new focus on QCDs arises from the tax overhaul. It nearly doubled the standard deduction taxpayers get if they don’t itemize their write-offs for state taxes, mortgage interest, donations and the like on Schedule A.
This deduction is now $12,000 for single filers and $24,000 for most married couples—high enough so that nearly 29 million more filers will take it than in 2017. Those who do will no longer get write-offs they used to, including for donations.
Yet IRA owners who are 70½ and older have the best of both worlds: They can get a tax break for donations and take the higher standard deduction. In fact, the standard deduction rises to $13,600 for singles and $26,600 for couples age 65 and older.
This is the best way to stop assaults, harassments, bullying, etc. Teach women and kids to protect themselves. If people learn to stand up straight and refuse to take any aggression from a bully or a sexual predator, they are much less likely to be victimized.
We cannot stop all bullying or sexual predators. Bad people will always be around us. I was a small, scrawny kid that older and bigger kids tended to pick on. However, I learned quickly to defend myself and my older brother. As a result I had a reputation for being a tough kid that would fight back and that made bullies back off.
I like the Movie "The Christmas Story" where Ralphie and his little brother were picked on by an evil kid. But Ralphie turned the tables by getting mad and pummeling the bully in the snow!
As a rule it is good to "Turn the other cheek" as Jesus commanded. However, when we run out of cheeks and face a rapist or a killer we cannot resolve the matter peacefully. By being tough and taking a stand we can be safe.
