"Having trouble sleeping? We have sermons to help you" 5 tips to improve your preaching

This post comes from Dr Larry Moyer at SermonCentral. It offers a few great tips to improve your preaching.

This is a good start for anyone who is looking for some sound advice to get them started. The more advanced communicator may have a few more ideas to share.

A church wanted to increase its Sunday morning attendance. They decided to try a new marketing idea. The sign on the front lawn read, "Have trouble sleeping? We have sermons - come hear one."

No preacher would want that said of his sermons – here is one to sleep by. I know of no preacher who steps into the pulpit and says, "I think I’ll be boring." The unfortunate truth, though, is that many are. So how do we keep our preaching from becoming boring?

Let's look at five ideas. These won’t solve everything, but they will be a strong start in the right direction; plus, they are all interrelated.

Communicate, don’t just speak

Speaking is when the words of my mouth enter the openings of your ears. Communication is when what is understood in my mind is understood in yours. Communicators are not boring. Only speakers are boring. I’ve never heard one person say, "He is such a boring communicator." That means everything we say has to be so understandable, so relevant, so applicable to life where our listeners are living that they are watching us instead of their watches.

That, in my opinion, is why preachers need to be expositors. Our words may not be correct, meaningful, or penetrating; His Word promises to be so. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Your exposition of Scripture needs to be clear. The passage you studied and tore apart, needs to be put back together before you enter the pulpit. The pulpit is not the place to do your exegesis. Our audiences are not impressed with how much Greek or Hebrew we know. What they really want to know is how the passage we've studied relates to their lives.

That's one reason I am personally committed to speaking in such a way that the audience could take the passage I've spoken from plus my entire message and reduce it to one sentence. I want them to be thinking about that single truth as they leave the church, enter the workplace the next day, drive home and converse with their family. Among other things, that will assure they come back to hear what I have to say again. Relevant truth powerfully and clearly delivered is never boring.

If you want to keep from being boring, don’t make it your goal to speak. Make it your goal to communicate. Now, here is what that demands.

Study! Study! Study! Work! Work! Work!

It takes study and work, both of which can be tiring, to put together a good message. I became distressed years ago when I came across a survey that revealed the average preacher spends 15 minutes of preparation per message.

My mentor and good friend, Haddon Robinson, has said it well, "Thinking is hard work; thinking about thinking is even harder work." As a preacher, you have to think: What is the passage of Scripture saying? What exactly does it mean? How can I explain it in a way my audience will understand? How can I get them to think about their lives, their behavior, their needs, etc? That's hard work.

Speaking takes 15 minutes of preparation. Communication involves hours of preparation that can leave one spiritually energized and physically weary from the work. I personally figure on at least 20 hours per message. A good work ethic is a must in preventing you from becoming a boring speaker.

That's why, to keep from being a boring speaker (particularly if one has a sizable church), he has to be a good delegator. He delegates things to other people so he can give adequate time to study and preparation for speaking. Remember the principle in Acts 6. Others were given responsibilities so those teaching the Word could give themselves to "prayer and to the ministry of the Word." (vs. 4)

Study and work will help you in a third area.

Use Great Illustrations

We are not talking to a reading generation; we are talking to a watching one. It's been said, "People think with pictures in their head." That means to be an interesting speaker you have to use effective illustrations, a few of which are even spiced with humor. One way speaking has changed from 30 years ago is that the number of illustrations needed per message has increased.

Jesus Christ was a master communicator. He communicated, not merely spoke. How often is it said of him in the New Testament, "And he spoke to them a parable"? He used stories to communicate divine truth. Aggressively build an illustration file so that when it's time to speak, you have a whole file to draw from. Trying to find the illustration you need without a file to choose from is difficult and often impossible. The internet will "bail you out" but it will not replace your own illustration file. If I'm speaking from a passage about discipleship, I want 20 to choose from, not two. That way, from my vast reservoir that approaches discipleship from different angles, I can choose the "ringer", the one that fits just right. Illustrations enliven the audience and keep you from being boring.

Understand though, it's not just content that keeps you from becoming a boring speaker. It's also how that content is delivered. Two more ideas must be stressed.

Use Variety in Voice Tone and Speed

Variety in voice tone and speed is what helps to keep a message interesting. Avoid developing a rhythm in your speaking. Use pauses for effectiveness. At times, raise your voice for emphasis, at other times lower it. Speak faster in one sentence and slower in another. This allows the audience to enjoy an effective communicator; the audience doesn’t feel like they’re listening to a lecture. They are apt to say to you, "I benefit from what you say, and I also enjoy your delivery."

Be Enthusiastic

Enthusiasm is engaging and contagious. If you're not excited about the content of your message, the audience is not likely to be either. You are not a huckster who says, "Take this or leave it." Excitement communicates, "This is something that could change your life. Here’s how and why." If you’re not excited about the content of your message, the audience is not likely to be either!

Sustained enthusiasm demands physical fitness. Coach Vince Lombardi was once asked why he drove his players so hard toward physical fitness. He answered, "Because fatigue makes cowards out of all of us." Fatigue also produces a poor speaker. He may start out strong in his introduction, but his lack of physical fitness produces a lack of sustained enthusiasm. If you want to keep your speaking from becoming boring, the discipline of a regular vigorous exercise routine is essential.

Conclusion

These five ideas will go a long way in preventing you from becoming a boring speaker. I personally do not know of any preacher characterized by these five ideas that I would call boring. May God help us to so communicate that people ignore their watches - and even forget they have one. Your people will probably want to put a sign on the front lawn of the church that reads, "Warning - our pastor’s sermons are so interesting, they won’t allow you to sleep"!

So, can you add any ideas or thoughts? I know there are some really effective preachers out there!!!

Technorati tags: preaching, tips, help, effective

Under pressure... An exile from the Church... The difference between tasks and responsibilities

Being in leadership is often quite lonely and difficult. I face demands, expectations, and the weight of trust that is placed in me - and, I admit that I am not worthy.

In the New Testament Luke uses a word to speak of Jesus' suffering in the garden of Gethsemane (an interesting name for that place of suffering, it literally means a place of pressure. It is an olive press) - the word that Luke uses is thlipsis it means a variety of things:

NAS (45) - affliction, 14; afflictions, 6; anguish, 1; distress, 2; persecution, 1; tribulation, 16; tribulations, 4; trouble, 1;

thlipsis - it describes how I feel tonight. I am troubled. I am pressed. I feel distressed. My heart is crushed.

A good friend has resigned from the Ministry because of the inability of our denomination to embrace his radically mission oriented faith. Can you imagine, being pressed out of the Church because you want to do mission!? This friend wants nothing more than to bring people who are on the fringes of society into the centre of Christ's love. There is no structure, or regulation, or procedure, that can capture the miracle of a person finding that God loves them. But, sadly the Church cannot cope with creativity - I feel that all the time as I sit in my meetings. We are an old wineskin. We fear bursting, so we do not accept new wine.

Kev you encourage me (literally, you give me courage) to love Christ, and those who Christ loves, more extravagantly - that means both the Church and those whom the Church struggles to accept! I am sorry that we could not help the Church to see how radical the Gospel is.

My only prayer is that the Gospel will be greater than our fumbling.

You see when it comes to Christ, and Christ's love, there is a significant difference between tasks and responsibilities.

I have often felt that just about anyone can perform tasks (write letters, conduct meetings, draw up statements, hold hearings...), but not everyone has the love and courage to bear the responsibility of being pressed for the sake of the Gospel. I run from the cross of Christ's death, and so his suffering mother stands alone. I fear going to the empty tomb because I just may find that he is not there. I struggle to see Jesus in the dark places, and so I seldom look for him there.

I'm good at tasks, I'm not so good at Gospel responsibility.

Sometimes the pressure of responsibility forces us outside of structures that bind, sometimes the structures themselves cannot cope. Either way, it hurts.

If you would like to find out more about Kevin's remarkable ministry please visit the Labyrinth website.

My sadness tonight is doubled - this good brother and friend, a true Christ follower has left our ministry out of conviction.

On the same day I received a phone call to tell me of litigation against our Church by someone who was dismissed on an issue of discipline. He is likely to be re-admitted to the ministry because of a technicality in the disciplinary process.

And so, I am pressed, I am troubled, I am disturbed, I am afflicted. Perhaps I am not cut out for leadership because I fear that I cannot bear the weight of this responsibility - I wish I could simply do the tasks...

Please pray for our Church. Pray that we would have the courage to love like Christ.

Homosexuality and the Anglican Communion -

This letter came into my inbox from Centre Space, it is quite a challenging and insightful consideration of the Arch Bishop's open letter. I have not edited the grammar in any way so please excuse grammatical errors.

I am sure Davis Mac-Iyalla's response (Changing Attitude Nigeria) to Archbishop Akinola's open letter will interest you.

Archbishop Akinola’s open letter to his fellow primates – a challenge from Changing Attitude Nigeria

Peter Akinola likens the present situation in the Anglican Communion to theoccasion when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Cathedralin Wittenburg. Archbishop Akinola helpfully reminds us that, among otherthings, Luther was asserting that the TRUTH of the gospel must always take precedence over the structures of the church.

For once, how much Changing Attitude Nigeria is in agreement with Archbishop Akinola! In particular we are sure Archbishop Akinola will rejoice at us reminding him of No. 90 of the 95, where Martin Luther asserted that, “To repress these arguments and scruples of the laity by force alone, and not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose the Church and the pope to
the ridicule of their enemies, and to make Christians unhappy”.

Let us remember that in 1998 at the last Lambeth conference, all the bishops including those representing the Anglican Church in Nigeria committed to Lambeth resolution 1.10. Among other things, this included The Listening Process to listen to the experiences as well as the spiritual and theological arguments of gay and lesbian Anglicans. Instead Archbishop Akinola encouraged the government to introduce legislation to oppress us further. Can Archbishop
Akinola please explain how that is compliant with Lambeth Resolution 1.10, and how his behaviour is so different from Martin Luther’s 90th thesis?

It is not just the pastoral and spiritual well-being of gay and lesbian Nigerians that are being totally neglected by the Anglican church of Nigeria, despite his responsibilities in that area. Both gay and straight Nigerians were astonished during the historic recent elections in Nigeria – the first time in Nigeria’s turbulent history when one democratically elected civil
government elected by the whole of the Nigerian people, was going to be replaced by another. Instead of making his presence felt with his guiding hand in that tense and difficult period, when Nigerians were often greatly in need of spiritual guidance, Archbishop Akinola had left the country to install Bishop Martyn Minns. Now, this could have waited. It may have been important in the long run, but – really, was it that urgent, that Archbishop Akinola’s
own constituency had to be abandoned at the time of great need in favour of something that could easily have waited a few weeks? Are souls in America more important than souls in Nigeria?

Among our well-researched arguments, that many Anglicans are coming to realise, are that historically, the powers of the church itself distorted the truth of the gospel from its original meaning and both interpreted and translated it to oppress gay people and women instead of including us as equals. It is Archbishop Akinola who wants to maintain that corruption rather
than seek to establish the genuine truth in its original meaning.

Therefore he is himself guilty of the accusations that Martin Luther aimed at the
church so long ago.

Archbishop Akinola disingenuously uses the phrase ‘other Godly bishops’, as if
those who disagree with his point of view are necessarily ungodly. This is an insulting and arrogant way to refer to bishops who are genuinely seeking biblical truth through prayer, listening to the experiences of those who the church currently condemns, and close re-examination of scripture in the original languages. He seems to imply that no change to the current doctrine is possible, yet a mortal community such as the Anglican Communion can and
does make grave mistakes. It is an honourable organisation that is willing to question itself and acknowledge its errors. If the Anglican Communion had followed Archbishop Akinola’s approach, it would never have relented on its endorsement of slavery that was previously based on an overly-simplistic interpretation of scripture and disregard of other people’s experiences.

Changing Attitude Nigeria insists that the same approach to re-examination of the church’s attitude to slavery – that we are sure Akinola would have approved of – must be applied to the debate around the acceptance of committed Christians, who are faithful and committed members of the Anglican Church, who were born destined to be attracted to the same sex. Therefore there is no justifiable reason for the Lambeth conference not to go ahead as planned, and for all the bishops all over the world including those from the global south
group to attend.

Changing Attitude Nigeria calls on all committed Anglicans, including primates and bishops, to prayerfully seek ways to resolve the present dispute in the Anglican Communion, recognising that we are all striving to achieve the same objective – to understand God’s will and how to apply it in Christian faith.

What are the world's worst products and brands? And, why are they the worst?

Graeme Codrington, who I rate as one of the best public speakers in our nation today, often posts some extremely challenging thoughts on his blog tmtd.biz.

I have heard him speak on two occasions (both were 'mind the gap' presentations - by the way he has written that into a fantastic book that is well worth reading!  Click on the previous link to buy your copy).  Both times I left the presentation inspired, challenged, and ready to change the world!  Not bad for a Baptist (at least I think he's a Baptist!  Please correct me if I'm wrong!)

He posted this very interesting post (I assume it is a challenge to his corporate clients, many of whom must read his blog - since I noted the later post on triple bottom line reporting).  

This was truly challenging stuff:

The world’s worst products, as voted for by Consumers International.

Coca-Cola – for continuing the international marketing of its bottled water, Dasani, despite admitting it comes from the same sources as local tap water.
Kellogg’s – for the worldwide use of cartoon-type characters and product tie-ins aimed at children, despite high levels of sugar and salt in their food products.
Mattel – for stonewalling US congressional investigations and avoiding overall responsibility for the global recall of 21 million products.
With the overall prize going to: Takeda Pharmaceuticals – for taking advantage of poor US regulation and advertising sleeping pills to children, despite health warnings about pediatric use.
Richard Lloyd, Director General of Consumers International, said:

“These multi-billion dollar companies are global brands with a responsibility to be honest, accountable and responsible. In highlighting their short-comings Consumers International and its 220 member organisations are holding corporations to account and demanding businesses take social responsibility seriously.”

See a newspaper report with some details and commentary here.

Technorati tags:  Coca Cola, Kelloggs, Mattel, Takeda Pharmaceuticals

Finding your pathway to God...

A problem that I often face in my preaching is that one has to try to find some way of presenting integral Christian truths in a manner that will appeal to, inspire, comfort, and challenge, many different persons.

Personalities are wonderful things! Some people like noise, others like quiet, some like dirt, others like to be indoors, some people like to stay up late, others like to go to bed early (the two people usually marry one another...)

At Bryanston Methodist Church we have just come towards the end of a series entitled 'Discovering God's Guidance' - the end of this series brings us to our preparations for Christmas. In the series we have tried to help our members understand just how much God longs to reveal God's love, God's purposes, God's will, and God's guidance to us through varying sources of revelation (these have included such elements as scripture, relationships, of course the person of the Holy Spirit etc.).

However, if the truth be told, we all discover God's guidance in different ways - there are some things that switch us on to God, and some that turn us off. That is where this great little resource comes in. It is from the Willow Creek association by John Ortberg. I have enjoyed his books a great deal! They are well written, have a sound theology, but don't bludgeon you to death with boring and unnecessary depth. They are intended for people who wish to learn about their faith in a manner that is engaging and applicable - there are other books, by other authors, to help you delve a more deeply into certain doctrines and approaches to faith.

So, this evening I shall be concluding the service, sharing with Christopher Harrison and our team, in an experience of the 7 Spiritual Pathways that Ortberg has identified. Of course there are many more, but these 7 are pretty wide ranging and helpful.

The 7 pathways to connecting with God and discovering God's guidance that we will talk about are:

1. Creation
2. Worship
3. Contemplative
4. Intellectual
5. Relationship
6. Serving
7. Activism

If you're interested to discover more about these then why not get a copy of Ortberg's book?

I have also attached the experiential liturgy that we shall use the evening, and here's a copy of my sermon (with due diligence paid to the sources from whence it comes).

I hope it will be of some use!

Blessings,

Dion

Click here for the participative and experiential liturgy for the 7 Pathways service.

Click here for the sermon notes for the 7 Pathways/a> service.

Technorati tags: God's Guidance, John Ortberg, 7 Spiritual Pathways, liturgy

Survey shows that 'facebook' gets more internet traffic than porn amongs America University students.

On the way home from this morning's worship service I listened to the TWIT podcast (TWIT stands for 'this week in tech'). On the show Leo Laporte reported on a recent survey of the American .edu domain (Universities in the USA have the .edu domain, e.g., Duke.edu).

The results of the survey showed that internet users between the ages of 18-24 used facebook more often than they searched for pornography on the internet.

Here's the top four uses for the internet according to the survey:

4. Internet pornography
3. Web based email
2. Internet search engines
1. Facebook!

Wow! that is incredible... Anyone else out there an avid facebook user? I have gone off facebook a little in recent months... I probably log on once a week to check my messages and delete all those mindless invites to 'save the toenails of east Bolivian cycling peasants' ...

Technorati tags: facebook, porn, survey, internet usage

Prayers for Remembrance Sunday

This morning I shall be preaching at St Saviour's Presbyterian Church in Midrand, and then at the Bryanston Methodist Church. I shall be using excerpts from this wonderful liturgy in the service.

This Sunday is remembrance Sunday - let us never forget that the way of Christ is love and peace. Let us pray against war and violence, and remember those who have died at the hands of others.

Ever-living God
we remember those whom you have
gathered
from the storm of war into the peace of
your presence;
may that same peace
calm our fears,
bring justice to all peoples
and establish harmony among the nations,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

The following hymn, or another that
similarly expresses hope in God and
trust for the future, may be sung:

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home;

Beneath the shadow of thy throne
thy saints have dwelt secure;
sufficient is thine arm alone,
and our defence is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received her frame,
from everlasting thou art God,
to endless years the same.

A thousand ages in thy sight
are like an evening gone;
short as the watch that ends the night
before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
bears all our years away;
they fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the opening day.

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
be thou our guard while troubles last,
and our eternal home.

You can download the complete copy of the liturgy from this link:Remembrance_Sunday_service_freeversion.rtf

The facebook craze has JUST reached CRAZY proportions! Watch this GEEK youtube video to see what I mean!

Yup, this is the indicator... We've just crossed an invisible line on the intrawebs! FACEBOOK!!! How many of you belong to that time stealing void (sorry, that should read 'social networking tool')?

Well, beware! Here's a video that shows just how incredibly addictive, destructive, and geeky, facebook truly is!

From dvorak.org./blog

Technorati tags: facebook, addiction, geeks

No more 'blogger tags'... That's been the problem

Well, friends, I am pleased to say that I have discovered what has been SLOWING my blog down to a crawl (no, it's not the content! Although that has been known to put some to sleep!)

Rather, it is those pesky 'blogger tags'. They are useful little critters, they let the blog contributors organise their thoughts, ideas, and posts into categories. So, if a reader finds a post interesting and wishes to read all posts on that subject she, or he, simply clicks on the tag and a page will come up listing any posts that were tagged with that subject.

It's a great idea! But, like so many great ideas it has been very poorly implemented! When you have a blog the size of mine, each time to add (or add to) a tag it has to republish the entire tags database! Now when that is an internal transaction on the blogger servers (for those who's blogs are hosted on the blogger.com domain, that's you) it doesn't take to too long. However, if like me you host your blog on your own domain it can take well over an hour to post a single blog entry!!!!

So, this is the end of blogger tags on my blog! In future, I'm afraid that it will take a little more work to find related posts... You will need to use the Search Bar on the top left of the page...

So for example if you want to see all my posts with the word "Vespa" in them you will need to type that into the seach bar and hit return!

R.I.P. blogger tags.... You did not serve me well...

New name for Creationsists... 'New term for creationists: 'cdesign proponentsists'

I call it majoring in minors... You know, like when one gets close to the end of an academic year - the pressure is on, tempers are running high, and students don't have much grace for one another. And so, instead of doing what they should be doing (studying for their final exams), they find things to fight about! They end up missing the mark because they're majoring in minors.

I think the creation / evolution debate is one of those... We have so many bright, creative, committed Christians (from both camps) who are alienated from each other, whose energy and time is dissipated, and their attention is diverted from what really matters (that God loves the world, that God desires for us to be agents of change and renewal in the world etc...)

Anyway, here's an interesting post on a new controversy in the 'creationist' camp:

MAKE senior editor Phillip Torrone reviewed NOVA's Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.

When the advocates of Intelligent Design during the trial said that the book "Of Pandas and People" had nothing to do with creationism, they lied; it turned out the original drafts were all about Creationism. After the drafts were subpoenaed (thousand of pages) it was discovered that a simple search and replace was used to change the text from creationism wording to something, well, less creationism sounding. It was changed because the Supreme Court in 1987 ruled it was unconstitutional to teach creationism in public schools. When I say "search and replace" I really mean they found examples of where the words didn’t exactly get changed enough. You can see it here...

Wherever the word "creationists" appeared it was replaced with "cdesign" "proponentsists" - that’s merely creationists without the "reation" and with "design" and "proponents" replaced in.

Link

Another example of sincere people missing the point...

Technorati tags: creationist, evolution, controversy

American BLOG amazed that South African ATM offers 8 language choices - Koreans mustn't look at women in toilets [pictures]

BoingBoing has this picture of an ABSA Bank ATM on their front page! They are amazed that you can choose from 8 different languages on an ATM here in South Africa.

It's called DIVERSITY... Pronounce it slowly... DIE VER CI TEE.... Not everyone who is of a different race, different gender, different language, or different cultural background is to be forced into a North American English mold, have their country invaded, their natural resources plundered and their ATM's changed to English! Oooopppps, that was just a rant. I deserve to be flamed for that! Sorry.

Can you imagine how the picture taker would have felt if he had discovered that we actually have 11 official languages in South Africa and that the majority of South African speak as many as 4 languages (English, isiZulu (or Xhosa), Sotho (or a variant thereof), and Afrikaans)?

Now that I have upset the Americans, and I do appologise! Truthfully, I have never yet met an American who is what the stereotypes suggest. My experience is that whilst the 'nation state' is quite self obsessed and abusive, all the Americans I have met are just great, open minded, people...

So, now let me poke some fun at South Africans (let's see if I can upset everyone this morning... Sorry!)

When I was in South Korea last year I was amazed to see this sign warning women to watch out for men looking over the tops of toilet stalls... I thought 'how bizarre', but then a Korean friend ask me a simple question, "Do you think it doesn't happen in South Africa", to which I replied "well, I'm sure it does". So he said, "well, why not do something to stop it?"

Sensible! It's amazing what we find strange about one another! Any other crazy signs out there? Just post a link to the comments or email me.

Technorati tags: South Africa, diversity, ATM, Korea

If you're thinking of joining an 'organised crime syndicate' (like the Mafia, the Nigerians, or the cowboys!?) here are 10 commandments to help you!

Yup, our minister of Justice informed us (South Africans) on Thursday this week that 'organised' crime was growing at such a rapid rate in Southern Africa that they were unable to cope with it.

When I heard this I thought two thoughts (which is an incredible feat for me! I had to lie down afterwards!)

First, I thought that it is never a good idea to announce to your citizens that you don't have a handle on crime!!

Second, I thought that having made that very astute announcement to the public, many enterprising persons may consider joining a crime syndicate of some sorts since there seems to be little chance of being caught!

So, here are the 10 commandments for joining the Mafia [insert name of organised crime syndicate here]:

The BBC reports that when Italian police searched a Mafia boss' hideout, they found a list of ten rules for proper mafioso etiquette.

1. No-one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.

2. Never look at the wives of friends.

3. Never be seen with cops.

4. Don’t go to pubs and clubs.

5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even if your wife’s about to give birth.

6. Appointments must absolutely be respected. [someone should teach our mafia friends that split infinitives are never acceptable in English sentences!!! Perhaps they should have a language editor read their work before making it public, or putting it into print... Just a thought - Dion]

7. Wives must be treated with respect.

8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.

9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families. [This makes for a pretty poor crime strategy! Heck you couldn't even be a small time dictator, or the next President of the ANC with a strategy like this! These guys should spend a bit of time with our politicians to see how to 'miss-appropriate' the funds of others. Just a thought for criminals... Dion]

10. People who can’t be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn’t hold to moral values.

Very interesting isn't it! Heck, these guys obviously operated in a time when honour was far more important than success... Now compare the above to Gene Autry's Cowboy Code (from 1930 - look how clean cut he is! Rule 8 makes perfect sense), which I think is just about the best set of rules for living a good life that I ever seen:

1. The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man or take an unfair advantage.

2. A Cowboy must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.

3. A Cowboy must always tell the truth.

4. A Cowboy must be gentle with children, the elderly and small animals.

5. A Cowboy must not adovcate or possess racially or religiously interolerant views and ideas.

6. A Cowboy must help people in distress.

7. A Cowboy must be a good worker.

8. A Cowboy must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action and personal habits.

9. A Cowboy must respect women, parents and his nations's views.

10. A Cowboy is a patriot.

Link (Via The Day The Tried to Kill Me)

I thought this was quite good. At some stage we tried to design a 'code of conduct' for Methodist ministers. We do have the 'Rules of the Helper', but we wanted to make something more contemporary.... One of the rules was not to argue, but we couldn't agree on that, so we gave up ;-)

Technorati tags: cowboy, Mafia, organized crime, 10 commandments, funny