Lives 1st

Almost thirty years ago I (Jim Myers) met a rabbi (Jeffrey Leynor) and we began discussing our BS (Belief Systems). I was a preacher and pastor of a nondenomination Charismatic church , while Jeffrey was a rabbi of a Conservative synagogue . Our Religious Belief Systems both contained an institutional truth called “ monotheism ” – “the belief that only one God exists.” Read the complete story at -- http://www.tovcenter.org/tov-stories.html

An important skill for personal empowerment is Belief Systems Transparency . Developing this skill requires the following knowledge and then lots of practicing the skills in real life situations. Read the complete article at – http://www.tovcenter.org/transparency.html

Philosophers have been talking about “ realities ” for centuries. Neuroscientists are just now beginning to enter the discussions. Many of the discussions about realities come down to answers to two questions: ● What is real? ● What actually exists? Our answers to the above questions may surprise you. Read the complete article at – http://www.tovcenter.org/realities-101.html

Perhaps the harshest reality of human existence is death. Intellectually, we all know that some day we will die, but we in the West tend to ignore this reality as long as possible. Our culture is devoted to materialism, youth, and power. We put our old people into homes where they often die abandoned and alone. Many build their lives on models that do not take into account “ the fact of death .” Read the complete blog at -- https://tovcenter.blogspot.com/2019/05/thoughts-about-death.html

The Biology of Beliefs is the part of discussions about belief systems that is missing from most conversations because science is just now beginning to understand it. Everything humans think or do begins in the brain -- that makes having a basic awareness of how the brain processes information a top priority . Learn more now at http://www.tovcenter.org/biology-of-beliefs.html

One of the things you would expect everyone to know is why things like the recent Great Recession and the earlier Great Depression keep on happening. The story of capitalism is one long series of “ boom and bust cycles .”   Reading about them or watching videos is one thing, but losing everything you spent your whole life working for is another. Boom and bust cycles are usually the consequences of financial speculation – gambling not investing – by very rich and powerful people. As long as the masses are fighting among themselves about whatever pulls their strings, when the bottom drops out of the economy, they just assume some of their enemies did it and start fighting them over that. Read the complete blog at -- https://tovcenter.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-story-of-panic-of-1893-and-22.html

“People desire death when two fundamental needs are frustrated to the point of extinction; namely, the need to belong with or connect to others, and the need to feel effective with or to influence others.” (P sychologist Thomas Joiner;  Why People Die by Suicide ) 

All of the Jewish Scriptures and the teachings of Yeshua (the real Jesus) focus on answering one question – “ Am I my brother’s keeper? ” I have spent a lot of time for over the past thirty years trying to understand those answers. For many of those years, Dr. Ike Tennison and Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor have been involved in that research with me. In this blog, I am going to give you a 21 st century reconstruction of the story that is responsible for that famous question. After Adam failed to guard and protect Eve’s life from a walking, talking religious snake in the Garden of Eden, God evicted them from their luxurious home -- which also cut them off from a life in which God provided everything for them . How many times sitting around the campfire times do you think Adam was reminded of how “ he ” really messed up a good thing! Now Adam and Eve had to find water, grow crops, make clothing, find shelter and do all of the things required just to survive. But, somehow, in spit...