Lives 1st

Educating people about Belief Systems is an important part of the TOV Center’s mission. Why? Beliefs drive behaviors. When beliefs change behaviors change. If you were born before 1980 you know the way people behave in America has changed dramatically in your lifetime. However, very few people consider the changes in belief systems that produced those behavioral changes. Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/d0f5379abcc0/why-american-democracy-does-not-work-for-citizens-today

“ God ” is the “ big elephant in the room ” in many conversations and relationships. Everyone knows the elephant is there but no one talks about it – even though it is often a key factor in disagreements over some very important things . In order to have those conversations people need a “ God Talk Vocabulary! ” https://mailchi.mp/d0d195350eed/building-a-god-talk-vocabulary

The first account in Genesis begins and ends with mysteries. The first mystery is that before the beginning, the unidentified god (the Creator), darkness and deep waters existed. The account ends with the second mystery --  Creator’s blessing of the Seventh Day. in the eyes of ancient readers the Seventh Day would have be seen as the most important of the seven days. Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/551e162300c7/the-mystery-of-the-third-blessing

The blessing of the Creator reveals His vision for humanity – and He empowered humans to make that vision a reality . It is a vision (game plan) for “ The Perfecting of Humanity. ” Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/08cf1630d21a/the-creators-vision-for-human-lives-and-societies

One group pictures themselves as people created from parts of a dead god. The other group views themselves as individuals with the presence of a living god. Which way do you view yourself? Read the complete email at – https://mailchi.mp/ce16c2d9f9ea/all-humans-are-spiritual-equals

How many of us have spent a lot of our lives being wrong -- not about everything – but about some important things. Now let’s expand that thought to generations of people who lived their whole lives being wrong about some big things ? Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/e35c5751ab8d/but-what-if-a-lot-of-us-have-been-wrong-about-a-lot-of-things-maybe-about-life-after-death

For most of my life, when I read or heard the word “ Earth ” – anywhere -- the picture that popped into my mind was the familiar photograph of the Earth that has been taken from space. How could it be anything else! Well it did!!! Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/003da327d27c/when-my-bible-became-a-time-machine

To invoke the “ Creator” as the only basis of the “‘ truths” of the new nation would be a very authoritarian and religious approach to truth. In his original rough draft, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “ We hold these truths sacred and undeniable . . .” But that is not what we find in the Declaration of Independence. Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/04cbe6df5bcd/knowing-the-difference-between-self-evident-truths-and-religious-truths

Who is the “ Creator ” in the Declaration of Independence ? Most people mistakenly believe that Thomas Jefferson wrote the above words so it must be his God. But Thomas Jefferson did not write the Declaration of Independence and present it to the Continental Congress. Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/9135df7903b0/thomas-jefferson-and-the-creator-in-the-declaration-of-independence

The TOV Standard is found in the first chapter of Genesis . Its presence is reflected in stories throughout Jewish and Christian Scriptures . However, benefiting from the TOV Standard does not require belief in any theology or relationship to any organized religion. The TOV Standard transforms the ways people make decisions, judge human behaviors, create relationships and work with others to change things . Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/77d191132b7b/how-the-tov-standard-can-change-your-life-and-relationships

The Bible opens with some radical new ideas for the ancient world: ● The god that created the Heaven and the Earth “used a standard” to measure its work. ● “ Human life” was the highest value on that divine standard. ● That god also “created all humans in its image.” But one of the most radical ideas of all was this – continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/2c2ea693388a/hating-with-a-divine-standard