Bible.org: The Bankruptcy of the Prosperity Gospel:An Exercise in Biblical and Theological Ethics

Bible.org: The Bankruptcy of the Prosperity Gospel:An Exercise in Biblical and Theological Ethics

The Bankruptcy of the Prosperity Gospel:An Exercise in Biblical and Theological Ethics

By: David Jones M.Div.; Ph.D. (Bio)

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Just over one hundred years ago, the renowned pastor and statesman Charles H. Spurgeon spoke these words to the then-largest congregation in all Christendom:

I believe that it is anti-Christian and unholy for any Christian to live with the object of accumulating wealth. You will say, “Are we not to strive all we can to get all the money we can?” You may do so. I cannot doubt but what, in so doing, you may do service to the cause of God. But what I said was that to live with the object of accumulating wealth is anti-Christian.1

Over the years, however, the message being preached in some of the largest churches in the world has changed. Due, in part, to the rise of several ungodly philosophies and movements,2 a new gospel is being taught today. This gospel has been ascribed many names, such as the “name it and claim it” gospel, the “blab it and grab it” gospel, the “health and wealth” gospel, the “word of faith” movement, the “gospel of success,” the “prosperity gospel,” and “positive confession theology.”3

No matter what name is used, though, the teaching is the same. Simply put, this egocentric gospel teaches that God wants believers to be materially wealthy. Listen to the words of Robert Tilton, one of the prosperity gospel’s most well-known spokesmen: “I believe that it is the will of God for all to prosper because I see it in the Word [of God], not because it has worked mightily for someone else. I do not put my eyes on men, but on God who gives me the power to get wealth.”4

Teachers of the prosperity gospel encourage their followers to pray, and even demand, of God “everything from modes of transportation (cars, vans, trucks, even two-seat planes), [to] homes, furniture, and large bank accounts.”5 By closely examining the faulty theology and errant biblical interpretation of the teachers of this movement, this study will prove that the prosperity gospel teachings regarding the acquisition and accumulation of wealth are ethically incorrect.
The Theology of the Prosperity Gospel

“Theology is important,” wrote scholar Millard J. Erickson, “because correct doctrinal beliefs are essential to the relationship between the believer and God.”6 A corollary to this statement is that an incorrect theology will lead to incorrect beliefs about God, His Word, and His dealings with men. The thesis of this paper is that the prosperity gospel is constructed upon a faulty theology. Consequently, many of its doctrines, including the teachings concerning wealth, are erroneous. While it is beyond the scope of this study to examine in detail all of the specific doctrines of prosperity theology, there are four crucial areas of error relating to their teachings on wealth that may be isolated and examined. These areas are the Abrahamic covenant, the Atonement, giving, and faith.
Prosperity Theology and the Abrahamic Covenant

The theological basis of the prosperity gospel is the Abrahamic covenant.7 While this is good in that prosperity theologians recognize that much of Scripture is the record of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, it is bad in that they do not maintain an orthodox view of this covenant. Prosperity theologians hold an incorrect view of the inception of the Abrahamic covenant; what is more germane to the present study, however, they hold to an erroneous view concerning the application of the covenant.8

Researcher Edward Pousson best stated the prosperity view on the application of the Abrahamic covenant when he wrote, “Christians are Abraham’s spiritual children and heirs to the blessings of faith.... This Abrahamic inheritance is unpacked primarily in terms of material entitlements.”9 In other words, according to the prosperity gospel, the primary purpose of the Abrahamic covenant was for God to bless Abraham materially. Since believers are now “Abraham’s spiritual children,” they consequently have inherited these financial blessings of the covenant.

Prosperity teacher Kenneth Copeland wrote, “Since God’s Covenant has been established and prosperity is a provision of this covenant, you need to realize that prosperity belongs to you now!”10 Referring to the prosperity theology of Kenneth Hagin, author Harvey Cox wrote, “Through the crucifixion of Christ, Christians have inherited all the promises made to Abraham, and these include both spiritual and material well-being.”11 To support this claim, prosperity teachers such as Copeland and Hagin appeal to Gal. 3:14, which says “that the blessings of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. . . .”12 While it is not an understatement to say that the problems with this argument are legion, two glaring problems need to be addressed. First, in their appeal to Gal. 3:14, prosperity teachers ignore the second half of the verse, which reads, “That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”13 In this verse Paul clearly was reminding the Galatians of the spiritual blessing of salvation, not the material blessing of wealth.

Second, prosperity teachers claim that the conduit through which believers receive Abraham’s blessings is faith. This completely ignores the orthodox understanding that the Abrahamic covenant was an unconditional covenant.14 That is, the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant were not contingent upon one man’s obedience. Therefore, even if the Abrahamic covenant did apply to Christians, all believers would already be experiencing the material blessings regardless of prosperity theology.
Prosperity Theology and the Atonement

A second cracked pillar upon which prosperity theology stands is that of a faulty view of the Atonement. Theologian Ken Sarles wrote that “the prosperity gospel claims that both physical healing and financial prosperity have been provided for in the Atonement.”15 This seems to be an accurate observation in light of teacher Kenneth Copeland’s comment that “the basic principle of the Christian life is to know that God put our sin, sickness, disease, sorrow, grief, and poverty on Jesus at Calvary.”16 This misunderstanding of the Atonement stems from two errors that proponents of the prosperity gospel make.

First, many who hold to prosperity theology have a fundamental misconception of the life of Christ. For example, teacher John Avanzini proclaimed that “Jesus had a nice house, a big house,”17 “Jesus was handling big money,”18 and He even “wore designer clothes.”19 It is easy to see how such a warped view of the life of Christ could lead to an equally warped misconception of the death of Christ.

A second error of prosperity theology, which also leads to a faulty view of the Atonement, is the misinterpretation of 2 Cor. 8:9. Without exception, this is the verse to which prosperity teachers appeal in order to support their view of the Atonement. The verse reads, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”20 This problem with this interpretation is, of course, that in this verse Paul was in no way teaching that Christ died on the cross for the purpose of increasing anyone’s net worth materially. In fact, Paul was actually teaching the exact opposite principle.

Contextually, it is clear that Paul was teaching the Corinthians that since Christ accomplished so much for them through the Atonement, then how much more ought they empty themselves of their riches in service of the Savior. This is why just five short verses later Paul would urge the Corinthians to give their wealth away to their needy brothers, writing “that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack.”21 Commentator Philip E. Hughes wrote of 2 Cor. 8:9, “The logic implicit in the statement of this great truth is too obvious for anyone to miss it.”22 Apparently, however, the champions of the prosperity gospel have indeed missed it.
Prosperity Theology and Giving

One of the most striking characteristics of the prosperity theologians is their seeming fixation with the act of giving. Students of the prosperity gospel are urged to give generously and are confronted with such pious statements as, “True prosperity is the ability to use God’s power to meet the needs of mankind in any realm of life,”23 and, “We have been called to finance the gospel to the world.”24 While at face value these statements do indeed appear to be praiseworthy, a closer examination of the theology behind them reveals that the prosperity gospel’s emphasis on giving is built on anything but philanthropic motives. The driving force behind this emphasis on giving is what teacher Robert Tilton referred to as the “Law of Compensation.”25 According to this law, which is supposedly based on Mark 10:30,26 Christians need to give generously to others because when they do, God gives back more in return. This, in turn, leads to a cycle of ever-increasing prosperity.

As Gloria Copeland put it, “Give $10 and receive $1,000; give $1,000 and receive $100,000;... in short, Mark 10:30 is a very good deal.”27 It is evident, then, that the prosperity gospel’s doctrine of giving is built upon faulty motives. Whereas Jesus taught His disciples to “give, hoping for nothing in return,”28 prosperity theologians teach their disciples to give because they will get a great return. One cannot help but agree with author Edward Pousson’s observation that the stewardship of “the prosperity message is in captivity to the American dream.”29
Prosperity Theology and Faith

A final area of prosperity theology that merits investigation is that of the doctrine of faith. Whereas orthodox Christianity understands faith to be “trust in the person of Jesus Christ, the truth of His teaching, and the redemptive work He accomplished at Calvary,”30 prosperity teachers espouse quite a different doctrine. In his book, The Laws of Prosperity, Kenneth Copeland wrote that “faith is a spiritual force, a spiritual energy, a spiritual power. It is this force of faith which makes the laws of the spirit world function. . . . There are certain laws governing prosperity revealed in God’s Word. Faith causes them to function.”31 This is obviously a faulty, if not heretical, understanding of faith. Later in the same book Copeland wrote that “if you make up your mind . . . that you are willing to live in divine prosperity and abundance, . . . divine prosperity will come to pass in your life. You have exercised your faith.”32 According to prosperity theology, faith is not a theocentric act of the will, or simply trust in God; rather it is an anthropocentric spiritual force, directed at God. Indeed, any theology that views faith solely as a means to material gain rather than the acceptance of heavenly justification must be judged as faulty and inadequate.
The Biblical Interpretation of the Prosperity Gospel

As has already been demonstrated in this paper, the hermeneutics of the prosperity movement leaves much to be desired. Author Ken Sarles wrote of the prosperity teachers that their “method of interpreting the biblical text is highly subjective and arbitrary. Bible verses are quoted in abundance without attention to grammatical indicators, semantic nuances, or literary and historical context. The result is a set of ideas and principles based on distortion of textual meaning.”33 Indeed, a survey of the volumes of literature produced by the prosperity teachers yields numerous examples of such misinterpretations. As was the case in the theological study of this movement, an analysis of all such examples of misinterpreted texts would fall beyond the scope of this study. However, it is possible to choose one verse as an example and to examine both the prosperity gospel and orthodox interpretations of the text.

A suitable verse for this study is 3 John 2.34 In this verse, the Apostle John wrote, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”35 This verse is interpreted by prosperity teachers to mean that God wants all believers to “prosper in all things.” Furthermore, their interpretation of this verse makes clear their claim that material prosperity is inseparably linked to spiritual growth. Oral Roberts, regarded by many to be the father of the prosperity gospel movement, claimed at the beginning of his ministry, during a time of search for direction, that God miraculously led him to 3 John 2, which he understood as a revelation of the prosperity gospel.36

Another faith teacher who has built his ministry around this faulty interpretation of 3 John 2 is Kenneth Copeland. Author Kenneth Kantzer noted that “Copeland misinterprets this [verse] as a universal promise,”37 and writer Bruce Barron remarked that “the Copelands use these words so often that they appear to be the key verse of their ministry.”38 A careful study of 3 John 2, however, reveals that this verse is not a carte blanche approval of prosperity gospel teachings.

Those who use 3 John 2 to support the prosperity gospel are committing two crucial errors, the first contextual and the second grammatical. First, con-textually, one is wise to note that John’s purpose in writing 3 John 2 was not to teach doctrine; it was simply to open his letter with a greeting. This is not to say that doctrine cannot be derived from a nondoctrinal passage, for all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, but it is to say that one must be sensitive to the original author’s intent. Therefore, the claim that 3 John 2 teaches the doctrine of prosperity ought to be regarded as suspect at best. Second, one is wise to note the meaning of the word “prosperity” as it occurs in this verse. The term translated “prosperity” is a form of the Greek word eujodovw. This word, which is used only four times in Scripture, does not mean to prosper in the sense of “gaining material possessions,” but rather means “to grant a prosperous expedition and expeditious journey,” or “to lead by a direct and easy way.”39 The wording of modern translations such as the New International Version even reflect this nuance of the word.40 Therefore it is evident that teachers who understand 3 John 2 to teach prosperity theology are misinterpreting the text.
Conclusion

Through this study of the theology and the biblical interpretation of the prosperity gospel, one may discern five clear reasons why this movement’s teachings concerning wealth are incorrect:

1. The prosperity gospel is built upon a faulty understanding of the Abrahamic covenant.

2. The prosperity gospel is built upon a faulty understanding of the Atonement.

3. The prosperity gospel is based upon a faulty understanding of the biblical tachings on giving.

4. The prosperity gospel is based upon a faulty understanding of the biblical teachings on faith.

5. The prosperity gospel, in general, has been constructed upon faulty biblical interpretation.

Aside from these five specific theological and biblical arguments against the prosperity gospel, and without even considering the practical implications of this movement,41 there is perhaps one general, summary reason why the prosperity gospel is a wayward gospel: its faulty view of the relationship between God and man. Simply put, if the prosperity gospel is correct, grace becomes obsolete, God becomes irrelevant, and man is the measure of all things. Whether it is the Abrahamic covenant, the Atonement, giving, faith, or the biblical interpretation of any given verse, the prosperity teacher seeks to turn the relationship between God and man into a financial quid pro quo transaction. As scholar James R. Goff noted, God is “reduced to a kind of ‘cosmic bellhop’ attending to the needs and desires of his creation.”42 This is a wholly inadequate and unbiblical view of the relationship between God and man and the stewardship of wealth.

Note: This article was originally published in Faith and Mission Vol 16, p. 79ff. Published with permission.

1 Tom Carted, ed., 2,200 Quotations from the Writings of Charles H. Spurgeon (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988), 216.

2 While it is impossible to trace the prosperity gospel back to an exact starting point, there are at least three movements from which it draws its ideas. One is the experience-centered Christianity which was birthed in the mind of nineteenth-century theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher and has come to fruition in the form of the twentieth-century Charismatic movement. A second philosophy that gave rise to the prosperity gospel was the “positive thinking” school of Norman Vincent Peale. Indeed, scholar Harvey Cox wrote concerning the prosperity gospel that “it owed much to the ‘positive thinking’ of the late Norman Vincent Peale.” Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1995), 272. The third modern movement that has influenced the prosperity gospel is simply the “American dream,” or materialism.

3 For the purpose of this paper, the phrase “prosperity gospel” will be used.

4 Robert Tilton, God’s Word about Prosperity (Dallas, TX: Word of Faith Publications, 1983), 6.

5 David Pilgrim, “Egoism or Altruism: A Social Psychological Critique of the Prosperity Gospel of Televangelist Robert Tilton,” Journal of Religious Studies, 18.1-2 (1992): 3.

6 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985), 28.

7 This important covenant is mentioned numerous times in the writings of the prosperity teachers, i.e., Gloria Copeland, God’s Willis Prosperity (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1973), 4-6; Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1974), 51; idem, Our Covenant with God (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1987), 10; Edward Pousson, Spreading the Flame (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 158; and Kenneth Copeland, The Troublemaker (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Publications, n.d.), 6.

8 Prosperity teacher Kenneth Copeland articulated his movement’s view of the inception of the Abrahamic covenant best when he wrote that “after Adam’s fall in the Garden, God needed an avenue back into the earth;... since man was the key figure in the Fall, man had to be the key figure in the redemption, so God approached a man named Abram. He reenacted with Abram what Satan had done with Adam. . . . God offered Abram a proposition and Abram bought it.” Kenneth Copeland, Our Covenant with God, 10.

9 Pousson, 158.

10 Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity, 51.

11 Cox, 271.

12 Gal. 3:14a (NKJV).

13 Gal. 3:14b (NKJV).

14 That the Abrahamic covenant is an unconditional covenant can be demonstrated by four facts. First, the covenant ceremony in Genesis 15 was unilateral. In fact, Abraham was asleep. Second, no conditions are stated in the covenant. Third, in the restatement of the covenant in Gen. 17:7,13, and 19, the covenant is called “everlasting.” Finally, the covenant was confirmed despite Abraham’s continued disobedience and lack of faith.

15 Ken L. Sarles, “A Theological Evaluation of the Prosperity Gospel,” Bibliotheca Sacra 143 (Oct.-Dec. 1986): 339.

16 Kenneth Copeland, The Troublemaker, 6.

17 John Avanzini, “Believer’s Voice of Victory,” program on TBN, 20 January 1991. Quoted in Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1993), 381.

18 Idem, “Praise the Lord,” program on TBN, 15 September 1988. Quoted in Hanegraaff, 381.

19 Avanzini, “Believer’s Voice of Victory.”

20 2 Cor. 8:9 (NKJV).

21 2 Cor. 8:14 (NKJV).

22 Philip E. Hughes, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishers, 1962), 300.

23 Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity, 26.

24 Gloria Copeland, God’s Will Is Prosperity, 45.

25 Theologian Ken Sarles rightly noted that “the Law of Compensation [is] the bedrock of the prosperity movement.” Sarles, 349.

26 In Mark 10:29-30, Jesus stated, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sister or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life” (NKJV). Other verses that the “Law of Compensation” is based upon include Eccl. 11:1, 2 Cor. 9:6, and Gal. 6:7.

27 Gloria Copeland, 54.

28 Luke 10:35 (NKJV).

29 Pousson, 159.

30 J. D. Douglas, and Merrill C. Tenny, eds., The New International Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1987), s.v. “faith.”

31 Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity, 19.

32 Ibid.,41.

33 Sarles, 337.

34 Sarles says that this is an “often quoted verse” in the prosperity movement. Sarles, 338. Hanegraaff wrote that 3 John 2 was a “classic example” of prosperity misinterpretation. Hanegraaff, 223. Gordon Fee called 3 John 2 “the basic Scripture text of the cult of prosperity.” Gordon Fee, “The ‘Gospel’ of Prosperity,” Reformation Today 82 (Nov.-Dec. 1984): 40. Bruce Barron wrote that 3 John 2 was “the ‘Old Faithful’ of prosperity proof texts.” Bruce Barron, The Health and Wealth Gospel (Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 1987), 91.

35 3 John 2 (NKJV).

36 For a full account of Roberts’ miraculous revelation concerning 3 John 2, see Barron, 62.

37 Kenneth S. Kantzer, “The Cut-Rate Grace of a Health and Wealth Gospel,” Christianity Today, vol. 29, June 1985, 14.

38 Barron, 91.

39 Joseph Henry Thayer, The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1981), s.v., “eiio86w.”

40 “Dear Friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well” (3 John 2, NIV).

41 There are numerous practical implications that arise from the prosperity gospel view on wealth. While it would take a lengthy treatise to explore and explain them all, three are important enough to be considered here. First, the prosperity gospel incorrectly implies that poverty is a sin. Teacher Robert Tilton even said that “being poor is a sin.” Robert Tilton, “Success in Life,” program on TBN, 27 December 1990, quoted in Hanegraaff, 186. Likewise, Kenneth Copeland wrote that “poverty is under the curse of the Law.” Copeland, Laws of Success, 51. Second, the prosperity gospel “appeals to the poor and the sick to put more faith in the ultimate fulfillment of their desires than in the Word of God.” Sarles, 343. Third, when the prosperity gospel does cause positive changes in a believer’s life, the prosperity teacher gets most of the credit, and when the believer does not experience prosperity, the blame is usually left upon that individual. For example, Robert Tilton offered several reasons why some believers did not experience blessings: “Individuals lacked faith, refused to follow his directions, and criticized Tilton’s ministry.” Pilgrim, 7.

42 James R. Goff, Jr., “The Faith That Claims,” Christianity Today, vol. 34, February 1990,21.

Harvard gets record $100m gift from Rockefeller-USA-World-The Times of India

Harvard gets record $100m gift from Rockefeller-USA-World-The Times of India

Harvard gets record $100m gift from Rockefeller
26 Apr 2008, 0230 hrs IST,REUTERS

BOSTON: Philanthropist David Rockefeller donated a record $100 million to Harvard University's undergraduate programme, the largest gift by a Harvard alumnus in the history of the oldest US college.

About $70 million will be used to expand Harvard's student travel and study abroad programmes and $30 million will go to arts education, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school said in a statement on Friday.

Rockefeller, 92, the last surviving grandchild of billionaire oil tycoon John Rockefeller, is listed by Forbes magazine as one of the 150 wealthiest Americans, with an estimated fortune of $2.7 billion.

He graduated in 1936 from Harvard College, the school's undergraduate arm.

"Harvard opened my eyes and my mind to the world," Rockefeller said in a statement. "It was because of Harvard's language requirement that I spent the summer of 1933 in Germany and saw firsthand the ominous rise of fascism. And it was at Harvard that I first studied art history," the noted art collector said.

A parallel run from Rajghat-India-The Times of India

A parallel run from Rajghat-India-The Times of India

A parallel run from Rajghat
18 Apr 2008, 0401 hrs IST,TNN

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NEW DELHI: Two torch runs took place in the city on Thursday. Hours before the Olympic torch relay began, Tibetan protesters embarked on a parallel run in the Capital, starting from Rajghat.

The parallel run — Torch 4 Tibet — was a peaceful protest organised by Tibetans against what they termed as 'Chinese atrocities' in their homeland.

Organised by the Tibetan Solidarity Committee, Delhi, participants included hundreds of Tibetans and their Indian supporters who had come from different parts of the country.

A large number of protesters gathered at Rajghat where monks offered prayers near Mahatma Gandhi’s samadhi. This was followed by a Tibetan dance and lighting of the torch.

"This torch signifies the true spirit of Olympics, not the one that is kept under tight security. As that torch has come from a country where human rights are violated, we decided to organise a parallel torch run to live the true spirit of Olympics,” said Tseten Norbu, spokesperson, Tibetan Solidarity Committee.

Holding placards, carrying the Tibetan flag and shouting slogans like 'Free Tibet' and asking the Indian government to support them in their struggle for freedom, the protesters began their march towards Barakhamba Road from Rajghat.

The rally culminated at Jantar Mantar, which was transformed into mini-Tibet, with praying monks, folk dancers performing traditional dances and Tibetans depicting life in their homeland.

"I have never been to Tibet, but my mother has taught us rituals which they followed there. I’m a grandmother now, but I have very little to tell my grandchildren. I want to visit Tibet once before I die," said Tenzing Chunzom, a housewife who lives in Majnu Ka Tila.

At the venue, people lit lamps for those who sacrificed their lives during the struggle for freedom.

Supporting the Tibetans in their peaceful run were Samata Party president George Fernandes, Swami Agnivesh, Jaya Jaitley, actor-turned-activist Nafisa Ali, Kirti Azad and BJP MP Kiran Rijju. "We condemn the killing of Tibetans. This torch is a symbol of non-violent struggle for freedom," said Jaitley.

"Our aim is to draw the world’s attention to what’s happening in Tibet. Human rights are being violated. We are asking the Indian government to put pressure on China to start a dialogue with Dalai Lama. We don't approve of violent protests. We are just following Mahatma Gandhi and Dalai Lama’s way of protest," said Youdon Aukatsang, member, Tibetan Parliament in Exile.

What keeps the Olympic torch burning?-India-The Times of India

What keeps the Olympic torch burning?-India-The Times of India
What keeps the Olympic torch burning?
17 Apr 2008, 1729 hrs IST,ANI

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NEW DELHI: The anti-Chinese protests by exiled Tibetans across the world notwithstanding, many would like to know what keeps the Olympic torch alight?

Well, it is propane, which keeps the Olympic torch alight during the relays on the aircraft.

As part of the ancient rituals, the flame must be kept alive until the closing ceremony. By that time, it would have visited 135 cities in 20 countries, covering 137,000 kms in 130 days.

A team of about 10 "flame attendants" is responsible for the 24-hour safe passage of the flame, which is ignited by the sun's rays at the ancient site of Olympia in Greece.

Each night three guards guard the torch in a hotel room.

"Security people try their best to keep the flame safe. The flame is always burning, whether on the plane or during the relay or overnight. It's kept in the hotel where the core operation team is staying," says a Beijing Organizing Committee spokesperson.

The convoy accompanying the torch includes over 20 vehicles provided by the relay city.

Most of this journey is on foot, but other modes of transport have been included over the years. Such as the dog sled, horse, canoe and camel. In London, it was carried on two boats, a bike, a bus and the Docklands Light Railway.

For air travel, where open flames are not allowed, the flame burns in the enclosed lanterns.

The torch, the lanterns and the team of attendants, plus other security, fly in a specially-chartered Air China plane bearing an Olympic flame design.

For a trip across the Great Barrier Reef before the 2000 Olympic Games, a special torch was designed to burn underwater. The flame made its first trip in a plane in 1952 and has also travelled on Concorde.

The torch can counter wind speeds of upto 65 kilometres per hour and stays alight in 50 mm of rain an hour.

In ancient times, the flame burned throughout the Games on the altar of the Goddess Hestia, situated in the Prytaneum, the building used for the post-Games banquets.

This fire was lit by the sun's rays and it was used to light other fires of the sanctuary, such as the altars of Zeus - the Games were held in his and Queen Hera's honour.

The present Olympic torch relay begins at the Temple of Hera several months before the Games, where it is lit by a woman in ceremonial robes using a mirror and the sun.

The Olympic flame was reintroduced to the modern Olympics in Amsterdam in 1928 and the first torch relay was held eight years later in Berlin. It symbolises the Olympic ideal of harmony between nations

Priyanka meets a conspirator in Rajiv Gandhi's killing

Priyanka meets a conspirator in Rajiv Gandhi's killing

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	PTI
Priyanka meets a conspirator in Rajiv Gandhi's killing
Tuesday, 15 April , 2008, 13:05
New Delhi/Chennai: Priyanka Vadra, who has created a flutter by meeting one of the conspirators in her father Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, on Tuesday said she does not believe in anger, hatred and violence and will not allow these to overpower her. "It was a very personal visit and completely on my own individual initiative. I would be deeply grateful if this could be respected," she told PTI about her meeting with Nalini Sriharan in Vellore jail in Tamil Nadu last month. Nalini, married to Murugan, sentenced to death in the assassination case, was also awarded capital punishment for involvement in the killing on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in the state. Her sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment after Sonia Gandhi pleaded for clemency for the sake of the convict's daughter. "It is true that I met Nalini Sriharan in Vellore central jail on March 19, 2008. It was my way of coming to peace with the violence and loss that I have experienced," she said. For more news, analysis click here>> | For more Science and Medicine news click here >> Recalling her mother's intervention in getting Nalini's death sentence commuted to life imprisonment, Priyanka said she did not believe in hatred and violence. "I do not believe in anger, hatred and violence and I refuse to allow these things to overpower my life," she said. Her brother Rahul Gandhi said "I have a different way of looking at these things. I don't have a problem either". Rahul said we don’t carry hatred, we don’t carry anger. It's not an exercise...She felt that she wanted to go and see the person. She has been feeling it for sometime". The issue of Priyanka meeting Nalini in the Vellore jail came to the fore with a city lawyer, D Rajkumar, seeking queries from the prison authorities by invoking provisions under Right to Information (RTI) Act. Priyanka was in Vellore on March 19 to pay obeisance at the newly constructed Sri Lakshmi Narayani Golden Temple. Rajkumar, in his application to the Superintendent of Prisons, had asked whether it was true that Priyanka met Nalini? And if so under which legal provisions was she allowed to meet the convict and who accompanied her? Vellore jail authorities, when contacted by PTI on Tuesday, declined to comment saying that they would reply to the RTI petition filed by Rajkumar.

Scarlett’s vital organs found missing in autopsy

Scarlett’s vital organs found missing in autopsy

Scarlett’s vital organs found missing in autopsy

Sunday, 13 April , 2008, 18:09
Last Updated: Sunday, 13 April , 2008, 18:35

Panaji: The vital organs from the body of Scarlett Eden Keeling were found missing during an autopsy in the UK, the lawyer representing Fiona Mackeown confirmed.


This was the third autopsy on Scarlett’s body. The first two were conducted in Goa Medical College and Hospital here by two different set of doctors.

Full coverage: Scarlett murder case

"Fiona is disturbed about this when she came to know," Vikram Varma, lawyer of Scarlett's mother Fiona Mackeown, said.

During the second level postmortem, the coroner court in Devonshire found that vital body parts like stomach, kidneys and uterus were missing.

Dr Silvano Sapeco, who conducted the first autopsy, stands suspended from the job while second autopsy had recommended that the death be investigated as murder.

Scarlett's bruised corpse was found at Anjuna beach on February 18.

"The letter for formal confirmation on the facts of missing body parts has been sent by Fiona to the coroner's office in Devonshire," Varma said.

The lawyer said he would also take up the matter with Goa authorities, including Goa Medical College and Hospital.

"We want to ascertain the facts and circumstances of this unacceptable situation," he said.

According to a report in a newspaper on Sunday, pathologist Dr Gayn Fernando, attached to the coroner court in Devonshire, opened Scarlett's body to conduct a third autopsy and found that the body parts were missing.

Marathon wonder Budhia’s ex-coach shot dead

Marathon wonder Budhia’s ex-coach shot dead

Marathon wonder Budhia’s ex-coach shot dead

Sunday, 13 April , 2008, 19:34
Last Updated: Sunday, 13 April , 2008, 20:19

Bhubaneshwar: Child marathon runner Budhia Singh's former coach Biranchi Das was shot dead by unidentified assailants here on Sunday evening, police said.


Deputy commissioner of police Amitabh Thakur confirmed that Das was dead and the police were gathering further details.

Das, a judo coach, was sitting inside the judo centre in BJB College area with some of his friends after a training session when the assailants struck, police said.

After bullets hit him on his neck, chest and leg, Das was taken to the Capital Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead, police sources said.

Senior police officials rushed to the site and the hospital soon after the incident.

Das was instrumental in discovering the hidden talent in Budhia, who created a record of sorts by running 65 km non-stop from Puri to Bhubaneswar in May 2006.

Maslow Self Actualization - unlearn.

Maslow Self Actualization - unlearn.

SELF ACTUALIZATION "Self Actualization is the intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is." Abraham Maslow

Maslow studied healthy people, most psychologists study sick people.

The characteristics listed here are the results of 20 years of study of people who had the "full use and exploitation of talents, capacities, potentialities, etc.."

Self-actualization implies the attainment of the basic needs of physiological, safety/security, love/belongingness, and self-esteem.

Maslow's Basic Principles:

1. The normal personality is characterized by unity, integration, consistency, and coherence. Organization is the natural state, and disorganization is pathological.
2. The organism can be analyzed by differentiating its parts, but no part can be studied in isolation. The whole functions according to laws that cannot be found in the parts.
3. The organism has one sovereign drive, that of self-actualization. People strive continuously to realize their inherent potential by whatever avenues are open to them.
4. The influence of the external environment on normal development is minimal. The organism's potential, if allowed to unfold by an appropriate environment, will produce a healthy, integrated personality.
5. The comprehensive study of one person is more useful than the extensive investigation, in many people, of an isolated psychological function.
6. The salvation of the human being is not to be found in either behaviorism or in psychoanalysis, (which deals with only the darker, meaner half of the individual). We must deal with the questions of value, individuality, consciousness, purpose, ethics and the higher reaches of human nature.
7. Man is basically good not evil.
8. Psychopathology generally results from the denial, frustration or twisting of our essential nature.
9. Therapy of any sort, is a means of restoring a person to the path of self-actualization and development along the lines dictated by their inner nature.
10. When the four basic needs have been satisfied, the growth need or self-actualization need arises: A new discontent and restlessness will develop unless the individual is doing what he individually is fitted for. A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write--in short, what people can be they must be.

Characteristics of Self Actualizing People

Realistic

Realistically oriented, SA persons have a more efficient perception of reality, they have comfortable relations with it. This is extended to all areas of life. SA persons are unthreatened, unfrightened by the unknown. they have a superior ability to reason, to see the truth. They are logical and efficient.

Acceptance

Accept themselves, others and the natural world the way they are. Sees human nature as is, have a lack of crippling guilt or shame, enjoy themselves without regret or apology, they have no unnecessary inhibitions.

Spontaneity, Simplicity, Naturalness

Spontaneous in their inner life, thoughts and impulses, they are unhampered by convention. Their ethics is autonomous, they are individuals, and are motivated to continual growth.

Problem Centering

Focus on problems outside themselves, other centered. They have a mission in life requiring much energy, their mission is their reason for existence. They are serene, characterized by a lack of worry, and are devoted to duty.

Detachment: The Need for Privacy

Alone but not lonely, unflappable, retain dignity amid confusion and personal misfortunes, objective. They are self starters, responsible for themselves, own their behavior.

Autonomy: Independent of Culture and Environment

SA's rely on inner self for satisfaction. Stable in the face of hard knocks, they are self contained, independent from love and respect.

Continued Freshness of Appreciation

Have a fresh rather than stereotyped appreciation of people and things. Appreciation of the basic good in life, moment to moment living is thrilling, transcending and spiritual. They live the present moment to the fullest.

Peak experiences

"Feelings of limitless horizons opening up to the vision, the feeling of being simultaneously more powerful and also more helpless than one ever was before, the feeling of ecstacy and wonder and awe, the loss of placement in time and space with, finally, the conviction that something extremely important and valuable had happened, so that the subject was to some extent transformed and strengthened even in his daily life by such experiences." Abraham Maslow

Maslow asked his subjects to think of the most wonderful experience or experiences of their lives--the happiest moments, extatic moments, moments of rapture, perhaps from being in live, or from listening to music or suddenly "being hit" by a book or a painting or from some great creative moment. He found that people undergoing peak experiences felt more integrated, more at one with the world, more in command of their own lives, more spontaneous, less aware of space and time, more perceptive, more self determined, more playful.

Effects of peak experiences:

• The removal of neurotic symptoms
• A tendency to view oneself in a more healthy way
• Change in one's view of other people and of one's relations with them
• Change in one's view of the world
• The release of creativity, spontaneity and expressiveness
• A tendency to remember the experience and to try to duplicate it
• A tendency to view life in general as more worthwhile.

Gemeinschaftsgefuhl

Identification, sympathy, and affection for mankind, kinship with the good, the bad and the ugly, older-brother attitude. Truth is clear to him, can see things others cannot see.

Interpersonal relations

Profound, intimate relationships with few. Capable of greater love than others consider possible. Benevolence, affection and friendliness shown to everyone.

Democratic values and attitudes

Able to learn from anyone, humble. Friendly with anyone regardless of class, education, political belief, race or color.

Discrimination: means and ends, Good and Evil

Do not confuse between means and ends. They do no do wrong. Enjoy the here and now, getting to goal--not just the result. They make the most tedious task an enjoyable game. They have their own inner moral standards (appearing amoral to others).

Philosophical, unhostile sense of humor

Jokes are teaching metaphors, intrinsic to the situation, spontaneous, can laugh at themselves, never make jokes that hurt others.

Creativity

Inborn uniqueness that carries over into everything they do, see the real and true more easily, original, inventive and less inhibited.

Resistance to enculturation: Transcendence of any particular culture

Inner detachment from culture, folkways are used but of no consequence, calm long term culture improvement, indignation with injustice, inner autonomy and outer acceptance. Transcend the environment rather than just cope.

Imperfections

Painfully aware of own imperfections, joyfully aware of own growth process. Impatient with self when stuck, real life pain, not imagined.

Values

Philosophical acceptance of the nature of his self, human nature, social life, nature, physical reality, remains realistically human.

Resolution of dichotomies

Polar opposites merge into a third, higher phenomenon, as though the two have united, work becomes play, most childlike person is most wise, opposite forces no longer felt as a conflict. Desires are in excellent accord with reason.

Maslow says there are two processes necessary for self-actualization: self exploration and action. The deeper the self exploration, the closer one comes to self-actualization.

EIGHT WAYS TO SELF ACTUALIZE

1. Experience things fully, vividly, selflessly. Throw yourself into the experiencing of something: concentrate on it fully, let it totally absorb you.
2. Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth): Make the growth choice a dozen times a day.
3. Let the self emerge. Try to shut out the external clues as to what you should think, feel, say, and so on, and let your experience enable you to say what you truly feel.
4. When in doubt, be honest. If you look into yourself and are honest, you will also take responsibility. Taking responsibility is self-actualizing.
5. Listen to your own tastes. Be prepared to be unpopular.
6. Use your intelligence, work to do well the things you want to do, no matter how insignificant they seem to be.
7. Make peak experiencing more likely: get rid of illusions and false notions. Learn what you are good at and what your potentialities are not.
8. Find out who you are, what you are, what you like and don't like, what is good and what is bad for you, where you are going, what your mission is. Opening yourself up to yourself in this way means identifying defenses--and then finding the courage to give them up.

SELF ACTUALIZATION

Maslow (1954), believed that man has a natural drive to healthiness, or self actualization. He believed that man has basic, (biological and psychological) needs that have to be fulfilled in order to be free enough to feel the desire for the higher levels of realization. He also believed that the organism has the natural, unconscious and innate capacity to seek its needs. (Maslow 1968)

In other words, man has an internal, natural, drive to become the best possible person he can be.

"...he has within him a pressure toward unity of personality, toward spontaneous expressiveness, toward full individuality and identity, toward seeing the truth rather than being blind, toward being creative, toward being good, and a lot else. That is, the human being is so constructed that he presses toward what most people would call good values, toward serenity, kindness, courage, honesty, love, unselfishness, and goodness." (Maslow, 1968, p. 155.)

Maslow believed that not only does the organism know what it needs to eat to maintain itself healthy, but also man knows intuitively what he needs to become the best possible, mentally healthy and happy "being". I use the word "being" because Maslow goes far beyond what the average person considers good physical and mental health. He talked about higher consciousness, esthetic and peak experiences, and Being. He stressed the importance of moral and ethical behavior that will lead man naturally to discovering, becoming himself.

"The state of being without a system of values is psychopathogenic, we are learning. The human being needs a framework of values, a philosophy of life, a religion or religion-surrogate to live by and understand by, in about the same sense he needs sunlight, calcium or love. This I have called the "cognitive need to understand." The value- illnesses which result from valuelessness are called variously anhedonia, anomie, apathy, amorality, hopelessness, cynicism, etc., and can become somatic illness as well. Historically, we are in a value interregnum in which all externally given value systems have proven failures (political, economic, religious, etc.) e.g., nothing is worth dying for. What man needs but doesn't have, he seeks for unceasingly, and he becomes dangerously ready to jump at any hope, good or bad. The cure for this disease is obvious. We need a validated, usable system of human values that we can believe in and devote ourselves to (be willing to die for), because they are true rather than because we are exhorted to "believe and have faith." Such an empirically based Weltanschauung seems now to be a real possibility, at least in theoretical outline." (Maslow, 1968, p. 206.)

Morality then is natural. If we use our capacity to think, are honest, sincere and open, we arrive at moral and ethical behavior naturally. The problem is to not destroy our ability to become ourselves.

"Pure spontaneity consists of free, uninhibited uncontrolled, trusting, unpremeditated expression of the self, i.e., of the psychic forces, with minimal interference by consciousness. Control, will, caution, self-criticism, measure, deliberateness are the brakes upon this expression made intrinsically necessary by the laws of the social and natural world, and secondarily, made necessary by the fear of the psyche itself." (1968, p. 197.)

To me, this means listening to the inner self, the unconscious, the spirit.

"This ability of healthier people to dip into the unconscious and preconscious, to use and value their primary processes instead of fearing them, to accept their impulses instead of always controlling them, to be able to regress voluntarily without fear, turns out to be one of the main conditions of creativity."

"This development toward the concept of a healthy unconscious and of a healthy irrationality, sharpens our awareness of the limitations of purely abstract thinking, of verbal thinking and of analytic thinking. If our hope is to describe the world fully, a place is necessary for preverbal, ineffable, metaphorical, primary process, concrete-experience, intuitive and esthetic types of cognition, for there are certain aspects of reality which can be cognized in no other way." (p. 208)

Meditation, self-hypnosis, imagery and the like are sources of discovering our inner being. To become self-actualized, Maslow said we need two things, inner exploration and action.

"An important existential problem is posed by the fact that self-actualizing persons (and all people in their peak- experiences) occasionally live out-of-time and out-of-the- world (atemporal and aspatial) even though mostly they must live in the outer world. Living in the inner psychic world (which is ruled by psychic laws and not by the laws of outer-reality), i.e., the world of experience, of emotion, of wishes and fears and hopes, of love of poetry, art and fantasy, is different from living in and adapting to the non-psychic reality which runs by laws he never made and which are not essential to his nature even though he has to live by them. (He could, after all, live in other kinds of worlds, as any science fiction fan knows.) The person who is not afraid of this inner, psychic world, can enjoy it to such an extent that it may be called Heaven by contrast with the more effortful, fatiguing, externally responsible world of "reality," of striving and coping, of right and wrong, of truth and falsehood. This is true even though the healthier person can also adapt more easily and enjoyably to the "real" world, and has better "reality testing," i.e., doesn't confuse it with his inner psychic world." (p. 213)

Maslow has made a case for natural, human goodness. Man is basically good, not evil, he has the capacity to be an efficient, healthy and happy person. But he must nurture the capacity with awareness, honesty, introspection and maintain his freedom: to freely respond to internal and external events (values), to be himself at all costs.

The knowledge that man has this capacity motivates him to realize it. It also obliges him to actively work toward self realization. We cannot not respond to the call that a value makes on us. This whole discussion shows the importance of studying Values and Ethics. We are obliged to discover the range of our possible moral behavior. If we are capable of being healthy and happy, then we are obliged to work toward that goal.

Tibetans are planning suicide attacks: China-China-World-The Times of India

Tibetans are planning suicide attacks: China-China-World-The Times of India

Tibetans are planning suicide attacks: China 2 Apr 2008, 0000 hrs IST,Saibal Dasgupta,TNN Print Save EMail Write to Editor BEIJING: The Chinese government on Tuesday claimed that Tibetan rebels were in the process of organizing "suicide squads" for strikes across China in the wake of the coming Olympic Games. This is the latest in a series of 'exposes' by Chinese authorities to establish the violent intentions of the "Tibet independence forces". ( Watch: 'Tibet to organise suicide squads' ) There were also signs that China would mount greater pressure on India in order to curb the alleged activities of the 'Dalai clique', a phrase Beijing uses to describe Dalai Lama's government-in-exile in Dharamshala. "We are closely following their (the Dalai clique's) activities. We also remind the international community of the situation that might occur", Wu Heping, spokesman for the public security bureau said, adding that the India-based clique was involved in directing the plans and violent activities of the Tibetan rebels. Wu did not specifically say what China expects India to do in this regard but claimed repeatedly that the violent activities of rebels were directed by the Dalai Lama's setup in India. He did not reply to a question on whether China would seek extradition of the Dalai Lama from India, where he lives in exile. Buddhist monasteries in Tibet are being extensively used as storage points for arms and ammunition, a lot of which have been recovered by the police, he said. Chinese police had seized offensive weapons from monasteries and temples, including 176 guns, 30,013 bullets and huge quantities of explosives, he said. "As per our knowledge, the next plan of the 'Tibet Independence' forces is to organize suicide squads to launch violent attacks", the ministry of public security bureau spokesman Wu told reporters. The 'Dalai clique' had also plotted and organized rebel activities around the world, including the 'Free Tibet' and 'Global Action Day' campaign. Wu said the rebels have established an underground network of intelligence with their own "languages and codes" and had "staged activities of overthrowing the government". "We now possess sufficient evidence to prove that the Lhasa incident is part of the 'Tibetan People's Uprising Movement' organized by the Dalai clique. Its purpose is to create crisis in China by staging coordinated sabotage activities in Tibet", he said. He said seven organizations of 'Tibet Independence' had issued the 'Declaration of Tibetan People's Uprising Movement' in New Delhi on January 4 and 25 this year. The declaration had claimed that the purpose was to "create crisis for China by motivating and coordinating actions in Tibet". These organizations had threatened to launch the movement both inside and outside Tibet if the Chinese government failed to meet their demands before the March 10 deadline. The 'Tibet Independence forces' held a meeting in the US on September last year and worked out a plan to "stage and exercise turbulence in Tibet and Tibetan inhabited areas" in the run-up to the Olympic Games, he said.

NRI woman alleges rape in Goa-India-The Times of India

NRI woman alleges rape in Goa-India-The Times of India

NRI woman alleges rape in Goa
2 Apr 2008, 0816 hrs IST,PTI

Print Save EMail Write to Editor

PANAJI: A 52-year-old NRI woman has alleged that she was raped in a renowned five star hotel in Goa.

Panaji Police have registered a case after they received the communication from Delhi Police, with whom the woman has filed the complaint.

Police stated that the incident occurred on March 7 in a five star hotel where she was dragged into a room from a stairway and raped by an unknown person.

The incident was reported to Delhi Police on March 17. The New York-based woman, who did not file a case in Goa, went to Delhi and filed a complaint there. Officials confirmed that the Delhi Police have conducted medical examination on the woman, who was in Goa on a vacation.

Panaji Police confirming the receipt of complaint said that they will call the victim to Goa as she is required for a medical examination.