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"Why Men And Women Act The Way They Do" by Bill Farrel explores the inherent differences between men and women in terms of communication styles, emotional needs, and decision-making processes. The book offers insight into how these differences can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts in relationships, and provides practical advice for bridging the gap and fostering greater understanding and connection between genders.

Hannah More

Hannah More Beyond any doubt, Hannah More was the most influential female member of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the African Slave Trade. She was educated at Bristol, an important slave-trading town, and began to publish her writing in the 1760s, while she was still a teenager. Her first play, The Inflexible Captive, was staged at Bath in 1775. Later in the 1770s, and for much of the 1780s, she spent time in London and made the acquaintance of many important political and society figures, including Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, and Elizabeth Montagu. Her play Percy was produced by David Garrick in 1777, and Fatal Falsehood was staged in 1779, but she came to regard the theatre as morally wrong, especially after the death of her mentors; Garrick and Johnson. She turned to religious writing, beginning with her Sacred Dramas in 1782. In 1784-5, she 'discovered' Ann Yearsley, the so-called 'poetical milkmaid of Bristol', whose poems More helped to publish, although the two later fell out. In the 1780s, More widened her circle to include religious and philanthropic figures, including John Newton, Beilby Porteus and William Wilberforce. In the summer of 1786, she spent time with Sir Charles and Lady Margaret Middleton at the their home in Teston in Kent. Among their guests were the local vicar James Ramsay and a young Thomas Clarkson, both of whom were central to the early abolition campaign. More and Clarkson met again in Bristol in 1787, while he was on his fact-finding mission to the city, but they did not become close. However, in the same year More met Wilberforce, and their friendship was to become a deep and lasting one. More contributed much to the running of the newly-founded Abolition Society including, in February 1788, her publication of Slavery, a Poem which has been recognised as one of the more important slavery poems of the abolition period. Her relationship with members of the society, especially Wilberforce, was close. For example, she spent the summer of 1789 holidaying with Wilberforce in the Peak District - planning for the abolition campaign, at that time at its height, formed a great deal of their conversation. By the mid-1790s, More had become closely involved with the 'Clapham Sect' of evangelical Christians, many of whom were involved in the abolition campaign. The group centred on Henry Thornton's home in Clapham and included Wilberforce, James Stephen, and Zachary Macaulay, among others. Throughout the 1790s, she wrote a number of religious tracts, known as the Cheap Repository Tracts, that eventually led to the formation of the Religious Tracts Society. Several of the Tracts oppose slavery and the slave trade, in particular, the poem The Sorrows of Yamba; or, The Negro Woman's Lamentation, which appeared in November 1795 and which was co-authored with Eaglesfield Smith. However, the tracts have also been noted for their encouragement of social quietism in an age of revolution. She continued to oppose slavery throughout her life, but at the time of the Abolition Bill of 1807, her health did not permit her to take as active a role in the movement as she had done in the late 1780s, although she maintained a correspondence with Wilberforce and others. In her later life, she dedicated much time to religious writing. Nevertheless, her most popular work was a novel, Coelebs in Search of a Wife, which appeared in two volumes in 1809 (and which ran to nine editions in 1809 alone). In the 1820s she grew gradually less well, and decreased - but did not entirely halt - the amount of writing she produced. On her death in 1833, she left more than £30,000 to charities and religious societies (equivalent to about £2,000,000 or $3,000,000 in 2004). © Brycchan Carey 2004

what would judas do

Wednesday plants the suicidal seed of Holy Week: betrayal. Before there could be a Garden, there had to be a seed — the inception of insurrection. Jesus gloriously paid for our redemption with blood, but his blood was murderously bought with money. The promised Savior sold for just thirty pieces of silver. Jesus had taught his disciples, including the one who would betray him, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). No one. Not Judas. Not you or me. The Love of Money Murdered Jesus The Pharisees loved money (Luke 16:14), feared men (Matthew 26:5), and hated Jesus (Matthew 26:4). That formula may be lived out before you more than you realize. The love of money often looks merely practical. The fear of men can hide behind masks. But the Bible is clear: If you love money and fear men, you cannot love God or escape hell (Luke 16:13; John 5:44) — and you become a card-carrying member of the crowd who crucified the Author of life (Acts 3:15). The cross — that horrifying drama of hatred — was only a symptom of the Pharisees’ craving for money, approval, and power. It was as if they bought a billboard to advertise their love for money, and set on a hill for all to see. But they would never do something so obvious. What would the people say? They “feared the people” (Luke 22:2). In fact, the people’s  love  for Jesus was half the reason the religious leaders hated him so much. The authorities were cowards with cravings. They had to find a way to kill him quietly (Matthew 26:3–5). They had to find a way to murder an innocent man without losing any esteem or influence. First they needed an insider — someone close enough to Jesus to betray him, but far enough from Jesus to betray him. In other words, they needed a perp dressed like the Pope. “Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?’” (Matthew 26:14–15). “When they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money” (Mark 14:11). They found their man, someone who loved money as much as they did, someone who was willing to offend and ostracize even his closest friends for a pay day. The market had opened against the Messiah, and Judas was there to profit. As Randy Alcorn writes, “Satan works on the assumption that every person has a price. Often, unfortunately, he is right. Many people are willing to surrender themselves and their principles to whatever god will bring them the greatest short-term profit” ( Money, Possessions, and Eternity , 41). Judas sold out the Savior, and for just thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15). The Love of Money Makes a Name If you love money — value money and what it can buy above all else — you cannot love God. You will hate him, maybe quietly or privately and hypocritically — but you will hate him. And that hatred will mark you and follow you everywhere. That kind of divine rejection and betrayal renames a person. It defines you. For example, look at how Judas is talked about in the Gospels. “ . . . Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot,  who betrayed him .” (Matthew 10:4) “Judas,  who would betray him , answered, ‘Is it I, Rabbi?’ He said to him, ‘You have said so.’” (Matthew 26:25) “ . . . and Judas Iscariot,  who betrayed him .” (Mark 3:19) “ . . . and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot,  who became a traitor .” (Luke 6:16) “But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples ( he who was about to betray him ), said,” (John 12:4). “He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve,  was going to betray him .” (John 6:71) “Judas,  who betrayed him , was standing with them.” (John 18:5) Instead of being a faithful disciple guiding people to follow Jesus, he “became a guide to those who  arrested  Jesus” (Acts 1:16). What will be the testimony of your life — of your spending and giving? Will it be clear to others that you used what God had given you to lead others  to  his Son, or will it be plain that you surrendered to the gods of the material and drew people  away from  Jesus? Did you guide the blind to sight, or help blind them to death? The Love of Money Leads to Regret Judas’s affair did not fair so well for him. “Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders” (Matthew 27:3). Drowning in shame, he screamed for a refund. Confronted with the horror of his exchange, the money had lost its allure.  What have I done?! What awful trade have I made?! Take it all back, and give me Jesus! There was no turning back for Judas, no return policy on this rejection. He killed himself in the overwhelming waves of regret and remorse (Matthew 27:5). However, there is time to turn back for you. Luke quotes Jesus for the greedy today, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). When life begins to seem like one long mission to make more money, someone is lying to you. Wake up and give back the silver before it crucifies you. John Piper writes, “When you are dying . . . money walks away from you. It abandons you. It will not go with you to help you. And nothing that you bought with it can go either” ( Money, Sex, and Power , 65). And again later, “[The love of money] substitutes a dollar bill for the divine” (71). The love of money leads only to regret and loss. Reject Judas, Receive Joy Ask yourself what Judas would do in your situation. How would he feel about your current income, shopping habits, and retirement savings? How uneasy would he be about your generosity? Does your budget begin to look like his, just two thousand years later? Refuse to follow Judas in his betrayal, and reject all that money promises to be in place of God. Find your security and satisfaction in something supernatural, eternal, and free. Piper goes on, reflecting on Paul in Philippians 4:11–13, When the stock market goes up or he gets a bonus, he says,  I find Jesus more precious and valuable and satisfying than my increasing money . And when the stock market goes down or he faces a pay cut, he says,  I find Jesus more precious and valuable and satisfying than all that I have lost . The glory and beauty and worth and preciousness of Christ is the secret of contentment that keeps money from controlling him. ( Money, Sex, and Power , 65) When our joy is no longer in our money but rather is in God . . . our money becomes the visible extension of joy in God, directed toward others. . . . Treasuring God above all things turns money into the currency of worship and love. ( Money, Sex, and Power , 123) Instead of surrendering to our cravings for more, let’s pour ourselves, every penny, into telling the world  God  is our treasure — right now, later in retirement, and forever in eternity — and spending whatever it takes to bring others into that joy and security with us.

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