Power in Moral Events

Good deeds, even just thinking about helping others, have more willpower, more stamina and are sensitivity to discomfort, according to a new study out of Harvard. The same held true for people who perceived themselves as evil. Researchers call this the “moral transformation” effect because such deeds have the power to transform people from average to exceptional. They suggest helping others before being faced with temptation and that lending a helping hand may be a useful technique to regain control of your own life. Details are in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Stephen Goforth

It is True or False?

One of the great difficulties is to keep before the audience’s mind the question of Truth. They always think you you are recommending Christianity not because it is true but because it is good. And in the discussion they will at every moment try to escape from the issue “True – or False” into stuff about a good society, or morals, or the incomes of Bishops, or the Spanish Inquisition, or France, or Poland – or anything whatever. You have to keep forcing them back, and again back, to the real point. Only thus will you be able to undermine their belief that a certain amount of ‘religion’ is desirable but one mustn’t carry it too far. One must keep on pointing out that Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.

CS Lewis
God in the Dock