926<\/b> Criticizing Causes Nervousness<\/b><\/p>\n
David H. Fink, author of Release From Nervous Tension,<\/i> wrote an article for the Coronet Magazine,<\/i> in which he made a striking suggestion as to how we can overcome mental and emotional tensions. <\/p>\n
As a psychiatrist for the Veterans Administration he was familiar with 10,000 case histories in this field. Thousands of people, who were mentally and emotionally \u201ctied up\u201d had asked Dr. Fink for some short, magic-button cure for nervousness. In his search for such a cure he studied two groups; the first group was made up of thousands of people who were suffering from mental and emotional disturbances; the second group contained only those, thousands of them, who were free from such tensions. <\/p>\n
Gradually one fact began to stand out: those who suffered from extreme tension had one trait in common\u2014they were habitual faultfinders, constant critics of people and things around them. Whereas the men and women who were free of all tensions were the least faultfinding. It would seem that the habit of criticizing is a prelude or mark of the nervous, and of the mentally unbalanced. <\/p>\n
927<\/b> \u201cDon\u2019t Do It Again!\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Lawrence Spivak, moderator of \u201cMeet the Press\u201d for 30 years, once got a telegram from a viewer just before the show, reading: \u201cWhy don t you smile? I ll be watching today, so please smile.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spivak, who recently retired from the job, relates: \u201cI made what I thought was a very fetching smile. After that program I got another telegram, reading: \u201cDon t do it again. It was better the other way.\u201d\u201c<\/p>\n
\u2014People<\/i><\/p>\n
928<\/b> Customers Will Run It<\/b><\/p>\n
What Simeon Ford, the proprietor of the Old Grand Union Hotel in New York, had to say about hotels in particular might readily apply to almost any business. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need to know anything about a hotel to run one,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just open up and the customers tell you how to run it.\u201d<\/p>\n
929<\/b> First Things Last<\/b><\/p>\n
When a boy gets up at six o\u2019clock in the morning to do a paper round to \u201cbetter himself,\u201d people say he is a go-getter. If some Christian organization should ask that same boy to get up at six o clock to do some work for the Lord, they would say, \u201cThat\u2019s expecting too much of the boy.\u201d<\/p>\n
If a woman spends eight hours away from her home working in a factory or office, she is called a helpful and energetic wife. If, however, she is willing to do the same thing for the Lord, they say, \u201cReligion has gone to her head.\u201d<\/p>\n
If one ties himself down to making payments of $2 each week for some time on items for personal enjoyment, he pays willingly. But if that same person placed that much in the collection plate each week, many people would say he is crazy. <\/p>\n
A crazy world indeed, where first things come last and last things come first! <\/p>\n
\u2014Emergency Post<\/i><\/p>\n
930<\/b> \u201cI See A Flaw\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
There it was on display in Cartier\u2019s Fifth Avenue store in New York\u2014the flawless 69.42-carat diamond, originally bought by Cartier for a record $1,050,000 at an auction. People were filing through the jewelry salon to get a glimpse of the diamond. <\/p>\n
A short, bald man peered condescendingly at the big diamond in the small glass case and told his wife, \u201cI see a flaw there, but I wouldn\u2019t want to say anything. \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t really that beautiful,\u201d concluded a well-dressed lady, \u201cbut I wouldn\u2019t mind having it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s too large,\u201d said one woman in rhinestone-studded glasses. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s vulgar, but I just had to see it,\u201d commented another woman. <\/p>\n
Said Joe Whitehead, guard at the store, \u201cI\u2019ve heard more sour grapes in the last two days than in my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Prairie Overcomer<\/i><\/p>\n
931<\/b> Rude And Very Rude<\/b><\/p>\n
Sir Basil Spencer, British architect, reporting that he had received 700 letters on his design for a new cathedral in Coventry: \u201cEighty percent were rude. The other 20 percent were very rude.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Milwaukee Journal<\/i><\/p>\n
932<\/b> The Wrecking Crew<\/b><\/p>\n
I stood on the streets of a busy town, <\/p>\n
Watching men tearing a building down:<\/p>\n
With a \u201cHo, heave, ho,\u201d and a lusty yell, <\/p>\n
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell. <\/p>\n
I asked the foreman of the crew, <\/p>\n
\u201cAre those men as skilled as those you\u2019d hire if you wanted to build?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, no,\u201d he said, \u201cno indeed. <\/p>\n
Just common labor is all I need. <\/p>\n
I can tear down as much in a day or two, <\/p>\n
As would take skilled men a year to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then I thought as I went on my way, <\/p>\n
Just which of these two roles am I trying to play? <\/p>\n
Have I walked life\u2019s road with care, <\/p>\n
Measuring each deed with rule and square? <\/p>\n
Or am I one of those who roam the town, <\/p>\n
Content with the labor of tearing down? <\/p>\n
\u2014Selected<\/p>\n
933<\/b> Good Reasons In Heaven<\/b><\/p>\n
Hans Priem was admitted into paradise on condition that he was not to indulge in his habit of criticising and censuring whatever he notice. He saw two angels carrying a beam crossways, and knocking it against every object they met: but he said nothing. He next saw two other angels drawing water from a fountain and pouring it into a barrel which had holes in the bottom; but he held his peace. Many things similarly were noticed, but he suppressed his remarks, fearing that he might otherwise be expelled from the place.<\/p>\n
At last, he saw a cart stuck in the mud, with one pair of horses yoked into its front, and another pair yoked to its rear\u2014the driver urging both simultaneously forward. This was more than Hans could take, and he started criticizing, when he was seized by two angels and turned to the door.<\/p>\n
Before the door closed behind him, he looked back and saw that the horses were winged<\/i> horses, and were pulling the cart from the mud into the air; and as for the cases of the beam and the barrel, there were equally good reasons for what was done. <\/p>\n
\u2014Gotthold<\/p>\n
934<\/b> This Talent To Be Hidden<\/b><\/p>\n
One of the best stories told at a missionary conference in Shanghai was of a man who said he was afraid he was going to be of no use in the world because he had only one talent. \u201cOh, that need not discourage you,\u201d said his pastor. \u201cWhat is your talent?\u201d \u201cThe talent of criticism.\u201d \u201cWell, I advise you,\u201d said his pastor, \u201cto do with it what the man of one talent did with his. Criticism may be useful when mixed with other talents, but those whose only activity is to criticize the workers might as well be buried, talent and all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Expositor<\/i><\/p>\n
935<\/b> Manager For The Day<\/b><\/p>\n
A merchandise complaint to a Toronto department store didn\u2019t produce a satisfactory response from the clerk who answered the phone, so the customer asked to speak to the manager. \u201cCertainly, madam,\u201d said the clerk, who failed to cover the receiver well enough to prevent her from hearing him say, \u201cWell, who wants to be manager today?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Mrs. Aese Jensen<\/p>\n
936<\/b> Epigram On Criticism <\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 The pleasure of criticizing robs us of the better pleasure of unconscious delight. <\/p>\n
\u2022 Don\u2019t find fault with what you don\u2019t understand. <\/p>\n
\u2014French Proverb<\/p>\n
\u2022 They have a Right to censure who have a Heart to help. <\/p>\n
\u2014William Penn<\/p>\n
\u2022 A boy loves his dog because it is the only thing around the house that doesn\u2019t find fault with him. <\/p>\n
\u2022 Ever notice how often a narrow mind and a wide mouth go together? <\/p>\n
\u2022 Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one. <\/p>\n
\u2022 If criticizing gives you pain, then do it; If it give you the slightest pleasure, keep your mouth shut. <\/p>\n
HOW TO ANSWER CRITICISMS<\/p>\n
937<\/b> I Do The Best I Know<\/b><\/p>\n
Abraham Lincoln once said, \u201cIf I tried to read, much less answer, all the criticisms made of me, and all the attacks leveled against me, this office would have to be closed for all other business. I do the best I know how, the very best I can. And I mean to keep on doing this, down to the very end. If the end brings me out all wrong, ten angels swearing I had been right would make no difference. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me now will not amount to anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
938<\/b> When Criticized In Newspaper \u2026 <\/b><\/p>\n
An indignant Bostonian rushed into the office of Edward Everett Hale, excited and angered over some criticism that had appeared in a newspaper. Mr. Hale said to him, \u201cNow calm yourself. not half the people in this city take that paper, not half of those who take it read it, not half of those who read it saw that particular item, no half of those who read the statement believed it, and not half of those who believed it are of any consequence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Southern Methodist Layman<\/i><\/p>\n
939<\/b> Answering With The Canal<\/b><\/p>\n
While contending with the manifold problems of geography and climate in the building of the Panama Canal, Colonel George Washington Goethals had to endure the carping criticism of countless busybodies back home who freely predicted that he would never complete his great task. But the resolute builder pressed steadily forward in his work and said nothing. <\/p>\n
\u201cAren\u2019t you going to answer your critics?\u201d a subordinate inquired. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn time,\u201d Goethals replied. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
The great engineer smiled. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith the canal,\u201d he replied. <\/p>\n
\u2014Adrian Anderson<\/p>\n
940<\/b> Better He Than They<\/b><\/p>\n
The poet, Tasso, upon receiving reports from friends that a certain enemy was spreading gossip about him, observed:<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not disturbed. How much better it is that he speak ill of me to all the world than that all the world should speak ill of me to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
941<\/b> Silence Is Best Answer<\/b><\/p>\n
From a 19th century book:<\/p>\n
\u201cSilence is often the best answer to criticism. Sometimes a man\u2019s steady, faithful work is his defense. Ole Bull, the violinist, was once offered space in the New York Herald<\/i> to answer his detractors. He said: \u201cI think it is best that they write against me and I play against them.\u201d The finest argument against one\u2019s detractors is a faithful doing of the very best one can do. It disarms criticism. It wins sympathy. It wastes no time and suffers no loss. Practical doing is ever better than fault-finding or trying to satisfy the censorous. And the world knows it.\u201d<\/p>\n
942<\/b> \u201cYou Take Flag Down!\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
A delegate to an international conference was discussing the British feat of conquering Mt. Everest. The British Flag was planted there, he asserted. Turning to a nearby British representative, the delegate said nastily, \u201cWasn\u2019t it just one of your typical land grabs?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not qualified to give an official opinion\u201d, the British replied politely, \u201cbut I can say this: If you don\u2019t like the flag flying up there, why not climb up and take it down?\u201d<\/p>\n
943<\/b> Saluting His Competitors<\/b><\/p>\n
Sometimes I think my competitors do more for me than my friends do; my friends are too polite to point out my weaknesses. but my competitors go to great expense to advertise them. <\/p>\n
My competitors are efficient, diligent, and attentive; they make me search for ways to improve my product and my service. <\/p>\n
If I had no competitors, I might be lazy, incompetent, inattentive; I need the discipline they enforce on me. <\/p>\n
I salute my competitors; they have been good to me. God bless them all! <\/p>\n
944<\/b> Reforming Power Of Criticisms<\/b><\/p>\n
When Anaximander was told that even little boys were laughing at his singing, \u201cAh!\u201d he said, \u201cthen I must learn to sing better.\u201d Plato, being told that he had many enemies who slander him, said, \u201cIt is no matter; I shall live so that none will believe them.\u201d Epictetus said, \u201cIf any one speaks ill of thee, consider whether he hath truth on his side, and, if so, reform thyself, that his censures may not affect thee.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Foster<\/p>\n
945<\/b> Rewarding His \u201cFriends\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
A gentleman calling on Archbishop Tillotson observed in his library one shelf of books of various forms and sizes, all richly bound, finely gilt and lettered. He inquired what favorite authors those were that had been so remarkably distinguished by his grace. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese,\u201d said the archbishop, \u201care my own personal friends; and what is more, I have made them such (for they were avowedly my enemies) by the use I have made of those hints which their malice had suggested to me. From these, I have received more profit than from the advice of my best and most cordial friends; and therefore you see I have rewarded them accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Percy<\/p>\n
946<\/b> Who Edited \u201cOld Bearskin\u201d? <\/b><\/p>\n
When the great Knute Rockne was coaching at Notre Dame there began to appear in the school paper a column signed \u201cOld Bearskin.\u201d It was the meanest, nastiest, most insulting football column ever written. It would berate the team as a whole and then go after individual players. The writer seemed to have inside dope, for he knew the lazy players, the ones who kept scrapbooks and read their own clippings, the training breakers, and the ladies\u2019 men. There wasn\u2019t a player on the team who wouldn\u2019t have liked to ring his neck. <\/p>\n
When a player would come to practice boiling mad over some comment about him. Rockne would sympathize and say that no person should write such things, and he would be mad too. He would tell the boys to get out there and show \u201cOld Bearskin\u201d that it wasn\u2019t true. Only upon the tragic death of Rockne did the real identity of \u201cOld Bearskin\u201d become known. The coach\u2019s column was invaluable for those who had had too much publicity. <\/p>\n
947<\/b> Butt Of Criticism Fights Back<\/b><\/p>\n
I have no more right to object to a man holding a different opinion from mine, than I have to differ from a man because he wears a wig and I wear my own hair. But if he takes his wig off, and shakes the powder in my eyes, I shall consider it my duty to get rid of him as soon as possible. <\/p>\n
\u2014John Wesley<\/p>\n
948<\/b> Bouncing Screwball<\/b><\/p>\n
Charles F. Kettering, who invented the automobile-ignition system among other things, remarked: \u201cPeople think of the inventor as a screwball, but no one asks the inventor what he thinks of other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014King Features<\/i><\/p>\n
949<\/b> Belaboring The Preposition<\/b><\/p>\n
During the darkest days of World War II when the very existence of Britain was threatened, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was preparing one of his stirring speeches which he was to deliver in Parliament. After working over it with great care, he forwarded it to the Foreign Office for comment. <\/p>\n
The following day, the manuscript was returned to him unmarked except for the notation that he had ended one of his sentences with a preposition. The preposition had been neatly circled, and an arrow indicated its proper place in the sentence. <\/p>\n
The Prime Minister immediately dispatched the following note to the Foreign Office: \u201cThis is the type of arrogant pedantry which up with I will not put.\u201d<\/p>\n
950<\/b> Preacher\u2019s Special Book\u2014Will You Sign? <\/b><\/p>\n
A preacher had on his desk a special book labeled \u201cComplaints of members against one another.\u201d When one of his people called to tell him the faults of another he would say, \u201cWell, here\u2019s my complaint book. I\u2019ll write down what you say, and you can sign it. Then when I have to take up the matter officially I shall know what I may expect you to testify to.\u201d The sight of the open book and the ready pen had its effect, \u201cOh, no, I couldn\u2019t sign anything like that!\u201d and no entry was made. The preacher said he kept the book for forty years, opened it probably a thousand times, and never wrote a line in it. <\/p>\n
951<\/b> Gen. Lee\u2019s Good For Evil<\/b><\/p>\n
This story was told of General Robert E. Lee: Hearing General Lee speak in the highest terms to President Davis about a certain officer, another officer, greatly astonished, said to him, \u201cGeneral, do you know that the man of whom you speak so highly to the President is one of your bitterest enemies, and misses no opportunity to malign you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d replied General Lee, \u201cbut the President asked my opinion of him; he did not ask for his opinion of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Sunshine Magazine<\/i><\/p>\n
952<\/b> Some Scriptural Pointers<\/b><\/p>\n
Both Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull and Dr. Charles G. Trumbull, the illustrious editors of The Sunday School Times<\/i>, used to say that when criticism comes we ought to see whether there is any truth in it, and learn from that truth, and not let our thoughts be distracted by the fact that the criticism may not have been given in the right spirit. <\/p>\n
In the face of criticism, by word or by letter, it is well to (1) Commit the matter instantly to God, asking Him to remove all resentment or counter-criticism on our part, and teach us needed lessons; (2) \u201cConsider him that endured such contradictions of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds,\u201d remembering that we ourselves are very great sinners, and that the one who has criticized us does not really know the worst; (3) Take account of the personal bias of the speaker or writer; (4) Remember that \u201ca soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger\u201d (Prov. 15:1);<\/p>\n
(5) If the criticism is true, and we have made a mistake or committed a sin, let us humbly and frankly confess our sin to Him, and to anyone whom we may have injured; (6) Learn afresh that we are fallible, and that we need His grace and wisdom moment by moment to keep up in the straight path; (7) Then,\u2014and not until then\u2014\u201dforgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before \u2026 press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Sunday School Times<\/i><\/p>\n
953<\/b> Epigram On Criticism (Answer)<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has never been set up a state in honor of a critic.<\/p>\n
\u2014Jean Sibelius<\/p>\n
\u2022 When you make your mark in the world, watch out for guys with erasers. <\/p>\n
\u2014The Wall Street Journal<\/i><\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cIf a dog barks at a hill, will the hill crumble?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Malay Proverb<\/p>\n
\u2022 If criticism had any real power to harm, the skunk would be extinct by now. <\/p>\n
\u2014Fred Allen<\/p>\n
\u2022 The moon could not go on shining if it paid any attention to the little dogs that bark at it. <\/p>\n
\u2022 If you are standing upright, don\u2019t worry if your shadow is crooked. <\/p>\n
\u2022 Be not disturbed at being misunderstood; be disturbed rather at not being understanding. <\/p>\n
\u2014Chinese Proverb<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cI want to be willing to make enemies because of my position but not because of my disposition.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2014Jack Hyles<\/p>\n
\u2022 Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body: it calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. <\/p>\n
\u2014Reader\u2019s Digest<\/i><\/p>\n
\u2022 The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism. <\/p>\n
\u2014Norman Vincent Peale<\/p>\n
\u2022 The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it, stop it; if you can\u2019t stop it, laugh at it; if you can\u2019t laugh at it, it\u2019s probably deserved. <\/p>\n
\u2014Russell Lynes<\/p>\n
See also:<\/b> Complaining ; Murmuring ; Rumors ; II Pet. 2:10, 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
926 Criticizing Causes Nervousness David H. Fink, author of Release From Nervous Tension, wrote an article for the Coronet Magazine, in which he made a striking suggestion as to how we can overcome mental and emotional tensions. As a psychiatrist for the Veterans Administration he was familiar with 10,000 case histories in this field. Thousands … Continue reading “CRITICISMS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}