Welcome to Adobe GoLive 6

JS: I come home every day after work, and there it is. . .

LK: The laundry?

JS: The TV. I'm tired, I'm needing a break. I want to sit and relax. And there it is, a siren song in a blank, one-eyed box. When we lived in Connecticut, we simply refrained from putting up an antenna, but now that we are in a city, even our ancient little video monitor gets reception. I can pick between Oprah and Montel any afternoon I choose, or, heaven-forbid, watch a soap. My husband taped a sign to the TV that reads, "I will set no wicked thing before my eyes." Problem is, some of the stuff isn't wicked, it's just addictive. I don't want to get into the habit, Abby, what should I do?

LK: Well, let's see... I suppose I could intone, "Throw the monster out," but then you might just console yourself by cranking up the stereo or overdosing on Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies. Or you might pepper me with emails detailing your descent into Oprah addiction. That's a scary thought--sure you wouldn't rather settle for doing the laundry?

JS: I suppose if I rigged a video camera to tape me as I catatonically watched TV, and then had the camera flash my unflattering picture onto the screen periodically with the heading "Jennifer J. Schwirzer, Couch Potato," it might help me associate watching TV with being an intellectual featherweight. And if I learned to associate the act of washing those piles of very human-smelling clothes with the smell of a freshly washed garment, and all the respect I get when my clothes are clean, I could train myself to relish doing the wash. What psychology calls "behavior modification" has its place, as long as it's self-imposed in an environ of freedom. Why not retrain ourselves, as much as we are able, to love doing good and hate doing evil? We'll be better people for it.

LK: Now that you bring it up, it so happens that our last column elicited a number of responses about this very topic--whether or not the pleasure/pain or reward/punishment association is a valid and effective method for changing attitudes and behaviors. Marti thinks it can be; she relates, "I have always loved ice-cream (not cake). Well, in my desire to eat better it has caused me at least a little grief over my wayward taste buds. It took reading the title of an article on vegsource to push me off the fence: 'Ice-Cream, It Really Is To Die For.' Now, as I understand it, I have automatically associated that thought with eating the stuff and have lost my attraction." Because a serendipitous sound-bite helped Marti associate ice cream-abstention with life (pleasure/reward) and ice cream-indulgence with death (pain/punishment), she understandably asks, "Maybe that is how the Lord works sometimes?? And maybe I can use this to help me past other hurdles. Would that necessarily be a lack of faith??" So what say you, Jen, the prolific pen?

JS: I think she's right. God isn't too proud to use behavior modification when it might save our lives. As a parent I used it. We lived on a busy road, and I had to spank my little toddler to keep her from running into it. She didn't associate the pleasure of exploring new territory with the overriding (no pun intended) pain of getting run over by a car. So I interposed the pain of spanking to get her to make that connection. Sometimes God finds ways to pressure us to connect self-destructive habits (gorging on Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies) with their outcome (not weight gain in my case, but cavities) before that outcome destroys us. And so He saves our lives. But can mere pleasure/pain association save our souls? Oh Les, do address. ... ..

LK: Okay, I think the answer is both yes and no (Did you think I'd make this easy for you?). Yes, I think it's God's starting place, and no, I don't think it's His ending place. God's pattern is to take us from the concrete to the abstract; from the material to the spiritual; from the foreshadowing to the fulfillment. He starts by saying, "'You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth;"'" but He ends by saying, "'But I say to you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also'" (Matthew 5:38, 39, NKJV). So in the Old Testament God begins by appealing to our sense of fairness and our desire to avoid painful consequences; and in the New Testament He concludes by inviting us to step outside of our comfort zone and endure pain for the greater good of exemplifying His character and winning others to Christ.

So now let's make this really synergistic and include some more reader comments. Pastor Rob asserts that if we stay stuck in the pleasure/pain motivation, we're simply subscribing to a form of "'Christian hedonism.' We are still the same old pleasure lovers but now we have found the ultimate in pleasure--the 'Holy Spirit' buzz on earth and heaven to come--yipeee!!!" He concludes, "I don't think that's quite what Christ has in mind." I don't either; but then, as I said above, neither do I think that we "arrive" all at once. God moves us along a continuum of Christian growth. As Bill observed, "Today I am motivated by the deeper things, the higher stages on Kohlberg's scale. Tomorrow, I may do well just to respond to fear and reward. But as I respond properly, I will gain strength to move back up the Kohlberg scale."

No doubt you could say more, so I implore...Oh Jen, please do append. (Hey, we could do an entire Synergy in verse some time. What do you think?)

JS: And I could put it to music and sing it on my next album. Hey! That's what you were plotting all along, isn't it? To get your name in my album credits! You should have just asked! I would have put you on as "friend and supporter of the artist." And that's where I'd like to leave this discussion on motivation. It's all about friends, about the other ones involved. Pleasure/pain motivations work well in my relationship to myself, but they pretty much end there. If I'm recircuiting my responses to various stimuli, I'm thinking of how those things will affect me, and planning for the best outcome. But factoring in another person, or Person, Jesus Himself, involves my thinking about how what I do affects Him. I think that's what it means to love God and your neighbor as yourself. And yes, I could use more self-discipline, but I could really use more love. How about you?

LK: I'll take love. I'm inspired by the apostle John's rapturous outburst: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God!" (1 John 3:1, NIV). Jesus, who is Love incarnate, has eternally given Himself for us and to us. He's our inexhaustible Source of self-worth and satisfaction in life. He's our motivation for doing good and hating evil; the Friend who makes life worth living, who gives us other friends with whom to live a meaningful life.

So in light of all that, you won't let yourself become another slavish casualty of daytime TV, will you? Promise me, Jen. I couldn't stand to see my best friend taken over by aliens.

JS: Can I watch the news and the History Channel? How about Animal Planet?

LK: Who are you kidding? You don't even have cable. You just stop this nonsense right now and march in there and do that laundry, young lady.

JS: Whatever you say, boss. Until next time...

Selected Comments:

"As long as we're supremely motivated by our own comfort & success, we can be induced to betray our value system & our Savior...& other people in the process". This is so simple, so self-evident, but so profoundly true. A maxim of life. An the next paragraph of follow up comment was right on. God bless you both in your ministry."

-John Bridges, California

"What I do know about people who lead very busy lives is that they really really really need a time during the day to rest, to access the alpha waves of their brain at the end of a period where they have been using lots of cranial energy. Most people do use the TV for that because it's easy, it gives them a break, and it access the alpha waves. Doing the laundy is just another list of the things that occupy us and do not let us access a restful part of our brain, and, I believe are part of the Adventist addiction to business or being "productive". So you would need to find an easy alternative to Oprah...scrabble, watching a waterfall, taking the time to curl up with a book that relaxes you. That might be a helpful thing to think about in your colume...

-Catherine Taylor, Massachusettes


Jesus--He's to Live For JS: I come home every day after work, and there it is. . . LK: The laundry? JS: The TV. I'm tired, I'm needing a break. I want to sit and relax. And there it is, a siren song in a blank, one-eyed box. When we lived in Connecticut, we simply refrained from putting up an antenna, but now that we are in a city, even our ancient little video monitor gets reception. I can pick between Oprah and Montel any afternoon I choose, or, heaven-forbid, watch a soap. My husband taped a sign to the TV that reads, "I will set no wicked thing before my eyes." Problem is, some of the stuff isn't wicked, it's just addictive. I don't want to get into the habit, Abby, what should I do? LK: Well, let's see... I suppose I could intone, "Throw the monster out," but then you might just console yourself by cranking up the stereo or overdosing on Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies. Or you might pepper me with emails detailing your descent into Oprah addiction. That's a scary thought--sure you wouldn't rather settle for doing the laundry? JS: I suppose if I rigged a video camera to tape me as I catatonically watched TV, and then had the camera flash my unflattering picture onto the screen periodically with the heading "Jennifer J. Schwirzer, Couch Potato," it might help me associate watching TV with being an intellectual featherweight. And if I learned to associate the act of washing those piles of very human-smelling clothes with the smell of a freshly washed garment, and all the respect I get when my clothes are clean, I could train myself to relish doing the wash. What psychology calls "behavior modification" has its place, as long as it's self-imposed in an environ of freedom. Why not retrain ourselves, as much as we are able, to love doing good and hate doing evil? We'll be better people for it. LK: Now that you bring it up, it so happens that our last column elicited a number of responses about this very topic--whether or not the pleasure/pain or reward/punishment association is a valid and effective method for changing attitudes and behaviors. Marti thinks it can be; she relates, "I have always loved ice-cream (not cake). Well, in my desire to eat better it has caused me at least a little grief over my wayward taste buds. It took reading the title of an article on vegsource to push me off the fence: 'Ice-Cream, It Really Is To Die For.' Now, as I understand it, I have automatically associated that thought with eating the stuff and have lost my attraction." Because a serendipitous sound-bite helped Marti associate ice cream-abstention with life (pleasure/reward) and ice cream-indulgence with death (pain/punishment), she understandably asks, "Maybe that is how the Lord works sometimes?? And maybe I can use this to help me past other hurdles. Would that necessarily be a lack of faith??" So what say you, Jen, the prolific pen? JS: I think she's right. God isn't too proud to use behavior modification when it might save our lives. As a parent I used it. We lived on a busy road, and I had to spank my little toddler to keep her from running into it. She didn't associate the pleasure of exploring new territory with the overriding (no pun intended) pain of getting run over by a car. So I interposed the pain of spanking to get her to make that connection. Sometimes God finds ways to pressure us to connect self-destructive habits (gorging on Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies) with their outcome (not weight gain in my case, but cavities) before that outcome destroys us. And so He saves our lives. But can mere pleasure/pain association save our souls? Oh Les, do address. ... .. LK: Okay, I think the answer is both yes and no (Did you think I'd make this easy for you?). Yes, I think it's God's starting place, and no, I don't think it's His ending place. God's pattern is to take us from the concrete to the abstract; from the material to the spiritual; from the foreshadowing to the fulfillment. He starts by saying, "'You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth;"'" but He ends by saying, "'But I say to you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also'" (Matthew 5:38, 39, NKJV). So in the Old Testament God begins by appealing to our sense of fairness and our desire to avoid painful consequences; and in the New Testament He concludes by inviting us to step outside of our comfort zone and endure pain for the greater good of exemplifying His character and winning others to Christ. So now let's make this really synergistic and include some more reader comments. Pastor Rob asserts that if we stay stuck in the pleasure/pain motivation, we're simply subscribing to a form of "'Christian hedonism.' We are still the same old pleasure lovers but now we have found the ultimate in pleasure--the 'Holy Spirit' buzz on earth and heaven to come--yipeee!!!" He concludes, "I don't think that's quite what Christ has in mind." I don't either; but then, as I said above, neither do I think that we "arrive" all at once. God moves us along a continuum of Christian growth. As Bill observed, "Today I am motivated by the deeper things, the higher stages on Kohlberg's scale. Tomorrow, I may do well just to respond to fear and reward. But as I respond properly, I will gain strength to move back up the Kohlberg scale." No doubt you could say more, so I implore...Oh Jen, please do append. (Hey, we could do an entire Synergy in verse some time. What do you think?) JS: And I could put it to music and sing it on my next album. Hey! That's what you were plotting all along, isn't it? To get your name in my album credits! You should have just asked! I would have put you on as "friend and supporter of the artist." And that's where I'd like to leave this discussion on motivation. It's all about friends, about the other ones involved. Pleasure/pain motivations work well in my relationship to myself, but they pretty much end there. If I'm recircuiting my responses to various stimuli, I'm thinking of how those things will affect me, and planning for the best outcome. But factoring in another person, or Person, Jesus Himself, involves my thinking about how what I do affects Him. I think that's what it means to love God and your neighbor as yourself. And yes, I could use more self-discipline, but I could really use more love. How about you? LK: I'll take love. I'm inspired by the apostle John's rapturous outburst: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God!" (1 John 3:1, NIV). Jesus, who is Love incarnate, has eternally given Himself for us and to us. He's our inexhaustible Source of self-worth and satisfaction in life. He's our motivation for doing good and hating evil; the Friend who makes life worth living, who gives us other friends with whom to live a meaningful life. So in light of all that, you won't let yourself become another slavish casualty of daytime TV, will you? Promise me, Jen. I couldn't stand to see my best friend taken over by aliens. JS: Can I watch the news and the History Channel? How about Animal Planet? LK: Who are you kidding? You don't even have cable. You just stop this nonsense right now and march in there and do that laundry, young lady. JS: Whatever you say, boss. Until next time... Selected Comments: "As long as we're supremely motivated by our own comfort & success, we can be induced to betray our value system & our Savior...& other people in the process". This is so simple, so self-evident, but so profoundly true. A maxim of life. An the next paragraph of follow up comment was right on. God bless you both in your ministry." -John Bridges, California "What I do know about people who lead very busy lives is that they really really really need a time during the day to rest, to access the alpha waves of their brain at the end of a period where they have been using lots of cranial energy. Most people do use the TV for that because it's easy, it gives them a break, and it access the alpha waves. Doing the laundy is just another list of the things that occupy us and do not let us access a restful part of our brain, and, I believe are part of the Adventist addiction to business or being "productive". So you would need to find an easy alternative to Oprah...scrabble, watching a waterfall, taking the time to curl up with a book that relaxes you. That might be a helpful thing to think about in your colume... -Catherine Taylor, Massachusettes