Author: MD Harris Institute

MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, PhD, ThM, DECBA Colonel, US Army (ret)

What must I do to be saved?

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

The Bible leads people to salvation, but sometimes is unclear about what is required. What are the core beliefs that one must have to be a Christian? When the apostles tell us to follow the fundamental truths of the Faith, what do they mean? What can followers of Christ disagree on without breaking fellowship? What differences in theology are so serious that Christians must separate themselves from people who hold wrong views

By Mark D. Harris

Our Sunday School class has been working through the letters of John for the past several weeks. In them, the Apostle repeatedly calls for his readers to know the truth. Most people, even those who deny objective moral truth, believe in some kind of truth. Religions, and non-religious philosophies, claim to contain and convey truth, and ask their adherents to accept it.

The word “saved” differs from one religion and/or philosophy to another. To a Christian, one is saved from separation from God. To a Buddhist, one is saved from false beliefs. To a Marxist, one is saved from economic oppression. To a Muslim, one is saved from hell. Keeping in mind that “salvation” differs by context, we will investigate how to achieve it.

How to be “saved” in major non-Christian religions

Every religion requires adherence to a set of beliefs and actions by those who wish to be part of that faith. For example, Islam expects its followers to do the five pillars:[1]

  1. Shahada – testify that “there is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is His prophet.”
  2. Zakat – pay tithes.
  3. Salah – pray towards Mecca five times per day.
  4. Sawm – fast during Ramadan.
  5. Hajj – make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Muslims are likewise required to perform good works, having just dealings with others, and may be called to fight in a holy war (jihad). Islam has dietary requirements, such as prohibitions on alcohol and pork, and rules for the social order. If one believes and does these things, he or she can justly consider him or herself to be a Muslim and will be considered so by others.[2] After death, if a Muslim’s good deeds outweigh the bad, or if he is killed in a jihad, he or she will enjoy paradise.

Continue reading “What must I do to be saved?” →

Welcome to our Future

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

An Easter sermon on how to deal with the reality of our future…death. 

By Mark D. Harris, (Resurrection Service, MBC, Easter 2023)

Prelude – Trombone and French Horn, Low in the Grave He Lay

Opening Prayer

Congregational song – Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Congregational song – He Lives

(Standing in a cemetery)

Welcome to our future.

Look around. What do you see? Someday we will all be here, or someplace like it, or scattered across land or sea. We cannot avoid it…no man can. Even God abode in the grave. In a few short decades, or years, or minutes, we will be here, never to leave.

Our place at the table will be empty. Our voice in the home will be stilled. The warmth of our touch and twinkle in our eye will be forgotten. Our hopes and dreams will have come… and gone.

Deep in our hearts, we know that this is wrong. Death seems unnatural, and the decay of our mortal frame is not only terrifying. It is offensive.

Continue reading “Welcome to our Future” →

Balaam

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

A famous character with a timeless message. Life is not about getting rich, and certainly not about using the weaknesses of others against them. Rather, life about knowing God, and helping others to know Him.

By Mark D. Harris

From the earliest days in Sunday School, children learn about Balaam, a magician whose donkey spoke to him. It is a fun story, acted out in person and with toys countless times in church classrooms across America and the world. The story seems simple, as recorded in Numbers 22-25.

  1. The Israelites under Moses arrive at the border of Moab on their way to the Promised Land. They had just destroyed the armies of Og and Sihon, powerful local kings.
  2. Balak, the king of Moab, fears that the Israelites will overwhelm him and his people.
  3. Balaam is a magician from Pethor, a town near the Euphrates River, who is famous for his power.
  4. Balak sends a delegation to Balaam to ask him to curse Israel and give him military victory.
  5. Balaam replies that he cannot curse Israel because God has blessed them. In fact, he cannot even travel with the delegation back to Moab. The delegation returns to Moab.
  6. King Balak sends another, more distinguished delegation, and offers Balaam more money.
  7. Balaam agrees to go with the delegation but again refuses to curse the Hebrews.
  8. On the way to Moab, Balaam’s donkey stops in a narrow road. Balaam whips her to move forward, but the donkey then lies down.
  9. Balaam beats her more and threatens to kill her.
  10. Balaam donkey speaks audibly to her master, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?” And he said, “No.”
  11. God allows Balaam to see that an angel with a drawn sword was blocking the path. Had the donkey not turned away, the angel would have killed Balaam.
  12. Balak sacrifices to his gods.
  13. Balaam continues to Moab, but despite Balak’s continual encouragements, enticements, and threats, did not curse Israel.
  14. Instead, Balaam blesses Israel, incurring the wrath of Balak.
  15. Balaam departs to his home in Pethor.

Continue reading “Balaam” →

Taxes in the Bible

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

The Bible has much to say about, and many examples of, taxes. God’s plan for taxation in ancient Israel was compassionate, effective, and limited. Modern thinkers, policy makers, and voters would do well to move American, Western, and world tax and government policies closer to what our ancestors would recognize.

By Mark D. Harris

Governments, like people, have always tried to procure as many resources as possible from everywhere they could. Resources ranged from beautiful things (seashells, beads, precious metals, precious stones) to products (grain, wine, cotton) to labor (forced labor, slavery). Taxation is, by definition, involuntary. Freewill offerings, such as what the Hebrews gave to build the tabernacle (Exodus 35:20-35), are not included in this discussion.

Continue reading “Taxes in the Bible” →

Recent Studies in Behavioral Finance

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

Most people in the field of finance assume that people act rationally. But research and life experience suggest otherwise, at least some of the time. What are some recent research findings on how our hearts cloud our heads? How can we minimize the irrational parts of our decision making in finance?

By Mark D. Harris

Introduction

The Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH) suggests that all the available information about a publicly traded company that is pertinent to investing in that company is contained in the stock price at any point in time (Vasileiou, 2020). Insofar as this is true, investors are rational actors who make investment decisions solely on rational grounds. However, company stock prices sometimes are higher or lower than one would expect based on purely objective valuations. This fact suggests that something besides rationality is present in company stock prices.

To explain market behavior beyond the purely rational, researchers turn to behavioral finance. Growing out of Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, one of behavioral finances’ primary observations is that “investors (and people in general) make decisions on imprecise impressions and beliefs rather than rational analysis.” Further, “the way a question or problem is framed to an investor will influence the decision he/she ultimately makes.” The article concludes, “These two observations largely explain market inefficiencies; that is, behavior finance holds that markets are sometimes inefficient because people are not mathematical equations” (Behavioral finance, 2019).

Continue reading “Recent Studies in Behavioral Finance” →