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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious life & practice
Pastor and New York Times bestselling author Joel Osteen offers 90 days
of inspirational devotions to help you become the best that you can be
in every area of your life.
In Become a Better You, Joel Osteen provided 7 key principles designed
to improve and enrich your life. He explained how each insight will
positively impact your goals, your confidence, your relationships, and
your spiritual life. These principles are:
-Keep pressing forward
-Be positive toward yourself
-Develop better relationships
-Form better habits
-Embrace the place where you are
-Develop your inner life
-Stay passionate about life
With this devotional, Joel offers 90 days of thought-provoking
messages, words of encouragement, and valuable scripture that emphasize
the message of Become a Better You. This specially selected collection
of biblical passages illuminates different points of Joel's messages
and is designed to inspire you toward becoming all that God created you
to be. He draws upon personal anecdotes to illustrate the passages and
shows us how he and others have used the 7 principles to better
themselves and deepen their relationship with God. As you incorporate
Joel's easy-to-grasp concepts into your life, you will be pleasantly
surprised at how much more God has in store for you and how quickly you
become a better you!
Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881-1983), founder of Reconstructionism and
the rabbi who initiated the first Bat Mitzvah, also produced the
longest Jewish diary on record. In twenty-seven volumes, written
between 1913 and 1978, Kaplan shares not only his reaction to the
great events of his time but also his very personal thoughts on
religion and Jewish life. In Communings of the Spirit: The Journals
of Mordecai M. Kaplan Volume III, 1942-1951, readers experience his
horror at the persecution of the European Jews, as well as his joy
in the founding of the State of Israel. Above all else, Kaplan was
concerned with the survival and welfare of the Jewish people. And
yet he also believed that the well-being of the Jewish people was
tied to the safety and security of all people. In his own words,
"Such is the mutuality of human life that none can be saved, unless
all are saved". In the first volume of Communings of the Spirit,
editor Mel Scult covers Kaplan's early years as a rabbi, teacher of
rabbis, and community leader. In the second volume, readers
experience the economic problems of the 1930s and their shattering
impact on the Jewish community. The third volume chronicles
Kaplan's spiritual and intellectual journey in the 1940s. With
candour and vivid detail, Kaplan explores his evolving beliefs
concerning a democratic Judaism; religious naturalism; and the
conflicts, uncertainties, and self-doubts he faced in the first
half of the twentieth century, including his excommunication by the
ultra-Orthodox in 1945 for taking a more progressive approach to
the liturgy. In his publications, Kaplan eliminated the
time-honored declarations of Jewish chosen-ness as well as the
outdated doctrines concerning the resurrection of the dead. He
wanted a prayer book that Jews could feel reflected their beliefs
and experiences; he believed that people must mean what they say
when they pray. Kaplan was a man of contradictions, but because of
that, all the more interesting and significant. Scholars of Judaica
and rabbinical studies will value this honest look at the
preeminent American Jewish thinker and rabbi of our times.
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