Ecclesiastes 12:10

 Empathy is the ability to feel for others. It is what makes us care about each other as people. It forms the roots of compassion and love. In a world that struggles with bullying, anger, and coldness, you could imagine why people want to know how to build it.   Richard Koestner, a psychologist at McGill University was attempting to do just that. He looked and found a study that had been conducted at back at study at Yale University in the 1950s. It involved 75 men and women who had been part of a study when they were children.   When Koestner and his colleagues examined all the factors in the children's lives that might have affected how empathetic they became as adults, one factor dwarfed all others—how much time their fathers spent with them. They were expecting other factors such as how affectionate parents were with their children would be the key factor. In reality, it made no difference.   Just spending time with Dad did.   Fathers pl...

   All boys at some point in their life try to be just like their dad. They comb their  hair like dad. They put on a tie like dad. The talk like him, walk like him, emulate him in what he does.  Then at some point they do just the opposite, they distance themselves trying to be their own man.  However,  most grown men will tell you that even after that they still have a lot of their father in them, for better or for worse .    In John 8:44 Jesus condemns a group of people for acting like their Father; You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies .    Here Jesus is warning these men that in rejecting the truth about him and creating lies about him, they are showing who their true father is. Not the God of Heav...

  Swiss researchers arrived at a fascinating conclusion about the impact of mothers' vs . fathers' church attendance on the future religious observance of their children .  The detailed survey indicated that if the father attended church regularly, and the mother was non-practicing, then 44% of their children became regular church-goers .   But if the mother attended regularly, and the father was non-practicing, then only 2% of their children became regular church attenders .   Even when the father was an irregular attender and the mother non-practicing, a full 25% of their children became regular attenders, while if a mother was a regular attender and the father irregular, only 3% of the children became regular attenders .     In short, if a father does not attend church, it won't matter how dedicated the mother is in her observance, only one child in 50 will become a regular attender .  But if a father is even somewhat observant, th...