Can You Detect Unethical Behavior?

Maybe you've watched the crime solving TV program, "Lie to Me." I sometimes chuckle when I watch the lead character peering into the face of suspects as if he can see the truth in the pores of their skin! Yes, I know body language, expressions and gestures can betray the spoken word and there are experts that can discern these circumstances. For many of us, however, detecting unethical or criminal behavior is a little more difficult!

A partner in a CPA firm that attended one of my seminars related this story. The CPA was asked to submit a proposal to audit a larger non-profit organization in his community. The CPA arranged an initial meeting with the executive director to discuss the organization, its accounting and internal control systems and to obtain financial information. After the meeting, the CPA shared that he couldn't point to anything specific but had a bad feeling about the director. Recognizing this could be either his intuition or too much pizza for lunch, the CPA invited the director to play golf with his foursome Saturday. Upon completing the round, the CPA told the director he would not be submitting an audit proposal. His reason? The director cheated on his score on every hole of the golf course!

The CPA shared he had witnessed a character flaw in an individual that is often a symptom of a greater problem. About a year later the director's name appeared in newspaper headlines because he had embezzled funds from the non-profit organization! A good call I'd say!

I'm an old auditor and would be the last to say our best means of detecting unethical behavior is our intuition. But I would say that we honor our intuition far too little in our relationships with others. Unethical behavior is a fruit of a deeper root. The fruit is usually obvious if we pay attention!

Do Your Actions Speak Louder Than Your Words?

Before we were married, my wife thought I was a "straight-laced CPA." Probably, because I was! Well after all, I'm a CPA and have a professional image to maintain, or so I reasoned. She has said that even when I have fun, it's work. She's right. My upbringing taught me how to perform to get accolades and avoid criticism.

While I have grown some, I still have to make sure what I do isn't performance to get "attaboys," or to sway the opinions of others. The truth is that most of us perform some. Others are affected by our performance, at least for a little while. Eventually, however, hidden things will be revealed. Maybe I should say the hidden "self" will be revealed. My self-serving purposes will eventually become evident when what I do and say doesn't align with what's in my heart. In other words, I can only survive doing and saying good for a short time if I'm faking it. In some way, the truth will come out because my actions speak louder than my words!

If you are a parent and make a promise to your child, you better make it good. If you are a businessman that tells employees your primary objective is to help them accomplish theirs, you better make sure you share your profits. If you are a pastor that tells a congregation your goal is to help them live a better life, occasionally you should consider passing the offering plate and telling them to take something out! If you are a politician that insists serving the needs of constituents is the primary purpose of holding office, your actions better back up your words.

Here's the bottom line. Words are empty unless they come from one's heart and are backed by unselfish actions. When we're not genuine in our words or actions, others will know it!

Why Is There Such Death and Destruction in Haiti?

I can barely stand watching the news reports of the devastation in Haiti. My heart, like yours I'm sure, breaks with the images of the injured and the dying. Children without their parents or a home may be the worst part. Like other natural disasters, life as usual is changed in an instant. Business doesn't matter. Ethical behavior doesn't matter. Our 401K doesn't matter. Plans for the future don't matter. Only survival does!

Like many of us, you may be asking why. Why did this happen to one of the poorest nations on earth? Why did people that had almost nothing lose even that? Why the death and devastation? Some would answer and say those faults have been under that city for centuries. True, but the destruction came now. Some would say that it is the judgment of God on the sin, on the devil worship and on the lawlessness that has reigned in that nation. This also may be true but these evils are embedded in the history of the nation. Still others would say it is chance. Volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, droughts and other natural disasters are occurring more frequently around the world, and it's probably not chance!

Whether or not one believes in God, we must understand that the earth has a timetable. Nostradamus thought so. The Mayans thought so. Even science thinks so! As we are busy living life, however, we don't want to think so! If we don't think about it, we don't have to deal with some difficult issues. Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going when I leave the earth? It's pretty easy to think that we just stop, or that we go into the light, or that we become angels or that this life is all there is. I hope you know that none of this kind of reasoning is truth.

Natural laws have been established on this earth. We're familiar with gravity, thermodynamics, physics, planting and harvesting and so on. The natural law we like to ignore, however, is that sin has consequences! Collective sin has even greater consequences! If you don't believe me, you need to read a publication that has been proven accurate by historians, archeologists, lawyers and many others...the Holy Bible.

The consequences of sin will be reaped on earth or in the "after life." To die is to leave this earth for an eternal destiny, either heaven or hell. We don't get a chance to choose after the earthquake hits! But, we can choose now! Jesus' recorded words in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Jesus is the only savior that died to pay the price for our sin. When we ask him in prayer to be our Lord and Savior, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him form the dead, we will be saved! He will forgive our sin and make the way for us to be filled with His righteousness and love! Are you ready for what might happen on earth tomorrow, or even in the next few minutes? Make your choice now!

Why Can't Christians Say What They Believe?

In the past couple of weeks, many news reports and commentators' opinions have had a spot on Tiger Woods' reported sex addiction. Many of the commentators expressed their opinion about what he should do to overcome the scandal and the addiction.

On Fox News a couple of days ago, Brit Hume voiced his opinion about what Tiger Woods should do to get set free of his reported sex addiction and to get on with his career. To paraphrase, he said that Tiger Wood's professed faith in Buddhism couldn't set him free and the only religion that had that capability was Christianity through faith in Jesus Christ. He used "that name" and the media came unglued. Paraphrasing the responses, Brit Hume is a reprehensible, unprofessional, indiscriminate commentator. I wonder if the outcry would have been as loud if he had suggested Tiger Woods read the Koran and pray several time during the day!

Keith Oberman argued the news media shouldn't be a platform for proselytizing. Wikipedia's definition of Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. Like every other commentator that has weighed in on this scandal, Brit Hume expressed his opinion. If he was proselytizing, my opinion is that they all were!

So, why can everyone but Christians say what they believe? Specifically, why can't a Christian use the Name of Jesus Christ without causing offense? I posed the question from the standpoint of a Christian because it's acceptable to use His name while calling Him a lunatic or a liar, or while swearing!

Here is my opinion. Jesus Christ, whether people believe in Him or not, holds the power of eternal life and death. He is the absolute source of ethical behavior; He is The Truth. For a non-believer to acknowledge Him as a source of wisdom and as a standard for ethical behavior would be admitting that their belief system could be wrong. Since their belief system is their identity, admitting its possible error could be emotional suicide. Worse yet, it would be admitting that they are accountable to someone and that they can't do and say what they want without retribution. In short, they're afraid they can't practice their religion, secular humanism!

Since Jesus was born, His Name has been hated. The New Testament of the Holy Bible contains historical documentation of this fact. Denial of His existence, criticism of Him and His followers, and legally restricting the speech and actions of Christians doesn't change The Truth. The Words of Christ, the New Testament of the Bible, are the only absolute standards for ethical behavior!

What Is Your Resolution?

It's that time again. It's January and New Year's resolutions are the substance of the media one more time. It is reported that some are resolving to lose weight, to quit smoking, to change their lifestyles, to get a better job and so on. For most of us, our resolutions almost always center on ourselves. I can't remember a news reporter interviewing someone that said, "I want to make the world a better place" or "I'm resolving to help others more" or "I'm going to demonstrate love for my neighbor this year."

I'm reading a book by Joyce Meyers called "The Love Revolution." She says that selfishness is behind almost every problem the world faces today. I'd go one step further and say self-centeredness is the primary cause. And why shouldn't it be? It began in the Garden of Eden!

I lived the first 45 years of my life as a "self-made" man. The only thing my lifestyle made was a mess! When my world began to collapse my defense was to blame others for my problems. And why not? Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent! The devil made me do it!

One of my favorite lines from the movie Gladiator was when General Maximus said to his men before a battle, "What you do here today will echo throughout eternity!" We will be accountable to God for the things we do here on earth, whether or not we believe in Him! Self-centeredness in the Garden of Eden brought spiritual death to all mankind throughout eternity. We are mankind!

But there is good news! "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) God first loved us so we could love him...and others! He made the Way in Jesus Christ for us to escape our self-centeredness and to become "others-centered." In the end, the only resolution that will matter is whether we have resolved to love God and one another. This is true ethical behavior! We can become resolute this year and point the Way!