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Sin, Sex and Self-Control
Hard cover
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
13 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Norman Vincent Peale
723 books1,350 followersDr. Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) was a minister and author (most notably of The Power of Positive Thinking) and a progenitor of the theory of "positive thinking".
Peale was born in Bowersville, Ohio. He graduated from Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine, Ohio. He has earned degrees at Ohio Wesleyan University (where he became a brother of the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta) and Boston University School of Theology.
Raised as a Methodist and ordained as a Methodist minister in 1922, Peale changed his religious affiliation to the Reformed Church in America in 1932 and began a 52-year tenure as pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. During that time the church's membership grew from 600 to over 5000, and he became one of New York City's most famous preachers.
Peale was born in Bowersville, Ohio. He graduated from Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine, Ohio. He has earned degrees at Ohio Wesleyan University (where he became a brother of the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta) and Boston University School of Theology.
Raised as a Methodist and ordained as a Methodist minister in 1922, Peale changed his religious affiliation to the Reformed Church in America in 1932 and began a 52-year tenure as pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. During that time the church's membership grew from 600 to over 5000, and he became one of New York City's most famous preachers.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 31, 2018
This is an interesting book that I recommend for everyone who is looking for an inspiration to move from a "wish I could" attitude to an "I can do it" one. It's surly full of Christianity, since the writer is a minister in a church; however you can adjust the religious quotations to whatever your religious believes are. The most interesting chapters are: "Marriage: Control or Chaos", "The family: Bedrock or Quicksand" and "The challenge of our spiritual selves".
June 12, 2012
¡He registrado un libro en BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11199057
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11199057
December 23, 2020
Honestly, I only read Norman Vincent Peale books as a sort of pastime: with all the heavy material and non-fiction I usually read, Peale's bullshit about positive thinking is a wonderful aperitif before I launch myself once more into challenging reads. As a student of psychology, and a follower of certain psychological theories, I've always looked at Peale's attempts to integrate "positive thinking" into psychology to be laughable. Mental illness can't be wished away by "positive thinking," and so can't physical illness. In most of his popular works, there has always been an aura of naivete that irritated me. For the most part, however, as aperitifs or as self-help literature viewed sardonically, they work.
To me, real self-help are books like Manson's Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow. The former reveals to us that "positive thinking" can't change others one whit; the latter reveals to us that "critical thinking" tends to be at the same time analytical and negativistic, with copious amounts of studies backing this thesis up. (Kahneman is also a Nobel laureate.)
Surprisingly, however, this book by Peale is significantly different from all the positivist crap he's been spouting. While it's still quite positive, his tone is cautiously hopeful, and a lot more sober. The thesis of the book is that internal self-control is the key to developing morally-intact individuals, and it is this lack of self-control that sprawls over the diseases that society currently suffers. Sexual profligacy is, simply stated, the lack of respect toward the idea of marriage and the absence of internalization with regard to its gravity. Both Peale and I argue the same thing toward respecting the other sex: sex, to us, is a celebration of marriage's commitment, and is not a tool for mere self-gratification. While I'm not as saintly as Peale, I understand the importance of self-discipline and self-control in light of personal maturity: even psychology has supported this with evidence: the "marshmallow experiment," for example, has shown that the children who can defer instant gratification have grown to be a lot more successful than their peers who ate the marshmallows right away.
Each act wil always have consequences, and this "hindsight-in-advance" found in mature individuals prevent them from doing irreparable, incorrigible acts. This will always begin with oneself. Ultimately, I also agree that discipline is the price you pay for freedom.
To me, real self-help are books like Manson's Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow. The former reveals to us that "positive thinking" can't change others one whit; the latter reveals to us that "critical thinking" tends to be at the same time analytical and negativistic, with copious amounts of studies backing this thesis up. (Kahneman is also a Nobel laureate.)
Surprisingly, however, this book by Peale is significantly different from all the positivist crap he's been spouting. While it's still quite positive, his tone is cautiously hopeful, and a lot more sober. The thesis of the book is that internal self-control is the key to developing morally-intact individuals, and it is this lack of self-control that sprawls over the diseases that society currently suffers. Sexual profligacy is, simply stated, the lack of respect toward the idea of marriage and the absence of internalization with regard to its gravity. Both Peale and I argue the same thing toward respecting the other sex: sex, to us, is a celebration of marriage's commitment, and is not a tool for mere self-gratification. While I'm not as saintly as Peale, I understand the importance of self-discipline and self-control in light of personal maturity: even psychology has supported this with evidence: the "marshmallow experiment," for example, has shown that the children who can defer instant gratification have grown to be a lot more successful than their peers who ate the marshmallows right away.
Each act wil always have consequences, and this "hindsight-in-advance" found in mature individuals prevent them from doing irreparable, incorrigible acts. This will always begin with oneself. Ultimately, I also agree that discipline is the price you pay for freedom.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews