About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Jews had to leave the Vatican. Naturally there was a big uproar from the Jewish community. So the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Jewish community. If the Jew won, the Jews could stay. If the Pope won, the Jews would leave.

The Jews realized that they had no choice. So they picked a middle-aged man named Moishe to represent them. Moishe asked for one addition to the debate. To make it more interesting, neither side would be allowed to talk. The pope agreed.

The day of the great debate came. Moishe and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Moishe looked back at him and raised one finger. The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head. Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat. The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine. Moishe pulled out an apple. The Pope stood up and said, "I give up. This man is too good. The Jews can stay."

An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking him what happened. The Pope said: "First I held up three fingers to represent he Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground and showing that god was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and the wafer to show that god absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?"

Meanwhile, the Jewish community had crowded around Moishe. "What happened?" they asked. "Well," said Moishe, "First he said to me that the Jews had three days to get out of here. I told him that not one of us was leaving. Then he told me that this whole city would be cleared of Jews. I let him know that we were staying right here."

"And then?" asked a woman. "I don't know," said Moishe. "He took out his lunch and I took out mine."

The train rushes across the Hungarian countryside. In a compartment sit a mother with her attractive daughter, a Nazi officer, and a Hungarian official. When the train passes through a tunnel, the compartment is engulfed in darkness. Suddenly there is the sound of a loud kiss followed by a shattering slap. When the train emerges from the tunnel, no one says a word, but the Nazi officer's face bears the unmistakable signs of having been slapped.

The mother looks at her daughter and thinks, "What a good daughter I have. She certainly showed that Nazi he can't fool with her."

The daughter looks at her mother and thinks, "Mother sure is brave to take on a Nazi officer over one stolen kiss." The Nazi officer stares at the Hungarian official and thinks, "That Hungarian is clever. He steals a kiss and gets me slapped, and there's nothing I can do about it." The Hungarian official stares blankly as he thinks, "Not bad. I kiss my hand and get away with slapping a Nazi."

For some of you, you’ll grow much stronger in your relationships if you learn to slow down your responses.

You have a raging fire before you. Will you throw water or gasoline on it? It doesn’t matter if the argument is their fault. Don’t leave it to the other person. You have the ability to slow things down.

When someone criticizes you, be careful not to respond with a knee-jerk criticism back.

If your relationships have a habit of playing "tit-for-tat" (like the Three Stooges hitting each other), then you’re not going to be growing. Areas of your life that you need to grow in will be neglected because you are afraid to hear it.

This was a wise man.

1. You think of something.

2. You express it.

3. The other person receives it.

4. The other person interprets what they received.

The problem with communication is that there are four different places to goof things up!

Sometimes the sender hasn’t really taken the time to think before they speak. They’re not sure themselves what they are trying to communicate.

Sometimes we know what we’re trying to say, but it just comes out wrong –

Sometimes, the receiver may not hear clearly, or may be caught up in their own problems or situation to not pay full attention to what is being communicated.

Sometimes we just don’t interpret correctly what was said:

1. Transmit.

2. Clarify

3. Verify

A young man gets engaged to a young woman and goes to meet her parents over dinner. After dinner the father takes the young man into the drawing room to find out his plans for life with his daughter. "So, what are your plans?" The father asks the fiancé. "I am a Biblical Scholar" he replies "A Biblical Scholar. Admirable, but what will you do to provide a nice home for my daughter to live in, as she deserves?" The father asks. "I will study" the young man replies "...God will provide for us." "And how will you buy her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she deserves?" The father asks. "I will concentrate on my studies, God will provide for us." the young man replies. "And children" the father asks "how will you support your children?" "Don't worry sir" the young man replies "God will provide." The conversation proceeds like this, and each time the father asks a question the young man insists that God will provide. Later, the mother asks about the discussion, "So, how did it go?" The father replies "He has no job and no plans, but the good news is he thinks I'm God."