Titans coach, Jeff Fisher, was asked in The Tennessean recently: “What do you consider the most underrated virtue of men?” His gave a one word answer – “Emotions.”

Jeff is right. It seems to me that most men in our society don’t consider emotions to be a virtue at all, but rather a liability. When we are little boys we are frequently told that big boys (or men) don’t cry. Men tend to see positive emotions in other men as a sign of weakness. A few negative emotions like anger or rage are considered manly, but like Jeff Fisher said: Positive emotions are way underrated as manly attributes.

Football coaches and players, however, know that positive emotions win games. They call them “intangibles.” Enthusiasm, joy, excitement, anticipation, hope, encouragement, appreciation, team spirit, self-respect, inspiration, concern, passion, and “umph” all can play decisive roles in football games. (Triumph is just a little "umph" added to try.) That is why players bang their chests together when they come out on to the football field. They are stirring up those underrated positive emotions.

But positive emotions can do so much more for men than just win football games. They can heal and transform marriages. Positive emotions can set men free from self-destructive behaviors. They can create awesome fathers. Those underrated positive emotions can help men overcome any obstacles that life may offer.

Positive emotions are the engines that power a noble and virtuous life. So men, why not get worked up, fired up, and stirred up about achieving good things in life?

Is there any reason to be honest? Yes, there is!

1) Dishonesty does not change reality. What is, is. What isn’t, isn’t. Calling an elephant a "cow" does not make it one.

2) Dishonesty destroys your view of reality leading to frequent self-deception and denial. A dishonest person confuses his lies with reality.

3) Dishonesty demolishes relationships by killing trust. If you can’t trust yourself to be honest, how can you trust anybody else? And how can they trust you?

4) Dishonesty is a never-ending treadmill — one cover-up after another. As one lie cracks or falls apart, you feel the need to shore it up with another lie.

5) Dishonesty delivers guilt and anxiety. Most people have a conscience that tells them that lying is wrong. When we violate our conscience, guilt and shame are the natural results.

6) Dishonesty deletes self-esteem. Who likes a known liar? Maybe everybody else believes you when you lie, but you still know you are a liar. There goes your self-respect.

7) A dishonest person has to remember the details of which lie he told which person. All an honest person has to do is to remember the details of what really happened.

8) Dishonesty is cowardice. It is driven by the fear of facing consequences. Dishonesty is the lack of courage to be true to yourself and to reality.

Have you heard about Walmart's talking Jesus toy? It sounds like a good idea to me.

Many small children have a natural love for the real Jesus, so I am sure that this toy will be loved as well. I fondly remember several toys from my childhood, but I never had a talking Jesus (or even a Cool Hand Luke style plastic Jesus).

I think it would have been nice to be able to listen to a toy Jesus quote Bible verses. It would have been fun to have my talking Jesus preach to my toy soldiers and to teach my cowboys and Indians how to love each other. I would have liked to have my toy Jesus heal my other toys.

My toy Jesus would have been great in the bath tub. He could have walked from one toy boat to the other. And when the toy boats were being pulled down the drain, toy Jesus could have spoken and calmed the whirl pool.

I think it would have been very moving to reenact the crucifixion with the toy Jesus and child like faith. And how joyful it would have been to bring toy Jesus out of the tomb alive to celebrate with his disciples.

Children pretend when they play with their toys. What better ideas could they imagine and role play than the stories of Jesus that have inspired greatness in men and women for the past 2,000 years?

I never had a toy talking Jesus. Today, however, I have something so much better — a personal relationship with the living, resurrected Jesus, Himself. He walks with me. He talks with me. He tells me I am His own. And He fills me with joy to share and gives me strength to carry on.

So who really wins in life? You’ve seen the bumper sticker that reads: “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” Is that true? Who else is a contender for winner in life? Here are some possibilities.

The one who helps humanity the most wins.

The one who overcomes the most difficult obstacles wins.

The one who lives the longest wins.

The one who is the happiest wins.

The one who self-destructs the least and causes himself and others the least pain wins.

The one who raises the best family wins.

The one who is the most honest wins.

The one who is the most hopeful and positive wins.

The one who goes to Heaven when he dies wins.

The one who helps other people the most wins.

The one who obeys God the best wins.

The one who best practices the Golden Rule wins.

The one who does the least amount of wrong wins.

The one who inspires other people the most wins.

Who do you think wins in life?

Myths Of Our Time #6 is the belief that all religions are true. MTV and The Associated Press recently asked young people between the ages of 13 and 24 to choose between two statements about their views of religious faiths other than their own.

68% agreed with this statement: “I follow my own religious and spiritual beliefs, but I think other religious beliefs could be true as well.” 31% picked this one: “I strongly believe that my religious beliefs are true and universal and that other religious beliefs are not right.”

Now the problem with the first statement is that religions contradict each other. Take monotheism (the belief in only one God as in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity) and polytheism (the belief in many gods as in Hinduism, Mormonism, and the religions of ancient Rome and Greece). How can the Jewish statement, “There is only one God,” and the Hindu statement, “There are more than a million gods,” both be true? Both statements could be false if atheists are right; but both statements cannot be correct. If one statement is right, logic says the other is wrong.

Personally I choose to believe in monotheism. By making the choice of monotheism, I have rejected polytheism because it is the opposite of monotheism and opposite or contradictory beliefs cannot both be true at the same time. (For example, if I believe I am 6 feet tall, I can’t at the same time logically say that people who believe I am 7 feet tall are also correct.) Thus by choosing monotheism, I have chosen to believe that polytheism is incorrect in its belief in many gods.

Now logic does not imply intolerance. I respect the right of people to believe in and proclaim polytheism even though I believe it is wrong. I also appreciate and agree with many of the ethical teachings of polytheism. They may be wrong about the number of gods, but they are correct in many of their moral ideas. One of my greatest heroes, Mahatma Gandhi, was a Hindu.

So are all religions true? All religions contain some truth, but all religions cannot be correct in their contradictory views about God. God is what He is regardless of what I or anyone else believes about Him. If I want to be right in my religion, I must give up my ideas, beliefs, opinions, and traditions about what God is like, and seek to find out what He is like in reality