Who Can You Trust?: Overcoming Betrayal and Fear [Paperback]

Howard E. Butt Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2004

Trust is the basis for every relationship.
So what happens when that foundation cracks?

·A cheating spouse destroys the feelings of confidence and fidelity in a marriage.
·A friend s betrayal causes mistrust to spread to your other close relationships.
·An undermining co-worker creates a suspicious, tense, disjointed workplace.
·Organizational board members work in secret to form coalitions to assume control.

Trust plays a key role in every arena of our lives, because trust is the linchpin for all our relationships family, school, church, work, and community. And how we sort out all the issues of trust and mistrust determines the direction our lives will take and our ultimate happiness and fulfillment. How can we build deeper, stronger trust in our relationships? How can we cope when that trust has been wounded or destroyed? How can we live a life of trust without being naïve about betrayal?

In Who Can You Trust? one of America s most beloved leaders, Howard E. Butt, Jr., candidly shares his own real-life experience and expertise to help you answer these questions in a biblical and practical way. He helps you recognize and resolve past trust issues that have shattered your faith and your spirit. And he shows you how to let your faith help you build stronger trust in the future for all your most important relationships.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This thoughtful book focuses on one of the key issues of life - our relationships. With profound insight and wisdom, Howard Butt demonstrates how trust is the basic ingredient of every successful relationship. He vividly describes how betrayal and mistrust has destroyed relationships since the beginning of history. Drawing on his own life as well as the lives of historical figures, the author povides sound advice of how to discern when to trust others and points to emotional and spiritual resources to draw on when one has been betrayed. Because the quality of our relationships influences the quality of our lives, everyone owes it to themselves to read this compelling and provocative book." --Armand Nicholi, Jr. M.D.

From the Inside Flap

Trust is the basis for every relationship.
So what happens when that foundation cracks?

·A cheating spouse destroys the feelings of confidence and fidelity in a marriage.
·A friend's betrayal causes mistrust to spread to your other close relationships.
·An undermining co-worker creates a suspicious, tense, disjointed workplace.
·Organizational board members work in secret to form coalitions to assume control.

Trust plays a key role in every arena of our lives, because trust is the linchpin for all our relationships–family, school, church, work, and community. And how we sort out all the issues of trust and mistrust determines the direction our lives will take–and our ultimate happiness and fulfillment. How can we build deeper, stronger trust in our relationships? How can we cope when that trust has been wounded or destroyed? How can we live a life of trust without being naïve about betrayal?

In Who Can You Trust? one of America's most beloved leaders, Howard E. Butt, Jr., candidly shares his own real-life experience and expertise to help you answer these questions in a biblical and practical way. He helps you recognize and resolve past trust issues that have shattered your faith and your spirit. And he shows you how to let your faith help you build stronger trust in the future for all your most important relationships.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook Press; 1ST edition (October 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578568013
• ISBN-13: 978-1578568017
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,741,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Howard E. Butt, Jr., has dedicated his life to both the family business and Christian leadership. His vision for the vital role of the laity in the church and daily life has led him to write several books and produce one-minute radio spots entitled The High Calling of Our Daily Work(R). This site is an effort to provide you with a tool to delve deeper into the concepts introduced in those messages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for a small group, April 23, 2006

By 

Phil Wade (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Who Can You Trust?: Overcoming Betrayal and Fear (Paperback)

Here's a good potential for a small group discussion. "Who Can You Trust?" addresses the essence of living and why we have trouble trusting people. Author Howard E. Butt, Jr. claims betrayal is the root of our relationship problems. In fact, betrayal was the sin Eve committed against God in the Eden which cursed the world.

"Betraying and being betrayed by abuse, desertion, neglect, or rejection lie deep within our personal and collective being," he writes. "We betray others because of our personal experience of feeling betrayed. And we do this whether such betrayal actually took place or not."

Real and imagined betrayal breaks down our trust of individuals or people in general, making specific relationships and common business difficult. Couple this with self-deception, that we believe ourselves to be far more pure than we are, and we grow a judgmental perspective, unwilling to forgive and willing to condemn others. Butt believes many Christians have "a too-shallow sense of our sinfulness." He says there are sins we have personally listed as egregious, and if we avoid those, we believe we're in the clear, free to condemn those whom we see as more sinful than we are. If we had an honest view of ourselves, we would have compassion on those who have disgraced themselves in society's eyes. How to address our feelings of betrayal and gain a good understanding of ourselves makes up the counseling portion of the book.

Plenty of quotes from C.S. Lewis and other strong authors add interest to the reading.

Howard Butt has years of experience working with people on and off the job. He helped his father build the H.E.B. grocery store chain and is a leader in applying the Christian faith to workplace decisions.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Effective Release from Painful Relationships, June 14, 2010

By 

Stephanie S. Sawyer "Stephanie S. Sawyer, aut... (Cypress, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Who Can You Trust?: Overcoming Betrayal and Fear (Paperback)

I came upon this book at a time when I needed to reflect upon a bad situation in my life. It was highly appropriate, and it ended up turning things around for me.
Despite my own situation, the book goes candidly into the depths of the damage from hurt relationships, but it goes further. Addressing the need for release, Howard E. Butt pulls the reader through the healing process via connection with God in addressing deeper issues that have affected the immediate thinking pattern. Butt does this without a preaching attitude, instead using a real and candid display of the psychological and spiritual factors at hand.

I am thoroughly thankful I came into this book at a needed time in my own life, and I highly recommend it for not only painful times, but study times as well. Since it was my first encounter with the author, I look forward to reading more from him in the near future.