From questionable Olympic scoring to the Enron scandal, once-respected institutions have made trusting increasingly difficult. Many are inclined to stop trusting anyone, perhaps even God.

The roots of betrayal run deep in all of us, writes businessman and philanthropist Howard Butt Jr. After laying the groundwork of childhood trust issues, he explores the most obvious factor in our inability to trust: fear.

Butt writes of the consequences of such fear. Failure to trust leads to isolation, and it may blind us to the grace we can offer others. Yet, whom should we trust? Whom should we not trust?

While admitting there is no simple formula, Butt points toward Jesus as a model. "He showed us the proper balance between vulnerability and privacy, between accessibility and caution, between openness and avoidance," he writes.

Butt offers ideas about dealing with anxieties and compellingly ushers us toward "wise vulnerability." He also encourages us to admit our own tendency to betray, forcing us to examine our motives, their origins, and that which holds us back from change: the unwillingness to face pain.

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Who Can You Trust? is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

More information is available from the publisher.

Author H. E. Butt, Jr.'s biography is available from the H. E. Butt Foundation, which owns a Christian retreat in Texas.