Adolphus Writer's Blog, page 16
December 5, 2015
The Guardian Personality
Roughly forty percent of all men and women are guardian personalities. They are solid, sensible, follow the rules even when no one is looking, move associatively from topic to topic in conversation, always on the lookout for rule breaking, humbly shoulder responsibilities “no matter what,” and suffer when unappreciated.
Guardians are dutiful, prepare for the worst, suffer bravely and patiently, catch and reprimand trespassers, and keep traditions, customs, and continuity with the past. They a...
November 27, 2015
Thanksgiving – 2015
Last Year, we posted “The Real Meaning of Thanksgiving Day“.
Lincoln's Wartime Thanksgiving on.wsj.com/1xCaoLS @WSJ "We have become too self-sufficient...too proud to pray to the God that made us."
—
Adolphus Writer (@AdolphusWriter) November 27, 2014
This year we quote from President James Madison’s 1815 Thanksgiving proclamation:
No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny of Nations than the people of the United S...
November 21, 2015
The Artisan Personality
More than forty percent of all men and women are artisan personalities. They are bold, empirical, do what works rather than what is socially acceptable, sensitive to what sounds good, always on the lookout for advantage and opportunity, perfecting their technique no matter the cost, and rolling with the punches.
Artisans are unplanned, undiplomatic, and cynical. They do not easily learn from errors and they impulsively abandon activities and relationships without regret. They are playmates as...
November 13, 2015
Why Are There Four Gospel Accounts?
I recently ran across an interesting conjecture about this question while researching my next book. However, while it was compelling, I thought it best to test this conjecture against what Calvin penned about the four gospels in his Commentaries.
The first thing to notice is that Calvin values the Gospel of John differently from the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Concerning John’s Gospel in relation to the other three, Calvin says:
Yet there is also this difference between them,...
November 4, 2015
Live Move Be
The words in the title of this week’s post are found in Oprah’s favorite bible verse:
"In God I move and breathe and have my Being" ..my favorite Bible verse and words to live by.
—
Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) July 29, 2012
She says these are words to live by. The verse in its entirety is:
For
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;[a]
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”[b]
Footnotes: a. Probably from Epimenides of Crete; b. From Aratus’s poem “Ph...
October 29, 2015
The Shocking Concrete Abstract Universal
Flannery O’Connor meant to shock us by her storylines and imagery:
The novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; and he may well be forced to take ever more violent means to get his vision across to this hostile audience.
When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use mo...
October 21, 2015
Not Your Own
We often hear that faith must be personal. “My faith,” they say. People might tell us they’ve persevered through trials due to their faith. Were it to have failed, they would’ve been lost. But they had enough. At least that’s what they say. I don’t know about you, but I get the impression that they think this faith is their own, as if they produced it. As if it were due to strength of character or moral upbringing.
On the contrary, though we must hold faith individually:
And to the one who do...
October 14, 2015
Unless – a Conjunction
While doing research for a previous blog post, I noticed that John’s Gospel quotes the Lord Jesus several times using the word: unless.
Unless is interesting because it is a logic term.
/ənˈles/
conjunction
Except if (used to introduce a case in which a statement being made is not true or valid).
“Unless you have a photographic memory, repetition is vital”
Speaking English – How to Use “Unless ,” July 10, 2013, Learn English with Rebecca [engVid RebeccaESL ]
The Lord Jesus Christ used t...
October 7, 2015
The Rebellion
Most of us would like to know beforehand when a disaster will occur. Many, to avoid the consequences, but some, to profit from them. If only those who boarded the planes knew that fateful September morning what was about to happen.
In the same way, we’d all like to know when the world will end. Many pretend that it will go on just as it has for millennia. Some think differently. A few believe the scriptures when they speak of the last day:
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will...
October 1, 2015
Gullible
Many think that those who follow Christ are hopelessly ignorant and gullible. They’ll believe anything.
I was reminded of how gullible I am by this video. It purports to show an F-35B Lightning II Marine Corps fighter takeoff, falter, and make a remarkable recoveryto flight from a ship at sea.
F-35 Unintended loop right off the carrier deck during vertical take-off, December 15, 2009
Is it real? It sure looks real on the surface. But the answer is no; it’s a doctored frame sequence from a vi...
