Adam's Faith & Core Principles

Above: me & my wife on our wedding day

1. Adam's Faith Basics

2. Faith-Based Quotes

3. More of Adam's Beliefs

4. Personality Type & Communication

1. Adam's Faith Basics:

Basics: What is Adam's Faith?

1. I am an Evangelical Christian

2. I believe in the Bible.

3. Love is very biblically important & faith helps me to love.

4. I value & seek wisdom.

5. I seek excellence.

6. I am candid.

7. I prioritize hard work.

1. I identify as an Evangelical Christian.

That said:

a. I acknowledge that too often I don't live up to the idea of being a "little Christ" or "follower of Christ", which is the original meaning of the word Christian in Greek. It would be more accurate to say that I "seek to follow Christ" than to say that I "follow Christ" or that I am "like Christ".

b. I have some beliefs that don't align with typical white US Evangelical Christians on a wide variety of topics (i.e. masks). Even within the US, white and black evangelicals are divided on many issues (i.e. the environment) based on party lines.

2. I believe in the Bible and that the original form of it was divinely inspired. I believe that the current version in their original languages are likely somewhere above 95% accurate vs the original version, possibly over 99% accurate. A prime example is how our earliest copy of Isaiah today (from the Dead Sea Scrolls) was so close to our next earliest copy that was around 1,000 years later. That early find of the 20th century included Isaiah 53, which is about Jesus, lining up clearly with our views of Him, and the copy dates to before He was born.

   
   

   I believe in the primacy of Scripture above tradition, a foundational element of the Protestant reformation, and accordingly, believe that it's important to research/test that which is provided from others prior to adopting it as a belief in many cases, theologically (Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1).

   
   

   I believe that bad theology today is primarily a product of (in order):

   1. failure to apply what's in the Bible,

   2. not having the correct theology through poor exegesis (i.e., treating certain Proverbs [which are wisdom literature and a completely different genre than epistles like the book of Romans], like promises rather than probabilities, which naturally results in disappointment and disillusionment)

   3. some cases of misinterpretation of the original languages (i.e. "meaningless" or "vanity" rather than "unfulfilling", or similar in Ecclesiastes 2).

   4. failure to diligently observe objective data & reason outside of the Bible

3. I strongly believe that the 2 greatest commands in Scripture, as stated by Jesus, are to love God & to love (charitably - Greek Agape) my neighbor as myself (Matthew 22:36-40). The Bible provides details on how to best love others & God (Matthew 22:40; Romans 13:18-10;  Galatians 5:14).

If I spend my life doing great things, but lacking in charitable love for others, what I do is relatively meaningless (1 Corinthians 13). "If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen (1 John 4:20)."

While faith is critical (Hebrews 11:6), I believe what the Apostle Paul stated when he said that charitable love was even more important than faith (1 Corinthians 13:13). My love is fueled by faith & by God (1 John 4:7-21).

4. I believe that it's critical to seek truth & to seek wisdom in life (Proverbs 2; Proverbs 3; Proverbs 4; Colossians 2:2; . I believe in "blind as a bat faith", and that the call to "blind faith" is not a call to willful ignorance, but is in part a call to see that which is not obvious through more than one lens. Reason & faith can & should co-exist. When reason is cast aside for the sake of faith, false religious beliefs and other bad things happen. When truth is abandoned for the sake of "sloppy love", it is not loving. Truth is critical, and it's worth defending, even if done very directly.

5. I believe that it's critical to seek excellence in all the work that I do (Ephesians 6:7; Proverbs 22:29).

6. I am a candid person, and appreciate others' candor with me (Proverbs 27:6).

7. I prioritize hard work that many other agents are unwilling to even attempt ( (1 Corinthians 15:10). I believe that self-discipline is critical in life (Proverbs 6: 6-11; Proverbs 12:1). I am thankful to God for giving me my work ethic by His grace.

Many of my other life philosophies are based on faith. These are just a small sampling.

Hypocrisy: I admit that I too often do not practice that which I cognitively assent to.

Hypocrisy: I too often do not practice that which I cognitively assent to, and need to abide with the source of life, to "abide in Christ". I remain inadequate to live a Christian lifestyle apart from closeness with God according to His Word as evidenced by love, with the fruit of joy, the ability to leave the world a better place during my short tenure in it (John 15:1-17), freedom from the bondage of hatred, prejudice, oppression of others, & other sin, & enabled to enjoy the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 13-26). I think that Jordan Peterson makes some good points on how identification as a Christian should not be taken lightly in light of the implications of what it means on everyday life. There are passages in the Bible along these lines as well of people who claim to follow God and did things in the Name of God, yet who did not know God as evidenced by their life (Isaiah 1, 1 John 3 & 4, Matthew 25:31-46).

Life Verse: 1 John 4:16

1 John 4:16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Adam was a Youth Minister for Over 4 Years

Initially, when I started at Garrett Realty Partners, I was a youth minister. I remained a youth minister for over 4 years while at Garrett Realty Partners. Eventually, I left the ministry to focus more on my marriage and my real estate career. I was thankful that my pastor's last task for me was for me to find my replacement and I've been blessed to come back to the church to preach and teach once & asked again subsequently since then when my replacement wasn't available.

It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, but one of the most important ones. My career had plateaued for years 2-4. After I left the ministry, my first full-time year away from the ministry, my career experienced a 50% production increase. The year after that, it more than doubled from the prior year. I hope to someday return to the ministry, but in a better place financially than I ever was. Finances always restricted what I could do in ministry.

Volunteering

• Around 20 mission trips, starting at the age of 11 for a trip to Southeast Asia, including a week in a Christian Nepali orphanage (1) & around a dozen trips with Orphan Helpers (now Counteract International) in El Salvador & Honduras.

• Ministry to the homeless (1, 2)

• Years of children's ministry at churches

• Travel hacking ministry

• Ministry in my church on the "pastor's counsel" as an elder.

Adam's Christian Education

• Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education with a Minor in Bible - Wheaton College

• Master of Arts in Practical Theology - Regent University

• Mini Bible College, aka Foundations (180 approx 25-30 min sessions)

• I typically read through (listen mostly) the Bible once a year in the Bible App's (Youversion) 1 year plan with The Bible Project with integrated video. When doing so, & like to research various topics as I go.

• I believe that Bible memorization is critical. Bible at Hampton Christian in 6th grade was my worst subject, primarily if not exclusively from the memorization component. I wasn't getting good sleep and wasn't using any mnemonic devices (memorization techniques) to memorize Scripture. Both elemens are critical for effective Bible memorization.

Invitation to My Faith-Based Group on Facebook & Annual 1 Year Bible Study

• If you'd like to join my FB group where I share more from a faith-based perspective, go to Seeking Jesus in Love, Spirit & Truth

• I also lead a 1-year Bible reading plan in Youversion with videos from the Bible Project. Let me know if you'd like to join and I can send you a link. We start every January 1st.

How Does Adam Treat Those of Other Faiths & Belief Systems?

No matter what religion you are or what lifestyle you have, I believe that it is very important for reasons of faith to love all people, to seek to help others no matter their beliefs or practices, and to protect victims of oppression.

See Jeff Rich's recommendation in case my faith, which is very important to me, is a concern in case you have had negative experiences with Christians:

"Although so much of Adam's life has been devoted to his Christian faith, Adam is open to all. I am an Atheist and Adam has never shown one iota of judgement toward me in the many years since we become friends. He is interested in my thoughts and has asked me to write about them, for him. Atheists can be judged very harshly in this society. I appreciate his friendship. My recommendation to any potential customers who may not share his beliefs is to hire Adam because he is a good person and expect to be treated with respect."

Jeff Rich

While another person who gave me a review didn't share his other religion explicitly in the review (so I won't repeat it here for the privacy of his faith), one of the top 3 best reviews I've received came from someone who knew about my faith, who was of a different faith, & whose first introduction to me was for me to help him to purchase a house.

2. Quotes:

Caveat on Diversity of Quote Authors & on My Commentary

I include a wide variety of authors in this quotes section. I do not endorse intensive study of each author (excepting Scripture & certain others like C.S. Lewis), as the vast majority of authors can be flawed, as I can be flawed. I can still appreciate certain thoughts of people no matter their worldviews. I am a Christian, but know that many reading this section are not, and feel that it is appropriate, especially in light of that fact, to include a wider sampling of authorship than exclusively Christians in certain areas of agreement. In some cases, I only partially agree with quotes at times, as I sometimes, but not always, explain below. I acknowledge that all religions are not the same, and that objective truth exists. I also agree with those who believe that there is only 1 true gospel, and believe in the Bible, including full acceptance of statements of Jesus as in John 14:6 (see below under Truth). I include some writing of my own in places where relevant without citation. I'm not saying it's quotable, but appreciate you taking the time to read. You would be doing me a service if you ever reach out to me about an area of disagreement especially in those matters. As Proverbs 27:6 states, "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."

The Importance of Love (Bible quotes)

Matthew 22:"36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”"

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them." 1 John 4: 16

"For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”" Galatians 5:14 (Matthew 22:36-40 and this passage are not in conflict when a pre-"enlightenment" mindset on reality is used for interpretation to draw from the text (exegeted) rather than our post "enlightenment" understandings eisegeting the text and imposing our view of reality in a way that the authors would have never intended. We love our neighbor best when we have love from the Holy Spirit fueling our ability to love others (1 John 3 & 4, John 15:1-17, Acts 2, Galatians 5). Many bottlenecks of theology get smoothed out when we stop putting the Bible in a post-"enlightenment" box that follows the letter above the spirit of the words.

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12

"Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Romans 13:8-10

"Whatever you did for one of the least of these... you did for Me." Jesus - Matthew 25:40

1 Corinthians 13: (ESV) "1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (MSG) 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't Love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without Love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of Truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. (ESV mostly finish) Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (NIV) 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13

Isaiah 58:6-11 "Is this not the fast which I choose...to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread for the hungry (NASB) And bring the homeless poor into your house (ESV); When you see the naked, to cover him... Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, 10 And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the soul of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness And your gloom will become like midday.11 “And the Lord will continually guide you, And satisfy your soul in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not deceive." "

1 John 3 "16 This is how we know what Love (agape) is: Jesus Christ laid down His Life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the Love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in Truth."

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:35

"...the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' " - Acts 20:35

The Importance of Love (other quotes)

Love of God & others for Christians is held biblically to be the highest virtue (Matthew 22:36-40; Galatians 5:14; 1 Corinthians 13), even explicitly above faith (1 Corinthians 13:13; Luke 10:25-37). Too many self-proclaimed “Christians” demonstrate regularly the facade of their conversion by the absence of love in their character. For true Christians, love is non-negotiable. The Bible states clearly that many will be surprised when on judgment day their facade is exposed (Matthew 7:12-23; 23:13-15 & 23-24; 25:31-46), that they never knew God to begin with (1 John 4:7-21). Too often, I fail to love as well. I pray that the Lord would clear my mind & clean my heart to help me live more in light of this truth.

Too often, my idea of love is made up of token efforts to satisfy a meager conscience, rather than the Love of Christ flowing through me, a conduit of His grace as I experience the beauty of abundant Life, found only in the Source of Life, joy, peace, freedom... Delusions of mine produce fear, pride, etc. which in turn yield a degree of satisfaction with that which is counterfeit by comparison to Life abiding in Christ.

"There is no pit so deep that the love of God is not deeper still." -Corrie ten Boom - holocaust concentration camp survivor

"If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large." —William Wilberforce

"100 million faces, staring at the sky, Wondering if this HIV will ever pass us by. The devil stole the rain and hope trickles down the plug, But still my Chinese take away could pay for someone's drugs." -Delirious’ song “Our God Reigns” (drugs as in medication)

"There is not a single instance in history where hate has brought joy to human beings. It is a negative force that serves only to destroy those who hold it in their mind and body." - Unknown

"It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start." - Mother Teresa

"A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers." - Ruth Bell Graham

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love..." - Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

The Importance of Truth (Bible quotes)

Proverbs 4: 7-8 "The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you."

John 8:31-32 "...If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free"

Proverbs 9:8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

Proverbs 15:31-32 The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

Proverbs 27:6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

Psalm 141:5a Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it...

Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid."

Proverbs 27:6 "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."

The Importance of Truth (other quotes)

Jesus would have never been executed if his whole message was about love but not also about objective truth. You don't get crucified for playing patty-cake while singing cumbaya.

"True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing." - Socrates (while I cannot agree on post "enlightenment" absolute physically literal terms, since doing so in those terms would be a denial of the reality of objective truth & likely a departure from Socrates’ pre-enlightnenment original intent, I appreciate the thought in relative (pre-englightenment) terms as in Job 38.

"Be the change you want to see in the world." -Gandhi [while I cannot agree on absolute terms, as our desires aren't perfect (if you don't understand what I'm saying, think about whether it would be good for Hitler to abide by this statement, then remember that every imperfection we have impacts our desires), I like the thought, especially as our desires align with God's desires and with His will for our lives in our part in the healing of a broken world.]

"If I could have convinced more slaves that they were slaves, I could have freed thousands more." - Harriet Tubman

"The only freedom that is of enduring importance is freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worthwhile." - John Dewey (while I cannot agree on absolute terms [i.e. Gal 5], I appreciate the thought.) Our notions of wisdom are relative stupidity by comparison to divine omniscience. I know that God still speaks, yet my life too seldom reflects this reality.

"People who urge you to be realistic generally want you to accept their version of reality." - Unknown

"Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crack-pot' than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost." -Thomas J. Watson

Truth, Faith, & Love (Bible quotes)

"...All that matters is faith, expressed through love (Galatians 5:6)."

"...if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2)."

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are… Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former… Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence… You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean." - Jesus - Matthew 23:14-15, 23, 25, 27 - (Addressed to well respected religious leaders of the people of God of the day who would obey the minutia of the law in some regards for a pretense while living in hypocrisy apart from love)

Truth, Faith, & Love (other quotes)

"There is a type of war that every Christian is involved in. It is a spiritual war. It is a war of ideas. Every true Christian is a fighting passifist. In a very profound passage, which has been often misunderstood, Jesus utters this. He says “Think not that I am come to bring peace. I come not to bring peace, but a sword.” {Mt 10:34-36} Certainly he is not saying that he comes not to bring peace in the higher sense. What he is saying is: “I come not to bring this peace of escapism, this peace that fails to confront the real issues of life, the peace that makes for stagnant complacency.” Then he says, I come to bring a sword—not a physical sword. Whenever I come a conflict is precipitated between the old and the new, between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. “I come to declare war on evil. I come to declare war on injustice." MLK https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/when-peace-becomes-obnoxious

"Having seen all this you can choose to look the other way, but you can never say again, 'I did not know.'" -William Wilberforce - the man who led the effort to end slavery in the British Empire

"Conflict becomes sinful when our responses to it are destructive, hurtful, abusive, or violent. There are good ways to disagree & there are also unhealthy ways. Even people who are right sometimes...about the issue... can deal w it in a way that is very unloving. Being faithful to Christ involves more than taking the right stance or being on the right side of an issue. It also requires engaging those with whom we disagree in positive respectful dialogue." - Regent class professor Dr. James Flynn

Caveat: Matthew 11:12. There are some ideas that need to be destroyed because of the hurt and pain that they cause to others. The Nazi regime would be a prime example in World War II. While we should be approaching things in the right way, we shouldn't be so focused on that where we are unwilling to take a stand just because we won't be taking a perfect stand. While sometimes I have been too harsh, other times I have been too soft. Complacency is easier than imperfect action subject to criticism and persecution.

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." - Albert Einstien (I agree relatively speaking - see Matthew 22:36-40. A life lived for others yet not knowing truth could be unwittingly negative, such as a life lived for Nazis & furthering Nazi causes in WWII, yet living in the service of God & others in line with objective truth is extremely positive & in line with Matthew 7:12)

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." -Mother Teresa (See also Matthew 7:1)

Who is Jesus? (other quotes)

"The cross says, "I understand."" - Lou Giglio

"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome" - Tacitus - Roman Historian & Senator - writing about events that occurred in 64 AD in Annals 15.44 in AD 116 - While I certainly don't agree with elements of his perspective on Jesus Christ, I think it's disappointing that many still assume that there is no historical record outside of the Bible and other Christian authors regarding Jesus & early Christians. See also Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, and Josephus.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

"When someone says, "Jesus was just a great moral teacher," that's rather like saying, "You know Mozart wrote some rather pretty tunes." Just say, "Well Mozart did write some pretty tunes, but if that's all you can hear in his music, than you need to sit down and learn what those symphonies are really all about." And saying that Jesus was just a great moral teacher is a way of disinfecting Him, of saying, "We can have Him on our terms rather than on His terms."" N.T. Wright - The Case for Faith

“I’m not, but He is, And I’m in Him and He is in me .” “I can’t, but He can, And I’m in Him and He is in me .” “I don’t want to, but He wants to, And I’m in Him and He is in me." “I didn’t, but He did, Because I was in Him and He was in me.” -Dick Woodward

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see." John Newton - former captain of slave ships before he encountered God on the water during a very strong storm one night

Who is Jesus? (Bible quotes)

"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."- Isaiah 53:5-6 (See the rest of Isaiah 53 for more - written centuries before Christ was born. Through the Dead Sea Scrolls we have a copy that dates at 100 BC, 1100 years before the Masoretic text which was our previous earliest copy. These copies are very similar, contradicting the assumptions of over a billion people including entire religions that believe that many texts of the Bible were deliberately and substantially changed over time by the Church to fit its own ends. As in many cases, it is important to look at the data prior to formulating an informed opinion.)

1 Corinthians 15: 12 "Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead..." (Paul was uniquely suited to say these words. See also 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 for context of the many near death experiences & various persecution he suffered for Christ in addition to the 180 degree turn of his life that he speaks of in going from physically persecuting Christians including supporting their public execution to encountering the risen Jesus mentioned in Acts 22:3-21 above)

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. [While many focus exclusively on the implications on afterlife of this statement, I affirm those while also recognizing the critical importance of the earthly ramifications of it (Psalm 1, 50:8-23, 63, 16:11; Ecclesiastes 2; Esther 4:14; Isaiah 1, 6, 49:9, 53; John 10:10, 15:1-17; Romans 11:35-36; Ephesians 3; Philippians 3:7-21; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Hebrews 12; 1 Peter 2:9)]

John 1 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Colossians 1: 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Truth & the Bible

If Jesus was not raised from the dead, the Bible says that our faith "is in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:13-15 - see context of author of 1 Cor. by seeing Acts 26 - Paul of Tarsus, who went from persecuting Christians to death to becoming the author of more books of the Bible than anyone after a vision from Jesus on the road to a new city to lead the efforts of persecution after which he was blinded for 3 days in part to reduce the possibility of him believing that it was not a vision from God. See also the persecution he himself faced as he held to that testimony in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28).

Luke 1:1-4 "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you... that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught."

"It was really easy to mess with Christians about stuff because a lot of people hadn't thought about things. If I wanted to have a blast I would just say, "Trinity: explain." Most people hadn't thought of it... usually what people would end up with is that it's a divine mystery & you have to believe it by faith, and I would say, "Look, it sounds to me that you're using the word faith as a substitute for ignorance, and I want no part in that faith." That's how I saw Christianity, and each time I had a conversation with Christians, it bolstered my faith as a Muslim and it made me want to share Islam with people because I saw the trinity as polytheism, and polytheism is one of the worst kinds of sins. Now all this would have changed if I had simply encountered someone who had a reason for the hope that lies within them, which by the way is a biblical command from 1 Peter 3:15, "Always be ready to share the reason for the hope that lies within you." And the first time that I met a Christian who was ready with that was in college. So I've already decimated the faith of a lot of people going up to college, and I get to college, very confident in myself, and I meet a friend... I saw him one night reading the Bible, and I thought, "OK, this will be fun. Let's take down another Christian. It will be amusing"... "David, do you realize that book you're reading, it's not trustworthy; it's been corrupted over time?" "David... said... "The disciples... were able to listen to Jesus... and write it in Greek and of that Greek New Testament Manuscript we have in our possession over 6,000 copies today." And he (Nabeel's friend David) said, "Nabeel if we didn't have any one of those copies, we have in our possession over 10,000 Latin, Coptic, & Syriac translations of the early Greek New Testament manuscripts." And he said, "If we didn't have any of those translations we have over 30,000 quotations of the New Testament from the early church fathers with which who could reconstruct virtually the entire New Testament many times over again. Nabeel, we know with certainty the message of the original New Testament."" Nabeel Qureshi sharing part of his conversion story from Islam to Christianity where his friend David Wood challenged his belief that the New Testament had been tainted over time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0D8Uz4oQck  starting at 25:08

Acts 17:11 "Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good."

What is True Christianity?

“Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Some Christians behave arrogantly; they really do. The thing about arrogance though-it's so silly. Because if, as Paul says, everything we have is a gift of grace, we haven't got anything to be arrogant about. It isn't that we've got it all together; it's somewhere that God's got it all together, and we are privileged to be called to be a little part of that. And as long as we keep that perspective, we will cut the root of arrogance and we will be able to bear humble but clear witness to the truth." - N.T. Wright - The Case for Faith

"Anyone that studies the life of Jesus would know that He was concerned about the poor, the oppressed, the homeless, the sick, and I feel that I must obey Christ in that area as well...Jesus said we're to love our neighbors as ourselves. The gospel of Christ has no meaning unless it's applied to our fellow man who hurts and who is in need. That's our neighbor." - Billy Graham (From Billy Graham - An Extraordinary Journey @ 39:48 - while I don't believe in absolute terms, i.e. someone who is incapable of moving but capable of cognition & sanctification/justification, I agree in general terms in >99% of cases)

“The marker of those who understand the gospel of Jesus Christ is that, when they stumble and fall, when they screw up, they run to God and not from him, because they clearly understand that their acceptance before God is not predicated upon their behavior but on the righteous life of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death” ( pg. 211, Matt Chandler, "The Explicit Gospel").

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"The only way to keep a broken vessel full is to keep it always under the tap." D.L. Moody

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

"Religion is what you're left with when the Spirit leaves the building." - Bono I agree with this one on some terms. However, it's to one's own benefit to religiously brush one's teeth. It's to my benefit to engage in spiritual disciplines as "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster & Prov 12:1 relate. We're not as intelligent nor moral as we like to think of ourselves, as Romans 7 relates. When religious elements of faith go from being a part of our faith to the core identity of our faith, where we follow the letter above the overarching principles of faith like love, justice, kindness, & truth, we have a problem, as Matthew 23:23, Micah 6:6-8, Isaiah 1, & Isaiah 58 relate.

"The fruit of silence is prayer, The fruit of prayer is faith, The fruit of faith is love, The fruit of love is service, The fruit of service is peace." - Mother Theresa

"If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. I am meeting young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright disgust." – Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

"It is far easier to condemn your sin than it is to confess my own." - Unknown Acts 3:1-4:22

"There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours." -- C.S. Lewis

"Life teaches me that anything not growing is dead." Ashe Lee Stevens

Proverbs 28:1 "The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion."

“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.” C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Why Christianity/Jesus & Answering Objections (Other Quotes)

"Can you see God? You haven't seen him? I've never seen the wind. I see the effects of the wind, but I've never seen the wind. There's a mystery to it." - Billy Graham

"I’d really encourage you if you’ve never done it to investigate the evidence for yourself but make three resolutions up front: #1 make it a front burner issue in your life #2 resolved to have an open mind- to go wherever the evidence takes you, even if it takes you to the very uncomfortable conclusion that Jesus is who he claimed to be, and then finally resolve that once the evidence is in you will reach a verdict in the case for Christ. – Lee Strobel – “ The Case for Christ”

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." -C.S. Lewis

"If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, it would have recollapsed before it reached its present size. On the other hand, if it had been greater by a part in a million, the universe would have expanded too rapidly for stars and planets to form." - Stephen Hawking

One of the aspects of this quote that I like is the acknowledgment of the statistical improbability of sapient life in our universe. The rate of expansion is just one of many variables that were fine tuned for intelligent life to exist in a given random universe. Lee Strobel's book & movie "The Case for a Creator" goes into this idea more. Scientists have come up with a number of potential hypotheses for how sapient life exists in our universe, but ultimately none of them actually qualify for a theory, even the most popular hypothesis, the "multiple universe theory", because of the tremendous lack of evidence. Benjamin Franklin said, "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." I disagree. To truly believe Franklin's statement in the simple terms of the quote, not qualified in any capacity, I propose that you would actually have to be insane, particularly in the realm of extreme paranoia. For instance, to merely take a breath of air, one must have some measure of faith. One must have the faith that there is not any invisible, odorless, & lethal substance that has gone airborne in your area. To eat or drink something prepared by others, such as at a restaurant, one must have the faith that no one has poisoned your food. You can certainly examine your food prior to eating it, but to run a countless number of tests to see if it is poisoned in a way that is undetectable by sight, scent, or taste is ridiculous on a daily basis & there are poisonous substances that could remain undetected. Regardless of your belief in God, gods, atheism, or agnosticism, to completely abstain from faith in life as we know it would make the movie "Bubble Boy" seem like child's play. No, Franklin misunderstands faith and in haste has put a box around reason whose exclusion of faith can't rationally exist in order to further try to justify his disbelief in God including the perceived allowance for self-determination of morality. The man who has no faith in anything is unreasonable, and the man who has no reason is incapable of faith. When compared to omniscience, we're all mentally deficient. When compared to omnipotence, we're all functionally deficient. When compared to moral perfection, we're all lacking. I admit my deficiency while thankful that there is One I know who is not. There are things that I "need" that I recognize that I don't understand & that are quite mysterious. According to science, dark matter & dark energy make up reportedly 95% of the universe, though we can only detect them by their effects, not by anything that we can see, hear, or otherwise detect. Could they be God literally "holding the universe together"? Maybe. Maybe not. I'd lean toward the idea that it is literally God's handiwork to embed into the universe clear signs of his ongoing existence & one of the many necessary functions He plays in the universe. According to science, intelligent life in a given random universe is statistically impossible. Science has many hypotheses for explaining it, some of which are called theories, like the multi-universe theory, but none really satisfy the necessary evidence required in science to be a true "theory". I absolutely need that which I cannot explain and which science cannot fully understand. I need God. See also Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15-17,

Many are unaware of the presence of a plethora of healings in the Name of Jesus today in ways that cannot be faked or accomplished through psychosomatic means. For instance, before my wife was born, my father in law, a general & vascular published surgeon, had a life threatening illness that medicine did not have the ability to treat yet. He was watching the 700 Club one night, where someone on the show “had a word” for him. That person on the show prayed, and within the next day, his jaundice was gone, and shortly after, he was fully healed. Jessica is alive today because of the present reality of Jesus’ continued ability to heal. While it is certainly true that there are plenty of examples of “healings” that are a hoax, the assumption that all supposedly miraculous healings include no element of the supernatural is false. Those who hold to that assumption and would like to further research the matter can easily do so if they are dedicated to the task, including but not limited to a trip to Mozambique with Heidi Baker’s ministry (or even see the proximal prayer study published by Southern Medical Journal from Mozambique: Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Proximal Intercessory Prayer (STEPP) on Auditory and Visual Impairments in Rural Mozambique), where my wife has seen God’s power in action in that country. Many dismiss Heidi in light of various statements and countercultral practices (I also happen to be very countercultural in numerous regards, whether from Scripture or from objective evidence not mentioned in Scripture, i.e. regarding microplastics & the documented benefits of skin to skin contact with newborns and babies like I had a lot of with my son Benjamin which I believe helped him substantially to develop after being born under 6 pounds), however when one is looking at the evidence of actual healings performed, such as the deaf being healed, the evidence speaks for itself, unblurred by other things that she says or does that do not conform to cultural norms. My wife has seen God’s power through Heidi’s ministry firsthand, although I have never personally been to Pemba, Mozambique. Today, no matter the good that Christians do, if they are as “dogmatic” as Peter in Acts 3:1-4:22, they are likely to suffer some degree of persecution. My beliefs have led to my persecution before, even though that has never been physical persecution save the following time I included in a paper for Regent: “I remember an occasion where I met an African American Christian in a bus station. We sat on the bus in close proximity to each other and kept up conversation. A white man intruded into the conversation, barraging us with an attack on Christianity. At one point, he pulled a pocket knife out of his pocket, exposed the blade, put it up to my neck, and asked me if I thought that God could save me from him. I responded with a genuine smile by the grace of God, and told him that the Lord could stop him from an attempt, but that even if God did not, that I would be going to Heaven, so his threat was of minimal consequence anyway. He said that he was a bounty hunter. After we got off the bus, he was having some difficulties with security, and I publicly defended him. My turning the other cheek in love brought an immediate change in his treatment of me. He asked me if I wanted to talk to him some more while he went out of the bus station to smoke. It was at night, and I invited the other Christian to join us. He said that he did not want to go, and that “that guy’s got issues man!” I responded that I have issues as well, for we certainly all have our own issues. I proceeded to go outside alone with the bounty hunter while he smoked. At one point in the conversation, he broke down, and told me that he would buy me any meal that I wanted at the restaurant there, asking if I could go there and tell him about Jesus. He opened his heart up about how his children just wanted his money in his eyes, and he opened the door for me to minister Jesus to him.” On the other hand, many around the globe face physical persecution daily for their convictions regarding the truth of Scripture, such as those in North Korea where simply being caught owning a Bible results in the death penalty. While on a mission trip to India, I remember seeing posters put up for a rally encouraging an end to physical persecution of Christians in the region. Upon asking about the posters, I discovered that Christians were having limbs lopped off by Hindu radicals and being thrown into the river. A month after I left India, the hospital compound where I had stayed for about 6 weeks, primarily to teach qualitative research and perform qualitative research for a needs assessment for the development of public health curriculum, was physically attacked by a mob of 100 radical Hindus. The leader of the hospital, who had taught neurosurgery in England prior to selling his possessions and establishing the only charitable medical facility in that region of India, an “untouchable,” low-caste, dark skinned Dhalit, was severely beaten along with one other person who tried to step in between the mob and Dr. Raju. In addition, the mob vandalized much of the hospital compound, which was the base of operations for school planting, well drilling, church planting, vocational skills training, dentistry, and other operations. It also included a “children’s hostel”, which was like a cross between an orphanage and a boarding school. The majority of the children, if I remember correctly, were in pre-K through primary school. I cannot imagine the fear of the children as that attack occurred. Even in the US, physical persecution has begun, and I fear it will get worse in the near future. Taking a stand for that which is both true and has a positive influence on the lives of many is worth suffering for. In the case of Christianity, as in certain other cases where the positive influence is highly substantive and can mean the difference of life or death in the lives of others, it is worth dying for. While my persecution has been minuscule when compared to that of many around the globe, I am reminded that God Himself, in Jesus, took a stand for Love, as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and was whipped, beaten, and crucified for it. I am thankful that my God was willing to sacrifice Himself so that I could both know the truth and walk in the Truth to the degree that He gives me grace to do so despite my failures in that quest.

Why Christianity/Jesus & Answering Objections (Bible quotes)

"I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free." Psalm 119:32

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Psalm 1 "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, or sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."

Acts 3: "Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked toreceive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walkingand leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praisingGod, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God ofAbraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author oflife, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faiththat is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of youall. “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may beblotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven mustreceive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you… God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.” And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody… On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together… And when they had set them in themidst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” ThenPeter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, bywhat means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all thepeople of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which hasbecome the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that theywere uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that theyhad been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them toleave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, “What shall we do withthese men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it mayspread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone inthis name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in thename of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in thesight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot butspeak of what we have seen and heard.”… the man on whom this sign ofhealing was performed was more than forty years old." (End of vs 22 above) -

Acts 22:3-21 "Then Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today. And I persecuted the followers of the Way (Christians), hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison. The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify that this is so. For I received letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus, authorizing me to bring the followers of the Way from there to Jerusalem, in chains, to be punished. “As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’ The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me. “I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’ “I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions. A man named Ananias lived there. He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law, and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus. He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And that very moment I could see him! “Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak. For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard. What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’ “After I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the Temple and fell into a trance. I saw a vision of Jesus saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t accept your testimony about me.’ “‘But Lord,’ I argued, ‘they certainly know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And I was in complete agreement when your witness Stephen was killed. I stood by and kept the coats they took off when they stoned him.’ “But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles (Non-Jewish people)!’” (For those unaware, Paul authored more books of the Bible than any man and is the central figure spoken about in the book of Acts, a book written by Luke who also authored the Gospel of Luke)

Ecclesiastes 2 (though "vanity" English translations are much less nuanced than a more comprehensive understanding of the original, with Strong's 1892: Emptiness, vanity, transitory, unsatisfactory; I believe that unsatisfactory/unfullfilling is a much more accurate rendering than vanity, futile, meaningless, etc.)

Significance

God wants our obedience today more than He wants our significance tomorrow (1). We won’t be as significant apart from obedience anyways (2), and can even be negatively significant apart from obedience (3). It’s not just about our obedience either; He wants to be intimate with us. Don’t you remember that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (4)? No He doesn’t need us (5), but chooses to give us purpose out of His love for us (6). The way that we get in touch with purpose is by getting in touch with Him (7), and the way that we get in touch with Him is by feeling His warm embrace as we look into His eyes of fire (8). We get in touch with Him by pouring ourselves into His Word as He enables us to live it out (9), eliminating distractions from our eyes (10) as we see the incomparably beautiful nature of who He truly is. He is Love (11). 1. 1 Samuel 15:22, Romans 11:35-36, Esther 4:14 2. John 15:1-17 3. 1 Samuel 15 4. Psalm 50 5. Esther 4:14, Romans 11:35-36, Numbers 22:29, Luke 19:40 6. Romans 2:4, Romans 8, Ephesians 1:3-10 7. Ecclesiastes 2 8. Revelation 1:14; 2:18 9. Psalm 1 10. Hebrews 12:1-3 11. 1 John 4:16

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." - Jesus - John 15:5

"Every man dies; not every man truly lives." - Braveheart

"What we do in life echoes in eternity." Russel Crowe- Gladiator

Now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. - Boondock Saints

"Life is like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still." - Lou Erickso

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost

"Without struggle there is no progress." - Frederick Douglas

"If you’re not living for something worth dying for, you’re not really living." - Brandon Shaw

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

"While some dream to escape life; you dream to live. You see a life, a world, a future, so beautiful it takes your breath away. You must pursue this dream... It must become reality." Wide Awake by McManus "Aye, fight and you may die. ... And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!" - Braveheart

The Problem of Evil

Without freedom, both the possibilities for people to love and to destroy would be eliminated. The problem of evil is the problem of freedom. God is Love incarnate (1), and despite the high amount of choice that He allows, He also is bursting to lavish His Love not merely on the perfect, which existed solely in Christ, but on the imperfect who could never deserve it by virtue of their imperfection (2). He does not completely shield the more deserving, not even the sole perfect One in all of human history, from destruction, yet He loves to redeem and restore, even through death at times as with His only begotten Son (3). His love is completely undeserved for the imperfect, despite their notions at times of amassing karma by their good deeds, yet He loves to pour out grace on the undeserving (4). Everything good in our existence, including the very life that we have, the air that we breathe, and even the good things that we do are by His mercy and grace (5). May all praise be to the One who has lavished loving-kindness on us in times of plenty and in times of want, who even seeks to grow us in the darkest of times when the cost of freedom is most clear, who remains with those who have found Him even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death (6). 1: 1 John 4:16; 2: Romans 3:9-31; 9:16, 23-29; 11:5-6 3. Job, Isaiah 53:3-6, 11 (prophesied centuries before Christ with a copy that is before Christ), Romans 3:24-26, 2 Corinthians 5:21 4. Romans 5:6-8; 11: 35-36, Isaiah 64:6, Ephesians 2:7-9, Psalm 50:7-15 5. James 1:17, Romans 2:4 6. Romans 8:28, Ephesians 1:3-10, James 1:2-5, Philippians 4:4-9, Psalm 23, Deuteronomy 31:8

"Our greatest blessing, which is the free will that we have, the ability that we have to make choices, moral choices, also is our greatest choice because I often choose the wrong thing, and so does everybody else, and people get hurt out of that both intentionally and unintentionally." - Rick Warren - The Case for Faith

3. More of Adam's Beliefs:

Philosophy and Life Pursuits

While my tendency is to chase after pleasure, which I certainly do, I have seen from experience that true joy does not come from such things. The pursuit of instantaneous gratification merely whets your appetite for more. The nations with the highest rates of depression are among the most affluent. I have become convinced that man was born to serve, in a world where suffering, selfishness, meaninglessness, and apathy are integrally related. True joy is found in true Love, a concept rather foreign to our broken world. John 15:1-17 relates that when you combine divinely inspired objective truth with study, thought, action, & relational deeply relational connection with God, the primary expressed virtue is love, demonstrated by substantive benefit to others, & the result is true joy. While I am not an ascetic, I feel that pleasures that come with meaning are far sweeter than those that are arrived upon more artificially. As an example, bracelets that orphans made and freely gave you out of their poverty, tying them onto your wrists themselves as tears wet your face, are far sweeter than those acquired while shopping, reminding you of precious souls and joy-filled experiences that you hope to never forget. At the end of my days, the pleasure, power, money, etc I spent time chasing after (which I certainly do) will matter little, while the moments of joy, looking into the face of an orphan who loves me, and some of the moments of pain, tired after long hours of work on public health amidst heat rash in India, might be cherished. While I say that, it is very difficult for me to live in light of its reality, & I am much further than I'd like to be from the ethical purity & wisdom of Jesus. However, I will never give up the fight to be more like Him and to draw closer in relationship to Him. It is not just something beneficial for my family, to those I engage with directly, and to the world for me to do so. It is to my own benefit to do so, despite the volume of occasions every day where I lose sight of that reality due to lack of effective consistent mental clarity on the subject & otherwise. The quest for Truth, peace, meaning, freedom, hope, Love, God, etc. (interwoven with the grace of God in these and many other capacities & my relationship to Him) compels me, despite my failures and inadequacies, to seek it still. The closer that relationship, & the more mentally & actively in tune I am with Scripture, the easier it is for me to unselfishly love, to be self-disciplined, to do good, to live effectively, to feel fulfilled in life, and to experience joy. When by grace in life the reality that I can write about here more fully converts to praxis, (and in so many other ways!) I am blessed beyond what I could ever hope to deserve! In a world chasing after ephemeral things that will never satisfy (Ecclesiastes 2), the Love (Agape) of Jesus is so much more full of Life (1 John 4:8, John 10:10, John 14:6, Philippians 3:8)!

Quest for Truth

As a natural ENTP (see section below), I love to ask the question "Why?" and am on a constant quest for objective truth. I believe that study (i.e. psychology including regarding bias, logical fallacies, etc.), intentional experience (See John Dewey's "Experience & Education"), and critical thinking regarding commonly held cultural values are very important in arriving at Truth, meaning, and Love (Agape). It is easy to overestimate the logic inherent in thought and action, while underestimating other factors. It is easy to be blinded by logical fallacies, normative experience and status quo bias (naturally denied most often as they occur due to self serving bias etc.) among other things. Logical fallacies & bias are too seldom studied & considered. Despite my relatively dogged attempts to counter such issues with diverse research and experience, I am too often blind due to these and other reasons in many regards, but appreciate correction from others when that's the case. Truth apart from relevance is of minimal consequence, which leads into my last and most important segment.

I'm candid about some beliefs that vary among Christians.

Examples of beliefs that vary among Christians:

1. I seek to avoid real estate work, save limited urgent matters on Sundays. This timing lines up not only with Scripture but with objective data, as I demonstrate in the article linked above using statistical data on rest and on day of the week for listings. I have great support from other experienced agents to fill in the gap for me for showings when needed. I also have excellent resources such as my perhaps locally unmatched buyer guide & seller guide that help answer many questions

2. I am a continuationist, not a cessationist. Cessationism is popular among some Protestants, including some Evangelicals. It became popular during the Protestant Reformation as a reaction against Catholic apologists who pointed to supposed miraculous activity within the Catholic Church as a reason to not become Protestant. I believe in the active work of the Holy Spirit in healing & other gifts of the Spirit today (Mark 16:14-18; 1 Corinthians 12; 14:1, 39).

3. There are some cases where data-backed responses align with faith that you might see me write about. For instance, I do not recommend that an unmarried couple buy a house together with the intent to move in together before marriage. I provide the data on why that's not a best practice from a mostly non-religious perspective, with a brief faith-based integration yet also provide a disclosure about my faith bias as well as sharing how to limit liability if doing it anyway.

Mission of the Church Statements Should be Comprehensive & Include Both Faith & Love

1. Despite the high volume of Scripture that points otherwise, there is a minority yet substantive % of Evangelical Christians who state that the "mission" of the Church is exclusively evangelistic and discipleship oriented. While I believe in these 2 things as part of the overrall mission (that is more comprehensive) as they're supported biblically (i.e., the Great Commission), an exclusive mission of those elements goes directly against some of the passages I referenced on love, can lead to the neglect of personal holiness, & can result in the kind of religious spread of something bad with good intentions referenced in Matthew 23:15. I'm wide open to talking about God, especially in certain contexts like when people ask, in juvenile detention centers in El Salvador & Honduras with Counterract International, which my father started, in writing and via videos. However, I believe that some people hammer people with evangelism out of the blue in an overly aggressive & combative way that gives them a negative reputation among the very people they seek to reach when they should be doing a lot more living out of the gospel. While it might seem far-fetched, I remember an occasion in December 2011 where I was talking with another Christian about faith and a bounty hunter close by interrupted the conversation, who appeared very antagonistic to the faith & to my new friend & I's conversation, even though we had only been talking with each other before his interruption. He put a knife up to my neck and asked me if God would save me if he tried to kill me. Right after I defended him when security heard of it from someone, he asked me if I could go outside and talk to him while he smoked. There, he shared with me about his life and explicitly asked me if I could talk to him about Jesus, to which I obliged.

2. When the help of the poor & those in physical need is completely neglected, even for the sake of evangelism and discipleship, it doesn't align with the Bible's teaching. Among other causes, I strongly believe that well drilling & combatting human trafficking should be stronger foci among Christians due to the high impact in the 2/3 world on reducing disease & oppression. For specific examples in the Bible, see:

   1. Jesus parable of the "Good Samaritan" (Luke 10:25-37), where a question about how to inherit eternal life started out with loving God & neighbor & led Jesus to talk about a priest & someone in full-time ministry (a Levite) neglecting to care for someone who had been robbed and who might die without assistance. Conversely, a Samaritan, someone of different ethnic and religious origin, stopped, cared for the person, and paid for their expenses to recover.

   2. In Paul's commissioning, which was most known for its evangelistic & discipleship orientation, James, Peter, and John, the leaders of the Church at the time, said, "they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do (Galatians 2:7-10)."

   3. Many forget that Stephen, the 1st martyr of the Church after Jesus, was put in ministry with others because widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food etc., with him and others being commissioned to help ensure that the widows got enough (Acts 6-7).

7 Pillars of Wisdom

While I'm wide open to engage in debate on the subject (especially arguments based on reason, objective data, and Scripture), I believe that the 7 pillars of wisdom are (in order of importance):

1. Scripture -accurately translated even if it means more words and interpreted accurately, w/ love, grace of God to repent, and faith prominent. Acts 17:11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

1. Objective data/reason - w/ elements that are collective & some that are individualistic, knowing though that bias influence and half-truths are common and that we think we are much smarter and more intelligent than we really are. While at the top in the model along with Scripture, the majority of people shouldn't be effectively treating it like it's at the top in cases where it's in conflict with their perception of Scripture, due to too high an opinion of their ability to reason and too little effort to accumulate pertinent objective data & other pillars to weigh in reasoning.

2. Holy Spirit - without Whom we can't have any hope of walking according to Scripture. However discerning the Spirit is very difficult, especially without the Bible and without objective data to "test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1 John 4:1)." 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

   19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.

3. Fear of the Lord - Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

4. Pursue wisdom - Proverbs 4:7 "The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom, though it cost all you have, get understanding."

5. Tradition/community- I suspect that most Christians will be surprised at this number being number 5 and not higher up. We rely far too heavily on the traditions & commands of men at the expense of the commands of God. I have done that for the majority of the past decade. I am tired of it. - Hebrews 10:24-25 "24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

6. Experience uncovered in the application of Scripture.

Why Objective Data & Reason Next to the Bible in the 7 Pillars, & Why the Bible is Unique Among Religious Texts in Standing in the Face of That?

Placing objective data and reason right alongside the Bible at the top is admittedly very controversial among Christians, where I expect many will reject the 7 pillars because of it. I'd like to make a case for that placement:

1. Proverbs states, “The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

2. If a religious text is placed above reason and objective truth, then there is too heavy of an inherent bias for those inside that tradition to not reform it, less of a rational path to God for those outside the tradition, & more reason to break away because of it due to bad theology being legitimized.

Christianity is unique because the Bible can be rigorously tested by reason, history, and objective data—and instead of collapsing, it is clarified, purified, and strengthened. The leap of faith gets much smaller when one has the objective data to back it up. See sections 4-13 of this article on romantic cohabitation prior to marriage & premarital sex for an example of that.

One doesn’t come to Christ from birth; reason and objective data should be some of the primary drivers to faith.

Reason and objective data prioritized at the top makes it harder for those in the Church to exercise control when they are off, but that is a very good thing, not a bad thing, as it means that the Church has less cause to split like it did in Luther’s day after his teachings were rejected by those in power not because he was wrong, but because those in power didn’t feel like defending themselves biblically and because they knew that they could get away with it and retain power in many cases.

3. Not getting well educated has become popular among Christians in the US. That’s a bad thing based in part on harmful deprioritization of objective data and reason as well as not adequately equipping kids for the perils of a degree of indoctrination in the public/private school system and in colleges/universities (public and private, though Wheaton College in IL excels here where many don’t).

4. People are frequently off regarding their view of Scripture and application. Scripture should never be read in a vacuum, but should be read ideally after learning about how to properly interpret Scripture from a Scripturally solid source. Many of the top universities today are skewed in their teaching methods on how to interpret the Bible. Many people without formal Scriptural teaching teach Sunday school classes, even big ones of over 100 people in some cases like my dad, who have never learned even on an informal substantive basis how to interpret the Bible.

5. When objective truth/reason isn’t treated with high suspicion as it is in some circles frequently today (though warranted in some cases), religious leaders and religious interpretations are held to higher standards, naturally refining each, and more people are drawn to God.

6. Reason/objective data at the top rather than the Bible is more honest in part due to the limited topics considered, though very comprehensive for the time, i.e. topics not directly touched that weren’t even an issue at the time like microplastics. The Bible focuses on stewardship, but since destroying the environment wasn’t as readily possible at the time it was written, it doesn’t have a major focus on it.

7. Passages that the Bible says are not necessarily from the Lord, i.e. 1 cor 7:6, 7:10, 7:12, 7:25, 7:40; 2 Cor 8:8, 11:17, and how the Catholic Church split from the Orthodox church in part due to misunderstandings of Scripture which were against reason and objective data that led to many Church abuses and a doorway for demonic oppression of church leaders via sin creeping in due to institutional sexual repression by the Church of clergy.

8. Luke 1:1-4 (investigation performed to produce gospel of Luke, who also was the author of Acts) and 1 Thessalonians 5:21 "...test everything, hold fast to that which is good." established the pattern I seek to follow.

9. 2 Corinthians 13:3-10 ESV

[3] since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. [4] For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God. [5] Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! [6] I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. [7] But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. [8] For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. [9] For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. [10] For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

https://bible.com/bible/59/2co.13.3-10.ESV

10. The Bible is the best and most reasonable framework of ethical objective data that points to its divine inspiration

11. Reason and objective data verifies much of what the Bible says and drastically narrows the gap required for a leap of faith when studied thoroughly

12. If one isn’t using objective data/reason, you won’t nearly be as adept at navigating between what God wants you to do via Scripture and what you think He wants you to do, especially if those you trust who know a lot more about the Bible than you do are saying something contrary to God.

13. Scripture is available widely today like never before in large part due to reason/objective data, i.e. invention of printing press, interchangeable type, and other more modern forms of media.

Concerns About & Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has great potential (I use it extensively because of this potential) but also some significant concerns if people are going to AI rather than the Bible for their morality. A blend of the 2 is beneficial when one has a solid foundation of non-AI-based morality and when one is seeking wisdom in a 7-pillars-of-wisdom framework that I believe is important. If one goes to AI soon after conversion or without a thorough knowledge of the Bible, intimacy with the Spirit, without sufficient objective data, without sufficient other pillars (i.e. reason, pyschology, etc.), there is too great a concern for unbiblical influence.

• Use of AI will never replace use of Bible, and even if you're trying to integrate AI into an understanding of the Bible, if you don't know the Bible well by reading it through repeatedly, it's easy to have bad theology.

• I asked a very popular form of AI, "what is the best passage that makes the gospel explicit and warns people not to try to taint the gospel". It began with a direct answer, before being stopped mid-sentence in Galatians 1:6-9 where it was obviously directly cut off, stopping at ""But even if we or an angel". It explained that the program "isn't designed to provide this type of content."

Eschatological Beliefs & Practical Resource Guides

1. Contrary to popular US eschatology, based on numerous factors including a comprehensive reading of many passages on the subject taken qualitatively and quantitatively, I am explicitly against pre-tribulation rapture models. The meta result of various models I ran on Chat GPT using 120 passages of Scripture, history, science & realism, ancient near eastern culture vs modern post enlightenment thought, current events (handled carefully) are:

View

Probability

Why

Single-Coming Transformational (SCT)

48–55%

Best textual fit, lowest strain, strongest historical continuity

Post-Tribulation (Historic)

25–30%

Very strong textually, slightly weaker on wrath-protection

Pre-Wrath

12–17%

Textually viable, but requires fine timing distinctions

Pre-Tribulation

2–5%

High strain, late emergence, weakest OT/Jesus support

Other / hybrids

<2%

No distinct textual behavior

2. I think that ChatGPT's "Other" probability is smaller than the actual figure. I wouldn't be surprised if "other" happened & think that the probability of that should be greater than Pre-Trib, while Post-Wrath and Pre-Wrath should be lower to provide more room for "other".

3. While I was unconvinced for the majority of my life, as of November 2025, after running a statistical probability model in ChatGPT regarding the tribulation starting in the near future (by 2040 as 55% probable), I believe that it will occur in my lifetime. Many of the bottlenecks of probability models are hampered by post-enlightenment thought, when grounded interpretation should view reality first from a pre-enlightenment framework to be more faithful to proper interpretation (exegesis rather than eisegesis). Factoring that into the equation, I've converted all investments in my Roth IRA since that time that have since performed unusually well, as I expected would occur. I won't mention how purposefully here.

4. Among modern figures, David Wilkerson (deceased) has some good teaching on the end times.

5. Practical guides beneficial for end times during tribulation:

   1. Virginia Map Guides (Especially Central & Eastern VA)

   2. Free Things to Do in & Around Virginia

   3. Homeless Resources in US w/ Central & Eastern Virginia Focus

   4. Guide to Move to East & Central Virginia

   5. Hunting in VA Guide: Law, Resources, Details

   6. Fishing in Virginia Guide: Fees & Resources

   7. Low or No Cost Camping (Including VA Map)

   8. Living in a Van, RV, or Otherwise on Wheels

   9. Live-Aboarding on a Boat

   10. Land Purchases & Sales

   11. Tips on Modular, Manufactured, & Mobile Homes

   12. Finding a Church

   13. Marinas, Ramps, & Water Type (Fresh vs Salt) in Virginia

   14. Unique Dynamics of VA Waterfront Properties

   15. Points/Miles/Cards for Free & Reduced Cost Travel

   16. Gifting Points for Travel

The Sad Political Divide

The Republican & Democratic platforms in the US each have major flaws. For Christians, the moment we allow our party via herd bias etc. to determine our belief systems rather than Scripture, the Church, objective truth, reason, etc., we have created an idol, whether that's in the form of a political platform or a politician. We must never "bow the knee".

A vote for one of the candidates in the binary 2 party system we have in America means compromise inherently. We won't agree with either candidate's political positions in full. We might vehemently disagree with many of the policies of the person we vote for, especially for those closer to the center in a case like Harris vs Trump where a far-left and far-right candidate were the 2 options for a vote to effectively count. People on the right can say "you should be ashamed of yourself" or question their Christianity for voting for someone on the left for whatever reason they believe gives them that right. People on the left can do the opposite. I don't think either attack, left or right, to that degree is warranted due to the volume of compromises that need to be made in a vote for a candidate either way. If you're voting for an outlier 3rd party candidate who is the head of a hate group like the KKK, sure, you can say that, and it's certainly warranted in that case, but these are 2 presidential candidates representing each of the 2 major parties in an almost exclusively 2 party system. Why attack those voting 1 way in a binary 2 party system? Doing so perpetuates the mutual antipathy that has increased drastically over the course of the past 50 years. It further divides our country when we need unity.

A growing number of people thinks very negatively of "the other side":

Image courtesy Pew Research & NPR

The antipathy of left vs right and vice versa has more than quadrupled by some measures since 1994.

Image courtesy Pew Research

Image courtesy Pew Research article A Year Ahead of the Midterms, Americans’ Dim Views of Both Parties

Partisan spread for presidential approval ratings when you compare Johnson in the 60s vs Trump's 1st presidency as well as Biden’s presidency has increased by over 2.5x.

Pew Research 1. Feelings about partisans and the parties

Image courtesy Carnegie Institute

Polarization is reflected in congress:

Image courtesy Carnegie Institute

Image courtesy Carnegie Institute

This trend is not universal among nations:

Image courtesy Carnegie Institute

More Faith-Based & Related Articles from Me

My Facebook profile's about section (desktop view) has a substantial amount of content about who I am and quotes from others.

I have done some writing of faith-based articles, i.e., the following:

• Should I Purchase a House with my Girlfriend, Boyfriend, or Others I'm not Married to?

• Finding peace,

• Freedom from sin,

• Favorite Quotes

• Stories from mission trips and some other writing starting from the bottom article on this blog

• Intentional Homeless Submersion for months in 2009 & 2010 within 1 year of graduating from Wheaton College (IL)

• More articles on faith coming soon

  
  

  However, a relatively low number of views of each of those articles after a year or multiple years discourages the prospect of many more articles like them. I attribute that number in part to my need to shift out of Wix Classic, no paid ads, the need to reach out to more people who might be in a good position to share articles directly, and needing to work more on SEO so that something like that is less likely for future publications.

4. Personality Type & Communication

Basics

For those that don't know me, I'm a unique blend of intensity, serenity, and levity, depending on the situation! My interests and activities are equally as diverse, from art, to research, to water sports, to hunting. I'm a Strong's SAI (Social Artistic Investigator).

ENTP

I'm a Myers Briggs ENTP (Extroverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiver). As such, I prefer for folks to be very direct with me. For instance, if anyone sees any error on my part, I appreciate people telling me plainly whatever they believe that I'm doing wrong or could do better, whether a moral issue, logical fallacy, a spelling or grammatical error, or otherwise (Proverbs 9:8; 15:31-32; 27:6; 141:5a). I tend to be rather direct with others as well, so please don't ask me something unless you want the truth! ENTP's are also known for being nonconformists, challenging accepted cultural norms with experience, research, and other data accumulated over the ENTP's lives. I value functional utility over cultural conformity to a higher degree than most, which is at times met by opposition and misunderstanding, particularly among the more ethnocentric. Due to its advantages, I have long sought to effectively shift my personality type beyond a self reported test to be more of an ENTX than an ENTP, despite the rarity of ENTX.

Memory

While my long-term memory is not too shabby, my short-term memory is one of my lesser faculties, which means you'll see me taking more notes and relying on my notes more than the average person. You'll also see me doing more texting than someone like my dad whose short & long term memory are excellent. My memory makes for some interesting re-introductions when I don't remember someone's name or face. Another example would be where I made a B+ in biology at CNU due to the memorization component whereas I had a 100 the first half of the same semester in Physics prior to slacking off in the 2nd half in light of the fact that the difference between 100 and a high A means nothing on GPA whereas the stronger focus on biology did. My weaknesses are matters that I seek to appreciate more in light of the reality of the heightened dependency on the Rock of my Salvation necessary to make up for my gaps (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).