Affinity 8: Psalms 139

In our days of confusion, self-doubt and blurred certainties, the first eighteen verses of Psalm 139 reminds us, God knows everything about us, is always surrounding us and makes a way for us. It is comforting to note how thoroughly the Psalmist records our Creator’s mind toward us. It is as though the truth found in II Peter 4:8 held literally, “ . . . one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,” and that the length of those years were spent preparing each day for every one of us. Not only are these verses a comfort in the aspects they teach us about God, they free us to be who we have been created to be, i.e. we aren’t surprising God by our shortcomings.

“Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether” (Psalms 139:2-4).

Here we see how God permeates all of our life. He knows when we are going to stand up and when we are going to sit down. He knows when we are lying down and when we are walking, where we are walking and everything about our walk. He knows what we are going to say before we say it and knows what we don’t say. It is comforting that we don’t have to fake it with God. We can be who we are, because He knows and understands the inner workings of how we think, speak and act. Seeing how naked we are in His sight, let us lay aside all of our pretenses and be real with Him. ‘Salvation’ any other way will only lead to those dreaded words, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee” (Psalms 139:7-12).

Here we see how God is everywhere and in all things. There is no hiding from Him. Even in Hell, God is there. He struggles with us, He holds us up and He never leaves us, no matter what we think, say or do.

“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee” (Psalms 139:13-18).

Here the Psalmist is talking about how we have been created. Notice the thorough job God does in knitting us together. He invests time in defining every one of our individual aspects. With the loving pen of our almighty author, He writes down our character, our image and our personality with great forethought and effort.

Affinity 6: Ezekiel's Four Faces

Ezekiel had a vision in the first chapter.  The vision was of four creatures and each creatures had four faces, “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle” (Ezekiel 1:10). The appearance of the number four brings to mind the four personality types.  The fact each creature had four faces indicates perhaps each creature had the ability to think in different ways, to see the world through different views, mainly four different views. 

Have you ever noticed the old testament is split up into four sections?  There is the Torah, the first five books of the bible.  Then there are the history books.  These are followed by the Literature books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. It concludes with the books of the prophets.  The New Testament is also split up into four sections: the gospels, Acts (history of the church), the Epistles and the book of Revelation (a book of prophecy, for some).  When I first thought about Ezekiel’s four faces, I thought about the four section of the Old Testament and the four sections of the New Testament.  Perhaps there is an alignment. 

I also began to wonder why God gave us these four sections in each testament.  Perhaps it was because certain sections would appeal to certain types of people.  Perhaps there were four different personalities and so, four different types of books.  When you look at the personalities, you can sort of guess at what books would appeal to what types of people:

Law, Gospels – Stabilizers

History, Acts – Analysts

Literature, Epistles – Persuaders

Prophets, Revelation – Controllers

You can think too much about these kinds of things, but it is interesting to note there are certain aspects of the four faces that may align with the sections of the Bible and personality types.  For example, the face of the man could represent intellectual thinkers like the analysts.  The face of the lion could represent the controlling personality.  The face of the ox could be the persuasive types and the eagle, who must find balance in flight could be the stabilizer. 

I like the fact all four creatures had all four faces.  It reminds me we are called to put our best face forward for any given situation.  We have the resources to be what we need to be when called to our best, however, we typically get accustomed to looking at the world in one way and therefore favor our view.  This drives our personality.

Affinity 5: A Little Bit of Crazy

I don’t know if you have heard the saying, “Everybody has a little bit of crazy in them.” More importantly, I don’t know if you realize the saying has Bibilcal roots. Ecclesiastes 9:3c says, “. . . and madness is in their heart while they live. . . .” Ah yes, Ecclesiastes! I like to think of Ecclesiastes as the book of proverbs in its purest form. In this book King Solomon lays out all he has worked out about life and its mysteries. It can seem cutting at times, but it is the perfect book for putting all things into context.

Interestingly enough, although personality theory is mostly about strengths, how to leverage what is good about you, it is also about weaknesses and where you come up short and another person fits in. It is about the crazy in all of us. While it can be a good thing to be the one who knows the big picture all of the time, you aren’t going anywhere without the necessary details for a plan to come together. In other words, all cars can take you from A to B (all functioning cars), but not all cars will take you there in the same condition, speed, comfort and safety. That is how it is with personality. Each personality type has a strength and each personality has a weakness. Let’s take a look.

The Controller. The controlling personality is really good at using conflict, making fast decisions and adapting to change. They are not so good at listening, being patient with others or working on the details. What is the need of the controller? To be in control and taken to an extreme this can be a little on the crazy side. How about when a controller is given a situation where they have no control? Someone else is in control, running things and it is inefficient. The leader criticizes on the personal level and blocks you from accomplishments? This is when the controller starts to come undone. The tendency will be to explode, blame others, dictate or take over. Worst of all, they will suppress emotions and that’s when the real problems begin. Who was a controller in Scripture? Mark, Nehemiah and Saul. The controller’s focus is on results, they are task oriented and we need them – in control of themselves most of all.

The Stabilizer. The stabilizing personality is good at maintaining harmony, working in teams and taking a systematic, thorough approach. They are dependable and build relationships. Their weaknesses are in taking things too personally, initiating a task quickly enough and trying to avoid necessary conflict that will produce results. Stabilizers taken to the extreme will give in too easily, worry emotionally and take a get even approach. Because they are good at manipulating circumstances, they can cause serious damage without seeming to be the cause. Their driving need is for security, to be trusted and to have appreciation. They are the ones to take a large project and ensure it happens with the least cost, emotionally and physically. Who was a Stabilizer in the Scriptures? John, David and Isaiah.

The Analyst. The analyzing personality is all about getting it right. They are good at using facts, data, history and logic. They know what should be the precise outcome and the rules/steps to take in order to get there. In the extreme they tend to feel overwhelmed by a driving need to get it perfect, they don’t like to take a position and will lose sight of the big picture. Pushed too far, the analyst will become overcritical, give up easily, pull away or get caught up in the need to prove they are right. They are the one you need to get a quality, accurate and precise product, the key is to support their standards and principles. Who was an Analyst in the Bible? Matthew, Solomon and the Rich Young Ruler.

The Persuader. Persuasive personalities are not necessarily concerned about being right on facts, they are right on people. Persuaders use verbal skills, combined with optimism and social initiative to bring someone around to their viewpoint. They are good at stimulating others to action and they are seldom at a loss for words. Give them the reigns and they will convince an audience of cold fusion. Taken to the extreme, the persuader is bogged down in details, will fail to follow through on commitments and can become overly emotional. They often don’t set realistic timeframes. Push a persuader too far and you will get a verbal attack, an emotional dump or a cut and run mentality. The persuader is the one who makes the journey pleasant, who cuts tension and brings the personal skills. Just don’t belittle or limit them. Who was a Persuader in the Bible? Luke, Paul and Aaron.

The crazy in us. It is why God gave us each other, and each of us with our own sets of skills and not-so-skills. Understanding strengths and weaknesses in one another is the key to getting along and building the Body of Christ.

Affinity 4: Analysts, Persuaders, Controllers and Stabilizers

Personality types are as old as the Classical time period.  Hippocrates is credited as the first to document personality types, as early as 400 BC.  Paul refers to personality types in Romans chapter 12 (90 AD) as spiritual gifts with distinct attributes separating them one from the other.  He gives instruction to each type with the overall command to work together as a single body.  We are to understand one another, and work together.  This is seen throughout the Corinthian letters also.

Modern day Psychologists have looked at the problem from multiple sides, as attested by the multitude of Personality tests and profiles.  Most go along with Hippocrates using his four categories, Choleric, Phlegmatic, Sanguine and Melancholic, though they have chosen a variety of differing names.  The name I’ll be going with align with Hippocrates as such: Choleric is a Controller, Phlegmatic is a Persuader, Sanguine is a Stabilizer and Melancholic is an Analyst. Here is a common four-quadrant layout for the Personality Types (Figure 1). 

Figure 1. Four Personality Types

In 1921, Carl Jung broke down personality types into 16.  During World War II, Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, developed a questionnaire method for determining personality in correspondence with Jung’s research.  What came out is what we know today as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI).

The MBTI are broken into four categories: Introvert/Extrovert, Sensory/Intuitive, Thinking/Feeling and Judging/Perceiving.  When you take a MBTI test, you assess how you rate in each category by choosing preferred activities.  For example, if you are more introverted versus sensory you will select reading a book versus going to a party.

MBTI gives an indication of where you fit within the four quadrants. Figure 2 provides a look at how the MBTI categories work with the four personality types.  The left side of the diagram, the Analysts and Stabilizers tend to be Introverts.  The Right Side, Controllers and Persuaders are Extroverted.  The top (Analysts and Controllers) are more sensory and Judging.  The bottom (Stabilizers and Persuaders) tend to be more Intuitive and Perceiving.  Thinking and Feeling is also a split between the AS and CP sides. 

Figure 2. MBTI associated to Four Personality Types

When you find out what your MBTI is, you will have an understanding of what your primary and secondary personality traits are.  For example and INTJ will have the primary personality of a Stabilizer with the secondary drive of Controller.  An ESFP will find themselves in the Persuader/Analyzer categories of personality and so on. 

The driving need of an Analyst is to be right.  The driving need of a controller is to control things.  The driving need of a persuader is to be liked.  The driving need of a stabilizer is security and trust.  Each drive in each personality is unique and the combination of drives along with the variability of MBTI-ness within each category allows for a wide variety of personal-ness. 

Personality is a spectrum. We reflect what we value in any given situation.  You can be anything you need to be within the personality spectrum at any time. The classification reflects what you chose to be in a majority of situations.

Avoid the pitfall of the personality study. It’s okay to classify core drives, as long as you free a person to act accordingly in a given situation. We are all different from one another. Common drives do not preclude uniqueness among the kinds. It’s simply a reflection of the patterns in your brain. Three lobes – three personalities, with the fourth personality composed of the intersection of the three. If my brain favors the left lobe, I’ll be more analytical. If my brain favors the right, I’ll be more controlling. If my brain favors the lower lobe, I’ll be more feeling. Stabilizers tend to the center, the intersection of the three.

Affnity 3: The Greatest Commandment

We have ten finger, ten toes and The Ten Commandments:

1. One God
2. No Idolatry
3. Keep His Name Holy
4. Remember the Sabbath Day
5. Honor Father and Mother
6. Don’t Kill
7. Don’t Commit Adultery
8. Don’t Steel
9. Don’t Lie
10. Don’t Covet

When challenged by the Pharisees to name the greatest commandment, “Jesus said unto [the Pharisee], Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” (Matthew 22:37-40). When asked, God boiled it all down to Love. We are to love God and others as much as we love ourselves.

First John gives us another picture of the struggle our souls face against sin, also tying it to love, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever,” (I John 2:15-17). John says, ‘all that is in the World,’ are three temptations: Lust, Greed and Pride.

How could there be only three temptations in this world? In the passage where Jesus is tempted, have you ever noticed he was only tempted three times? God in the flesh tempted by the Devil himself. I’d expect His temptation to be the hardest ones a man could face. For the longest time, however, I didn’t understand them. They seemed anti-climactic. First of all – only three temptations? And, to be honest, at first blush, they don’t look too exciting. Only in the context of First John do they start to make sense.

The Devil tempts Christ in three ways. Saint John tells us why, “All that is in the world.” Jesus faces lust, greed and pride in a way only the Creator of Heaven and Earth could. “And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread,” (Matthew 4:3). This is tempting the Lord to feed his appetite. Let’s call that one lust. In Jesus’ second temptation . . . “ . . . the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone,” (Matthew 4:5-6). Here the Lord is asked to prove who he is. This is clearly a temptation of pride. Lastly, “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me,” (Matthew 4:8-9). Here the Lord is tempted to accomplish the Father’s will sooner than ordained, an action of greed. Just as St John tells us, there is nothing more in the world but these three.

When you look at the World the way First John describes it, “all that is in the World,” boils down to three things: Lust, Greed and Pride. Why is that?

Could it be because we were created in the image of God to be a Body, Soul and Spirit. Lust therefore is a function (or de-function) of our Body, Greed a de-function of our Soul and Pride is a de-function of our Spirit. Lust is the satisfaction of bodily wants beyond what God has designed or outside of His perfect timing. Greed is the unbridling of our desires to fulfill every whim of our souls. Pride works on the spirit of man, causing us to exalt ourselves above one another and put ourselves even in front of God himself. 

Let’s take a look at the Ten Commandments again. The first one could be an overarching commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” (Exodus 20:3). The other nine then become groups of three, three to address lust, three for greed and three for pride.

No wonder Jesus tells us the first and greatest commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” We are to so align the affections of our heart, soul and mind (Spirit, Soul and Body) that we no longer chose to sin. When we love God with our bodies, we will not yield to lust. When we put God as our chief of goals, we won’t be greedy. And when we love Him above all else we will not be prideful. One commandment portrays all ten.  By keeping our Spirit, Soul and Body in Love with God and His ways, we’ll be keeping all the law and the prophets.

 

Affinity 2: The Soul: Our Mind, Will and Emotions

I Thessalonians 5:23 describes the man as three parts: spirit, soul, and body. Matthew 12:30 and Mark 10:27 reference Deuteronomy 6:5, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Equating heart to spirit and might to our bodies, we have a three-part person: spirit, soul and body as verified by the Old Testament Law, the New Testament Gospel Accounts and Paul’s Epistles.

Spirit, soul and body. Man is reflective of the Holy Trinity: Holy Spirit, Father, and Son. Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Surely we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).

As it would seem, our physical bodies house our souls. But where do our spirits reside? Do our souls hold our spirit like a flame? Or, maybe our spirit sits over us like the cloud resting on the tabernacle in the wilderness.

The soul seems easier to identify. Science separates the brain into three parts: the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the brain stem. The cerebrum fills up most of your skull and does all of your remembering, problem solving, thinking, and feeling. It is the largest part and is divided into three parts, two halves on top with a separate section on the bottom for the thalamus and hypothalamus. Roughly speaking the cerebrum has a section for analytic reasoning – your left brain, a section for creativity – your right brain, and section for your emotions – the thalamus and hypothalamus. I’ll call these three portions our mind, will and emotions. This gives our soul three parts, just like our being’s spirit, soul and body.

Affinity 1: Romans 12, Type Indicators

There is nothing more satisfying in life than running – if you are a runner.  There’s nothing more satisfying than to the crack of a bat or the feel of a ball in a glove – if you like baseball.  The fulfillment we find in life comes from doing what we were created to do.  It is only through such feelings of accomplishment the lights of our eyes shine forth.  So how do we get there?  First we need to know what were created for, only then can we know what we are good at.

There is value in understanding ourselves, discovering our personalities and finding out who we are as individuals.  The Bible clearly indicates we will be held accountable for our talents, Matthew 25.  Not only is it satisfying, it is imperative for us to be aware of our gifts and use them.  We should be aware of our strengths, and know and study the strengths of those around us.

Hippocrates was the first person to document personality types, as early as 400 BC.  We adhere to his types even today.  Thankfully, we have a Biblical recording of personality types as well.  Paul refers to personality types in Romans chapter 12 as spiritual gifts each possessing distinct attributes separating them one from the other.  His descriptions give instructions along with each type and describe how we can work together as a collective body. 

Psychology today studies personality types as well.  Most psychologists go along with Hippocrates and group personalities into four major categories though they call them something else.  Hippocrates gave the following names: Choleric, Melancholic, Phlegmatic and Sanguine.  Since the meaning of those words is largely cryptic and unflattering, the types have been renamed into the following: Controller (Choleric), Analytic (Melancholic), Stabilizer (Phlegmatic) and Persuader (Sanguine). 

Each personality theory attempts to categorize and describe behavior, showing how men and women interact with the world around them.  The discussion is focused on the soul, made up of mind, will and emotions.  Personality becomes the resultant interaction of our mind, will and emotions and how we express those interactions to others. 

Paul gives seven gifts in Romans 12, each of them show a different aspect of mind, emotion, and will. 

The gifts of prophecy and mercy are opposite aspects of our mind like two sides of a coin.  How we approach sensory details determine whether we intuit or experience factual data. 

The gifts of ministry and administration are opposite aspects of our will.  The administrator tends to make quick judgments, while the heart of the servant is only to perceive.

 The gifts of teaching and giving are opposites of the emotion.  The teacher tends to approach tasks in the realm of the mind, while the giver attempts to see needs through feelings.

All of us are exhorters in one way or another.  How extroverted or introverted we are determines how much of an exhorter we become.

This framework conveniently covers the Myers-Briggs personality classifications of Introvert/Extrovert, Sensory/Intuitive, Feeling/Thinking and Judging/Perceiving.  And it is all in the pages of Romans 12.  More later. . .

A Blog is a Fearful Thing . . .

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. So a word un-fitly spoken? Hence the title. Words, after they have been spoken, take on a life of their own. Ask a politician.

Nevertheless, like Jeremiah, we have an obligation. The Spirit of God in his bones burned as a fire, impossible to contain. Paul said, ‘Woe unto me if I do not preach the Gospel!’ The image of the Dead Sea comes to mind. Taking in all the minerals of the Jordan River and letting none of it return to water the fields around it, a simmering pool of deadly chemicals, stray fish wandering into it become pickled and float to the shore – a vivid picture of the soul who accepts God’s blessings without returning them to those around them.

Lord, help your Church open its mouth and declare you. If Christ be lifted up, the world will be drawn to Him. Let us lift him up.

Still, we should not all seek to be teachers, knowing we incur a greater condemnation (James 3:1). Look for the cause as David did (I Sam 17:29). When the enemies of the Lord stand in our gates, casting forth the challenges to what we believe, do not hide in the shadows or shrink from the battle – come what may. The Lord has given them into our hands. The battle is the Lord’s, and though it be our victory or theirs in the eyes of the World, duty is ours – results are God’s. God’s road leads to a cross.

Thank you to those who have read my past entries and will read my future ones. Please feel free to contribute. I’d like this to be more of a dialogue than a pulpit. Send me topics.

 

v/r,
George

Victory - Level 2

Interestingly enough, Level 2 plays harder than level 3. Getting your king to castle first behind a
phalanx of pawns is a good starting strategy. The Knight is your advance and works to keep off an assault. The next logical move is to move the left
Knight to the forefront. This gives you coverage
over most of the board. If the computer threatens to take your knight, make sure it is in exchange for one of his Knights or Bishops. Knights are more valuable when the board has a lot of Pawns. Bishops are more valuable in an uncluttered board. On Level 2, that is likely to happen quickly. The computer is has no compunction about swapping pieces, especially the Queen. Only threaten to trade Queens if you mean it.

The play progresses quickly, the computer makes many mistakes it won’t make later. Feel free to be aggressive on this level, knowing you won’t pay for any subtle mistakes. The computer won’t be using any real strategy at this level, though it will go after your pieces.

Remember the Rooks are more valuable than Knights and Bishops, so don’t feel bad about a trade for lesser valuable pieces. Keeping a strong presence in the center of the board is a good strategy.

Near the end of the game, you’ll likely find time to get a second Queen, if you’ve managed to keep
your first one alive.

Victory - Level 1

So, the game isn't very smart on level one. It gave up it's castles and queen way too easily. Unfortunately this isn't how the computer will play on the next few levels, leading to a false confidence for the inexperienced player. The seemily random mistakes must be done on purpose, given the ruthless efficiency the computer can show on higher levels. It is a good feeling to beat the computer, but it is a short-lived feeling and a false one at that, crank the level up and the bad habbits you may have learned on level one are shown for what they are. My advice for the new player is to play aggressively. Don't give up if you've made a bad move, you'll most likely recover. Get a second and third Queen if you have to. They are almost free.

Best of Luck,

G F