MY PAPERS: THINGS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD CONSIDER READING
Over the years, I have penned my thoughts about certain subjects. The following documents reflect my thinking at the time that I wrote. I am deeply interested in your comments on any or all subjects found on this page. If you should respond to any of my papers -- and happen to disagree -- you will be treated with utmost courtesy and respect. My major concern is not whether you will agree or disagree with my position, but whether I have written with clarity of thought. If you are having difficulty understanding what I have written, I would be happy to hear from you, and if greater clarification is needed, I will revise the document for clarity's sake.
Here's a Table of Contents. Click the one that interests you, and you will be taken to a brief comment about the paper. If further interested, click on the link and read the entire document.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Brief Argument Against the Concept of "Client Nation"
A Polemic on Accountability Partnership
Christian, You Never Have to Sin Again or Volitional Perfection
Freedom: Licentious or Responsible
PCT, RTP, and Personal Freedom
PCT, RTP, Natural Man, Carnal Man, Spiritual Man
Responsible Thinking Process in the Christian Home Environment
Reward Controls Behavior: the Fallacy of the Concept
Talking to Our Youngest Generation
When the Train Leaves the Station
PAPERS
1. A Brief Argument Against the Concept of "Client Nation"
For several years I accepted the "Doctrine of the Client Nation" as taught by R.B. Thieme, Jr. At this time, I have serious doubts about its validity. My original acceptance was simply due to the fact that "the Colonel said it." However, after my own personal growth as a result of other aspects of the Colonel's teachings, especially, the Doctrine of Dispensations, the Doctrine of the Church, the Doctrine of the Mosaic Law, etc., I began to have conflicts in my thinking that have made it difficult for me to continue to accept the validity of this doctrine. My doubts about the concept of "Client Nation" do not diminish my respect and admiration for "the Colonel." My Bible teaching ministry is today what it is greatly because of him. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
2. A Polemic on Accountability Partnership
I have compiled my thoughts because I am disturbed about the proliferation of the concept throughout Christendom today. I see it as dangerous to the moment-by-moment Christian walk because I believe that it falls short of providing the mechanics for carrying out that walk. I believe that its source is human viewpoint, and that it has been developed as a reaction to the persistent sinful failures of most modern-day Christians, especially Pastors who have fallen onto sin. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
3. Christian, You Never Have to Sin Again or Volitional Perfection
If you are struggling with personal sins in your own life, the solution is found in the application of “Operation KRY” to your old-man. You do not need a supernatural experience, and you do not need to get the Holy Ghost. You need to apply “Operation KRY,” and if you think you have applied it and still don’t have victory, return to the three steps of “Operation KRY” and determine which of the three steps, or combinations of the three steps you have failed to apply correctly. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
4. Freedom: the Home Environment
The same freedom that God extends to the human race is extended to the home environment and is granted to every member of the household, including children. Since children are members of the human race, freedom is extended to them as members of the human race. They, too, are involved in the angelic conflict whether they or their parents realize it or not. Parents have a responsibility before God to teach and train their children in spiritual matters. As the resolution phase of the angelic conflict unfolds in human history, children either grow-up in their respective dispensation as part of the problem or part of the solution. As freely obedient children, they provide resolution in the conflict. As freely disobedient children, they provide no resolution in the conflict. The freedom-oriented home is where God expects children to learn the principles, promises, doctrines, and techniques associated with His plan for resolving the angelic conflict. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
5. Freedom: Licentious or Responsible
Freedom does not enjoy the right to disrespect others, and it does not permit violation of the rights of another person. The word “license” when applied to freedom means to do whatever one pleases; however, license is not inherent in freedom. Freedom has a boundary, and that boundary is the rights of another person. Where one person’s rights begin, another person’s freedom ends. Freedom is enjoyed by everyone when the speech and/or actions of one person do not infringe upon another person’s freedom to achieve his own internalized goals. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
Freedom is the environment in which all of human life is to be lived because freedom is the policy of God in the creation of the human race to resolve the spiritual battle known as the angelic conflict. If man’s obedience to God is not born out of freedom, Satan would have the legitimate objection that man’s obedience to God is forced, and God’s judgment upon him is unfair. Freedom, then, is essential to the resolution of the spiritual conflict. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
In my estimation, PCT is not a theory. It is a principle of life decreed by God the Father in eternity past and revealed as such in Holy Scripture. It can be said, then, that perceptual control is the belief that man was created by God to control himself. He is designed to self-control rather that control by someone else. If this is so, and it is, self-control can only be self-control if one is in control of his own life. If self-control in a person’s life is really self-control, then self-control in that person’s life cannot be labeled as such if anyone or anything else is in control of that person’s life. Self-control must mean self-control. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
8. PCT, RTP, and Personal Freedom
This paper was written to answer the following question: How can I as a fundamentalist Christian possibly link myself with the thinking of two men who would be considered outside fundamentalist ranks. These two men are Bill Powers, the man to whom the Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) attributed, and Ed Ford the founder of the Responsible Thinking Process (RTP). It is my considered opinion that both PCT and RTP are biblically based concepts and should be embraced by Christians everywhere -- if we are at all interested in dealing with disruptive behavior in a biblical manner consistent with the freedom with which Adam was created and we were born. The Responsible Thinking website is located at www.responsiblethinking.com. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
9. PCT, RTP, Natural Man, Carnal Man, Spiritual Man
This paper will relate PCT and RTP to the biblical concepts of the natural man, the spiritual man, and the carnal man. It will also relate PCT and RTP to the biblical concepts of the old-man and new-man. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
This booklet contains support for my thesis. I have tried to consider every possible argument and every possible verse or passage of Scripture that might be used in opposition. If I have failed to consider any reasonable argument of refutation, it has been an unintentional oversight, and I will be privileged to address that issue if brought to my attention.
My thesis restated: There is no scriptural authority to employ any form of punishment, including corporal punishment, to bring about a change in a person’s behavior, including children’s behavior, during the New Testament Christian era. Biblical evidence has been set forth to support the thesis. Punishment is out, and discipline is in. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
11. Responsible Thinking Process in the Christian Home Environment
This booklet is written for parents and guardians whose responsibility it is to raise children in their custody. The intent is to give parents and guardians a handbook to guide them in rearing their children in a non-punitive and non-manipulative manner. There is an ever-present perception among the masses that punishment changes behavior. The proverbial “rod” was not designed by God to change behavior. It was designed only for justice. This statement is supported in a separate document tilted Punishment vs. Discipline. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
12. Reward Controls Behavior: the Fallacy of the Concept
This is a brief paper that discloses the fallacy that a system controls behavior. Have you ever offered your child a reward if he would do something you wanted? Have you ever offered your child a reward if he maintained the status quo? Have you ever offered your child a reward if he avoided something you wanted him to avoid? Do you really believe you were in control? Read this document for the answer to the last question. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
It is the opinion of this author that the Responsible Thinking Process (RTP), founded by Mr. Ed Ford, is as biblically based and divinely decreed as is PCT. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
14. The Big Picture
Unless man understands the big picture of life, namely, that human history is the rebuttal phase of the spiritual battle known as the angelic conflict, any truth that would explain the “why” of any historical event will be rationalized away resulting in a misinterpretation of that historical event with the further result that nothing in life will make any sense. Man, then, will do the following: he will attempt to control the circumstances of life for his own selfish benefit, or he will simply resolve himself to endure life until its presumed bitter end comes upon him, hoping for the best in the interim. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
15. The Existence of Absolutes
Since an author has the right to pen his own perception, this paper is written with the belief that absolutes exist by divine design, and for our common understanding, an absolute is being defined as a decree from God. The nature of a divine decree is such that denial, rationalization, or ignorance will not destroy its existence. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
16. Total Depravity
Total depravity is the term used to define the spiritual condition of every human being at the moment of his or her physical birth. Mankind’s depravity is realized when the human nature of man is compared with the divine nature of God. God is absolutely righteous. This means that He is absolutely good. There is no evil in Him. He is incapable of wrong-doing, and it is this quality about God that serves as the standard against which all human nature is to be measured. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
17. Two Systems of Consequences
Rules, rules, rules, they are everywhere. Life is filled with rules, and there is a consequence associated with every rule violation. Sometimes the consequence is implemented, and sometimes not; sometimes it is rejected, and sometimes it is ignored. None of these, however, cancel the fact that a consequence exists. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
18. When the Train Leaves the Station
19. Talking to Our Youngest Generation“When the train leaves the station” is a phrase coined by this author. When traveling by train from one location to another, the following are true: 1) there is a time when the train has not yet departed the station; 2) there is time when the train has departed the station but not yet arrived at its destination; and 3) there is a time when the train arrives at its destination. (To read the entire article, just click on the link above.)
This paper relates my comments delivered in love as a wake-up call to some Christian youth after returning from a Christian camp to which I had led them. I have added some bracketed comments since the delivery date to further amplify the message.
Date and Time Last Edited: 08/19/07 09:10 PM