About Me
I am a graduate of Ambleside School of Fredericksburg. The Lord now has me at The King's University studying Worship leadership. I strive to do my best in all the writing that I produce. Finally like a sunflower I always strive to face the Son.
Fighting for the Honey
A Narrative
Fight for the Honey
I grew up in a wonderful Christian family, with two parents that viewed life as an adventure with the Lord. However, the adventure did not come from plans they made, but rather how their plans changed. They faced change with a sense of adventure and joy, willing to do whatever the Lord told them, knowing that he would take care of us. This perspective taught us how to face life's challenges with honey, even if we had to fight through the bees to get the honey. These adventures took us from the DC metro area all the way to Texas. This caused us to spend the first half of our childhood in a very high-speed environment and the second half of our childhood in a much slower environment. I enjoyed the fast pace of our time in DC; however, it caused me to dislike sitting with projects for extended periods of time, which can be difficult in writing, because writing is a prolonged process. The more relaxed season we had in Texas taught me to slow down. Part of that season was Covid, so I was forced to be still and work with what I had. This experience helped me to just sit with my writing, but I have learned to find joy in this process, after fighting off a few bees.
The schools I participated in when I was young did an excellent job at instilling in me a joyful approach to writing. This made writing go from feeling like a chore to an activity that I looked forward to participating in. When I attended Ambleside, my teachers taught me to approach difficult writing with an “I can” attitude. Ambleside also taught me to approach my writing with excellence and diligence, which was built on the foundation my parents gave me. Now I can approach my writing knowing that the Lord has given me what I need to tackle whatever assignment I have, whether it be from school or him.
In high school I struggled with some of the books that we were assigned to read. Partly because I was a slow reader, but primarily because I struggled with the darkness of the content. I grew up being taught how to find the light in any situation, but some of these texts did not even have a moment of redemption, which made it extremely hard for me to find the light in the text and enjoy reading it. We read the texts to learn about how devastating the Civil War was, and the inferior quality of life and abused capitalism during the Industrial Revolution. We read the Grimms fairy tales where children were being rolled down barrels full of nails, to show how children were being abused in the early 19th century. Due to the darkness in the books, I felt an absence of the Lord while reading them. I have also read books by authors like Karen Kingsbury, George MacDonald, and C.S Lewis who have dark content in their books but always show how God brings light and redemption to the characters. I enjoyed the journey of these books, and they left me with hope, while the others left me in the darkness. This filled me with the desire to always find a way to bring hope to my writing, no matter how dark the situation, because that is what Jesus does, he brings light into the darkness.
These significant parts of my childhood have given me a deep desire to fight for the honey in my writing. To work through the hard parts to find the light, and allow the light to penetrate darkness, but this is not just a writing tip, it is how we are called to live our lives. We are called to keep our eyes on the light even in the darkest of times, and that is what I want my writing to do.
Should We Drink Coffee?
Exploratory Essay
Coffee, coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world, but what is its impact on the health of an individual? Are there health benefits, if so, what are they? After exploring this topic through the writings of a few doctors, it would seem as if the health benefits might outweigh the risks. However, one cannot be sure. Many articles are addressing coffee, but when it comes to the cons, they are really addressing caffeine. Most MDs suggest that coffee is good for you and has many benefits such as: lower risk of type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, chronic kidney disease, and liver cancer. The cons lie within the caffeine. Caffeine can increase jitteriness, anxiety, headaches, urinary symptoms, it can also be dangerous for women who are pregnant. In conclusion, the consumption of coffee is not harmful when done in moderation.
The counter argument or antithesis for the conclusion above, would be that coffee should not be drunk at all. Dr. Jen O’Sullivan suggests that drinking coffee of any kind, including decaf, can destroy your body. Her argument is that coffee disrupts your endocrine system. Your endocrine system regulates and distributes your hormones. Thus, if the endocrine system is disrupted then your hormones are also disrupted. Hormones affect growth, energy, development, stress response, temperature, and reproduction. From this perspective coffee would negatively affect your whole life and should be eliminated.
The possible synthesis for this paper could be a variety of compromises. A possible synthesis could be only drinking coffee once a week if it is negatively affecting a person. One could limit their coffee consumption to one cup a day. One could also cut it out completely and if they really enjoy it have it once in a while. Dr. O'Sullivan would recommend replacing coffee with Dandy blend instant herbal beverage made with dandelion, or Teecchino, these are both good coffee substitutes. Since this topic highly depends on the individual the synthesis will depend on how it affects each individual person. For this paper, the synthesis will lean towards not drinking coffee on a daily basis, due to how it affects the endocrine system and hormones, replacing it with Dandy herbal instant beverage, and only having regular coffee once or twice a week.
The Power of Fairy Tales
Persuasive Essay
Introduction
There is great power in adding fairy tales to a child's education. Some may chuckle at the thought and ask themselves; how could fairy tales educate a child? However, there are many benefits of adding fairy tales to a child’s education. A fairy tale’s strongest use is that it enhances imagination. This tool of imagination allows children not to escape their own world, but to see it differently. Great authors such as C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, J.R.R Tolkien, and even great educationalists like Charlotte Mason use the tool of imagination to instruct children about heavenly ideas, morality, and about their own personhood. One must use this tool with precaution, because though fairy tales have great power, they also can be dangerous. Disney and the Grimms fairy tale's purpose is not to point children to the Truth, but rather to reveal injustice and the current culture. Hence, when one presents a fairy tale before a child for educational purposes, it must be one that reflects the Truth accurately.
The Power of Fairy Tales
Fairy tales are powerful for three primary reasons. Firstly, adding fairy tales such as Narnia, written by C.S. Lewis, to a child's education not only exposes the child to brilliant writing, but it also uses the tool of imagination to instruct a child about God in a way that they have not heard before. C.S. Lewis says it this way,
But supposing that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of the stained-glass and Sunday school associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could.1
He takes children into an imaginary world to show them the character of God without the religious aspect associated with him. When a child reads Narnia, the relatability of the Pevensie children, and the new world they stumble upon intrigue the child enough to keep reading. In this new world, the Pevensie Children interact with a lion, named Aslan, who loves them and reveals to them that they are kings and queens. This new identity teaches the children how to be responsible, to lead others, and how to fight against evil. For most of the novel, the children live as if Narnia and the real world are separate. The brilliance of this novel is that, at the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Aslan says, “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little while, you may know me better there.”2 This response also invites the readers to search for “Aslan” in their own world. George MacDonald said that “What we mean to insist upon is, that is finding out the works of God, the Intellect must labor, workman-like, under the direction of the architect, Imagination.”3 Fairy tales actuate a child’s imagination and force their intellect to labor to understand and apply the concepts to their own lives. By adding fairy tales like Narnia to a child's education, one is partnering with C.S. Lewis in inviting students to discover who God is in their world and who they are in association with him.
Secondly, a fairy tale is a great tool to educate the whole child. Most heroes in fairy tales undergo transformations. The characters conquer their fears, learn how to be kind and generous, and the importance of being obedient, and that is just to list a few. When children read about these transformations at an early age, they learn that good behavior earns reward and bad behavior does not, naturally making a child want to copy the transformed version of the character. The heroes teach children how to solve problems when things do not go according to plan. Children learn, in fairy tales like Narnia and At the Back of the North Wind, written by George MacDonald, that when they face problems that seem too big for them, they are not alone. Fairy tales not only teach children what it looks like to have a strong character, but they can also improve reading and writing skills.4 These fairy tales educate the whole child by addressing them spiritually, emotionally, and educationally.5
Finally, teachers can use fairy tales to teach morality and to show the stark difference between good and evil. In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien represents good with Gandalf and evil with the Eye of Sauron. Gandalf leads people into the light and is continuously fighting against the Eye of Sauron. Tolkien intelligently uses the difference in scenery to highlight the difference between good and evil. In the land of the eye, black clouds blanket the sky, and beneath them a volcano centers the land. The Eye of Sauron tops the volcano like a star tops a Christmas tree, but instead of bringing joy and beauty to all who see it; the Eye of Sauron brings death and destruction to all who look upon it. When in the land of the good, there are miles of soft lush green pastures and hills teaming with color and life that fill the readers imagination. This visual representation allows children to see that evil represents death and good represents life. In At the Back of the North Wind, the transformed Diamond, the main character, represents goodness in a dark world.6 This story gives children a look at what it looks like to be a Christian in today’s world. Each of these examples makes a distinction between good and evil. The characters that represent goodness are kind, gentle, and gracious. The characters that represent evil are dark, cruel, and hateful. These two visuals are the exact opposites of each other to show children that good and evil are exact opposites, there is no middle ground.
The Dangers of Fairy Tales
Fairy tales have a powerful influence over children; therefore, one must closely examine the message that the author is trying to convey before giving the story to a child for educational purposes. Disney's purpose in producing fairy tales is to entertain a family and project the current culture of the day. The focus of Disney fairy tales is not that good defeats evil or points children to God, who defeats evil. Their focus is that romantic love conquers all, or their character echoes the current culture of the day. The earlier fairy tales, such as Snow White and Sleeping Beauty demonstrate the idea that romantic love conquers all. The stories published in the 2000’s echo a reliance of self. Hero's find a realization of self. They find that there is great power within themselves, and “I” is the solution, which is an echo of today’s current culture.7 Another example of fairy tales that should raise caution is the Grimms fairy tales. The Grimms fairy tales are violent and harsh, and this is because they wrote them to expose the abuse of children in the early 18th century.8 The darkness of the origins exposes injustice, but they are not for the minds of young children. These dark origins are hard to wrestle with, because most of the stories did not point to a redemption of any kind. Thick clouds of darkness covered these stories with hardly any room for light to break through. Some would argue that these fairy tales are better because they are a better representation of the harshness of reality. However, when one knows that God has power over evil, a great fairy tale is going to accurately portray evil for what it is, while also displaying the conquering power of God over evil. Fairy tales are powerful tools to educate a child, and that power can affect them either positively or negatively, so one chooses which ones to add to a child's education, especially young children.
Conclusion
In conclusion, fairy tales have the power to educate children on an academic level, to ignite their imagination, and to reveal God to them in a way they have never seen before. One must use caution in which fairy tales one places before children, because not all are pointing justice, strong character, or to God. Primarily, fairy tales are a form of entertainment, but they have so much more to offer children. If one incorporates fairy tales like Narnia, At the Back of the North Wind, and The Lord of the Rings into children’s curriculums and asked children to dive into the concepts that these living books offer, they might just learn how to be heroes, how to defeat evil, or even come to know the Aslan in their own world.
Finding Truth in the Balance
Research Paper
Introduction
Legalism and lawlessness are two different interpretations of the Bible that have become far too familiar within the church. This topic was intriguing, because so many people apply these perspectives to their lives, but they remain in bondage. While pondering this topic the questions that surrounded the topic were: Why was lawlessness the answer to legalism in the church? How does Christ intend us to live? And finally, what does freedom truly mean for the Christian? To answer these questions, legalism and lawlessness needed to be assessed according to what the Bible said. This paper will be assessing the perspectives of legalism and lawlessness within the church, and how they align and differ from what the Bible says.
The hypothesis of this paper is that if one embraces what it means to truly be slaves to Christ, one will experience freedom and will come into proper relationship with God’s grace and law. In 1 Corinthians 7:22 being a slave to Christ is defined as “The Lord's freedman. Likewise, he who was called as a free man is Christ’s slave.”1 Paul shows us in Romans 6:15-16 how one should interact with grace. “What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not! Don't you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey either of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”2 Finally, Galatians 5:4 says, “You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; You have fallen from grace.”3 This verse shows us how one is to interact with the law through grace, and not one’s own empowerment. These verses give a clear picture of what each of these ideas are according to the Word of God.
The Perspective of Legalism and Lawlessness
Dr. Matthew R. Olson explains that legalism lies within those who believe their works save them and within those who believe that grace saves them but are living by means of the flesh. Dr. Olson explains that legalism can look attractive to the new believers whose hearts are on fire for God and desire to give the entirety of their lives to him.4 In desiring to give God everything, these believers begin forming a set of rules that “keep them safe from sin.”5 Legalism is attractive because it feeds the flesh. It is self-righteous. It is when a Christian believes that they are safe or pleasing to God based off their own merit. Pastor Bobby Schuller adds another layer to what is going on in the heart of one that is living in legalism by stating that legalism is the “Belief that Jesus withholds good things from His children when they ‘mess up.’” This belief keeps the children of God in the bondage of fear. Legalism begins when a Christian attempts being a slave to Christ through the law.6
The other side of legalism is lawlessness. Rev. W. Reid Hankins teaches that lawlessness means to oppose God’s law.7 Lawlessness happens when a Christian begins to use grace as an excuse to oppose God’s law. He then explains that lawlessness is a master at deception. Lawlessness deceives believers into believing that they can live however they desire, because they are covered in grace.8 In John Bevere's book Awe of God, he explains that lawlessness is prevalent in the church right now, because it was used to try and fix the strong legalism that the church had gone through.9 He explains that “Our salvation is not being worked out with love and kindness, rather than with fear and trembling.”10 The Christians that have tried to work out their salvation through love and kindness fall into lawlessness by allowing behavior that is obviously sin according in the Bible, an example of this is gay marriage. The Pew Research center shows that 62% of white protestants are approving gay marriage.11 Another example of lawlessness being used in the non-denominational church is pastors of mega non-denominational churches who are preaching what are called “feel good” messages that neglect the importance of surrendering to God. These types of messages neglect the importance of “taking up your cross” as Jesus explains in Matthew 26:24-26.12 Allen Nelson describes the non-denominational church “...like a wicked used car salesman that will tell you untrue things about a vehicle just to get you to buy it.” Now this cannot be assumed for all non-denominational, however regretfully it is true for some. Finally, journalist Donavyn Coffey found that there are 45,000 different Christian denominations.13 This demonstrates lawlessness through the disregard of the new testament's emphasis on unity. If a church or Christian is living in lawlessness, it is because they have replaced grace with lawlessness. This keeps a Christian in bondage, because they are not being obedient to the Word of God.
What does the Bible Say?
Now that legalism and lawlessness have been assessed, they must be compared to the Bible. As mentioned earlier, 1 Corinthians 7:22 reveals that to be a slave to Christ is true freedom.14 Showing that one needs both grace and obedience to experience freedom. Next, 1 Corinthians 15:10 says “But by the grace of God, I am what I am, And His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”15 Paul is speaking to the church of Corinth and explaining to them that the grace of God labored within him to make him what he was. This demonstrates that surrendering to God can be laborious. Paul also acknowledges that it was only done through the power of grace. Therefore, both legalism and lawlessness are debunked through this Scripture. Grace empowers one to be obedient to God and that it is only by its power, purchased through the blood of Christ, that one can transform into a child of God. The power of grace is reiterated in Galatians 5:4 “You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; You have fallen from grace.”16 This verse shows us that legalism ”trying to be justified by the law” alienates one from Christ. Finally, Jesus amplifies the need to surrender the entirety of one’s life to him in Matthew 16:24-25 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘if anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.‘”17 Jesus is saying that to experience real freedom one must give everything to him. One must understand that they are not their own and that their life belongs to God. This is not an easy thing to do, it does not ”feel good," but it leads to true freedom. These Scriptures show that it is grace, that was purchased through the blood of Christ, that empowers one to be obedient to the Word of God.
Evaluation
This research proved that both legalism and lawlessness are inaccurate according to the Bible. Finding credible resources to explain these concepts was not difficult, given that there are Pastors and Professors with either a masters, doctorate, or/ and PhD, that address this topic. However, it was difficult to find credible people to give examples of lawlessness and legalism within the church today. Most would agree that living in legalism and lawlessness are wrong according to the Bible, but do not point them out in other leaders or congregations very often, since it is a touchy subject within the church. However, these topics should be talked about so people can identify them in their lives.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the hypothesis remains the same, except in the future the word law might be changed to truth. It could be changed to truth, because after comparing legalism and lawlessness to the Bible it was established that legalism is truth without grace and lawlessness is grace without truth. After this research it can be concluded that one without the other leads to bondage, because followers of Christ were not designed to live in grace without truth and vice versa. Therefore, the Body of Christ needs to be taught this foundational truth. Understanding the need for both grace and truth will lead the followers of Christ to be “freedmen” as slaves to Christ.
Charlie Chaplin Analysis
Charlie Chaplin’s angle of vision is an individual person during the time of Hitler, who is fighting for unity, and personhood. His purpose was to unify people against the dictatorship. To see if he did that effectively, we must evaluate the uses of ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos.
As I researched Mr. Chaplin, I found that he was a communist sympathizer, which is the opposite of democracy. This raised a red flag over his sincerity. However, it would appear as if he were using the best parts of democracy to bring about the best parts of communism. I admire his desire for unity, and I respect him for his boldness to speak out against Hitler. However, because he was accused of being an extreme leftist, it makes me question his sincerity for true and healthy unity.
His use of pathos was strong. He demonstrates his point of unity when he says, “The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all.” He shows us that even man's creations/machinery is crying out for unity. He uses strong emotional language to pull on the hearts of the crowd, acknowledging that they have been treated like the things they created. They have been treated like cattle. He then tells them that they are not what they created, they are not machines and should not be treated as such. Then he reminds the people of their goodness, love, gentleness, and unity to show them who they are and the power they have. He uses all those points to unite the people against dictators by stating “Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.”
He demonstrates logos well by highlighting the difference between being human and being a machine. He says that dictators have machine minds, and that greed has poisoned humanity. Then he contrasts that with humans who are happy, kind, gentle, and clever. He maintains the same logic and contrast throughout his speech.
He applied kairos by using strong visuals. As he delivered his speech, he maintained a strong position, and an authoritative tone of voice. He looked directly at the screen calling the audience to join the fight for humanity. When he referenced the “Millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.” he shows a picture of a women lying on the ground. This pulls on the emotions of the viewers, by giving them a visual of misery. He then provides the audience with hope, saying that “The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die.” This develops the relationship between him and the audience, acknowledging that he sees the misery and has a solution.
Would you all say that he made an impact successfully? And if not, how could he have been more successful?
Reflective Essay
This course taught effective writing skills. It began with teaching common grammar mistakes and how to correct them. We preceded to learn how to write a narrative, persuasive essay, exploratory essay, and research paper. The research paper was challenging to grasp at first, but through God’s grace and conversation it was completed. In the earlier weeks we learned what logos, pathos, ethos, and kairos are and how to apply them effectively to our writing. We applied this by evaluating speeches from Charlie Chaplin and Leonardo DiCaprio. These two speeches taught me the difference between someone who has authority to speak about a topic and someone who does not. Charlie gave a passionate speech calling for unity among the nations and an end to dictatorship. Charlie spoke with authority on this topic because he was Jewish. Lenardo did not have a personal connection with enough gravity to give him the authoritative power that Charlie had. I also practiced and learned to identify logos, pathos, ethos, and kairos in my own writing. I enjoyed learning these concepts in this class, however I would have enjoyed having more opportunities to discuss with the class over zoom. It is difficult for me to process assignments without being able to discuss them, so having more zoom meetings would have helped me to gain a greater understanding. Three things I will do differently in my next class is read the rubrics before beginning an assignment, ask questions to gain clear understanding as soon as I run into them rather than trying to figure it out on my own and getting stressed out, and finally do more work at the beginning of the week rather than the end. This course taught me that my college experience is going to be more independent than my high school experience, which is good because it will teach me how to think things through on my own. Dr. Land, thank you so much for working with me through this course, and being patient with me. You have taught me so much!
Arianna Shelton, powered by IONOS.com
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