Joseph Addison - strengthen faith

[Sean Bird]

I was reading a historical fiction to some of my young ones and found out that one of George Washington's favorite authors was Joseph Addison. He wrote something that I thing my fellow math teachers will enjoy.

The following quote is from page 107 of Guns of Providence by Douglas Bond (I also found the original work of Addison online Number 465.)

Methods for confirming and strengthening faith:
"The first rule, therefore, which I shall lay down is this, that when by reading or discourse we find ourselves thoroughly convinced of the truth of a basic doctrine, and of the reasonableness of our belief in it, we should never after suffer ourselves to call it into question. It is in this manner that the mathematician proceeds upon propositions which he has once demonstrated, and though the demonstration my have slipped out of his memory, he builds upon the truth because he knows it was demonstrated."

To summarize the other points:

2) lay up in your memory and always be ready with those reasons that appear to you to be of greatest strength. [I'm reminded of 1 Peter 3:15, in NIV it used to say, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect"]

3) Strengthen your faith with morality. They produce each other.

4) Worship and adore God

5) Regularly separate from the pleasures of the world to read the Bible and pray. [Romans 10:17 "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." All of Scripture is the inspired word of Christ.]

Addison concludes, "Faith and devotion naturally grow in the mind of every reasonable man, who sees the impress of Divine power and wisdom in every object on which he casts his eye. The Supreme Being has made the best arguments for his own existence in the formation of the heavens and the earth... 'The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament showeth his handiwork.'" [He was quoting from Psalm 19.]

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Sean Bird
Covenant Christian High School
Indianapolis, IN
Psalm 111:2 “Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.”

[Heidi Rudolph]

QED~~    

I do need to ask for prayers for a colleague who just miscarried on her first pregnancy.  :(

[Ray Fox]

we will pray.

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[Adam Pennell]

Heidi,

I will certainly pray for your colleague.  A miscarriage is difficult to handle.  My wife miscarried twice before we had our child.  Now, we have a wonderful five year old boy.  God can do incredible things.

Adam

[Travis Bower]

I think there had been several miscarriages before my mom had me.....[then she was killed by a drunk driver 2 months later]

For now we only see the bottom/back side of the beautiful tapestry that God is sewing.

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	Travis Bower Math Teacher Dos Pueblos High School tbower@sbunified.org www.dphs.org www.sbunified.org 805.968.2541 x4538

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[Tammy Kramer]

Miscarriages are often caused by drinking raspberry tea.