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[Carin Mita]

Thereis nothing more fascinating about people than their inherited temperament! It is temperament that provides each human being with the distinguishing qualities that make each as individually unique as the differing designs God has given to snowflakes. Temperament is the unseen force underlying human action, a force that can destroy a normal and productive human being unless it is disciplined and directed.

Actually, I originally had no intention of this material being published as a book. It started out as printed notes of a series of Sunday night sermons delivered in 1966 to my congregation in San Diego. The series was designed to help them see how the Holy Spirit could strengthen their natural weaknesses.

Three days later John called and said he wanted twelve hundred more! It seems he had given one to Hal Lindsey, teaching for Campus Crusade at the time, and asked him to recommend it. Hal crawled into bed that night and read it before he went to sleep. The next morning he held it up in class and said, I just read the neatest little book. You ought to read it. The first three hundred were gone in one afternoon. Thus the call for twelve hundred more. My second private printing was for three thousand, which I assumed would last the rest of my life.

One day as my wife, Beverly, dropped me off at the airport to fly to Chicago, where I was to speak at a Sunday-school convention, we stopped and prayed that God would raise up a publisher for this little book. Little did we know that he had already prepared the ground.

When I first wrote Spirit-Controlled Temperament, I was excited about its potential for helping people who yearned for a more consistent Christian life. Its concepts had already changed my life, and through my extensive counseling ministry I was witnessing similar transformations in the lives of many others.

From the thousands of letters and personal testimonials I have received in response to my teaching this material in more than eight hundred Family Life Seminars around the world, I have become even more convinced of its relevance. So when Tyndale House asked me to revise the book, I gladly accepted the challenge.

The theory of the four temperaments is not perfect; no theory of human behavior is. However, it is the oldest on record, going back more than three thousand years: In Proverbs 30:11-14 the wise man saw four kinds of people. About five hundred years later, the four were given names by Hippocrates, said to be the father of modern medicine. Galen, a Greek doctor, came up with a detailed list of the strengths and weaknesses of the four around A.D. 200. This has remained pretty much intact throughout history and is still the prevailing position in Europe.

Shortly after it was published in English, I read Temperament and the Christian Faith by the Norwegian theologian Ole Hallesby. This book about the four temperaments gave me new insight into why different people seemed beset by different sets of weaknesses. Hallesby suggested that we receive our natural tendencies for good and bad from our temperaments.

It is said that copying is the highest form of praise. Several others have since written on this subject, evidencing that it is a helpful tool. Some have presented it as personality traits, others in terms of animal traits, and still others have developed personality tests based on the theory. This wealth of material only testifies to the enduring nature of the theory as a people-helping tool.

In the twenty-six years since I wrote this material, the concept has been confirmed hundreds of times in the counseling room, through administering the LaHaye Temperament Analysis test to more than twenty-seven thousand people, including many counselors who in turn use it in their work.

1. Temperament blends. Some people reject the theory because they observe at least two temperaments in people. I acknowledge such primary and secondary temperaments. This new edition contains a whole chapter on twelve blends of temperament.

2. The enemies of anger and fear. All of us have one of two primary emotional enemies that if left unchecked will seriously limit our lives: anger or fear. (Some people, because of their mixture of temperaments, have both problems.) The good news is that the Holy Spirit is able to give Christians victory over these life-limiting emotional problems.

The temperament theory is not the final answer to human behavior, and for these and other reasons it may not prove satisfactory to everyone. But of all behavior theories ever devised, it has served me as the most helpful explanation of why people act the way they do and what their principal weaknesses are.

Since the original publication of this book, I have seen nothing that has shaken my confidence in this old theory. On the contrary, I have had many experiences that confirmed my conviction that it is the best explanation of human behavior available today. And while it is not specifically taught in the Scriptures, when used with the Scriptures to show the power available to us in the indwelling Holy Spirit, it is the best tool for helping people ever devised.

My intent in this book is to help you understand how the Holy Spirit can enable you to overcome your weaknesses. It is not automatic! You must cooperate with the Spirit of God to effect lasting change in your life.

The apostle Paul no doubt felt that same way when he said, To will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me (Rom. 7:18-20).

Temperament is the combination of inborn traits that subconsciously affects all our behavior. These traits, which are passed on by our genes, are based on hereditary factors and arranged at the time of conception. Six people contribute through the gene pool to the makeup of every baby: two parents and four grandparents. Some authorities suggest that we may get more genes from our grandparents than our parents. That could account for the greater resemblance of some children to their grandparents than to their parents. The alignment of temperament traits, though unseen, is just as predictable as the color of eyes, hair, or size of body.

Character is the real you. The Bible refers to it as the hidden person of the heart (1 Pet. 3:4). It is the result of your natural temperament modified by childhood training, education, and basic attitudes, beliefs, principles, and motivations. It is sometimes referred to as the soul of a person, which is made up of the mind, emotions, and will.

Character combines your temperament, training, moral values, beliefs, and habit patterns. It is indeed the net result of all the influences and religious commitment on your life. It is what you really are when there is no one else around. What you do when you have the freedom to do what you want to do is an expression of yourself.

Often personality is a pleasing facade for an unpleasant or weak character. Many are acting a part today on the basis of what they think they should be as a person, rather than what they really are. This is a formula for mental and spiritual chaos. It is caused by following the human formula for acceptable conduct. The Bible tells us, Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7), and, Out of it [the heart] spring the issues of life (Prov. 4:23). The place to change behavior is inside man, not outside.

Certain temperaments tend to follow certain gene pools. While on a missionary tour to Mexico, I noticed the vast differences in the tribes that I observed. The Sapotaco Indians impressed me greatly. Many tribes had been shiftless, indifferent, and careless in their mode of life. The Sapotacos, however, were a very industrious and often ingeniously capable tribe. In one city we visited, they actively pursued the technical trade of weaving, and their sense of responsibility was in sharp contrast to anything we had observed in other tribesmen. The skills were learned, but the adaptability and desire to learn them were so universal throughout the tribe that it could only be an inherited trait.

Temperament traits, whether controlled or uncontrolled, last throughout life. The older we get, however, the softer and more mellow our harsh and hard traits tend to become. People learn that if they are to live at peace with their neighbors, it is best to emphasize their natural strengths and subdue their weaknesses.

Some Christians erroneously think that their temperaments have changed, but that is impossible. As we have already seen, we are born with them. The Holy Spirit can, however, modify our temperaments so that they appear to have been changed.

Enjoy instant access below to our free four temperament test to discover your basic personality type. Which one of the four temperaments are you? Lion? Otter? Golden Retriever? Beaver? Or if you prefer the Greek names, are you Choleric, Sanguine, Phlegmatic, or Melancholy?

All these names refer to the same four personality types. We like the animal names because they are easier to remember (and more fun). You'll find out soon enough when you take the test. Then, by going to the Main Temperament page, you can watch the Video Teaching that explains each temperament.

Our four temperament test is easy to take and score, and you'll quickly get an answer. Are you detailed and analytical, joyful and fun-loving, steady and reliable, or strong and purpose-driven? Plus, you will discover that you are not just a single temperament but a unique blend of two or more.

As I taught this course at our church, we all laughed at ourselves. We found that much of our personal quirkiness is just the way God made us. This teaching has helped spouses live together in greater understanding and harmony. Also, parents have improved their parenting skills. They've learned not to try to squeeze their children into a mold that doesn't fit them. (You can't force a square peg into a round hole. In other words, playful otter children generally don't turn into highly detailed brain surgeons.)

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