The Papers

Occasionally I write longer pieces that are not suitable for a blog post but I want to publish on the blog for others to read and so I can reference them. These are the links to such papers.

The Cost of Discipleship - I had to write a 10-page paper every year of high school. This is the paper I wrote for my Senior Year (2007). The formatting is awful and I tend to overuse quotes, however I still find the content encouraging to reread from time to time.

My Picture of Worship During my year at Christ Community Bible Church as the Music Director and Assistant to the Pastor, Pastor Jeff asked me to write out my picture of worship. This paper is the result. I published it here through a series of posts January-March 2011 and have also used it to teach a Sunday School class.

Biblical Plotline - I originally wrote this paper for my Biblical Interpretation class at Biblical Theological Seminary in the Fall of 2013. The paper was required to have a) Successful, compelling identification of major themes of the overall biblical story b) Thoughtful and appropriate proportionality c) Successful identification of Christ as the climax of the story (why and how) d) Smoothness of narrative e) No more than 5 pages.
I have tried to trace the biblical story along three themes: the authority over creation given by God to humanity, God’s blessing of those who return in faith and cursing of those who rebel, and the interactions of these two groups of people. These themes ultimately unite in Jesus, the only truly faithful human who, despite his faithfulness, receives the curse of death, thereby fulfilling the code of life for all who trust in him, and ultimately restoring order and balance to Creation as the perfect human authority. Due to space, there are several elements missing from such an analysis. I would have liked to draw in the following themes: God redeeming a community of individuals, the satisfaction of God’s wrath through human agents’ violence, the change in human nature necessary for faith, and the interplay of violence, death, vengeance, and godliness.