Arno Dr. Phyllis Jean - The Missing Link, Revealing Spiritual Genetics

Copyright 2008 by Richard Gene Arno, Ph.D. and Phyllis Jean Arno, Ph.D.

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For thou hast possessed my reins:

thou has covered me

in my mothers womb.

I will praise thee; for I am

fearfully and wonderfully

made: marvellous are thy

works; and that my soul

knoweth right well.

Psalm 139:13-14

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by Dr. Gary Polston

Introduction

. What Is Temperament

Biblical Background For The Theory Of Temperament

. Historical And Scientific Background

. Review Of The Literature

. Creationists Versus Evolutionists

. Why Temperament Is So Important?

. Interpersonal Situations

. Three Areas Of Interpersonal Needs:

Inclusion-Control-Affection

. Relationship To God The Father And The Lord Jesus Christ

Inclusion-Control-Affection

. The Five Temperament Types

. The Five Temperaments And Spiritual Growth

. Temperament Strengths And Weaknesses

. Pure Temperament Types

. The Melancholy

. The Choleric

. The Sanguine

. The Supine

. The Phlegmatic

. The Five Temperament Types And The Kingdom Of God

. Understanding Human Behavior When

Temperament Needs Are Out Of Balance

. Maintaining Balance In Inclusion, Control, and Affection

. Compulsive Needs Of The Temperament

. Temperament And Birth Orde

. The Identification Of Behavioral Patterns And

Temperament Tendencies

Glossary of Terms

Resources

ii

FOREWORD

Temperament is Biblical !

by Dr. Gary W. Polston

When I was first introduced to the theory that is taught by the Arnos, the initial question I asked was whether or not temperament was taught in the Bible. The reply was: The word temperament is not specifically used in the Bible; however, it is evidenced in the Beatitudes and many other places.

My early educational background was in the field of humanistic Clinical Psychology. After becoming a Christian I was introduced to Christian Psychology and attended a major Christian college for further study in this field. It didnt take long before I realized that Christian Psychology was an oxymoron. The professors were doing nothing more than trying to make the Word of God fit the teachings of godless men. Consequently, I realized that the answers to mans problems did not rest in the heretical teachings of Freud, B.F. Skinner, Carl Rogers, etc., but in God Himself. Hence I changed my major and continued my studies until I earned a Doctorate in Theology.

I entered into a quest, not to make the Bible fit the teaching of temperament, but to see if it was a genuine biblical precept. The following is a synopsis of my studies.

In Proverbs 22:6 the Bible says:

Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

iii

The popular interpretation of this verse espouses that if a believer will make his child go to Sunday school, church, Christian school, read his Bible, and teach him the same at home, when he grows into old age, he will ultimately return to God. As one who has been a follower of Jesus Christ for over thirty years, I would submit to you that this explanation is erroneous.

You and I know any number of rebels who were forced into a restricted, parent-dominated, externally religious life-style during their early years at home. When they got free from all that, they went wild and never did stop running away from God. In fact, they did not return to the Lord, even when they grew older. This Christian knows of some who died while running from the Lord. Likewise, I have spoken to more than a few elderly folks in their hour of death who were raised in Christian homes and still would not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

As a pastor and counselor, I have witnessed many parents of adult children who have either been told that they failed to bring their child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), or that they essentially failed as parents. These parents reside in guilt. The insight that a teenager or an adult child has a free will to accept or reject Jesus Christ as Savior, just as their parents did, never seems to enter into the picture. This grown child is a free moral agent and personally responsible for his or her own choices.

This popular interpretation will not hold water exegetically. The precept taught in this verse is found in two Hebrew words. The first is peh, translated he should go which has to do with the palate of an infants mouth. When the mothers breast is pressed against the palate of a newborns mouth, it triggers a sucking response. The teaching from peh is for the parent to create a hunger in the child. We are to create a hunger in our children to pursue a specific direction that will inspire them throughout their entire life.

The second word is derek, translated way. Some Hebrew scholars define derek as a childs individual gift or bent. In the Greek Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament), the word is phusikos orphusis, which is defined by the Greek scholars as nature, constitution, temperament.

Therefore, the principle of Proverbs 22:6 is that we should train up (peh) or create a hunger in a child in the way that he should go, according to his God-given (phusis) temperament; then when he is old he will not depart from it. Why? Because it is the way God fearfully and wonderfully made him to be...his nature, his constitution, his temperament.

Hippocrates, the Greek physician called the father of modern medicine, began to do the first scientific research relating to phusies or temperament (HP.Acut.43; Hp.Fract.7; phusies nousoon ieetroi Hp.Epid. 6.5.1). He refers to phusis hundreds of times in his writings.

Likewise, other Greek scholars and philosophers such as Socrates and Plato made reference to phusis thousands of times throughout their writings. Plato taught his students about temperament in the Academy which he founded in 386 A.D. He alludes to phusis all through The Republic (Plat. Rep. 375b; 410e; 525c; 576a etc.).

Temperament has been studied scientifically longer than any other theory in the field confirms its validity for the believer. History proves that it has been scientifically investigated for thousands of years, beginning with Solomon (the writer of Proverbs). God has allowed Drs. Richard and Phyllis Arno to develop the theory of temperament and a personal temperament identification system called the Arno Profile System (A.P.S.). This profile system accurately determines an individuals temperament and enables us to understand ourselves.