Search This Blog

Monday, January 31, 2011

Founding Father John Quincy Adams

Much has been said about the faith of John Q. Adams, whom the Father of our Country called "our greatest diplomat." Adams' faith was much like mine, and most every other Orthodox Christian; even his view on the Trinity:
The last was from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, dated the 7th instant, and announced the very sudden decease there, on the evening of the 6th, of Mr. Robert Little, the minister of the Unitarian church at Washington. He died, after an illness of little more than twenty-four hours, of an inflammation of the brain, after having preached morning and evening at Harrisburg, on Sunday, the 5th, the day before his death. This is an event deeply to be lamented by his congregation, of whom I was one. I had constantly attended on his ministration for the last seven years, though I had never formally joined his society. I did not subscribe to many of his doctrines, particularly not to the fundamental one of his Unitarian creed. I believe in one God, but His nature is incomprehensible to me, and of the question between the Unitarians and Trinitarians I have no precise belief, because no definite understanding.
-John Q. Adams, 6th President of the United States, Secretary of State, U.S. Senator 1803-1808, Minister to Holland, Russia, Portugal, Prussia, and Minister to Great Britain where he was Chief Negotiator for the Treaty of Ghent to end the War of 1812. Wrote the Monroe Doctrine. Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, comprising portions of his diary ..., Volume 7. Aug. 13, 1827 [bold face mine]

His thoughts are not different from fundamentalist Christians today. Thinking about the Tri-unity of God can drive you nuts. It is no use to try and figure it out. This understanding is beyond our comprehension; as Adams fully attested. It is the rejection of that doctrine that is important. Much to my delight, Adams believed in Christ's Deity:
In the evening I attended again, at Mr. Little's, and heard him from Acts xvii. 11: "And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." He digressed from the historical narrative of the rise and progress of Christianity to discuss the question whether the doctrine of the Trinity had any warrant in Scripture. He chiefly considered Matthew xxviii. 19, and the first chapter of St. John's Gospel. But neither this, 1 See vol. iii. p. 370, note. nor any other argument that I ever heard, can satisfy my judgment that the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ is not countenanced by the New Testament. As little can I say that it is clearly revealed. It is often obscurely intimated; sometimes directly, and sometimes indirectly, asserted; but left, on the whole, in a debatable state, never to be either demonstrated or refuted till another revelation shall clear it up.
-Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, comprising portions of his diary ..., Volume 7. Feb. 18, 1827. P. 228-229. [bold face mine]

From these comments, Adams was an Orthodox Christian, not a Unitarian. If he had no trouble with Christ's Deity, neither should he have of the Atonement. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. The Last Supper is in three of the four Gospels, with the atonement doctrine started by Abraham then Moses, although only a "covering". Besides Jesus claiming Deity, can someone without sin not be God and thus pay the penalty for violating God's Laws? Only a sinless man could be a sin-bearer. If blood does not atone for sin, what does? Works? The Founding Fathers believed "Merits" of a mediator cleansed man from sin. Did Calvinist Samuel Adams refer to works that took away our sin?

Merits must then refer to the Crucifixion.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

solid organic structure quiver seaworthiness naturally
increases your HGH and helps crave yourself.

If you wish well to go in front and leverage anti
cellulite creams look out Brushing more than a ravisher intervention!
Nevertheless, that's not to say part is caused by sacs of fat gathering at a lower place your pelt aerofoil.

my web site; cellulite treatment massage
Also see my page > cellulite gels

Anonymous said...

Howdy! I'm at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone 3gs! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the great work!

My homepage - free dating personal

Anonymous said...

Does your blog have a contact page? I'm having problems locating it but, I'd like to shoot you an email.

I've got some suggestions for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.

My webpage: sex facebook

Anonymous said...

Hello there! Quick question that's entirely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My weblog looks weird when viewing from my iphone 4. I'm
trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to fix this problem.
If you have any suggestions, please share. Thanks!



Here is my website ... dating site that are free

Anonymous said...

A formidable share, I just given this onto a colleague
who was doing slightly evaluation on this.
And he in reality purchased me breakfast as a result of I
found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the deal
with! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I feel strongly about it and love
reading extra on this topic. If potential, as you develop into expertise, would you mind updating your weblog with
extra details? It's extremely helpful for me. Huge thumb up for this weblog submit!

My web page: dating online free

Anonymous said...

We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
Your site provided us with valuable information to work on.
You have performed an impressive job and our whole group will
probably be thankful to you.

Feel free to surf to my web blog fuck book

Anonymous said...

I enjoy you because of all of your labor on this website.
Kate delights in working on investigation and it is easy
to understand why. Many of us learn all of the dynamic medium
you produce efficient suggestions by means of this
blog and in addition welcome response from web on that idea then my girl
is without a doubt discovering a whole lot. Take advantage of the remaining portion of the year.
You are always performing a useful job.

Take a look at my weblog: facebook of sex

Anonymous said...

What i don't realize is if truth be told how you're
not really a lot more neatly-favored than you may be now.
You're so intelligent. You know thus considerably in relation to this matter, produced me in my opinion consider it from a lot of various angles. Its like women and men don't seem to be interested
except it is something to accomplish with Woman
gaga! Your personal stuffs nice. At all times maintain
it up!

My blog post :: sexsearch

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this article. I might also like to say that it can often be hard if
you find yourself in school and merely starting out to initiate a long credit history.

There are many scholars who are only trying to survive and have a long
or favourable credit history can be a difficult matter to have.


Also visit my webpage - hornymatches

Anonymous said...

Lilian Rabino of DLS Lipa presents the seminar security to Dr.
Vivian Fababier Dr. Vivian Fababier and so you may fall back interest in blogging and determine that blogging is not
for you. Reese loving her a ship's company to beget links to your Web log. Where demanded by justice and national security department, we volition essay to to get out of the public eye.

my web blog - click here

Anonymous said...

I like the valuable information you provide in your articles.
I�ll bookmark your weblog and take a look at once more right here frequently.

I am somewhat sure I will learn many new stuff right
right here! Good luck for the next!

My weblog :: fuckbook

Anonymous said...

I have noticed that credit improvement activity
has to be conducted with tactics. If not, chances are you'll find yourself endangering your ranking. In order to succeed in fixing your credit ranking you have to ensure that from this moment in time you pay your monthly fees promptly p their planned date. It is definitely significant because by never accomplishing that, all other steps that you will choose to adopt to improve your credit position will not be efficient. Thanks for revealing your tips.

Here is my web-site: fuckbook

Anonymous said...

Apprеciаte thiѕ post. Let me try it out.


my blοg рoѕt :: frontier internet