Abishai.Graeff

Wow, very interesting. Good to hope in the fact that we are more than a transferable mind.

In John 7:38 KJV and NKJV translate koilia as heart whereas NASB translates it as innermost being, which is more accurate because it refers to the whole stomach, womb, and visceral area.

Strong's number is 2836. Belly might also be used, but its reference is to the deepest part of our being, such as when we say I have a gut feeling about this. It means to come from deep within us.

That's very interesting. Have you read very much about the enteric nervous system? From what I know, it's supposed to be like a brain of its own in the intestines. Reactions, digestion, etc...

Here's a Scientific American article on it.

Very thought provoking. I have to tell you, though, that many time the greek word for heart really means intestines referring to man's

inner most being. We might say guts in a few of those places and be more accurate but usually intestines don't make a lot of sense

to our western minds. But now this is what I think of whenever I hear heart mentioned. Sometimes it is better not knowing.

Willamina, could you give some examples of when intestines is used? I find that very interesting.

The heart is an important topic. Often in the church we come to believe that the heart is only evil. Jeremiah 17:9 (see above) is often recited: "The heart is desperately evil and beyond cure, who can know it?" Yet only two translations use the word evil instead of sick.

What happens when we believe our hearts are only evil? We hate them, ignore them, rebuke them - rather than use them. Sick means we need healing, not evisceration. As Zion notes above, we are to pursue purified hearts.