The Brain

[The Journey]

Good Morning!

This is my first topic to start after being a Board member for awhile.

Maybe its more of a rant.

It seems as though many members have the feeling that our brains really serve no function but to cloud our spiritual understanding. Most frequently they quote some portion of I Corinthians 2:6-16 and make the application that Paul is drawing some distinction between our minds and our spirits. Then anytime you attempt to reason or apply any principles of basic Biblical interpretation you are immediately accused of being "carnal" or "in the flesh" or "using the wisdom of men."

I think this has grown within certain segments of Christendom who do not want to be questioned. They want to be able to play fast and loose with God's Word and build a spirituality completely divorced from reason. I mean, how can you question them when they have received this extra-Biblical revelation directly through their spirits from God?

I believe nothing could be more dangerous for the Church. By adopting this "mind" vs "spirit" mentality you buy into the philosophical spirit of the age that is destroying our society from within. Today most people believe some form of existentialism. This is a philosophy where using the mind to find the meaning of life is discouraged. A person in existentialism seeks an experience that validates that what they believe about life has meaning. This experience cannot be questioned or challeged.

SO what? What harm is there in that? Well, it is a direct attack against objective Truth. You see if your experience is what gives you meaning for life then it can never be questioned as to whether it is right or wrong. Thus, saying to a modern man that he is a sinner becomes completely meaningless. There is no Truth. Whatever is true for your "spirit" or emotions is true for you and cannot be questioned.

This is exactly what is happening in some segments of the Church. The Bible is no longer seen as a book that can be correctly interpreted. Verses do not have one meaning they have whatever meaning you feel the spirit is giving you. And I don't question your "interpretation" because this has been given to you by the Spirit. You don't need Greek or some theologian to help you understand the Bible. The Bible says whatever you feel it says.

So what? Well just like the secular world we then lose any claim to the Truth. The Scriptures then have no real meaning. I cannot say that John 3:16 is the Truth because my understanding may be different than the one you received through the spirit. Yours is in turn different from the guy next to you in the pew. Truth is gone replaced by confusion.

Maybe this is what is supposed to happen. Such confusion is exactly the environment that gives Satan his best advantage. Confusion. Disillusionment. Pride. The spirit of the age.

- Steve

[traveller]

"Thou wilt not SURELY die" Sounds familiar, eh? Amazing how all these many years later, the enemy still uses the same ole tactics. He just packages them a little bit differently.

Great thread Steve! You pack a punch with your opening topic! You should do this more often Brother. I look forward to reading many many posts here. Well done!

[godrulz]

If God exists, truth is absolute and not relative. I agree we have become experience seekers, rather than developing a godly, discerning mind. Jesus grew spiritually, mentally, physically, and socially (Luke 2:52). The Christian mind is not the enemy of spirituality. It is essential to discern and defend truth that our wills would act according to God's ways and Word.

[IslandRose]

Amen Steve!

Experience is subjective, but the Word of God stands. The plumbline by which all "experience " or "revelation" must be judged!

IR

[Guest dove2]

Great post Steve. Just a small portion of our minds are used so what is the vast emptyness of our minds to be used for? I believe we are to fill that emptiness with the word of God.

[RGR]

"All truth is relative"-ask someone who believes that if that is a true statement. If all truth is relative, then it can't be a true statement-sorta like which came first, the chicken or the egg!

[The Journey]

Lots of great comments!!

Yes, Traveller this is nothing but a continuation of the original lie. As I read through Genesis again it does seem as though the serpent is saying, "Trust me, I know what God really meant. He really does want you to eat of the tree. It will make you just like Him." Be very wary of those who claim the insider secret knowledge from God and then propose the exact opposite from what we know is true.

IslandRose, we have seen repeated examples recently where the standard has been attacked. Satan desires the confusion that happens when we question whether the Bible is the Word of God.

I agree dove2 that we must fill our minds both conscious and unconscious with the Word of God. This is an act of reasoning. We use the reasoning faculties of our brains to memorize and store God's Word in our minds.

ronaldgeorgereagan and godrulz both comment on relative vs objective truth. Here is my point by commenting on objective truth. Once we have accepted the premise that the Bible cannot be properly interpreted, that to use our minds and reason as we read Scripture is "carnal" or "using the wisdom of men" then immediately we have accepted "All truth is relative". We may continue to say that we believe that Truth is not relative. But it now is. For Scriptures can now mean whatever you feel they mean. As we have recently seen on the Boards through Bro. Chuck false prophecy and VOG's heresies they could not tell the difference between the movement of the "spirit" and the inner movement of the nachos they had for dinner last night. They believed the emotions and feeling they had were divinely inspired. They were not. They were deceived because they had chosen to abandon reason and accept their emotions as divinity. Certainly, when I walk with the Lord my emotions are on fire. My emotions are always actively involved. But I do not check my mind at the door when I get involved with spiritual matters.

- Steve

[Guest shilou]

Steve this is a great topic. I can't even begin to tell you how many times when I'm trying to tell a fellow christian what the Bible says they jump in with an experience they had and of course their own interpretation of it. I normally have to laugh at this because as Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. We in this culture are bombarded daily through the media and even conversation with the importance of peoples personal experiences. As for fellow believers I have only one thing to say, it's not about you, it's about God. We are here to worship, praise and glorify God and if that experience didn't do that then it is worth nothing.

I have five children who all have a certain defect of character. One has problems with anger, another became an alcoholic, another had problems with theft, another a problem with telling tall tales that got him into a lot of trouble, fortunately I had one who chose from the get go to follow Christ. Anyway to each of them I have said you all come from the same place but yet you have different experiences and could tell your stories over and over and get no where. But each of you in time has come to a place where your defect has caused you enough pain and grief to be willing to listen to something outside of your own reasoning. And each of you has come to know Christ only because of the pain of the defect that you in yourself can not overcome and it becomes neccessary then to lean on God for release from the defect. I tell them that all of humanity has been born with something only God can fix. The retelling of the different experiences in that brokeness can and does help if you lead them back to the manufacturer and His manuel. Otherwise the storys are pointless and have no solution attached to them.

I don't care if it's drug addiction, homosexuality, alcoholism, putting our children before God and not disciplining them, greed, whatever we are called to overcome our defective natures, not dwell in them. I am now at the age of being a grandmother and I can tell anyone that all my experiences combined had only one purpose and that was to bring me to my knees, and the only experience worth recounting is when I met Christ. In that moment of time I became aware of what a wretched broken piece of machinery I truly was, I begged for forgiveness and was swooped up in arms of love.

In Yeshua's Love

Shilou

[Catsmeow]

Certainly, when I walk with the Lord my emotions are on fire.  My emotions are always actively involved.  But I do not check my mind at the door when I get involved with spiritual matters.

- Steve

Amen, Steve!

[Guest shadow2b]

------THE BRAIN & WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?????

WeLL if it's good for nothing else---IT GIVES THE MIND A PLACE TO ESCAPE REALITY FOR AWHILE---

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: ------Gary--