human wisdom

[acomplishedartis]

this is something I wrote some time ago, and I just thought about sharing it...

NEVER FALL IN THE TRAP TO BELIEVE THAT PAUL WAS SPEAKING AGAINST INTELLECT, INTELLIGENCE - THE MIND

More than once I have hear preachers and their followers as well (whom usually only parrot what they were told) to say that Paul was against the intellect--intellectual thinking, and then they tell you that if you keep on questioning  and contradicting them is because you are trying to use "human wisdom" to understand "the wisdom from above".

What the pastor says, that must be it, right? After all, he is the one whom supposedly has the holy spirit for understanding... besides, he posses all those symbols of superiority, the official paper of the seminar, he owns the building, and he has all his followers whom are the proof that he does know what he is talking about...

And if for any reason you dare to keep asking and questioning, for sure that they will quote you from the book first Corinthians were it looks as if Paul was talking against intellectual thinking (and by intellectual thinking I mean, that part of our psyche called The Mind: which has to do with rationality, analysis, memory, understanding, thinking, common sense, etc.).

All those who claim that this is what Paul was referring to in first Corinthians LIE and many are hypocrites as well:

         And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and WITH ALL THY MIND, and with all thy strength (Marcos 12:30)

And if we were not to love God with ALL our Mind, then, Why are we told "be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:2)?

The simple fact that somebody is intelligent and has his mind pretty exercised, IS NOT SOMETHING MORALLY RIGHT OR WRONG.

Everything that surround us, all the experiences we have lived, the information we have received, and the way that our brains function dictate the level or development of the Mind of each of us. Therefore, being intelligent is not even something that anyone should be proud of. However, many do it, they are lofty; they believe to be better than others and with cleverness and persuasion they manipulate their surroundings for their convenience. Just right here is when the words of Paul fit perfectly when he speaks negatively of

       [1] the 'wisdom of this world' (1Cor. 3:19,  2:6,   1:20,21,22),

       [2] 'wisdom of words' (1Cor. 1:17,   2:1,4)

       and [3] 'human wisdom' (1Cor. 1:19,   2:4, 5,13).

This are all the scriptures that mention this three phrases and it is interesting to note that in all of them the word wisdom is translated as cleverness in the version JM-MT (Jonathan Mitchell New Testament).

WHEN PRIDE AND VANITY ARE BEHIND HUMAN WISDOM/CLEVERNESS, IT IS JUST RIGHT THERE WHEN WHATEVER THAT OUR MIND REASON TURNS OUT TO BE MORAL AND BE SOMETHING BAD, NON-BENEFICIAL AND FALSE. Nothing more and nothing less than this negative moral side is what Paul was referring when he used the phrases 'human wisdom', 'wisdom of words' and 'wisdom of this world'.

Truly we need to understand that the only act of using The Mind; to reason, ask, analyze, questioning and using the scientific method has NO MORAL CONSECUENCE AT ALL.

         [1] 'wisdom of this world'
1Cor. 3:19 ''For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God...'' This refers to all vane ideologies behind the culture, religion, politics and other institutions from this age, all those pedant ideologies that masses of people usually put on a pedestal.

      [2] 'wisdom of words' and [3] 'human wisdom'
1Cor. 1:17 ''For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.''

      1Cor. 2:4-5  ''And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom [or persuasive words of human cleverness], but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men [human wisdom], but in the power of God.

Here Paul is telling us; I am not manipulating you with persuasive rhetoric or cunning words (egocentrically motivated) to convince you, BUT I am talking to you with the demonstration of the power of God and the holy spirit (with the personality of Jesus)!

Just tell me where do you think that the faith of Christians that attend all sundays of the moth for years and years is? In the charismatic, clever, repetitive and manipulative words of the pastor or in the demonstration of Jesus Christ spirit?

Paul used the phrase 'human wisdom' in the same negative connotation than when he used the phrase 'carnal wisdom':

        ''For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with FLESHLY [Greek, sarkikos. Strong's Dictionary G4559: carnal, human carnality, unregenerate] wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. '' (2Cor. 1:12)

And with a clean conscience I tell you that the symbol of what fleshly wisdom represents in this verse is NOTHING good, nor beneficial, convenient or valuable. Here Paul is confirming us the negative side of wisdom (when it's motivated by pride and banality), same negative side that when human wisdom is mentioned in verses of first Corinthians we just saw.

Therefore, I confirm that Paul is not talking against the intellect, good common sense, intelligence, logic, etc.

Now... by saying that we must love God with all our Mind, this doesn't puts anyone in advantage or disadvantage... since it's impossible to love God with more mental capacity than each of us presently posses. And this is exactly why each of us must do the best we can with what we have. In fact, Paul was well aware that believers receiving their letters had different capabilities of self-control (which is a quality of The Mind) and as you can see, he took it into account when giving certain ordinances:

      ''But, if they have not self-control, let them marry, for, better, is it, to marry than to burn.'' (1Cor. 7:9 --(Rotherham))

     ''Yet if they are not controlling themselves, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to be on fire'' (1Cor. 7:9 --(CLV))

In conclusion,

Each of us is being or will be judged by God according to our physical and mental capacities. And we should never fall into the tramp of believing that Paul was talking against the intellect--the mind, when in reality he was talking against intellectual thinking motivated by pride with vain and selfish ends.

[arion]

Moises;

You make some tremendous points in your in what you have to say.  But as a gentle reminder we agree not to teach as members of the board.  I'm sure that many of us have some very wonderful things that we would like to share but we don't.  That policy may constrain us somewhat but it helps prevent the arguments et cetera that many forums go through that have a divergence of beliefs.  Not at all saying that I disagree with anything that you wrote but we simply can't teach here and this is a teaching.

[rick]

Hello Arion,

Moises has well constructed his point concerning what Paul said about the intellect, I find its ok to speak about those things Ray has taught but I find we cannot talk about where Ray's teachings have taken us .

Perhaps it would be to the advantage of all if we could incorporate a board on this forum to speak where Rays studies have taken us.

I say name the board How Ray enlighten you.