Are our thoughts really our thoughts ?

[rick]

But there is no such scientific demonstration that man can formulate thoughts and actions to which absolutely no cause whatsoever can be attributed.

The above is taken from the lake of fire part A.

I understand no human being at anytime ever had free will, no one one has ever made an uncaused choice, so it must be reasonable to think that even our thought  must also be caused as well.

Up to now I believed that all choices are caused choices and that my thoughts were original but now something is telling me that even my thoughts are caused thoughts as well.

Are there any here who after studying Rays papers believe they are the originator of their own thoughts ? 

God bless all.

[lilitalienboi16]

But there is no such scientific demonstration that man can formulate thoughts and actions to which absolutely no cause whatsoever can be attributed.

The above is taken from the lake of fire part A.

I understand no human being at anytime ever had free will, no one one has ever made an uncaused choise, so it must be reasonable to think that even our thought  must also be caused as well.

Up to now I believed that all choises we caused choises and that my thoughts were original but now something is telling me that even my thoughts are caused thoughts as well.

Are there any here who after studying Rays papers believe they are the originator of their own thoughts ? 

God bless all.

Hi Rick,

Your thoughts are most definitely your own regardless of them being caused. They belong to you. No one else. They are not in another person's head and are unique to you. They exist because of the unique individual you are due to circumstances and causes beyond your control.

As ray said, we are not robots.

Perhaps you should read ray's paper on 'Why does God love you?'

http://bible-truths.com/WhyGodLovesYou.htm

God bless,
Alex

[rick]

But there is no such scientific demonstration that man can formulate thoughts and actions to which absolutely no cause whatsoever can be attributed.

The above is taken from the lake of fire part A.

I understand no human being at anytime ever had free will, no one one has ever made an uncaused choise, so it must be reasonable to think that even our thought  must also be caused as well.

Up to now I believed that all choises we caused choises and that my thoughts were original but now something is telling me that even my thoughts are caused thoughts as well.

Are there any here who after studying Rays papers believe they are the originator of their own thoughts ? 

God bless all.

Hi Rick,

Your thoughts are most definitely your own regardless of them being caused. They belong to you. No one else. They are not in another person's head and are unique to you. They exist because of the unique individual you are due to circumstances and causes beyond your control.

As ray said, we are not robots.

Perhaps you should read ray's paper on 'Why does God love you?'

http://bible-truths.com/WhyGodLovesYou.htm

God bless,
Alex

Hi Alex,

I understand that every choice I make is my choice but its a choice that is forced upon me by all the circumstances that are in place at the time of every choice and every choise will be according to to what God wanted me to choose.

But does that suggest because I don't make and uncaused choice that somehow Im a robot ?

our thoughts are our thoughts in that those thoughs are in our mind and not anothers but my question was are we the originator of our own thoughts or is God causing every thought we have and every choice we make ?

Ray proved that all choices are cause choices but I believe all thoughts are caused thoughts as well.

so I don't believe Im the originator of my thoughts either although Im accountable for my thoughts just as Im accoutable for my choices but I don't believe Im accoutable for what Im doing but accoutable because I like what Im doing.

Im accoutable for my thoughts because Christ said if one should look upon a women in lust he is guilty of adultery which tells me we are accountable even for what we think.

So yes, they are our thoughts but every thought is also caused by God and not us so we are not the originator of our thoughts.

God bless.

[Doug]

Hi Rick,

God is in control of everything, even our thoughts. We think then we do according to what we imagined.

[indianabob]

This type of presentation of our experiences is not getting more helpful, but rather seems more confusing. 
-
I usually go to the gym during the day, but today the sun was shining on my enclosed front porch causing the temperature there to be 80 deg F. while it was 22 degrees outside the porch glass. I like the sun on my skin and the heat for a change during the cold winter, so I chose to stay home for two hours and take a sun bath in my swim suit and absorb some vitamin D. Later I went to the gym to exercise as is my custom.

So who decided? Me or God?
Did I make a choice between the various options presented to me.
Or was I CAUSED to make the choice to have some fun and lazily bask in the sun?
Let's get real here folks...

[rick]

So who decided? Me or God?
Did I make a choice between the various options presented to me.
Or was I CAUSED to make the choice to have some fun and lazily bask in the sun?
Let's get real here folks...

Hi Bob,

I could of used some sun and heat too, not to mention some free vitamin D to boot.

Well Bob, could be both, you chose to choose what God wanted you too, but please lets stay with the original question , are we the originator of our thoughts ?

Are our thoughts independent of our creator ?

God bless everyone.

[Kat]

Hi Rick, yes even our thoughts are caused as all things are, absolutely nothing is free from the sovereignty of God. But God is working in His chosen to get their thinking aligned with His will and ways.

Eph 4:23  and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

Notice what David instructed of Solomon.

1Ch 28:9  "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.

God wants us to love and obey Him from the heart, of course it's caused by God, He's sovereign it can be no other way. But He really wants us to understand/comprehend (by the thoughts of a willing mind) and believe that He is the Almighty God and worthy of our worship and obedience of Him. It's one thing to say you believe, it's quite another to live as though you do, that's what He is accomplishing/causing in us. This is from the 'Myth of "Free Will" Exposed' - Part C.

http://bible-truths.com/lake15-C.html ------------------

If it is God, who causes all circumstances which cause all of our thoughts and decisions and acts, then clearly our thoughts and actions are not based on uncaused and non-existent circumstances. Clearly our will is caused and not "free" or "uncaused."
v
"...Who works ['operates'] ALL THINGS after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11).

"For OF Him, and THROUGH Him, and TO Him, are ALL THINGS..." (Rom. 11:36).

"And ALL THINGS are of God..." (II Cor. 5:;18).

"...calls those things which be NOT, as though they WERE"  (Rom. 4:17).

"Declaring the END from the BEGINNING..."  (Isa. 46:10).

"For in Him we LIVE, and MOVE, and have our BEING [Gk: 'we ARE'—we exist]..." (Acts 17:28).

All energy, all matter, all creation, and all humans are in God. We can only "live and move... IN HIM."  And this is why:

"O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23).

No man has a will that can choose contrary to what God already knows will be: "...and calls those things which be not [thoughts and deeds which have not yet been supposedly 'freely' thought of] as though they were [as though they already were thought of—how is that 'freedom' of the will?]" (Rom. 4:17).

I will repeat this until I am blue in the face, and perchance somebody out there will say, "Ah, yes, now I get it." Once more: Since God says very plainly that He knows all things and that He knows all things before they happen, how is it then possible that anyone can think a thought which God didn't know he would have to think? And if God already knows every thought that you must think: how are you free to not think those very foreknown thoughts and those foreknown thoughts only?

If any person in the history of the world can think one thought that God did not foreknow that he would think, then God cannot;

"call those things which be not as though they were."

"Man's goings [Heb: 'steps'] are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?" (Prov. 20:24).

"The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord." (Prov. 16:1).

No one can make one statement out of his mouth, unless it was first pre-ordained, foreknown, and approved of, by God!

"The Son of man [Jesus] can do nothing of Himself... without Me [Jesus] ye [all of you—all of mankind] can do nothing" (John 5:19 & 15:5].
v
"Thou [you reading this paper right now...] will say then unto me, 'WHY DOES He [God] yet find fault' [with the King of Assyria or ANYONE who merely does what God Himself has supernaturally INTENDED for them to do?] For [or 'because'] who has [EVER] resisted His [GOD'S] WILL [Gk: boulema 'resolve, intention, or PURPOSE." This word is never translated "will" and is used but one other time in Acts, translated: 'purpose.']"

God tells us that the Assyrian did only what He Himself intended for him to do. Paul, likewise, assures us that no one ever has or can go against God's "intention or purpose."  How then is God justified in punishing the King of Assyria or anyone else for doing what God "intended" for them to do? The answer lies in the HEART of mankind. God said that He would punish "the fruit of his ARROGANT HEART"

The Bible doesn't say that man doesn't have a HEART. It doesn't say that he doesn't have a MIND. It doesn't say that he can't THINK. It doesn't say he can't make CHOICES. It doesn't say he doesn't have a WILL. It doesn't say he can't carry out his will through his thoughts, choices, planning, action, and deeds. What it does say is that: MAN IS NOT A GOD WHO CAN DO THESE THINGS INDEPENDENTLY AND FREELY FROM THE INTENTIONS AND PURPOSE OF HIS CREATOR!!   THAT'S what the Bible really says!

The King of Assyria is being punished because he is claiming to possess FREEDOM OF HIS OWN WILL. He claimed that he came up with the ideas, he made the plans, he carried them out, he reaped the rewards, he took credit for being someone great, etc., etc., when in reality God tells us it was all of Him, and that the king was merely a club in God's hand.
v
Did the King of Assyria understand in his "obscured" heart that it was God sending him to Jerusalem to do His will? No. Does Christendom understand in their "obscured" hearts that it is God sending them to deceive the world and to blaspheme His name through their evil doctrines? No.

"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers [rillets—small brooks] of water:  He turns [directs] it whithersoever he will [desires]" (Prov. 21:1).

It is not in a king to direct his ways, neither is it in ALL MANKIND to direct his steps:

"O Lord, I know that the way of man [Heb: 'Adam, a human, mankind] is NOT in himself [or in his presumed free will] it is not IN man ['not in MANKIND'] that walks to direct his steps"  (Jer. 10:23).

If mankind cannot direct his own steps: Who then does direct his "steps?"

"Man's goings [Heb: 'STEPS'] are OF THE LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?" (Prov. 20:24).

All is OF God.
---------------------------------------------------------------

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[lilitalienboi16]

So who decided? Me or God?
Did I make a choice between the various options presented to me.
Or was I CAUSED to make the choice to have some fun and lazily bask in the sun?
Let's get real here folks...

Hi Bob,

I could of used some sun and heat too, not to mention some free vitamin D to boot.

Well Bob, could be both, you chose to choose what God wanted you too, but please lets stay with the original question , are we the originator of our thoughts ?

Are our thoughts independent of our creator ?

God bless everyone.

Our thoughts are most definitely not independent of our Creator. Without God there is nothing. In Him we live and move and have our being. In Jesus do all things consist and have their cohesion.  Everything always goes back to God. He is the source. He is the begining and the end.

[Dave in Tenn]

This type of presentation of our experiences is not getting more helpful, but rather seems more confusing. 

With this statement, I agree.  it kinda reminds me of the time I was grappling with this in the beginning.  "I want to scratch my nose.  If I scratch my nose, does that mean God wants me to scratch my nose?  What if I don't scratch my nose?  Does that mean God doesn't want me to scratch my nose?  Can I avoid scrathing or not scratching mynose if God wants it scratched or not scratched?  Oh my!  What am I to do?"

I ended that episode by scratching my nose!  The earth kept spinning and the stars didn't fall from the sky.  My nose felt less itchy, too...at least for a little while.  LIVE YOUR LIFE!  What else can you do?  If you know what is right, DO IT!  If you know what is good to think about, THINK IT.  If you don't know, don't worry about it.  If you know what is wrong, don't do it.  If you know what thoughts are wrong, don't think them.  THOSE are the times when you will learn about the sovereignty of God.

The question was "are our thoughts really our thoughts".  YES!  YES, they are!

Are they 'caused'?  YES!  Yes, they are!

   

[rick]

To Dave and Bob,
Its seems to me you both somehow become agitated by my question, my apologies to both of you.

please concidef this, should those of us who eat meat be angry at those who drink milk ?

I trust someday either in this aged or the nexr age God will see to it I eat meat and no longer drink milk but until then I hope you both can be patient with me.

what seems insignificant to the both of you brothers of mine may be very significant to me as Im still learning who God is and.who I am in God.

God bless you both.

[Dave in Tenn]

Rick, I am not agitated by the question.  I even tried to answer it.  The sovereignty of God (to me, at least) is less a matter of building a theory and 'understanding' as it is to be experienced and lived.  This happens when we 'obey' (or at least begin to attempt to obey) in the living of our lives.  Where is the simplicity in Christ, where is the freedom in Christ by puzzling over where the thoughts WE HAVE originated? 

Does God 'originate' the thought in the mind of a rapist to rape?  Does He 'originate' the thought in the mind of a guy with an itchy nose to scratch it?

Hasn't God already formed us to date the way He has formed us?  Is He able to change our minds?  Is He ever surprised by our thoughts?

Doesn't He will for all men everywhere to 'repent'?  Has He simply 'predestined' us, or has He predestined us to good works?  Do these include or have anything to do with our 'thoughts'?

In Him WE live and move and have OUR being.  He is responsible for everything.  Without Him, nothing that has been made was made.  We are accountable because WE DO, and WE THINK what we do and think.  It's not the "will of God" that we continue to do and think everything we do and think.  But it is according to the purpose of God in creating mankind in His image that we go against His will for a season.  By doing that, He teaches us what and how to think.  And when we are matured, we may discern both good and evil.     

[rick]

Hi Rick, yes even our thoughts are caused as all things are, absolutely nothing is free from the sovereignty of God. But God is working in His chosen to get their thinking aligned with His will and ways.

Eph 4:23  and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

Notice what David instructed of Solomon.

1Ch 28:9  "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.

God wants us to love and obey Him from the heart, of course it's caused by God, He's sovereign it can be no other way. But He really wants us to understand/comprehend (by the thoughts of a willing mind) and believe that He is the Almighty God and worthy of our worship and obedience of Him. It's one thing to say you believe, it's quite another to live as though you do, that's what He is accomplishing/causing in us. This is from the 'Myth of "Free Will" Exposed' - Part C.

http://bible-truths.com/lake15-C.html ------------------

If it is God, who causes all circumstances which cause all of our thoughts and decisions and acts, then clearly our thoughts and actions are not based on uncaused and non-existent circumstances. Clearly our will is caused and not "free" or "uncaused."
v
"...Who works ['operates'] ALL THINGS after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11).

"For OF Him, and THROUGH Him, and TO Him, are ALL THINGS..." (Rom. 11:36).

"And ALL THINGS are of God..." (II Cor. 5:;18).

"...calls those things which be NOT, as though they WERE"  (Rom. 4:17).

"Declaring the END from the BEGINNING..."  (Isa. 46:10).

"For in Him we LIVE, and MOVE, and have our BEING [Gk: 'we ARE'—we exist]..." (Acts 17:28).

All energy, all matter, all creation, and all humans are in God. We can only "live and move... IN HIM."  And this is why:

"O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23).

No man has a will that can choose contrary to what God already knows will be: "...and calls those things which be not [thoughts and deeds which have not yet been supposedly 'freely' thought of] as though they were [as though they already were thought of—how is that 'freedom' of the will?]" (Rom. 4:17).

I will repeat this until I am blue in the face, and perchance somebody out there will say, "Ah, yes, now I get it." Once more: Since God says very plainly that He knows all things and that He knows all things before they happen, how is it then possible that anyone can think a thought which God didn't know he would have to think? And if God already knows every thought that you must think: how are you free to not think those very foreknown thoughts and those foreknown thoughts only?

If any person in the history of the world can think one thought that God did not foreknow that he would think, then God cannot;

"call those things which be not as though they were."

"Man's goings [Heb: 'steps'] are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?" (Prov. 20:24).

"The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord." (Prov. 16:1).

No one can make one statement out of his mouth, unless it was first pre-ordained, foreknown, and approved of, by God!

"The Son of man [Jesus] can do nothing of Himself... without Me [Jesus] ye [all of you—all of mankind] can do nothing" (John 5:19 & 15:5].
v
"Thou [you reading this paper right now...] will say then unto me, 'WHY DOES He [God] yet find fault' [with the King of Assyria or ANYONE who merely does what God Himself has supernaturally INTENDED for them to do?] For [or 'because'] who has [EVER] resisted His [GOD'S] WILL [Gk: boulema 'resolve, intention, or PURPOSE." This word is never translated "will" and is used but one other time in Acts, translated: 'purpose.']"

God tells us that the Assyrian did only what He Himself intended for him to do. Paul, likewise, assures us that no one ever has or can go against God's "intention or purpose."  How then is God justified in punishing the King of Assyria or anyone else for doing what God "intended" for them to do? The answer lies in the HEART of mankind. God said that He would punish "the fruit of his ARROGANT HEART"

The Bible doesn't say that man doesn't have a HEART. It doesn't say that he doesn't have a MIND. It doesn't say that he can't THINK. It doesn't say he can't make CHOICES. It doesn't say he doesn't have a WILL. It doesn't say he can't carry out his will through his thoughts, choices, planning, action, and deeds. What it does say is that: MAN IS NOT A GOD WHO CAN DO THESE THINGS INDEPENDENTLY AND FREELY FROM THE INTENTIONS AND PURPOSE OF HIS CREATOR!!   THAT'S what the Bible really says!

The King of Assyria is being punished because he is claiming to possess FREEDOM OF HIS OWN WILL. He claimed that he came up with the ideas, he made the plans, he carried them out, he reaped the rewards, he took credit for being someone great, etc., etc., when in reality God tells us it was all of Him, and that the king was merely a club in God's hand.
v
Did the King of Assyria understand in his "obscured" heart that it was God sending him to Jerusalem to do His will? No. Does Christendom understand in their "obscured" hearts that it is God sending them to deceive the world and to blaspheme His name through their evil doctrines? No.

"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers [rillets—small brooks] of water:  He turns [directs] it whithersoever he will [desires]" (Prov. 21:1).

It is not in a king to direct his ways, neither is it in ALL MANKIND to direct his steps:

"O Lord, I know that the way of man [Heb: 'Adam, a human, mankind] is NOT in himself [or in his presumed free will] it is not IN man ['not in MANKIND'] that walks to direct his steps"  (Jer. 10:23).

If mankind cannot direct his own steps: Who then does direct his "steps?"

"Man's goings [Heb: 'STEPS'] are OF THE LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?" (Prov. 20:24).

All is OF God.
---------------------------------------------------------------

mercy, peace and love
Kat

Hi Kat,

I'm coming to the realization that our God controls every aspect of all things, my thoughts, my choices, my life is in His hands.

I feel a certain peace knowing these things and can understand why scripture says work out your faith with fear and trembling because we are not in control of anything.

I'm amazed at the distance God has taken me from believing I had free will, believing in eternal damnation and many other false doctrines.

I see where I was and where I'm at and can trust God to bring me to the finnish line, this fear and trembling to me is not about being lost because I know Christ can and will save all.

That was and is Gods plan , the fear and trembling to me is about when God will get me to the finish line but even still I have peace in that too because all is of God.

It is God who calls,teaches and saves in His time . That I believe and unlike when I was in Christendom , this time my belief is of substance.

Thank you Kat for your patience with me and giving me the answers I need to keep growing in the things of God and not passing judgement on me.

God bless everyone.

[Mahonse]

This type of presentation of our experiences is not getting more helpful, but rather seems more confusing. 

With this statement, I agree.  it kinda reminds me of the time I was grappling with this in the beginning.  "I want to scratch my nose.  If I scratch my nose, does that mean God wants me to scratch my nose?  What if I don't scratch my nose?  Does that mean God doesn't want me to scratch my nose?  Can I avoid scrathing or not scratching mynose if God wants it scratched or not scratched?  Oh my!  What am I to do?"

I ended that episode by scratching my nose!  The earth kept spinning and the stars didn't fall from the sky.  My nose felt less itchy, too...at least for a little while.  LIVE YOUR LIFE!  What else can you do?  If you know what is right, DO IT!  If you know what is good to think about, THINK IT.  If you don't know, don't worry about it.  If you know what is wrong, don't do it.  If you know what thoughts are wrong, don't think them.  THOSE are the times when you will learn about the sovereignty of God.

The question was "are our thoughts really our thoughts".  YES!  YES, they are!

Are they 'caused'?  YES!  Yes, they are!

Thank you Dave for that deeply encouraging thought. I can now see why Jesus also says to His disciples:

'I still have many things to say to you, but they would be too much for you to bear now.' John 16:12

Just the sheer weight of God's thoughts can be just too much for us mere humans. After all, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9).

I also remember, when giving a talk on Free Will, Ray saying something along the lines of 'Why am I even up here telling you all this. Just go home and let Him do it.'

Therefore, let us live in the Spirit and put on Self-control (Gal. 5:23)

'For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he' (Pro. 23:7)

Let us therefore take the initiative and 'bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ' (2 Cor. 10:5) and what has He commanded?

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength' Deuteronomy 6:5/Luke 10:27

And

'Love your neighbour as yourself' Leviticus 19:18/Luke 10:27

And

'A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.' John 13:34

And

'This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters' 1 John 3:16

'This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His only Son into the world that we might live through Him.' 1 John 4:9

Therefore, I think God wants us to act, to plan, to be proactive in our thinking, to anticipate, to be aware.

As in the the title of the book by Bob Goff 'Love does.'

[Kat]

Hi Rick, I am realizing that a good understanding of no free will is critical to our 'knowing' God. Because He is the Creator of all that there is and He's sovereign over it all... this means absolutely nothing that exist in His creation can operate or function or exist whether it is physical or mental, outside of Him. This all comes back around to the fact that "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist" (Col 1:17) and "for in Him we live and move and have our being" (Act 17:28).

So even though our thoughts are being caused - since everything has causes, but these thoughts we have are developing knowledge in us. Thinking, forming ideas, figuring things out is the way we learn, it makes us the individual we are, gives us perspective. When you come to the point where you truly and completely believe His complete sovereignty over all things and all of us, then you begin to better understand and 'know' God.

Matt 11:27  All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

I feel little by little He is being revealed to us more and more, I am so glad to be a part of these discussions.

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[Wittenberg]

Rick, I want to hang out with you really bad. You are consistently asking questions that I ask. How important are these questions? I'm not sure, but the Lord has put them in front of us. Thank you for posting

[Dennis Vogel]

Dave said:

The question was "are our thoughts really our thoughts".  YES!  YES, they are!

Are they 'caused'?  YES!  Yes, they are!

I've been attacked enough times to know that many evil thoughts are caused by external forces. I remind myself that the thought did not originate in me.

[Dave in Tenn]

Maybe I have been too, Dennis, but never recognized it.  I tend to think these 'thoughts' are down in there, in the "O man" waiting to be dragged up in the open.

[Dave in Tenn]

There are at least five words translated "thought" in the New Testament (more if you count the verb forms of the nouns and noun forms of the verbs).  This is also true in English, when we 'think' about it.  There are passing thoughts, considered opinions, beliefs, fantasies, imaginations, intentions, etc...as well as reactions against all of those which are also 'thoughts'.



Here are the five I found with Strong's numbers, Thayer's definitions, and a sample verse which is translated from the appropriate Greek word.  I didn't even look at the OT, though I suspect there are at least as many Hebrew words translated 'thought(s)'.


G1380
δοκέω
dokeō

Luk 19:11  And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

Thayer Definition:
1) to be of opinion, think, suppose
2) to seem, to be accounted, reputed
3) it seems to me
3a) I think, judge: thus in question
3b) it seems good to, pleased me, I determined


G1261
διαλογισμός
dialogismos

Luk 24:38  And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?

Thayer Definition:
1) the thinking of a man deliberating with himself
1a) a thought, inward reasoning
1b) purpose, design
2) a deliberating, questioning about what is true
2a) hesitation, doubting
2b) disputing, arguing
Part of Speech: noun masculine


G3309
μεριμνάω
merimnaō

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Thayer Definition:
1) to be anxious
1a) to be troubled with cares
2) to care for, look out for (a thing)
2a) to seek to promote one's interests
2b) caring or providing for


G1761
ἐνθύμησις
enthumēsis

Mat 9:4  And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

Thayer Definition:
1) a thinking, consideration
2) thoughts


G2233
ἡγέομαι
hēgeomai

2Co 9:5  Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

Thayer Definition:
1) to lead
1a) to go before
1b) to be a leader
1b1) to rule, command
1b2) to have authority over
1b3) a prince, of regal power, governor, viceroy, chief, leading as respects influence, controlling in counsel, overseers or leaders of the churches
1b4) used of any kind of leader, chief, commander
1b5) the leader in speech, chief, spokesman
2) to consider, deem, account, think


Maybe some serious thought on what scripture actually says will help determine an answer to the question rather than lumping every 'type' or 'flavor' of thought together.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts (G1761 ἐνθύμησις enthumēsis) and intents of the heart.

[Wittenberg]

Coveting is a thought. Is God only sovereign over physical sin, ie murder or theft?
Just a thought

[Porter]

Very quiet or subtle thoughts can be hard to notice if I'm not paying attention. When they are noticed it's like whoa where the heck did that come from? Internal or external I have no idea, but it's obvious they were caused.