Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “Death in a Sinful World”. In Sunday’s, Monday’s, and Tuesday’s lessons, the quarterly this week focuses for a bit on how Eve was tempted. It claims that Eve was tempted because “she used her own senses--- the empirical method, that of personal observation—to decide between the conflicting statements”. And of course, this method is decried in the quarterly. It asks the question in Tuesday’s lesson, “why must we rely on the Word of God over what our senses tell us?”. I must admit, I have somewhat of an issue with this concept. First, I do not believe Eve primarily used empirical reasoning (her own senses). It seems that Eve was more tempted to be her own god, disregarding sound reasoning and logic. I believe the evidence suggests that Eve displayed a determined motive to disregard the God who loved her and to follow her own desires. I do not believe that Eve’s decision was based on something as menial as her senses. Secondly, the above quoted statement in the quarterly tends to suggest that we are just supposed to do what we are told by God. And that “human reason is not always the safest way to evaluate spiritual matters” (Sunday’s lesson). So, let’s look at “human reason”.
God has put Himself on-trial before His intelligent, reasoning creatures. “God tells the truth, even if everyone else is a liar. The Scriptures say about God, ‘Your words will be proven true, and in court You will win Your case’.” (Romans 3:4 CEV). In this we see that God not only abides healthy, reasoning inquiry, but encourages it… expects it... authorizes it… demands it. We must investigate, inquire, and search for ourselves to prove to ourselves the truth of God, using our reasoning. We are to “prove (or test) what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). We are to “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). And we are not alone in this reasoning investigation. “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you” (1 Peter 1:10). God wants us to inquire about Him; search about Him; even question Him, using our power of reasoning and inquiry. It is only this in-depth reasoning and inquiry that will lead to the truth. “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
God has given us the power of “reason”. And it is our “reason” that separates us from the animal world.
“God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith. His existence, His character, the truthfulness of His word, are all established by testimony that appeals to our reason; and this testimony is abundant. Yet God has never removed the possibility of doubt. Our faith must rest upon evidence, not demonstration. Those who wish to doubt will have opportunity; while those who really desire to know the truth will find plenty of evidence on which to rest their faith” (Steps to Christ pg.105).
And this “power” is so God-like:
“Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator-- individuality, power to think and to do… It is the work of true education to develop this power, to train the youth to be thinkers, and not mere reflectors of other men's thought” (Education pg. 17).
Yet, EGW cautions us about our reason, too, because we are sinful and can use this God-like quality in a bad way. In referencing the work of Satan, she says:
“He who could appear clothed with the brightness of the heavenly seraphs before Christ in the wilderness of temptation, comes to men in the most attractive manner, as an angel of light. He appeals to the reason by the presentation of elevating themes, he delights the fancy with enrapturing scenes, and he enlists the affections by his eloquent portrayals of love and charity. He excites the imagination to lofty flights, leading men to take so great pride in their own wisdom that in their hearts they despise the Eternal One. That mighty being who could take the world's Redeemer to an exceedingly high mountain, and bring before him all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them, will present his temptations to men in a manner to pervert the senses of all who are not shielded by divine power” (The Great Controversy pg. 553).
So how to resolve all this? Has our “reason” been perverted? Yes. Do we then rely on other ways of knowing “truth”? Like knowing truth by our feelings? Or do we just do what we are told? Yet God has told us to inquire, to test, to prove Him true, to understand like friends and not just do what we are told like servants (see John 15:15).
So much of what we are is perverted. Like sex. Satan has had a field-day with sex. So much that some people believe the only way to be holy is by being celibate. Yet this is not so. The monastic life is an insult to God and to our fellow-man:
“That religion which leads its subjects to enclose themselves in monastic walls, excluding themselves from their fellow men, and not doing the good they might, cannot be the light of the world. The world is no better for their living in it, because they shed no beams of light in good works. These live for themselves, and bring no glory to the Master, for they hide away from man as though ashamed of the light which they claim to have” (Signs of the Times 1/15/1880)”.
Therefore, we should not shy-away from our “reason” nor minimize it, for it is all we really have to know God and to know truth. But we must use this “reason” carefully and thoughtfully, as we must with sex, too. We must not approach the “Word” from a sense of superiority, determining truth from our own arrogant attitude. We must approach the word prayerfully. Questioningly? Yes, to be sure. With a need to understand. For in the last analysis God wants us to relate to Him because we understand and love Him and His selfless ways. NOT because He tells us to relate to Him. He wants us to freely choose Him. Not from fear of punishment or hope of reward.
As EGW has stated as quoted above… both God and Satan “appeal to the reason”. Why? Because each seek to win our heart… our deepest motives for action and motives for our lives. Therefore, our “reason” is most valuable. It is the seat of our choice, the seat of our essential being. Our “reason” is not something to be vilified, not something to be pressed down and negated as evil. Not something to be cast-off the throne of our heart to be supplanted by something else. Our “reason” is all we have to know truth, respond to truth, to be motivated by truth, and to be held forever by truth.
“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion. No external force is employed. Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve. In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan's control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God” (Desire of Ages pg. 466).
In this quote we see that it is you yourself that expulses sin from your self. “Feelings” are insufficient for the task, for they are fickle and prone to change. Something more powerful, more stable, more determined is needed. The word for this motivation in Scripture is “heart”. Which almost always is used in the phrase, “the thoughts of the heart”, showing that this is the mind, the “reason”, the commitment of the entire person.
“…he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). This is the proper reasoning approach. A humble desire to seek and know truth. To believe that He is and to inquire with our minds to understand and know Him. It is what God delights in… “’But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,’ says the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:24). May we always use our God-inspired logic. May each “be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
With brotherly love,
Jim