WOW. Talladega is right there and I be a big NASCAR fan. I have several Aunts/Uncles etc. in Gadsen which is about 50 miles north of you.
Gnosticism...Again!
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WOW. Talladega is right there and I be a big NASCAR fan. I have several Aunts/Uncles etc. in Gadsen which is about 50 miles north of you.
Maybe I can respond to the Freudian phycological input with just country boy lingo.
May I say that IMHO that mans Ego is the feeling of self-importance. It is the same as pride. The opposite being in humility which is what the Bible teaches us.
Now then....
In the Bible, we are advised to die to the self.
Proverbs 16:18.........
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."
The born again man is inhabited by two natures.....
The ego by nature is selfish, self-centered. It is what makes us always want to be right. What makes us think ourselves better than others. It is what makes us boastful of the things we have.
Then there is the higher self, the true self, that is the Soul. It is the "self" that’s good and it is what is regenerated by the Holy Spirit so that it can be in tune to the Word of God and when in control it can lead us back to our creator.
We are then caught between the two and that is where the War of the Worlds is fought!
Romans 7:18-20.....
" For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."
Very good.
Just to clarify, the ego only feels self-importance when it is in control of denying its truth as being false or invalid. However, it fears this truth, and anything that challenges its denial is seen as a threat to its self-importance. The ego fears vulnerability and exposure of its tactics to stay in denial _ to avoid being judged unfavorably. Most of these ego battles operate within us at very subtle levels; and most people are in denial about that too; and only seem to battle the more noticeable denials of their soul.
All sorts of tensions, doubt, are fears coming from our ego. It's task is to sabotage the truth, and fortunately for us, this also includes its own truth. In this regard, the ego unwittingly helps to expose when it (ego) is in the driver's seat, instead of our soul. It becomes important to notice when the ego starts taking the reins of our consciousness. Being humble, soft, calm, and gentle, helps us to become aware of the subtle ego. It is during these times when we practice our faith to let go of our ego and let God (Holy Spirit) to guide us in Truth.
In the beginning of our new life, it is easy to notice the coarser denials of our soul/truth and then let go of them to let God move them out of the way. These denials are our stumbling blocks which block the view of the truth. The coarser denials are like boulders blocking Truth's light from reaching our soul. Once the coarser denials are out of view, we notice many more smaller denials, the size of rocks, are now in our way. These were always there but in a more subtle way _ almost unnoticeable. While practicing letting go of them, to let God move them out of the way, we notice a huge number of stumbling blocks the size of stones, now scattered across our way. Later the stumbling blocks become countless pebbles and even as small as sand. It is these small subtleties which can grow into boulders if we do not remain humble constantly.
Remaining humble, on a subtle level, is like sweeping the path of the world we walk through.
Remain gentle and soft, to allow God's Love (Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth) into our consciousness and light the path we walk on.
Mat God continue to bless you dear brother.
Talladaga
ThanX!!
Ricky Bobby races there.
Do you think he will get into the HOF?
I dont know but he was funny.
Sophia in relation to 'wisdom' was a very ancient Hellenist belief by the pagan Greeks. The word Philosophia may have been the root of the later word 'philosophy', which the ancient Greeks were first to use that idea of philosophy for 'love of wisdom'. Constantine dedicated a church in Constantinople to Wisdom (Sophia).Well, my Anna was in the salon today, and one of the women there was doing obvious proselytizing for a local group that worships Sophia. I've heard of such groups, but never did any deep study on them since they most generally have been confined to the more liberal denominations. Now I read today that they are growing in number, nationwide, and within evangelicalism...mostly among women. (This is not a slam against women in general.)
Does the Bible teach that Sophia is the goddess of wisdom? | GotQuestions.org
Does the Bible teach that Sophia is the goddess of wisdom? Why does the book of Proverbs personify wisdom as a female?www.gotquestions.org
So, what came to my mind is that the Gnostic leaning gangs are having to draw parallels between the first nine chapters of Proverbs, all mention of "wisdom", to an external, feminine name in order to try and feminize the God of the Bible in His creative powers and overall nature.
Folks, one doesn't have to possess a Th.D to know that drawing parallels external to the Bible, especially when no such thing of that magnitude of importance would certainly have been spelled out in the text of at least one of the biblical writers. Instead, we're faced with silence. That should cause one to pause.
If God had wanted us to understand that there were a feminine aspect to His nature, He certainly had/has the power and wisdom (get it?) to have had that revealed to us rather than for it to be some "hidden wisdom" Gnostics are so prone to mislead others into believing.
What say you?
MM
Apostle Paul in Acts 17 said about the Greek philosophers in Athens, that they spent their time in nothing else but to tell, or hear of some new thing. Such is the mark of philosophy.
I've been delving into philosophy for years, and where it's true that many philosophers have been pagan, unbelieving fools, there are also many godly philosophers. After all, philosophy is the study of "truth," asking always "What is truth...," in relation to this question or that situation, etc. In and of itself, philosophy isn't evil or wrong. Like any other tool of study, it too can be and is abused.
MM
Philosophy has been used by many noted theologians throughout church history, just the big danger is when that takes place and priority over inspired scriptures
Which happens more often than not. Lots of "genius" philosophers in many professions. They all want to be the smartest intellectual in the room.
Vain and prideful to think any of us apart from inspired scriptures can really know and understand God ourselves!
That's why I know more than everything, but also a whole lot of just what ain't....
MM
The word philosophy has a deeper meaning than what many think. Those involved in the 'Age of Reason' movements back in the earlier centuries (like Rene Descartes, Thomas Paine, et al), applied the idea of philosophy about the ability of man to reason. Problem is, our ability to reason that God gave us is not always accurate.
For example, the philosophy of Pantheism believes that everything in the universe, the creation in total, is GOD. The ancient pagan philosophers thus worshiped the creature because they claimed God is in all things. But that is not what God's Word teaches.
In Hebrews 11:3 and Romans 1:18-25, God is revealed as existing separate from His creation. John 4:24 says God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Thus even though God created all things, that does not mean He is His actual creation.
For example, the philosophy of Pantheism believes that everything in the universe, the creation in total, is GOD. The ancient pagan philosophers thus worshiped the creature because they claimed God is in all things. But that is not what God's Word teaches.
In Hebrews 11:3 and Romans 1:18-25, God is revealed as existing separate from His creation. John 4:24 says God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Thus even though God created all things, that does not mean He is His actual creation.
Yes. We are fallible. That's a given.
I especially like Descartes. That was an interesting philosophy that served as the springboard to Matrix.
Anyway, philosophy, which is a field that I particularly enjoy, at its root, is simply a pursuit for truth, trying to answer the age old question of, "What is truth."
Unfortunately, the worldly lot out there have always missed the fact that Truth is a Person, not a collection of facts and right and proper doctrines. Truth is alive, given that ALL things CONSIST by Him.
MM
Yes, God gave us reason, but our inaccurate reasoning ability is due to the Fall/sin, not what God originally gave man.
I studied all that junk in my younger years, including Greek philosophy. I thank God that He dumped the majority of that out of my brain in preparing me to understand His Word of Truth. I used to study Neo-platonism before I became a Christian and saw the Gnostic influences in it.