Saturday, May 21, 2005

It's Not All In Your Head

RELIGION COLUMN


By Randall Friesen
FOR THE HERALD


Some time ago I read an article on how scientists in laboratory studies had been able to stimulate parts of the brain which induced feelings associated with faith and religion. They were able to mimic the sense of joy and peace an individual had experienced through their faith. Their early conclusions were that perhaps faith was all in one's head.


When I read those things I mostly just ignore them, because of days like today.


If your soul or spirit were located in a place in your brain, then things like today wouldn't happen. I went to visit an old friend who is in the advanced stages of alzheimer's and we had a wonderful visit together.


No, he couldn't tell me where his room was, and he wasn't sure of my name a number of times. He forgot which bed in the one bed room was his, and he had difficulty recalling his family. It hurts, but it is what it is. Sickness.


Then I got out the Bible and asked him if I should read a Psalm. He eagerly agreed to it. I turned to Psalm 121 and began; "I lift my eyes to the mountains." Without missing a beat, he continued; "Where does my help come from?"


As I read the rest of the Psalm, he mouthed the words along with me. It was in there somewhere. Somewhere safe and true and unbroken.


Later on I prayed and as I closed with Amen he launched into a simple prayer that again reconnected us with God.


If our soul or our spirit was a product of our mind, wouldn't it break too when our minds were broken?


The person with only a small part of their brain functioning, don't they have a soul? Or those with mental illness, are their souls broken too?


What of those born with a mental handicap? Do they not have a spirit? It's been my experience that they are very open to spiritual matters, more so than many others who have great intellectual abilities.


No, once again today I was encouraged that even though the mind can become ill and suffer and even die, the soul of a human does not. Because the spirit is not located within the confines of the mind.


And, while I don't know which part of the body contains it, the heart, the stomach, the brain, the spleen, or right leg, I am confident of the fact that people are spirit, just as they are physical.


It may surprise you to know that Scripture tells us that God is Spirit and we were created in his image, thus there is a spiritual component to us as well.


So, what does it mean for us to spend all our time chasing after and fulfilling the needs of our physical bodies? Or for that matter, stimulating our minds and senses with all manner of intellectual activities, without giving proper consideration to our spiritual needs?


St. Augustine said that within each human spirit is a God shaped hole. That we spend our days empty until we meet the one who alone can fit that space inside our hearts. And then we are complete, whole, fulfilled. Reconnected with the heavenly. Reconnected with God.


We do spend a great deal of money on our physical desires, and an intellectual education today costs thousands of dollars. How much have we invested in our souls?


How much money have we spent on soul development, without trying to buy off the guilt we have?  How much time have we invested connecting with God and his body, the church. How many Sunday mornings have we gotten out of bed and attended a House of Worship just to recognized that there is a God and He is greater than us and because of that He deserves to be worshiped?


When we age everything starts to break down. Our jobs, our loved ones, our health, maybe even our minds. Our soul or spirit is the last thing left and that's why someone who knows God and has taken time to
cultivate a relationship with God will find comfort even in the last hours of life. They have taken time for their Spirit to be made whole, in Christ, and they are reconnected with the source of eternal life, God himself.


Why don't you take a little time and work on some soul development this week.





Randall Friesen is a local husband and father who pastors Gateway Covenant Church. He writes regularly at randallfriesen.com

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for taking on this opportunity to write for the local paper. I cherish the willingness of the "gang of six" here in Prince Albert - may God use this to put great and godly thoughts into people's heads!

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  2. That is a very good article that you wrote! So true!

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