So, I was listening to Arthur Burk’s Redemptive Gifts of Individuals, and heard the following, using the Romans 1 “spiral of sin” as a background.
I’m not sure I fully understand what goes on in the mind and the heart and the soul of the teacher: why it is so difficult for them to embrace the truth of who G-d says they are and step into leadership. But I do know that for those that have grown, for those that have changed…the beginning place has always been to engage their emotions in the celebration of who G-d is and what He has done.
I refer to this very simply as the upward and downward spiral that creates brain rot or cures brain rot in an individual. This applies to everybody but it is central to any Teacher who has grown up in a system that has a professional relationship with G-d, not a personal relationship with G-d.
Arthur Burk, The Redemptive Gifts of Individuals, Disc 4: Teacher, Cut 7: Letter To Pergamum, Timestamp: 10:59-11:44
The concept of the Brain versus the Heart is often times preached, and that poorly in the Evangelical Church on the whole. Yesterday, we were taught that the primacy of our identity and relationship with G-d begins in the heart and not the brain. There have been reams written that say we need to have a heart transformation and not just an increase of knowledge or a knowledge download.
Then there is Heidi Baker’s “Too Big <points to head>, Too Small <points to heart>” statement.
I have always had a profound issue with the concept of being forced to choose one or the other.
But in this case, I heard Arthur, in the context of the above, state the following that helps brain and heart fit together.
And once we have allowed a little bit of brain rot in to where we are not thinking as rationally as we used to, the next sin, the sin that we wouldn’t’ve committed yesterday becomes a little more plausible, and we can reason our way to the next sin, which causes more brain rot.
Arthur Burk, The Redemptive Gifts of Individuals, Disc 4: Teacher, Cut 7: Letter To Pergamum, Timestamp: 12:46-12:53
So, where did the downward spiral into this Brain Rot cycle begin? Romans 1 details a destruction of the MIND AND THOUGHT, not the heart. It is the destruction of the rational mind that leads to a rotting relationship with G-d.
So, where does the heart fit in, and how do we recover the brain/mind?
The first step, where we put one foot into the doorway to the downward spiral and a heart that is calloused to shame.
Verse 21.
” For although they knew G-d, they did not honor him as G-d or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
Arthur relayed the start of the spiral back to this verse, and this verse pairs the heart and the though/brain together. A fractal of two and a picture of fullness.
The baseline between brain rot and wholeness is being able to recognize G-d’s fingerprints in your life and being able to celebrate them. And when the Teacher becomes purely cerebral and has no EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT WITH G-D, he already has one foot in the downward spiral.
Arthur Burk, The Redemptive Gifts of Individuals, Disc 4: Teacher, Cut 7: Letter To Pergamum, Timestamp: 14:06-14:27
Let me assimilate the above into the following line.
The emotional component of the heart protects and defends the brain from destruction by the kingdom of darkness. Our emotional capacity to see G-d’s fingerprints and celebrate those fingerprints is like a Vitamin booster, a clove of garlic, and echinacea for the brain and thoughts.
Our inability or refusal to see, recognize, and emotionally engage, especially the Teacher, is what leads to the destruction of the brain, mind, the rational processes and thoughts.
They are designed to work in tandem.
It is not one over the other, anymore than it is a gift over all others, or a person over all others. It is a pairing for the turbocharging of fullness.
The purpose of a strong emotional component is a sharp mind, intellect, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. All of our days, instead of picking one over the other, I say pick both.
Bless the heart and the emotions and protect the brain in order for the spirit to do its finest work.
Just some perspective here.
Thoughts? Feelings?
Agreed, balance is essential, i see it like this, one is no good without the other. Similiar to the metaphors of the body of Christ.
I have also wrestled with the “Change your mind and God will change your emotions” vs “transformation comes through encounter” streams. I agree that it should be both and the passive tense of being transformed in Rom 12:2 suggets head follows after heart. My question is where/how is it initiated?
It starts in the mind or the heart, depending on the design and affects both. If we have a wall in one or the other place, depending on upbringing, then the connection will not complete.
I think the intent here is to begin the process of connecting and synching the two, and discerning if there is a wall between the two based on whether you experienced trauma in a brain-dominant sect of Christianity, or a heart-dominant sect of Christianity.
Renew the mind with knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.
Renew the heart, and then renew the reins.
I am pondering your question.
As a Giver I was wounded by parent my parental Giver/Ruler around being thankful, being grateful. It would take a while to explain this bur suffice to say it’s pretty big disconnect. Purpose of my comment is to agree that inability to savor and have gratitude and awe flow from the heart holds one’s spiritual growth down like being tied to a pile of weights. I appreciate your attention on this. I will move this trauma much higher on the priority list and seek ministry for it because it is stubborn, resistant to my usual personal style of working through issues.
As a teacher, today i saw a very strategic move on Gods part or fingerprint in my life as to where He located me in the last year and where He located me recently, i was meeting my pastor of the last 5 yrs and picked a local Coffee shop that I was not familiar with, I’m in a new area, and it took me a different direction from what I’ve been taking since I’ve been here, when I looked around me it was the area in which I wanted to be when I came looking for a new apartment close to my new job, I thought wow this would be the perfect location and within a 2 block proximity to where I now am, I just had not been up and down the right streets or in that direction to realize that God placed me in the exact place that I wanted to be because it was so centrally located to all the people and places that I need and want to go, tears welled up and my heart exploded with appreciation and gratefulness, His fingerprint seen in the little details of my life that matter to me!!! I asked and He obliged! 🦋
Thought provoking, as always, David. To stop being analytical and searching the files for related information, and connecting the dots and proving the theories, over to gratitude and wonder and suspended thought in exchange for awe, is not a step, but a leap. You caused me to see that with what you said. Like a mercy has to endure pain and come to value it and walk through it back to vulnerable, the teacher has to lay down his strength to walk to the vulnerable “speck” side that is man when he beholds God. You always challenge.