I wonder whether the tendency to intellectualise religion is maybe a throw back to, or has been somehow unknowingly influenced by, Gnostic thought in the sense that material existence (and maybe our emotional response to it) is seen as flawed or evil, and knowledge of the divinity is the principal element of salvation?
I'm also not clear, when you indicated you were challenging my definition of the human spirit, what exact definition of mine you were pushing back against or how your explanation differs from what I was saying.
Thanks, Ralph, as always, for your thoughtful reflections!
Your concerns about my use of the term "forming" are appreciated and noted. But they also give me an opportunity to clarify: I don't use this term to at all imply any sort of hierarchy or compulsion. I simply use it to mean the process whereby we mentor, educate, train, and disciple ONE ANOTHER in the love of God. It is God who ultimately leads people to greater awareness of himself and his principles, but he works through the body to do so - again, only as we have permission and only as we seek to do so mutually.
I wonder whether the tendency to intellectualise religion is maybe a throw back to, or has been somehow unknowingly influenced by, Gnostic thought in the sense that material existence (and maybe our emotional response to it) is seen as flawed or evil, and knowledge of the divinity is the principal element of salvation?
I'm also not clear, when you indicated you were challenging my definition of the human spirit, what exact definition of mine you were pushing back against or how your explanation differs from what I was saying.
Thanks again for reading and engaging!
Thanks, Ralph, as always, for your thoughtful reflections!
Your concerns about my use of the term "forming" are appreciated and noted. But they also give me an opportunity to clarify: I don't use this term to at all imply any sort of hierarchy or compulsion. I simply use it to mean the process whereby we mentor, educate, train, and disciple ONE ANOTHER in the love of God. It is God who ultimately leads people to greater awareness of himself and his principles, but he works through the body to do so - again, only as we have permission and only as we seek to do so mutually.