25 Minutes
There is no place in the plan of God for human viewpoint thinking. Disunity
among God’s people stem from the mindset of the natural person. So, what
God allows me to write is for the few (faithful in every way). The word of God
must be the source of learning. Human viewpoint makes societal norms
standard against what the bible teaches. Homosexuality was once sinful,
distasteful, abnormal. Today, most think it is simply how a person is
born...that’s not biblical truth. There is an eternal distinction between human
thinking and divine reasoning. Human centered thinking rejects those parts
of the bible which they find above their ability to understand. Divine reasoning
embraces the wisdom of the gospel. Human thinking operates according to
a human-centered mindset, but the spiritual person operates according to a
divine reasoning centered mindset. This is a life transition. This is a transition
due to a strengthened faith in Christ that powers the response to truth.
If you seek spiritual understanding from God through the Holy Spirit, you will
come to recognize that human thinking is directly associated with
attachments. To reason divinely we must discard our attachments from our
humanness. Human attachments spring up from a universal human sea of
self-interest. And self-interest is a great deceiver. And though the Holy Spirit
is available, human attachments will seal you off from an awareness of the
higher realms. You have a vague belief that your thinking is in line with what
is truth. This does not mean we lose the reality of our interconnectedness
with every living being around us. Goodness and integrity are continued
exchanges with others. Now, this is not criticizing human thinking. It is in our
suffering, our sacrificing that we hold these two qualities together. We are to
know the greatness of God in human terms, but we are not to lack the divine
vision offered through the Holy Spirit. In this we recognize that we must re-
orient our focus to the path that the Spirit directs. We are to return to that
divine image where our thoughts reflected what God thought.
Genesis 2:19
This is why we are given a heavenly standard to guide us – the Word. Now
we come to see how our truth clarifying efforts are principled to more
efficiently spread the truth to reach minds and hearts that judge the word of
God not as being suggestive but rather divinely inspired. And now, both the
message and those who choose to hear are uppermost in our minds. With
divine reasoning there is an accompanying inner spiritual change –
calmness, heavenward focus. And what comes naturally to the human mind
will no longer stand in the way of God’s purpose. And divine reasoning will
present us with power and authority to understand things from the
perspective of the kingdom of heaven. Verbal communication will be by
revelation making plain what previously only been suggested. We will savor
the things that be of God, not those that be of men. Recall when Peter’s
natural tendency was to see things in human terms and made him an
adversary of Jesus...he contested the word.
Matthew 16:22, 23
Divine reasoning is returning to what we learned long time ago...we go to
the Determinate Counsel. We need to look up and see heavenly things, but
there is more to it than that, in a strangely contradictory way. In one way it is
the very greatness, even divinity of Jesus, which causes our limited
understanding of the nature of God, to think in human terms. But to
understand the nature of his divine sacrifice we need to see him as God. In
the Determinate Counsel we can divinely reason how the great and holy one
was to fulfill his mission of service to others and to enter into glory through
humility. And as he emptied himself, our attachment is made so complete in
him that his divineness is our consolation and with that the mind for divine
reasoning is presented us. And it is in this reasoning that we are to leave
ourselves behind, take up our cross, and follow him. Do not be deceived
about how difficult that is. To lose oneself is directly opposed to human
thinking when there is so much emphasis on self fulfilment. We are in the
times when the values of society dominate all fields of human endeavor.
Discussions of suffering, sacrificial service is likely to be greeted with deep
suspicion if not divinely reasoned with. It is this human thinking that blocks
the path in front of Jesus, rather than being his follower.
The human conception of the mind leads to social inferencing. Divine
reasoning embodies an extension of experience to interact with the unseen
minds of God. This is termed “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
word of God”. Human thinking is the generalization and indirect reflection of
the essential attributes and interrelations between things, feelings and
behaviors rooted in the brain, observable physical cues. But to reason with
the word of God through the Holy Spirit is a broader process whereby
relational character traits of the human and the divine starts from the premise
that the mind is the origin of all behavior. If we be in the “our” image and the
“our” likeness of the Godhead then reason says that the very core of God’s
omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence must be His mind. And we are
rendered candidates to have the mind of Christ. And for what reason. That
we may have divine reasoning to be early arisers of understanding the intent
of the purposes of God. By this is gained the capacity to view God not
traditionally but intentionally. Human thinking details itself as God’s
interpreters. Divine reasoning features its judgments on proof-texts,
scripturally harmonious with the law and the testimony. If God can take a
lowly rod and use it to open a pathway through the sea; if He can take a
prophet's ass and use it to speak a message of rebuke to a wayward prophet,
then what is to prevent Him from having determined to alter events presented
in the gems of truth to show His entering into our realm for His people? If we
say what God cannot do, when all that He does and will do, is already
determined are we not limiting His omniscience and omnipotence? It is
possible that originality is expressed in inspiration. Are the thoughts of God
written by men? Can what is written in the spirit of prophecy be wisdom
written or spoken in earlier times? Then can the method of God's providence
as it has been written be more clearly and powerfully unfolded? Scripture is
given by inspiration means God’s Spirit worked in men to write in their words.
The words were penned, the men inspired. Now divinely reason the impact
of God and Christ writing with “the finger”.
Exodus 31:18
John 8:6
Human thinking does not resource spiritual awareness. Inspiration is not
diminished by God using uninspired sources. The originality of truth is the
weight given to every word of God as He determined it to be written. The
Holy Spirit, He superintended the words and moved the men to produce the
scriptures as well as the prophets to speak them. Learn to divinely reason
with the word of God forsaking human thinking. You would be better attuned
to the wisdom occasioned by the impact and the effectiveness of
understanding the work of the Holy Spirit. Man’s intellect alone is not
sufficient to discern the truths found in the word of God. The divine scheme
of God’s word is to move us beyond our capacities that by His grace the
redemption of the power of the mind may open our eyes to the all-
encompassing reality of the boundless mystery and possibilities of God. The
reality of human experience and spiritual reasoning will expose undeniable
evidence that every word of God must converge into truth. Deviation from
God’s truth is a reality of human thinking making one vulnerable to narrow-
mindedness. Whenever we study the holy scriptures, we may be confronted
with divine and human wisdom. Human thinking can be enlightened by divine
grace through the gift of faith. There is a rich relationship between reason
and revelation. They are positioned by conviction. The conviction that one
must have an idea of God before one can have faith in God. These are
compatible avenues to truth. Building the kingdom of God requires more than
human thinking. Divine reasoning is our learning from a higher power.
Human thinking works under the limitations of a finite mind and shares in the
defects of a sinful nature. It is blinded by foregone conclusions, often
dominated by pride. It misreads the facts or misapplies the logic. Note how
God’s choice of reasoning is the mode of revelation. We find reasoning
consistent with what is revealed in scriptural writings enhancing our
relationship with God. We trust not the arm of flesh. Reason is a property of
both humans and God. There we find humans reasoning with God and God
reasoning with humans. And this event may be both a revelation and an
exercise of reason. Divine reasoning is so spiritually insightful in that it
understands that one thing is the case from the belief that one or more other
things are the case. It may be deductive, inductive, or abductive. If “A” is
truth and “B” is truth and “A” plus “B” equals “C”, then “C” is truth. If Ellen
White is a messenger from God and God communicates with all His
messengers, then we can know for truth that God communicates with Ellen
White.
In our seeking to learn by study, we use the method of reason. In our seeking
to learn by faith, we rely on revelation. Being obedient to the heavenly
decree, we seek learning by reason and by revelation. One may not
understand the 4th commandment. But that one has faith in Jesus as
revealed as the Son of God. And that one studies based upon what is
revealed and reasons that living by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God means obeying the 4th commandment with or without understanding
is the truth to be obeyed. We reason out what to ask God. Yet we do not
expect an answer unless we have studied the issue first. The answer will
agree with the law and the testimony, the principles of the gospel. Reason
prepares us for the revelation. There is no conflict. The truths of which we
are aware are because God has revealed them to us and we hold these
truths by faith. We know by divine reasoning that something is truth because
God shows it to be truth; and we have faith that something is truth because
God says it. Divine reasoning gives wisdom where God’s demonstrations are
available. If God infers a thing in His reason and alters that thing as was in
the counsel determined to change to influence our relationship with Him and
with others it is by reason. It is implicit that God is a reasoning Being and that
reasoning belongs both in human-human relations and in divine-human
relations. With certainty, God’s understanding exceeds ours, but that does
not prevent Him from reasoning with us in terms we understand. Now human
thinking may conflict with divine reasoning when faith is not manifested. Was
God willing to change based on Abraham’s cry for mercy for Sodom...did
Abraham reason that the judge of all the earth is right? His divine reasoning
was in defense of those who might not deserve the punishment that was due
the rest. Thus, in the divine-human relation, reason may not only function as
a mode of revealing God’s will, it may also serve to influence divine action in
the interest of the right.
Divine reasoning is a consciously deeper awakening into the wisdom from
God. The perception of truth is more determined. The thinking, the reasoning
process is attitudinally invested with the will of God. The expressions are
continuing in the mentorship of the Holy Spirit. The approach to truth is
holistic and absorbed in spirituality. The mind is powered with greater
visioning purposing brilliant light from the scriptures. The abundance of
understanding grows the love for the truth. Divine reasoning changes the
way we think...we think with a spiritual mindset that is completely under
God’s control. With that the output is as the input from the Spirit of
God...divine. And having spiritual influence on those who choose to hear the
word of God as though nothing could ever matter again but that which is of
the Determinate Counsel in its eternal purposing. This renders our greatest
source of wisdom showing in the bible’s solutions to all that challenges our
searching. And we experience peace in unhindered likeness of mind with
Christ. The word is brought to the graces whereby it is the book of our life.
It’s the book we live with, the book we live by, the book we are willing to die
for. When divine reasoning is sought in God our repentance is deep seated,
our forgiveness passionate, our love dedicated, our faith is unfathomable.
Difficult circumstances reveal our gratitude for God’s amazing grace. Divine
reasoning becomes the relevancy to discern the essence of what is revealed
in the word of God. The consistent message throughout the gospel is
covenanted in the life and death of Christ. Divine reasoning accepts God’s
appointed sufferings as disciplines to bring about greater spiritual
mindedness. Divine reasoning is a gift. Human thinking is so limited in its
reasoning, it fails to recognize how the Spirit of God is guiding us into spiritual
wisdom. One aspect of the function of divine reasoning is acquiring divine
image. And this derives divine character. Divine reasoning affects the whole
personality. It produces peace, which is reconciliation with God and the
tranquility that comes as a result. It is being in the will of God and knowing it.
So, as we consider divine reasoning from the perspective of coming to
understand the thought of God, we see the thinking of God as the word by
God uttered that we might give place to all that is impossible to be inherently
purposeful by the Determinate Counsel. We see this divine reasoning in the
sacredness of human life as we encounter the Lord through his word. Faith
and reason are considered to be sources of justification for conscientious
belief. With divine reasoning we remove theorizing all the particulars of
learned knowledge. We ascend from effects to a cause, and we descend
from a cause to effects. We have an evidence altogether independent of our
confidence in the veracity of human thinking. The scripture scheme of
reasoning is true in the nature of things; and self-evident, so that it needs
nothing besides its intrinsic verisimilitude to compel our assent to it. We are
offered the view of God operating on our characters through a manifestation
of His own character, in order that by leading us to participate in some
measure of His moral likeness, we may also in some measure participate of
His happiness. Come, let us reason together. The reasonableness consists
in there being a direct and divine connection between believing every word
which the bible inculcates, and a being formed by the principles, to the
character, which the bible recommends. Divine reasoning removes
assumptions and it harmonizes the end of ends, the arriving at the place, the
situation, or the condition, as a result of a course of action of His providence,
and subjects everything to it. It savors resolve through revelation rather than
rejection by human thinking. Truth and right prevails while viewed in itself as
it runs up to the mysteries of God. The mystery of the kingdom of God, the
mystery of the wisdom of God, the mystery of His will, the mystery of Christ,
the mystery of the gospel, the mystery hidden for ages and now made
manifest, the mystery of iniquity, the mystery of faith in a pure conscience.
These measured by a divine reasoning through revelation, not by human
standards. We arrange and contrast these to our understanding that we be
made confidently dependent upon the Counsel’s purpose that God intends
us to partake of. Without divine reasoning we are wholly ignorant of what
degree of new knowledge it were to be expected God would give us by
revelation, upon supposition of His affording, or how far, or in what way, He
would interpose miraculously, to qualify us to whom He should originally
make the revelation, for communicating the knowledge given by it; and to
secure our doing it to the age in which we live, and to secure its being
transmitted to posterity.
It ain’t over, as divine reason enhances our belief in, and conformity to every
comprehended precept. For the moral character of God is to be exhibited by
impress and influence upon our minds. There is a great and important
difference between human thinking and divine reasoning. Human thinking
stands as an isolated, strange and unintelligible nature, and is apt even to
suggest the idea, that the word holds out a premium for believing
improbabilities. Divine reasoning stands indissolubly united with an act of
Divine holiness and compassion, which radiates to the heart an appeal of
tenderness most intelligible in its nature and object, and most compelling in
its influence to reveal truth through the wisdom of God. Surely this speaks of
the transcendent expediency of apprehending Christ.
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