Hebrews 11:1

[fuddy]

" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."

Our cranium contain a substance called gray matter, our brains. That substance enables us to interact with the physical world around us, giving us sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste, spacial awareness, etc.

Might faith be our spiritual 'brain', a more refined 'substance' that has the capacity to enable us to perceive things hoped for, things unseen?

85% of the mass in the universe consists of Dark Matter, 95% of total mass\energy is a combination of Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

Could that 95% be the Kingdom of God and all its attributes, perceivable (in minute part) by our spiritual gray matter now, and in full when we are altered as we enter that Kingdom?

Maybe a shift out of our damaged universe and into a perfected one, the more 'real' one?


Just a thought.

 

[Frankj]

Study what is said (in the Bible) about the thoughts , desires, and condition of our heart.

The brain isn't referred to at all.

 

[JustTheFacts]

Study what is said (in the Bible) about the thoughts , desires, and condition of our heart.

The brain isn't referred to at all.

I thought it was a thought provoking post. Frankj, did you forget the words of Jesus that validated the Law of God addressing the brain?

From the WEB Mark 12:30; "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ Deuteronomy 6:4-5 This is the first commandment."

 

[Frankj]

I thought it was a thought provoking post. Frankj, did you forget the words of Jesus that validated the Law of God addressing the brain?

From the WEB Mark 12:30; "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ Deuteronomy 6:4-5 This is the first commandment."

How do you equate 'mind' as being resident within the brain in the bible?

 

[JustTheFacts]

How do you equate 'mind' as being resident within the brain in the bible?

I guess I learned that the brain is responsible for thoughts. You were taught something else?

 

[Frankj]

I guess I learned that the brain is responsible for thoughts. You were taught something else?

You learned that from the Bible?

Or you were taught it by secular sources?

Consider Proverbs 23:7: "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

 

[fuddy]

It goes without saying that the physical gray matter comprising the brain is just a lump of flesh without Gods living spirit giving enough awareness and intelligence to allow us to function here on physical earth.

I'm probably way off the mark on that goofy idea stated in the 1st post, but, as I said, just a thought.

 

[Mercury]

It goes without saying that the physical gray matter comprising the brain is just a lump of flesh without Gods living spirit giving enough awareness and intelligence to allow us to function here on physical earth.

I'm probably way off the mark on that goofy idea stated in the 1st post, but, as I said, just a thought.

I don't think you were way off in the OP.

There very likely exist different realms in the universe. Different planes of existence. If we are to believe in the concept of spirit and soul then by very definition we are talking about something separate from the physcial plane of existence.

Our brains are just the computational nerve centre of the body. The command centre so to speak. However it's worth noting that YOU, that which is really you, is in some way distinct from the brain.

To elucidate:

Consider that when you cut your finger or graze your knee falling over, your body immediately goes into action to heal itself. That which is YOU i.e. your conscious self, is playing absolutely no part in that healing process. It's happens completely independently of you or your thoughts or desires. In fact you couldn't even stop the healing process from happening if you wanted to short of physically obstructing it.

So our brains can not be the sum total of who we are. Part of it is undertaking actions and work quite independently of our conscious will and self-awareness.

Something else to consider is that IF there exists a place called Heaven literally as mentioned in the Bible, then that is a different realm to this physical Earth plane. It's for this reason that the Bible suggests we must be born again and take on a new body in order to exist there. For example:

Philippians 3:20-21
"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. "

1 Corinthians 15:51-57
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”


In other words there are no physical bodies in Heaven. It's not that kind of place. To get there, to exist there you will have no choice but to first detach yourself from your physical body and become a totally different type of being. Then and only then can you ascend as Jesus is said to have ascended in the Bible. How then can you make your mortal body immortal? How can a perishable body be made imperishable? What branch of science and Nature deals with transformations and transmutations and is mentioned all over the Bible mostly in allegories?

Alchemy

 

[BruceLeiter]

" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."

Our cranium contain a substance called gray matter, our brains. That substance enables us to interact with the physical world around us, giving us sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste, spacial awareness, etc.

Might faith be our spiritual 'brain', a more refined 'substance' that has the capacity to enable us to perceive things hoped for, things unseen?

85% of the mass in the universe consists of Dark Matter, 95% of total mass\energy is a combination of Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

Could that 95% be the Kingdom of God and all its attributes, perceivable (in minute part) by our spiritual gray matter now, and in full when we are altered as we enter that Kingdom?

Maybe a shift out of our damaged universe and into a perfected one, the more 'real' one?


Just a thought.

Our faith by grace is God's gift, not a part of our brain:

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Eph 2:9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

 

[fuddy]

Maybe I should have been clearer about what I said, of course faith is not a product of our physical brain. God gave us our physical brain for the things of this physical world, but he also gives us faith ( a kind of spiritual analogy of our brain, perhaps?) for the things of the spirit.

Faith is Gods gift, yes, as is our brain. Different tool for different application. As I said, just a (probably) goofy idea...

 

[Frankj]

Maybe I should have been clearer about what I said, of course faith is not a product of our physical brain. God gave us our physical brain for the things of this physical world, but he also gives us faith ( a kind of spiritual analogy of our brain, perhaps?) for the things of the spirit.

Faith is Gods gift, yes, as is our brain. Different tool for different application. As I said, just a (probably) goofy idea...

Probably, or maybe, easier to just say we live in more than just four dimensions (our brain is limited to four but we are not).

 

[fuddy]

Yup, that too. "It is within God that we live and have our being." And God is, of course, limitless.

 

[SetFree]

" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."

Our cranium contain a substance called gray matter, our brains. That substance enables us to interact with the physical world around us, giving us sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste, spacial awareness, etc.

Might faith be our spiritual 'brain', a more refined 'substance' that has the capacity to enable us to perceive things hoped for, things unseen?

85% of the mass in the universe consists of Dark Matter, 95% of total mass\energy is a combination of Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

Could that 95% be the Kingdom of God and all its attributes, perceivable (in minute part) by our spiritual gray matter now, and in full when we are altered as we enter that Kingdom?

Maybe a shift out of our damaged universe and into a perfected one, the more 'real' one?


Just a thought.

A little later in Hebrews 11 is given a bit more explanation of how that 1st verse is meant...

Heb 11:3
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
KJV

That part in red reveals that material matter, which includes the idea of Dark Matter, was not created by matter. Man's field of Physics agrees with this, with one of their laws of thermodynamics. Matter can neither be created nor destroyed, but only changes its state or form.

That has to mean then, that there exists... ANOTHER Dimension of existence that is NOT made of matter at all. John 4:24 reveals that "God is a Spirit". That means God is separate in substance from His creation of this world of matter. And that... 'other' dimension of Spirit is where the Hebrews idea of Faith actually comes from. It is of The Spirit, and not of the flesh or material matter of this world.

Later on, in Hebrews 4:12, we are told that God created us with 3 parts, a soul, a spirit, and bones and marrow or flesh. Our spirit and soul are of that 'other' dimension of Spirit from God. This is why Ecclesiastes 12:5-7 reveals that when our flesh dies, our 'spirit' goes back to God Who gave it. This is also why Lord Jesus in John 3:6 told Nicodemus that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of The Spirit is spirit. This is also why Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:49 that as we have borne the "image of the earthy", we shall also bear the "image of the heavenly", and in verse 50 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.