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Gary Patton

What Neuroscience Tells Us about Spritual Disciplines | Christianity Today - 0 views

www.christianitytoday.com/...science-lent-fasting.html

brain christianity disciplines neuroscience

shared by Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Neuroscience sheds light on how fasting and other spiritual disciplines work by training our subconscious mental processes.
  • our conscious self is far less in control over who you are and what you do than you realize.  "We are not the ones driving the boat of our behavior," says neuroscientist David Eagleman.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      I wonder, assuming this is true, might what psycology calls our subconscious be the residence of Christian flesh. However, I believe the existence of a 'subconscious' is, like 'evolution', a thesis that is usually stated as a fact and truth but no one can prove. Neither is a scientific theory and are certainly not proven theorems because they are not replicable through experimentation.
  • Jesus expected that dietary restriction would be a part of our spiritual practice. "When you fast," he said, not if.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      There is no command that we fast in either the Old or New Covenant that I can find. Verse 16 for me is a suggestion not a command. If I'm correct, why do Christian pulpiteers and writers talk about Jesus' quote here like, as this writer says, it should be taken as "an assumption" that Jesus Followers for all time should fast? Why not just consider it what it was? In context, I suggest that Jesus was teaching about an appropriate attitude to take in our relationship with God and our worship of Him. To do so, Jesus used illustrations about how to fast a worship activity practised by the Jews of his day and Old Covenant characters with whom they were familiar. His illustrations were made to a group of religious Jews when He was teaching them on a hillside by using inappropriate fasting practises which some of them followed that He and everyone else present probably observed regularly. Likewise, because Holy Spirit "drove" Jesus into the wilderness without food or water for 40 days for reasons unique to Jesus' ministry, why is it often taught that we must imitate that one time happening, as far as we know, in our Masters life? Undoubtedly, fasting can be healthy for some when properly practised. It may also have positive spiritual implications when done for reasons God leads the faster about. But, much of the super-spiritual things taught about fasting for spiritual reasons do not seem to have any real Biblical support. It is Holy Spirit Who "shapes us into spiritual people" using his lovingly slow process of sanctification ...as it says in Romans 8:29-30 at http://diigo.com/0lc07 ... not our disciplined, hard work by depriving ourselves to train our subconscious as Rob Mol says in this article. Undoubtedly, fasting can be healthy for some when properly practised. It may also have positive spiritual implications when done for reasons God leads the faster about. But, much of the super-spiritual things taught about fasting for spiritual reasons do not seem to ha
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Don't fast for a cause, but to shape your soul.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      Mr. Moll explains in this article the light that neuroscience, he says, sheds on how fasting and other so-called, "spiritual disciplines" work. He says our socalled "Christian disciplines" train our subconscious mental processes. I wonder if what he says makes sense because his opinions are based solely on a number of unproveable theories which he shares like they were facts without any qualification. I've added below some e-Sticky Notes about what I think. How do you feel about what I have written? gfp (2012-03-30)
  • by making the Lenten discipline of fasting about a cause, we are caving in to our cultural distaste for self-denial.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      Amen!
  • But more importantly, spiritual disciplines shape us in deep ways. Because our brains—at the very least—mediate, process, and experience our spiritual lives, the disciplines can train us to become more attuned to God himself.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      This is a statement with significant spiritual implications for which Mr. Mol offers absolutely no scientfic proof or Bisbilical support. Therefore, I suggest the statement is potentially dangerous because it promotes our works rather than "rest" in God as the Bible clearly does command in Hebrews 4.
  • when our blood sugar runs low, chemical signals from the blood stream reach the brain, which sends out signals to eat.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      This process and that described below are hard-wired into our DNA by God to protect us ...not the result of our pratcising disciples!
  • The subconscious brain is at work, guiding our actions and our behavior
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      As a charismatic Follower of Jess, I would suggest that the results Mr. Moll is describing here can be just as acceptably ascribed to God working in His Followers' spirit because He lives in us ...rather than to some unprovable thesis stated like fact about a 'subconscious' developed by worldly psychology. The subconscious is not science because the concept is not replicable nor is it provable. Jesus Followers, on the other hand however, know that they know that they know that God leads them. We do because of the always beneficial result when we do what Holy Spirit leads.
Gary Patton

What Neuroscience Tells Us about Lenten Disciplines | Christianity Today | A Magazine o... - 0 views

www.christianitytoday.com/...science-lent-fasting.html

shared by Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Fasting and other spiritual disciplines train these processes, shape them, and thereby shape us into spiritual people.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      How "worksy" is this statement? I thought it was Holy Spirit Who "shapes us into spirital people" using his lovingly slow process of sanctification ... not our disciplined, hard work by depriving ourselves to train our subconscious... as it says in Romans 8:29-30 at http://diigo.com/0lc07 .
  • Fasting schools our subconscious. We exert our will over the cravings of our body so that we have a mental process in place that is strong enough to overrule other temptations we face. We slowly become people who are less driven by temporary cravings, whether for food or sex or personal fulfillment. While spiritual disciplines shape who we will be, they also reveal who we are.
  • But there is tremendous value in self-denial for its own sake.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      But, in my humble opinion, Mr. Moll hasn't proven this concluding statement nor his thesis which isn't even a scientific theory because it can neither be replicated nor tested.
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