Head vs. Heart

The following is from a ridiculously long email I sent to a friend regarding the question "If we are to live holy we must know what is right and what is wrong", which I suggested gets into "how" we "know" anything. Here's what I had to say (with a few selective edits)...

There are two kinds of knowledge - rational/natural/head knowledge and instinctive/supernatural/heart knowledge.

I rationally know that 2+ 2 = 4, Lansing is the capital of Michigan, etc. I've been led astray though by false syllogisms, faulty logic, and emotional manipulation (guilt, pressure, shame, etc) posing as knowledge.

I instinctively know that Joyce is the one for me, that God is real, that Jesus' way is best, that there is a hope for those who follow him. I can't prove these things rationally, but I do know them in a way more enduring than reason.

For the follower of God, heart knowledge is superior to head knowledge, and has a pervasive effect on one's life because God has given us a new heart in fulfillment of the covenant in Jeremiah so that our heart is no longer deceitful above all things and untrustworthy. For a true believer, following your heart is tantamount to following God (though for an unbeliever that's impossible; at best it's following self-centered whims). The Holy Spirit indwells the heart and communicates through it.

The mind, on the other hand, is still affected by the god of this world and must be renewed, transformed, every thought must be "held captive to the obedience of Christ" as Paul wrote. It is the mind that fears, worries, doubts - these do not occur in the heart. It is the mind that must be subjugated to the heart where we KNOW in ways we can't rationally explain that God is good, trustworthy, merciful, and will defend us now or in the end.

When we approach scripture, we need to learn to interpret it with our hearts, not merely our minds. That is not to say that reason has no place, but it does not have the preeminence. Reason is subordinated to the Holy Spirit who assures us at a much deeper level of what is true and what isn't.

I have lost arguments and been "convinced" rationally to follow someone who claimed to have the correct interpretation of scripture only to find that it wasn't the whole counsel of God and that my heart (and Joyce's) had been warning against it all along but we refused to heed that innermost warning. It cost us many years and tears, but God is good, we have been forgiven, and we forgive in return for all He's done for us.

I know now that I must come to scripture with humility, realizing that the reality of God is greater than any doctrinal statement about Him, that His wisdom exceeds our best attempts to grasp it, that His love is so endless that I have little clue and yet so desperately need to embrace it.

I'm not worried about "living holy" - if I love Him, it will occur both naturally and supernaturally. I'm not in fear of disappointing God - God has already paid my price and has not given us the spirit of fear (and I know who does give such a spirit and he is my enemy). Love fulfills the law. Perfect love casts out all fear. Love is far more powerful than condemnation. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (1 John 4:8).

Sometimes it seems like people pick over the teachings of Moses, Jesus, Paul, etc. and strain at gnats to feel self-assured of their correctness (a la the Pharisees in scripture) while at the same time totally avoiding DOING the teachings. James lets us know that this is empty, dead, in vain. We don't do works to earn anything, but if we've been changed by His love and grace and power, we will do good works because of who we now are - it's just what kingdom kids do. It's their DNA.

So as I follow God, as I try to more and more follow the way of Jesus, I plan to follow my heart in the process - it won't mislead me like faulty logic has.

P.S. I may have misspoken here or there, stated something that on further review I don't agree with quite that way, but it's like Bluto in Animal House giving his speech - "Don't stop him - he's on a roll..." Anything I said that is true is not true because I said it, but because God made it that way. I accept responsibility for anything less than true. :)