Do differences in practices of faith mean we follow the same Jesus Christ? (reject, gospel)

[Scuba Pete]

Originally Posted by sojourner

Use your intellect.

Not on your life. That is the way to ego. Use your HEART. Let God write all over it!

Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. NIV

Note how any reference to "intellect" is absent in this passage? I would suggest it's absent in MOST passages.

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by Scuba Pete

Not on your life. That is the way to ego. Use your HEART. Let God write all over it!

Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. NIV

Note how any reference to "intellect" is absent in this passage? I would suggest it's absent in MOST passages.

Did you know that, in the view of the early writers, "heart" was where you did your thinking -- not your feeling. when we hear of "stiff-necked people," it referred to those whose necks were stiff -- in other words, those who could not let what they saw and heard pass into their understanding. When God hardened Pharaoh's heart, it means that God prevented him from knowing -- made him stupid.

Your Biblical passage here, as well as your use of it, both prove the point that we really need to understand what the writer is saying, before we can determine what the Spirit might have been prompting him with. "Let the eyes of your heart be enlightened" is a hope for intellectual understanding.

[Scott1]

Originally Posted by sojourner

"Let the eyes of your heart be enlightened" is a hope for intellectual understanding.

Opinions vary....

The heart is the dwelling-place where I am, where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place "to which I withdraw." The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant.
CCC

[sojourner]

Originally Posted by Scott1

Opinions vary....

The heart is the dwelling-place where I am, where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place "to which I withdraw." The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant.
CCC

the heart is the place of understanding. In ancient Semitic thought, the thinking was done in the heart -- not the brain.

[Scuba Pete]

kardias, or understanding is quite different from gnosis or knowledge. You are indeed confusing the two here.

[Scuba Pete]

In fact, it is kardias which turns simple gnosis into a deep pistis. It has little to do with an intellectual assent.

[Scott1]

Originally Posted by Scuba Pete

In fact, it is kardias which turns simple gnosis into a deep pistis. It has little to do with an intellectual assent.

Amen... come Holy Spirit!