| | Once upon a time, quite a while ago, I actually composed a thoughtful post. Maalie made an equally thoughtful comment on a comment (see response to ESI) and requested clarification of my statement, “my whole point is that it all starts in the heart”.
You just have to love another scientist who leaves you the following comment, “The heart is a pump that circulates blood. I am not aware of any other function.” Indeed, his statement is factual to the core, testable and verifiable and shows that he is a scientist indeed!!!
Yet, this is not the only way that the Hebrew mind thought of the heart. To them, in both the writings of the Old and New Testaments, the heart referred to the seat of both physical and spiritual life. It represented the innermost being of a man, his emotions and his intellect, the things that make up the soul and make him unique among other men.
While this may seem a bit far-fetched and fanciful, something that a scientist might ignore as poetic language, it actually seems quite logical to me when I consider the role that blood, and therefore the heart, plays in the body. Physically, it is essential for all aspects of our lives, for without blood, not only does the body die, but also the soul as well since it looses its place of habitation. Without blood I am nothing because I am now no one.
Spiritually, blood was required for the covering of sin. While this notion of the redemptive power of blood is expressed for me most clearly in the book of Hebrews (9:22b), “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin”, it was instituted early in the Old Testament when God dealt with a result of the first sin, Adam and Eve’s awareness of their nakedness. He did not speak clothing into being as He did the rest of creation; He shed blood by killing an animal to cover them in its skin. Thereafter blood covenants were irrevocable. It is in this light that Jesus speaks of His own blood as being poured out to seal a new and better blood covenant to replace the old, providing for permanent forgiveness of sin (Matthew 26:28).
So yes Maalie, even as a scientist, the heart is more to me than just an organ that pumps blood. It provides for my very life, not just for my body, but also my soul; it allows the uniqueness of Susan to be expressed. And it is in the context of this soul, this source of my emotions, desires, passions - my intellect, my ability to understand, reason and choose – that I spoke when I said that all sin begins in my heart. |
| | Posted 1/14/2008 9:37 PM - 85 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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