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the potentia) of
MINO
and
CHARAC–
TER
that God gave only toman . No
animal was ever given the gift of
mind
power-ability to think, to
reason, to make choices and deci–
sions- as was man!
/t is this very
SPECIAL ATTRI–
BUTE OF MINO ANO CHARACTER
that separates men from anima/si
Animals possess what we call
instinct. Their brains are programed,
so to speak, by God with particular
instinctive aptitudes to live and per–
form in a certain way. They follow
instinctive
habit patterns in their
feeding, nesting, migration and
reproduction. Thus beavers build
dams, birds build nests. These apti–
tudes are
inherited-they
are not
the result of logical, cognitive or
thinking processes.
For example, millions of birds
flock south each year as winter
approaches in the Northern Hemi–
sphere. They don't stop to reason
why, they don't ask themselves
whether they should, they don' t plan
ahead an itinerary for the trip. At a
given internal signal- like the preset
alarm of a clock- they leave their
summer feeding grounds in the
north and travel hundreds, sorne–
times thousands of miles south.
Scientists don 't fully understand
why- they merely observe the oper–
ation of this animal instinct.
Each species or kind of bird builds
a different type of nest, feeds on spe–
cific kinds of foods, and migrates at
different times to various destina–
tions. But none of these actions is
planned
in advance by the birds as
humans would . Birds merely have
the capability and prodivity to do
that which Almighty God built into
the instinct of each at creation.
But man's mind is vastly different
from animal instinct. Man is able to
devise various ways to do any one
tbing or to achieve a predetermined
goal. Man can acquire knowledge
and reason from it. He can draw con–
clusions, make decisions, will to act
according to a thought-out plan.
Man can design and build differ–
ent types of houses, using different
designs and different building mate–
rials. Sorne houses are built of wood,
sorne of brick or stone, and sorne
people living near the North Pole
even live in ice houses called igloos.
Humans also eat different foods,
prepared in many different ways.
January
1985
We may live entirely different life–
styles from one another. And if a
man wants to change bis way of
life- he can! Man is not subject to
instinct. He is not governed by a set
of predetermined habit patterns as
animals are.
Man can
choose-he
has free
moral agency. He can devise codes
of conduct and exercise self-disci–
pline. Man can originate ideas and
evaluate knowledge because he has
a
MINO
that is patterned after God's
own mind!
Man can devise, plan
and bring bis plans to fruition
because he has been given sorne of
the very creative powers of God!
Man alone .can wonder, "Why
was
1
born? What
is
life? What is
death?
ls there a
purpose
in human
Man has the intellectual
capacity to design
spaceships to take him to
the moon and back,
yet he cannot solve bis
problems
with fellowman.
existence?" Man, unlike the ani–
mals, not only "knows" how to do
certain things, but he also
KNOWS
that he knows-=-that is, he is
aware
that he has knowledge. He is
con–
scious
of tbe fact. He is
se/f-con–
scious, aware of his own existence
as a unique being.
These attributes of mind and
character make man
God'~
UNIQUE
physical creation. God has shared
sorne of his own qualities with man.
And God expects man to develop
and become conformed to the
spir–
itual
"image" of God's perfect
mind and holy cbaracter (Matt.
5:48)-just as man now is formed
in the
physical
"image" of God.
"Human" Splrit Makes
the Difference!
Man was created to have a special
relationship with God that animals
are utterly unable to have. Man was
made in the likeness of the Goo
kind. He was made in God's image
so that he might one day be
born
into God's divine family!
God's purpose in making mortal
man after his own l ikeness
demanded mind power in man pat–
terned after
God's own mind.
That
is wby the most remarkable thing
about man is his mind.
What is it then that separates
humankind from the animal king–
dom? What gives man this God–
plane power of intellect?
It all boils down toa
nonphysical
component in the human brain that
does not exist in animal brain. lt is
this nonphysical component that
makes man so vastly different from
animals.
lt
is what makes man truly
UNIQUE!
Man does not have an immortal
soul within bim that enables him to
live on apart from his body after
death (remember man is a
mortal
soul). But the Bible nevertheless
does speak of a "spirit
IN
man"
(Job 32:8, 18; Zech. 12:1;
1
Cor.
2:1'1).
Many passages of Scripture
show that there is a "spirit"
IN
man! This spirit is
not the man-it
is something that is
IN
the man.
J oined with the physical brain of
the man, it forms human
MIND.
lt
imparts to man's brain his unique
powers of intellect and personali–
ty-the ability to think rationally
and make free will decisions. lt
imparts the ability to learn mathe–
matics, languages or other types of
knowledge such as music, art, car–
pentry, flying .
But that's all. The spirit that is
IN
man has no consciousness of
itself.
It
is
not
an "immortal soul."
This spirit is
not
the "man."
The spirit that is
IN
man can be
called "human" spirit, for it is in
each human, even though it is
spir–
it
essence
and not matter. lt is nota
"ghost," spirit being or the Holy
Spirit.
1t
is not the man, but spi rit
essence
IN
the man. lt is
NOT
a
soul- the physical human
is
a
soul.
The
human
spirit does not
supply human life-the human life
is in the physical blood, oxidized by
the breath of life (Lev. 17:11).
But the spirit in man does
impart the power of intellect to
the human brain. This nonphysi–
cal component in the human brain
is spirit essence, just as in the
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