E. Stan Lennard, M. D., Sc. D.

            In my next blog I will explain in general terms how the cognitive mind of humans interacts with the synaptic networks of their brains.  I described this complex activity in both of my books, and I show how dualist interaction applies to the process - how the immaterial mind interacts causally with the material brain and its synaptic networks.

            With the passing of each year neuroscientists gain more knowledge of this incredibly complex process by applying advancing technologies, and there is so much more to learn!  (It shows the awesome magnificence and power of the Mind of God in whose image the mind of Man was created!)  It is important to note, however, that much of the perspective shared in their literature and books considers the brain like a computer, a data processor, or the neuroscientists reduce all the mechanisms of the mind, such as attention and will, to the Darwinian evolved physical brain, a perspective referred to as materialist reductionism.  Dualist interaction is not accepted in their views. That aspects of cognition, of the mind, are immaterial is a nonstarter, much less having causal effects on synaptic networks.

            But, in my ongoing research I am also witnessing an increasing number of neuroscientists, as well as philosophers of science and physicists, accepting the evidence that indeed dualist interactionism is a reality, that the material brain cannot account for the mind with its quantum mechanical features.  Many even acknowledge the reality of the action of God on the mind of Man. But an understanding of this process is fleeting, and it has been the challenging focus of my apologetics research these past 20 years.  It has been a most humbling experience for me as a medical scientist and Christian!  So, do not expect me to give definitive answers to this issue.  I will do my best to share what I have learned, finding concordance between theology and science on many levels. 

My next blog will be entitled, “Waves in Our Brains,” and the blog that will follow it  will address the comment in my hypothesis, “…IT IS PROPOSED THAT A NONMATERIAL ENERGY FROM THE MIND OF GOD INDUCES THE SYNAPTIC TRANSMISSION OF SPECIFIED INFORMATION TO THE MIND OF MAN….” Just what is this “nonmaterial energy?”  We know that energy exists in wave forms that even define the constitution of matter with varying frequencies and amplitudes, and we shall see that waves abound in the mechanisms of neural synaptic transmission.  Can wave transmission explain, at least in part, how human minds interact, how the Mind of God interacts with the mind of Man? 

E. Stan Lennard, M.D., Sc.D.              

In my second book, The Boundless Love of God: A Holy Spirit Story, I cited Christoph Lameter who stated in his doctoral dissertation, “God can effectively communicate with humans by direct stimulation of neurons in the human brain generating images and memories.  God is able to communicate with humans in a direct way.” (1) In his book, Being As Communion, William A. Dembski presented a scheme adapted from Claude Shannon that serves as a template for information transmission between the Mind of God and the mind of Man by means of the indwelling of the human spirit by the personal Holy Spirit. (2)  I am presenting the scheme in this blog as a foundation for subsequent blogs that will address how this interaction may occur drawing from current studies from the neurosciences.  In this scheme the identification of the Sender, or Information Source, is the Mind of God, and the Recipient, or Receiver, is the mind of Man.  God intended it as an intimate, personal communion of love.            

Information Source (Mind of God) generates a            

Message (the Word – specified information, the Word also being Jesus Christ) that is given to a            

Transmitter (Holy Spirit) that directs a            

Signal with meaning and purpose to the            

Receiver (mind of Man) in the form of            

Spike patterns of action potentials transmitted through the  

Destination, the neural synaptic networks as            

Linguistic codes in various manifestations (dreams, visions, perceived words, intuition, discernment) interpreted by the

Receiver, or recipient, the immaterial, cognitive mind of Man

Noise in the communication channel reflects the distorting or blocking effects by evil, sin or focus on self on the            

Message of the Information Source            

Effective error correction of the distorted or blocked Message is provided by the            

Word, the life and teachings of Jesus Christ through the Bible and through the conscience given by the Transmitter, the indwelling Holy Spirit, who gives discernment of God’s general revelation            

It is my hope that the evidence presented in my two books that is derived from Scripture, neuroscience, quantum mechanics and information theory for dualist interaction between the Holy Spirit and the soul of Man through the human spirit and neural synaptic networks is compelling.  In subsequent blogs I will explain how the interaction may occur drawing upon concordance between science and theology..  

References

1.     Christoph Lameter, Divine Action in the Framework of Scientific Knowledge: from Quantum Behavior to Divine Action, A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the School of Theology at Fuller Seminary in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Apologetics and Philosophy, Newark, CA. (October 20, 2000)

2.    William A. Dembski, Being As Communion: A Metaphysics of Information (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2014)                                                      

Alvin Plantinga stated in his book, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion and Naturalism (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), “Perhaps He is also very much a hands on God, constantly active in history, leading, guiding, persuading and redeeming His people, blessing them with ‘the Internal Witness of the Holy Spirit’ (Calvin) or ‘the Internal Instigation of the Holy Spirit’ (Aquinas) and conferring upon them the gift of faith.” I cited Christoph Lameter in my book, Nerve Endings of the Soul: Interaction Between the Mind of God and the Mind of Man Through Neural Synaptic Networks, who stated, “God can effectively communicate with humans by direct stimulation of neurons in the human brain generating images and memories. God is able to communicate with humans in a direct way. May this be an explanation for the working of the Holy Spirit? Visions and other religious experiences could be understood through this process.”

I wish to share an experience my friend, Michael Lienau, had as a young cinematographer who was trapped extremely close to Mount St. Helens for four days just after its second eruption. He and his companions were considered dead until they were discovered by a search team. I direct you to the link, https://www.globalnetproductions.com/new-page-1 which shows the great power and destruction caused by the eruption with many lives lost. Michael describes a life transforming experience he had during that critical time which is featured in a documentary in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the eruption. I share it with you in the link, https://gna.news/content/volcano-survivors-dramatic-escape .

Yes, the Holy Spirit is alive and active in our time by the grace of God through the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ!

E. Stan Lennard, M.D., Sc.D.

My friend and former colleague, Ken Samples, posted an article on the Reasons To Believe website entitled, “What Happens to Those Who Never Hear the Gospel?”  He identified the traditional Christian view as Exclusivism which asserts that the unevangelized are lost because they have sinned in Adam.  However, he goes on to state that they will be judged by the general revelation God has given to all human beings. (1) 

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

            A question has been asked by countless generations, can the revelation of God in His creation prepare one for salvation in Jesus Christ?  Is there no hope for people across the world in all of history who never heard the Gospel?  After all, it was Jesus who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Let us examine this important question in the context of the covenant made by God with Abram and by the blessing of Abram by the Canaanite king and high priest of Salem, Melchizedek.  He knew Yahweh, the God of Abram, by His general revelation.  General revelation prepares one to receive the Gospel through the eternal priest in the order of Melchizedek, Jesus Christ. (2)

            Abram of Ur was given a promise by Yahweh 4000 years ago if he would obey His command to leave his people and country and go to a foreign land. (Genesis 12:1) He would be blessed by his obedience, and all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him since in his lineage was to be Jesus Christ the Messiah. (Genesis 12:3) Upon his arrival in Canaan Abram entered Salem and encountered the king who reigned over it, Melchizedek.  He was the king of righteousness, the priest of El Elyon, the God most high.  El Elyon was the Canaanite name for Yahweh. Melchizedek saw that Abram worshipped Yahweh/El Elyon and blessed him.  Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had recovered in the rescue operation of Lot from Kedorlaomer and his allied kings. (Genesis 14:18-20) In this ancient culture the blessing by Melchizedek identified him as the greater of the two, and the lesser represented by Abram was obligated to give gifts to the greater.  As was the custom in that time Melchizedek was also the high priest of Salem.  When King David conquered Salem in later years he became its priest – as was Melchizedek before him – and renamed it Jerusalem.  King David prophesied that the Messiah who was in the lineage of the House of David would be an eternal priest in the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4) “in which membership is . . . not restricted to one particular lineage.” (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7:1-22) (3) The priestly tribe of Levi that was descended from Abram (renamed Abraham) was not to be a permanent priesthood.  The prophecy by David foretold the change in the priesthood order that was to come with the New Covenant in Jesus Christ. (4)

And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.  For it is declared: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 7:15-17) . . . and a better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God. (Hebrews 7:19)

            It is unknown how Melchizedek received his knowledge of Yahweh, whom he called El Elyon. (5) God has the power to interact with people who have no access to the knowledge of Jesus Christ or of His special revelation in the Bible. (Romans 1:20) In Acts 10:34-35 Peter said, “I now realize how true it is that God . . . accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right” as led by their conscience, itself a manifestation of God’s general revelation.  General revelation is older and has influenced 100 percent of mankind in all of history. (Psalm 19) The Belgic Confession of 1566 makes the following statement:

We know Him (God) by . . . the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: His eternal power and His diversity, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20.

            “. . . the Messiah who came among men in fulfillment of every spiritual reality foreshadowed by the Levitical priestly system was also at the same time ‘a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’ (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:4-10; 6:20; 7:15-22) Christ . . .  is Lord of both general and special revelation . . . The true light (Jesus Christ) that gives light to every man (through general revelation) was coming into the world (to shine upon men in special revelation).” (John 1:9) (6)

            The redeeming grace of God has been revealed to mankind in His dual revelation, giving all people hope for salvation through Jesus Christ the Messiah, eternal priest in the order of Melchizedek.

References

1.    Kenneth R. Samples, “What Happens to Those Who Never Hear the Gospel?” Reflections, June 9, 2020 https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/reflections/read/reflections/2020/06/09/what-happens-to-those-who-never-hear-the-gospel

2.    Don Richardson, Eternity in Their Hearts (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1984), 30.

3.    Ibid.

4.    Xenos Christian Fellowship, “Old Testament Teachings,” http://www.xenos.org/teachings/ot/genesis/gary/gen14-1.htm.

5.    Richardson, 30.

6.    Ibid, 156-57.

E. Stan Lennard, M.D., Sc.D.

What is music to Man? It is a manifold beauty that richly communicates information that has structure, meaning, purpose and plan as elaborate as any advanced science, technology or philosophy. (1) Its purpose is given action through creative expression (2) and has rules of order that assign specificity to complexity. (3) In Man music stimulates special interactive networks through synaptic transmission of neural codes. The codes ascribe patterns of melody and theme to assemblies of frequencies, tempos, rhythms and harmonies. This is by a process of creative choice of human intelligence. (4) It is a language expressed only by Man and links Man’s physical being with the soul and spirit. (5)

Music expresses the character of God with the precision of science. (6) God has given us music with the aim to glorify Him, encourage counsel, warns, corrects, comforts and teaches truth. It describes His preeminence as the only true God and His eternal reign as Sovereign Lord and King. Music flows from a life that is filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit. It gives expression to the Gospel and is identified with Jesus Christ. It is the only art that has a place in heaven and will endure for eternity. (7)

William A. Dembski relates that certain Church Fathers as Gregory of Nazianzus have compared God’s created universe to a musical instrument. “But what if the universe is like a musical instrument?…Then it is entirely appropriate for God to interact with the universe by introducing design (or in his analogy, by skillfully playing a musical instrument). So long as there are consummate pianists and composers, player-pianos will always remain inferior to real pianos. The incompleteness of the real piano taken by itself is therefore irrelevant here. Musical instruments require a musician to complete them. Thus, if the universe is more like a musical instrument, it is appropriate for a designer to interact with it in ways that affect its physical state. On this view, for the designer to refuse to interact with the world is to withhold gifts.” (8)

When we sing or play music on instruments we are giving witness to our Creator and Savior and King who indwells us and has given us reasons to believe in Him through music.

References

1.        Fred I. Dretske, Knowledge and the Flow of Information (Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications, 1999), 1-82; Werner Gitt, “Information, Science and Biology,” Technical Journal 10, no. 2 (August 1996), 181-187; John R. Pierce, An Introduction to Information Theory, 2nd revised ed. (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1980), 107-124.

2.       Gitt, Ibid, 181-187.

3.       William A. Dembski, The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2004), 134-138.

4.       W. Maxwell Cowan and Eric R. Kandel Synapses (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 1-87; Rodney Douglas and Kwan Martin, The Synaptic Organization of the Brain, ed. Gordon M. Shepherd (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 459-509; Idan Segev and Michael London, Dendrites, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 205-230; Spikes: Exploring the Neural Code, eds. Fred Rieke, David Warland, Rob de Ruyter van Steveninck, and William Bialek (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1999), 103-187; Nelson Spruston, Greg Stuart, and Michael Hausser, Dendrites, eds. Greg Stuart, Nelson Spruston, and Michael Hausser, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 231-270.

5.       Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man (New York: Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc., 1977), 21-68.

6.       Steve Camp, “The Character of Christian Music,” Part Three, http://www.bargenquast.com/steph/theses/theses.html.

7.       Ibid,

8.       William A. Dembski, No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002), 328.

E. Stan Lennard, M.D., Sc.D.

To those of you who are visiting my website I wish to provide a background for my twenty years of apologetics research that has resulted in this website and blogs.  I was born in Central Texas to Christian parents and was raised in the church with a Christian extended family.  I was taught the basics of Christianity but without an understanding of the Holy Spirit.  Though the Apostle's Creed was recited at each church service I received no specific instruction about Him. (This is a shared experience with many church goers, as I have learned!)  I progressed through my formal education focusing on the sciences as I prepared for my medical career which spanned for just over 30 years.  During this time I still thirsted to know about the Holy Spirit.  I came to know much about the medical and natural sciences but had no depth of knowledge of theology, why and what I believed. 

In 1987 I heard a presentation by Dr. Hugh Ross.  The ministry he founded in 1986 has a profound message giving people reasons to believe in the truth of Christianity and in Jesus Christ.  The ministry’s mission is to show that science and faith are allies, integrating science and faith respectfully and with integrity.  The name of the ministry is appropriately Reasons To Believe.  I maintained an association with the ministry for 25 years, working in a number of capacities.  Through its vast resources I deepened my knowledge of Christianity and have come to know what and why I believe as a Christian. 

In 1986 I met the woman who is my wife, a woman with a Christian heritage and experience with teaching about the Holy Spirit.  I loved my conversations with her, and I began to quench my thirst for knowledge of the Holy Spirit.  Through RTB I became a certified apologist, taught for eleven years in the online educational program of the ministry and began research into the dual interaction between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit, soul and the neural synaptic networks of the brain.  My research required me to obtain a working knowledge of quantum mechanics and information theory that apply to the means of interaction between the immaterial Mind of God and mind of Man and the material human brain.  My research has resulted in four articles and two books.  I am eager to share what I have learned about the Holy Spirit with readers, friends and family.  I know I am saved by the grace and love of God through His Son, Jesus Christ who restored the direct, personal, loving communion between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit and soul. I now have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit and desire the same for you.

E. Stan Lennard, M.D., Sc.D.

Sir Karl Popper and Sir John C. Eccles defined “self” in their work published in 1977, The Self and Its Brain (1). 

“…the self is not a ‘pure ego,’ that is, a mere subject.  Rather, it is incredibly rich. …it observes and takes action at the same time.  It is acting and suffering, recalling the past and planning and programming the future, expecting and disposing.  It contains…wishes, plans, hopes, decisions to act, and a vivid consciousness of being an acting self, a center of action.  And it owes this selfhood largely to interaction with other persons….”

The highest mental experience is “knowing that one knows,” self-awareness or self-consciousness. (2)  It is the most fundamental characteristic of the human species (3) and emerges from levels of linguistic communication not shared by non-human animals. (4)  Mind and language are more than physical entities.  Distinctively human language enables Man to bridge the gulf between mind and matter, the immaterial and the material.  Human language reflects a spiritual component in humans that does not exist in other creatures and lifts them to a unique eminence in the cosmos, made in the triune image of God with spirit, soul and body. (5)  Bruce M. Miller stated that “…it may be deflating to some people that the very essence of who they are – including their beliefs and values – is merely another anatomical process.”  This statement reflects the common reduction made of the mind to the physical brain.  The sense of self according to his studies could be localized to one area of the brain. (6) 

            William A. Dembski (7) points out that a full material account of mind needs to understand localized brain excitations in terms of other localized brain excitations.  Anger, for example, has to be explained in terms of semantic contents, such as insults.  The admixture of brain excitations and semantic contents hardly constitutes a materialist accounting of mind or intelligent agency.  The human soul mediates between the spirit and body and correlates with the self, or self-consciousness, our “I.”  The self remains in continuity with the past and into the future.  No matter how extreme the circumstances of our experiences one remains the same self, durable through a lifetime. (8,9) The self makes Man distinctively human.  We are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a material world. (10)

            Fundamental to the Gospel is the teaching from Jesus Christ that Christians need to die to self.  What does this mean?  The human self is durable and defines our unique human identity.  Dying to self as a term can generate confusion and angst among Christians.  Jan Johnson has addressed the issue of “dying to self” by explaining the term based on Scripture. 

“Jesus described the dying-to-self process (to ‘deny self’ is the exact scriptural phrase) as part of following Him: ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me’ (Matthew 16:24, NASB). Sometimes people mistake dying to self for death of self. But self-denial is not self-rejection. God treasures your divinely created self. He doesn’t want to obliterate the part of you that makes you uniquely you. God works within you and reshapes you into the person your renewed-in-Christ self is meant to be.” (11)

The following teachings of the Apostles Peter and Paul are representative “scriptural phrases” alluded to by Johnson:

1 Peter 2:24 …and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Galatians 5:24-25 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. 

Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

            It is of unique importance that human beings can communicate with their Creator God through the human spirit and receive Counsel from the Holy Spirit restored to repentant mankind by the sin sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  We remain distinct human selves in interactive harmony with God’s Spirit by His grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus, His Son.

References

1.      Karl R. Popper and John C. Eccles. The Self and Its Brain (Berlin, Heidelberg, London, New York: Springer-Verlag International, 1977), 120.

2.      John C. Eccles. Evolution of the Brain: Creation of the Soul (London and New York: Routledge, 1989), 224.

3.      T. Dobzhansky. The Biology of Ultimate Concern (New York: The New American Library, 1967).

4.      Eccles, Ibid, 71.

5.      Joseph W. Poulshock, “Language-Wonder: Theory, Pedagogy, and Research,” Christ and the World, the Journal of Tokyo Christian University, 8 (1998).

6.      Bruce L. Miller, “Finding One’s Self,” Presented at the American Academy of Neurology, 53rd Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, P/a, May 5-11, 2001.

7.      William A. Dembski, “Are We Spiritual Machines?” First Things, 96 (1999), 25-31.

8.      Henry Margenau, The Miracle of Existence. Woodbridge, Connecticutt: Ox Bow Press, 1984).

9.      John C. Eccles, “Do Mental Events Cause Neural Events Analogously to the Probability Fields of Quantum Mechanics?” Proc. Royal Soc. London (Biol), 227 (1986), 411-428.

10.  Eccles, Ibid, 241.

11.  Jan Johnson, Dying to Self and Discovering So Much More, August 25, 2011       (https://decisionmagazine.com/dying-self-discovering-much-more/)