“the ultimate tragedy that can befall a human is being overcome by sin. sin can claim our thoughts, desires and will. it can damn our soul and accounts for the loss of the intimate, indwelling communion between the holy spirit and the spirit of fallen mankind. jesus the god-man had a human spirit and soul and was indwelled by the holy spirit at his baptism by john the baptist. he lived in full obedience to the spirit’s counsel, even to his death on the cross. it was for this redemptive death that jesus entered into our human existence on earth. he came to save mankind from sin by his sacrifice on the cross to restore the indwelling by the spirit.”

(many of the excerpts i will include in my blogs give reference to resources which are listed in the end notes of my book. for readers who are interested in finding resources i allude to, please refer to my book where citations are recorded and listed in the end notes.)

CONTINUING FROM MY PREFACE:

“my neuroanatomy professor in medicAL SCHOOL SERVED AS A RESEARCH FELLOW WITH SIR JOHN CAREW ECCLES WHO WAS AWARDED THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR HIS STUDIES OF NEURAL SYNAPTIC TRANSMISSION. MY PROFESSOR OFTEN REFERRED TO SIR ECCLES DURING HIS LECTURES, AND WHEN I SPOKE WITH HIM BY PHONE YEARS LATER AT THE INCEPTION OF MY RESEARCH INTO THE HOLY SPIRIT HE REFERRED TO ECCLES AS ‘A MAN OF THE SPIRIT.’ THIS DESCRIPTION OF HIM LAUNCHED MY STUDY OF INTERACTION BETWEEN THE IMMATERIAL SPIRIT OF GOD AND THE SPIRIT OF MAN THROUGH WHICH THE HOLY SPIRIT COMMUNES WITH US. I DREW UPON THE INSIGHTS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS OF SIR ECCLES. THE INTERACTION PROVIDES FOR AN INTIMATE AND PERSONAL COMMUNION BETWEEN THE MIND OF GOD AND THE MIND OF MAN, A MIND THAT WAS CREATED IN THE IMAGO DEI. SIR ECCLES’ WORK SHOWED HOW THE IMMATERIAL HUMAN MIND DEPENDS UPON THE SYNAPTIC NETWORKS OF THE MATERIAL BRAIN BUT CANNOT BE REDUCED TO THEM. THE MIND IS A SEPARATE IMMATERIAL ENTITY AS IS THE SPIRIT, AND BOTH ARE DISTINCT FROM THE MATERIAL BRAIN WITH WHICH THEY ARE IN AN INTERACTIVE FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIP, A RELATIONSHIP REFERRED TO AS DUALIST INTERACTIONISM. I APPLIED THIS MODEL TO MY STUDIES TO COME TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S LOVE.”

I begin my blog posts with this excerpt from the preface of my book, The boundless love of god: a holy spirit story:

“i had a thirst during my youth to understand the holy spirit mentioned in the apostle’s creed and recited eACH SUNDAY IN MY FAMILY’S CHURCH SERVICES, BUT IT WENT UNQUENCHED. UNFORTUNATELY THERE WAS LITTLE TEACHING ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT FROM THE PULPIT IN MY DENOMINATION, A DEFICIENCY THAT PERSISTS TO THIS DAY IN MANY CHURCHES. IT WAS MY CONNECTION BEGINNING IN 1987 WITH REASONS TO BELIEVE, AN INTERNATIONAL, INTERDENOMINATIONAL MINISTRY, AND MY ACADEMIC TRAINING AND TENURE IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION THAT PROVIDED DIRECTION AND RESOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN MY ADULT YEARS. IT WAS NOT ENOUGH TO RECITE BELIEF IN THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE CREED. I WANTED TO LEARN HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT RELATES TO MANKIND, HOW BY GOD’S GRACE AND LOVE THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AVAILABLE, TO ME. I WANTED TO EXPERIENCE HIM.

“WE WERE CREATED BY GOD FOR DIRECT COMMUNION WITH HIM, AND THE PErSON IN THE TRINITY WHO COMMUNICATES WITH US IS THE HOLY SPIRIT. BUT BEGINNING WITH ADAM MANKIND LOST THE DIRECT, INDWELLING COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT IN A SPIRITUAL DEATH THROUGH THE SIN OF REJECTING THE AUTHORITY OF GOD THE FATHER. ‘BUT BECAUSE OF HIS GREAT LOVE FOR US, GOD, WHO IS RICH IN MERCY, MADE US ALIVE WITH CHRIST EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN TRANSGRESSIONS.’ (EPHESIANS 2: 4-5) JESUS CHRIST DIED AS A SIN SACRIFICE TO REDEEM US. HE AROSE GLORIFIED AND RESTORED THE INDWELLING OF THE PROMISED HOLY SPIRIT AS COUNSELOR AND HELPER TO MAKE SALVATION AND ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST POSSIBLE FOR REPENTANT MANKIND. I WANTED TO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS HAPPENED.”

My next series of blog posts will consist of excerpts from my second book, The boundless love of god: a holy spirit story. I have seen much interest, possibly even hunger, manifested by the larger numbers of visitors to my blogs when they deal with the holy spirit. i will therefore address from whence came and comes the holy spirit with content taken from my book along with my commentary. i shall look to the holy spirit for guidance as i address this most important topic for us all.

Swinburne shares that “human actions are not predetermined by brain-states (and so that in a crucial sense, humans have free will); and that the human soul has a complex, continuing structure to it, a character which does not arise solely from the brain-state to which it is linked.” he continues, “but my thesis is that humans have the power to choose between desires of equal strength, and the power to resist desire and do what they believe more worth while, and that their choice is not necessitated by brain- or other events. . . . i believe that it follows from this and from the fact that humans have beliefs about what is morally good to do and what is morally wrong to do, that they can properly be praised for doing what they believe good to do and blamed for doing what they believe wrong to do; and so are morally responsible.”

Swinburne accepts darwinian macroevolution in his statement, “men evolved from apes, and apes from more primitive ANIMALS, AND THE PRIMITIVE ANIMALS EVOLVED FROM THE SOUP OF INANIMATE ATOMS WHICH CONSOLIDATED TO FORM THE EARTH SOME FOUR THOUSAND MILLION YEARS AGO.” HE DOES HAVE SIGNIFICANT AND RELEVANT PERSPECTIVES ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HUMAN SOUL AND BODY TO WHICH I HAVE BEEN REFERRING IN MY BLOG EXCERPTS. I CONTINUE WITH THE FOLLOWING EXCERPTS:

“I HAVE BEEN ARGUING THAT THERE ARE MENTAL EVENTS OF VARIOUS KINDS - SENSATIONS, THOUGHTS, PURPOSINGS, DESIRES, and beliefs - and that these interact [Italics added] with brain-events, which are physical events. . . . a man’s soul is that to which the (pure) mental properties of a man belong.”

I am including further statements by Swinburne concerning the differentiation between the human body and soul:

“. . . mere knowledge of what happens to bodies does not tell you what happens to persons. hence there must be more to persons than bodies. i shall therefore be arguing that a man living on earth is a substance which consists of two substances, his body and his soul. the body is a material body, but the soul is not a material object or anything like it. . . . body and soul are connected at present, in that events in the body affect events in the soul, and conversely. but the essential part of the man is his soul; a man consists of his soul together with whatever, if any, body is connected to it. mentAL EVENTS WHICH HAPPEN TO THE HUMAN BEING DO SO IN VIRTUE OF HAPPENING TO HIS SOUL; BODILY EVENTS WHICH HAPPEN TO THE HUMAN BEING DO SO IN VIRTUE OF HAppening to his body. this is duALISM, THE POSITION WHICH I SHALL DEFEND. . . . THE SOUL HAS A NATURAL IMMORTALITY, I.E. THAT THE SOUL HAS A NATURE SUCH THAT IT WILL CONTINUE TO SURVIVE ‘UNDER ITS OWN STEAM’ WHATEVER HAPPENS TO THE BODY.”

IN MY WRITING I HAVE DEFINED THE HUMAN SOUL AS CONSISTING OF MIND, WILL AND EMOTION, AND THE HUMAN CONSCIENCE CAN BE INCLUDED. THE SOUL IS TO BE DISTINGUISHED FROM THE HUMAN SPIRIT WHICH, I HAVE arguED, SERVES AS A “CONDUIT,” or portal, IF YOU WILL, FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT TO COMMUNE WITH THE HUMAN MIND AND TO INFLUENCE AND DIRECT THE WILL. THE HOLY SPIRIT has been sent to indwell repentant humans as a counselor and helper, and we have had an intimate, personal communion restored by the love and grace of god through the sin sacrifice of his son, jesus christ, who in resurrection sent as he promised his disciples his holy spirit RECEIVED FROM THE FATHER. this revelation speaks compellingly for the dual INTERACTIVE relationship between the immATERIAL MIND OF MAN AND OF GOD AND THE MATERIAL SYNAPTIC NETWORKS OF THE HUMAN BRAIN.

swinburne further states, “a person continues to exist if that person has mental states; but . . . the mere continued existence of the person’s body is neither necessary nor sufficient for the continued existence of the person. yet the continuing existence of a person is the continuing existence of a substance, in the sense of a thing capable of causal interactions [Bold type ADDED]. so mental states must pertain to an immaterial substance [SWINBURNE IS REFERRING TO SUBSTANCE DUALISM, DISTINCT FROM PROPERTY DUALISM.] . . . . MENTAL EVENTS ARE NOT IDENTICal with brain events.”

swinburne commented in his prolegomenon that “one of the strongest arguments against dualism - that the dualist has never been able to provide an explanation of how mind (i.e. soul) and body interact. . . .” I include this quote since this is the very question i have addressed in over 20 years of research, and it is ongoing, learning how the immaterial mind (and mind of god) interacts with the synaptic networks of the brain. swinburne continues with the comment, “if that leaves us with god as the agent who sustains the mind/body connection in humans, so be it. . . mind-body interaction forms part of a strong cumulative case for the existence of god.”

swinburne continues in his prolegomenon:

“to my mind by far the most interesting scientific work relevant to our topic has been the work, not of neurophysicists, but of physicists considering how Quantum theory might be held to provide an explanation of mind-brain interaction - and give rise to free choice. . . . quantum theory allows room for human free choice.”

i address this interactive relationship in considerable detail in my books and selected blog posts, referencing in particular the work of john eccles and friedrich beck.