When I was a child, a cousin of mine lived for a time with my maternal grandmother. Being of a wild sort, he enjoyed hanging pornographic pictures on the wall of his bedroom. When my grandmother asked him to remove them, he asked her why she was so upset. After all, he asked, isn't this the beautiful human body God created.
My cousin was right—up to a point. God did create the human body, and He did make it beautiful. (Mother Eve was doubtless lovelier than the most gorgeous fashion model.) But if God did create our bodies, He has the right to tell us how to use—and not use—what He created.
God also created our minds. He fashioned our intelligence. He designed our ability to ask, to analyze, and to probe. But what is true of our bodies is equally true of our minds. If God made them, He has the right to tell us how to use them.
Owner’s Manual
This is where the written counsel of God comes in (Isa. 8:20; Acts 17:11). Just as when we buy a new car we study the owner's manual, so when we become Christians we study the inspired documents where God reveals His will. For devout Seventh-day Adventists, the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy writings are the Owner's Manual for the human mind and body.
Some in contemporary Adventism seem to think otherwise. They talk as if our minds should be free of all restraint—free to doubt, question, and reach almost any conclusion without fear of divine punishment or church discipline. Words like "academic freedom," "pluralism," "freedom of expression," and “thinking outside the box” are often heard on their lips. (The latter phrase I encountered repeatedly this past week on a friend’s Facebook page.) When church leaders or laypeople demand doctrinal accountability for pastors, professors, institutions, structural entities, or individuals within the denomination, these "freedom of thought" champions accuse such persons of encouraging a "fear and loathing of the mind." This makes about as much sense as to say those who refuse to buy pornography are encouraging a "loathing" of the human body.
God in Our Image
The Bible tells us that in the beginning, God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26-27). The trouble is, man has been trying to return the favor ever since!
The worship of idols, so strongly condemned in Scripture, is but one of the ways humanity has done this. Wrong ideas about God are just as dangerous, perhaps more so. Ellen White speaks of how “the god of polished fashionable circles, of many colleges and universities, even of some theological institutions—is little better than Baal, the sun-god of Phoenicia” [##1|Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 583.##].
The modern intellectual revolution has created an idolatry of the human mind just as surely as the modern sexual revolution has created an idolatry of the human body. Actually, neither revolution is truly modern. The Bible speaks of those who, "professing themselves to be wise . . . became fools," "who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator" (Rom. 1:22,25). Whenever the human mind or body is explored or experienced outside the limits set by God's written counsel, we have turned God's creation into an idol just as surely as the sun worshipers of ancient Babylon, Egypt, Canaan, and pre-Columbian America.
Mortal Minds and the Ultimate Measure
God created our minds free, of course. But He has also revealed an objective standard of right and wrong, to which the mind transformed by His grace will joyfully submit (Psalm 119:97). The Bible is clear not only that such a standard exists (Ex. 20:3-17; Rom. 3:20; I John 3:4), but that men and women are held accountable for their response to it (James 2:10-12). Hence the modern prophet writes:
That which in the councils of heaven the Father and the Son deemed essential for the salvation of man, was defined from eternity by infinite truths which finite beings cannot fail to comprehend [##2|——Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 408.##].
Understanding the written Word is not, therefore, left to finite human interpretation, despite what many believe. The inspired text is self-explanatory and self-interpreting; neither scholars nor devotional gurus are needed to divine its meaning for us. The written counsel of God (Isa. 8:20; Acts 17:11) unfolds to the human family the ultimate measure of right and wrong, truth and error, by which the eternal destiny of all will be decided:
The warfare against God’s law, which was begun in heaven, will be continued until the end of time. Every man will be tested. Obedience or disobedience is the question to be decided by the whole world. All will be called to choose between the law of God and the laws of men. Here the dividing line will be drawn. There will be but two classes [##3|——The Desire of Ages, p. 763.##].
All idols, be they material or intellectual, will then come crashing down. It is best we cleanse our hearts of these fabrications while mercy still lingers, before events and evidence become so coercive as to render submission to the divine will imperative for even the most evil and obdurate of unregenerate souls.
REFERENCES
1. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 583.
2. ----Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 408.
3. ----The Desire of Ages, p. 763.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan