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“The head and the heart should not be pitted against each other. We need both. Bruce Ware says, ‘If you don’t have it in your head, you can’t have it in your heart.’” - Randy Alcorn

Discussion

Tue, 03/07/23

Thankyou, Randy!! (← note rare use of double exclamation points).

The heart over head thing drives me crazy. There is nothing ungodly about knowledge and nothing godly about ignorance.

I’m tempted to post an ‘excerpt’ of the entire post, but will restrain myself. As they say, read the whole thing.

You are a whole person, and the path to your heart travels through your mind. Lois Tverberg explains, “In English we speak of the heart to refer to our emotions, sometimes even contrasting our hearts with our heads—our rational thinking. But in Hebrew, the heart…doesn’t just describe your emotions. It also refers to your mind and thoughts as well. It is the center of all your inner life.”

Truth matters. When you speak truth, you come to believe it. To touch us at the heart level—and to keep touching us over days, months, years, and decades—truth must work its way into our minds.

Jen Wilkin writes, “The heart cannot love what the mind does not know.” And “If we want to feel deeply about God, we must learn to think deeply about God.”

I cringe whenever someone says, “We know too much truth/doctrine/theology. We need to live it.” Of course, we need to live it, but the solution is not knowing less. In fact, Christians know less about the Bible and biblical doctrine than any time in memory. We need more of it, not less, and when we learn it properly, it will draw our hearts to God.

Bold added.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Tue, 03/07/23

So what’s the answer to the question, Does the Church Need More “Heart Knowledge” or More “Head Knowledge”? The answer is yes, we need more of both and less of neither, and we need to not artificially divide them or promote a false choice between them. The biblically-informed mind of Jesus fed and directed His heart, and His heart moved His mind, in complete concert. So it should be for us.

The question: "Does the Church Need More “Heart Knowledge” or More “Head Knowledge”? " is classic false dichotomy