Monday, December 23, 2019

A Few Thoughts About Subconscious Sin—Part 1

Examples:
B1 Sermon I heard recently. Speaking about pride, the preacher mentioned, “If you have pride in your life, God will resist you. Right? Didn’t we just read that? (1 Peter 5:5—editor) We receive power from God, when we humble ourselves and that is called grace. Okay, so that’s why it is really, really important. Look back at your Bibles, if you still got it. Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall...back into that old sin that you used to get victory over. Right? Yup. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Haughty spirit before failure. Haughty spirit before falling back into sin. A haughty spirit before, quote, a relapse. Pride goes before it every time. The problem is we don’t see it. We don’t recognize it. Why? A lot of the time it is subconscious. It’s arrogance we don’t know we have. In fact, let me just put it to you this way. You can live by very humble means. You can have a plain Jane home and not have a whole lot and content to have little but still be arrogant and just not know it.”

My comments:
C1 Later he speaks of sin coming from arrogance referring to King Saul’s sins in 1 Samuel 15. YET, the Holy Spirit makes it plain through Samuel that Saul’s sin is disobedience, not pride. Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:24-26) would have been a better example, but even there the Holy Spirit showed Hezekiah that his sin was pride.
C2 Pride is wrong. It is spoken against by God. But subconscious pride that we do not know we have and will be punished for it?

B2 Job 1:4-5
And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day…

Of course, we confess overt acts of sin, and also secret sins, directly we are aware of them. But our unconscious sins are vastly more numerous than our conscious ones, just as the elevations beneath the ocean waves are much more numerous than those which rear themselves above the breakers as islets. For every one sin you know of, there are perhaps ten of which you are ignorant.

1. Let us understand how unconscious sins come into existence. Old habits assert themselves, in the heat of life, without our noticing them, as a man may unconsciously give a nervous twitch. Besides, our sensibilities are blunt, and permit sins to pass for want of knowing better, as a clerk in a bank may pass a counterfeit banknote for want of longer experience. Moreover, our standard is too low; we measure ourselves against our fellows, and not against the requirements of God. Then, too, though we may resist temptation, we can hardly do it without getting some stain.

2. Let us learn when unconscious sins are most to be dreaded. During times of feasting and holiday. Because we then give less time to devotion. Because we relax our self-watch. Because we are thrown into light and frivolous company. Job was always anxious after such times, and said, "It may be."

3. Let us see how to deal with unconscious sins. They are sins. They will interrupt our communion. They will work a deadly injury to our spiritual life; for hidden disease is even more perilous than that which shows itself. They must be brought beneath the cleansing blood of Jesus. We need to ask many times each day, Lord Jesus, keep me cleansed from all conscious and unconscious sin.

(F. B. Meyer, B. A.)


Definitions
B1 Subconscious
C1 Relating to thoughts and feelings that exist in the mind and influence your behavior although you are not aware of them. (Source)
C2 Acting or existing without one's awareness (Source)
C3 The Hindu concept of subconscious:
D1 First Quote (Source): Hindu Concepts of the Subconscious Mind

Before the well-known French psychologists Charcot and Janet recognized the existence of the subconscious state of mind the west was interested only in the conscious state of mind. Later Freud, Jung and others concluded that the larger portion of the mind is like the submerged portion of an iceberg. It is unknown to us. But Hindu psychology, long before the birth of Christ, was aware of the subconscious or unconscious state of mind. Panatanjali explained this unconscious state of mind as a storehouse of all past thoughts or samskaras.

These samskaras have the ability to generate tendencies in the conscious plane of the mind. Borrowing a mathematical term, if we call each of these samskaras a vector then the resultant effect of all these will be seen as tendencies in the conscious mind. In the words of Swami Vivekenanda:

Every work that we do, every moment of he day, every thought we think, leaves an impression on the mind-stuff [the internal organ or antahkarana], and even when such impressions are not obvious on the surface they are sufficiently strong to work beneath the surface, man's character is determined by the sum total of these impressions.
D2 Second (Source):
The conscious mind and the subconscious mind, sometimes also called the unconscious mind. The conscious mind is the “awake-mind” - which is only used when we are awake. The subconscious mind goes on working 24 hours of every day. It is not a physical entity, and thus not located anywhere in the physical body. It cannot be seen with the naked eye. It cannot be measured, it cannot be weighed and it cannot be taken apart for scientific research and study. 
D3 Cleansing the subconscious is done by meditation and visualization.
B2 Conscious
C1 Conscious
D1 Conscious (AWAKE)awake, aware of what is happening around you, and able to think: She’s out of surgery but not fully conscious yet.
D2 Conscious adjective (NOTICING)noticing the existence of something: People have become much more conscious of the need to exercise regularly.
D3 Conscious adjective (INTENTIONAL)determined and intentional: Was it a conscious decision to break up the group, or did it just happen?
D4 Conscious adjective (AWARE)being especially aware of or worried about something: Consumers aren’t as conscious of prices as they were last year. (Source)
C2 Consciousaware; capable of thought or will: a conscious decision; cognizant: She was conscious of the stranger standing close to her. (Source)

The evil conclusions of subconscious/unconscious sin
B1 Fear of sinning without knowing it
B2 Every morning, we wake up and wonder how many times I sinned subconsciously. Every evening before sleep, we lay in bed and wonder how many times I sinned subconsciously. We become anxious and self-conscious what we are doing and thinking. “I must ask forgiveness or God will be angry.”
B3 At the time of dying will we be able to ask forgiveness of subconscious/unconscious sins? When our awareness is fading as we get even closer to dying, will we still sin and not ask for forgiveness?
B4 The babies that die before birth (stillborn) or before the age of accountability have no opportunity to ask forgiveness.
B5 We might as well give up the faith, for there is no hope. We are founded on pride and always proud. If pride is not conscious, then it is unconscious (subconscious). If we think we are not proud, we are. If we think we are proud, then we will be proud when we repent. According to the preacher mentioned at the beginning, God resists us. Evidently, we are proud and always proud either with conscious pride or subconscious pride. Psalm 5:5 NLT Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence, for you hate all who do evil.
B6 If an addict relapses, he is doing an old habit, so she/he is proud.
B7 Do you see F. B. Meyer’s comment? Even if something is done due to lacking experience, it is sin. Besides, our sensibilities are blunt, and permit sins to pass for want of knowing better, as a clerk in a bank may pass a counterfeit banknote for want of longer experience.
B8 Something is very, very wrong in this view.
B9 God have mercy; this belief is so wrong.
B10 There is no joy in forgiveness in this view, because we always sin, because we are continuously proud. On the other hand, the Psalmist rejoices at his forgiveness: Psalm 32:1-2 NIV Of David. A maskil. Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Definition of sin
B1 The King of the Universe, Jesus Christ, has laws. Sin is breaking His law, disobeying law, etc.
B2 Neglecting to do what we know is right is sin. James 4:17 GW Whoever knows what is right but doesn't do it is sinning.
B3 These laws are summarized in 10 sets that cover all sins.
C1 No other Gods
C2 No idols
C3 No blasphemy
C4 Special day for rest and worship
C5 Honor parents
C6 No murder
C7 No adultery
C8 No stealing
C9 No false witness
C10 No coveting
B4 Sin can be committed in thoughts, desires, words, and/or deeds.
B5 Sin is punished: James 2:10 NLT For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws.
B6 Death is the sentence: Romans 6:23 NLT For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
B7 What is needed for something to be a sin?
C1 A standard. God is the standard.
D1 For the nation of Israel, it is the 613 Laws of the Old Testament.
D2 For the church (believers, not an organization) it is the approximate 1,000 rules in the New Testament. (Note, I do not know anything about that website, so beware. The list itself is from Dake’s Study Bible. Dake has some heretical belief).
D3 Both sets of laws are consistent with the 10 commandments. All types of lying or false witness are sin, for example.
C2 Sin requires an immoral action, sufficient knowledge, and sufficient consent. To the extent that it keeps us legitimately concerned about the welfare of ourselves or others, it is not an immoral action to worry. Even in cases of needless worry, most worriers do not purposely worry despite knowledge that they should not. Indeed, in some cases, excessive, compulsive worry may be a symptom of a legitimate illness, and therefore not a sin.(Source)
C3 Not doing what is right: James 4:17 NLT Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
C4 Sin can be in thoughts, desires, words, and/or deeds.

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