Slides: How Your Actions Shape Your Mind

How Your Actions Shape Your Mind
By David Feddes

J.J. Rousseau’s beliefs

• People are born good but corrupted by family and social institutions.
• Children do best in government care.
• People’s real will is the government.
• Sex without marriage is healthy and right.Behavior shapes belief

J.J. Rousseau’s behaviors
• Sponged off others
• Old woman saved him from poverty four times. He let her die without helping.
• Used mistress for pleasure, not love
• Abandoned five kids to a state orphanage where 5% of kids lived to adulthood.

Behavior shapes belief

• The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. (Proverbs 4:18-19)

• Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely. (Proverbs 28:4-5)

• Wisdom is knowing through doing, and doing based on knowing.

What shapes your mind?

• Your social setting: Whom do you fit (or fight) with?

• Your actions: What is your pattern of behavior?

• Your heart: What moves your inner self?

Behavior shapes belief

• Workaholic business tycoon believes that free enterprise blesses everybody.

• Slave driver believes blacks are less human and Scripture favors slavery.

• Live-in couples believe that living together first makes a good marriage more likely.

• Control freak believes in total patriarchy.

• Rebel child believes parents are unfair.

• Party animal thinks the Bible is outdated.

Evildoers avoid light

Truthdoers seek light

The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. (John 3:19-21)

Can’t see well with a muddy windshield.
Filthy living splatters mud on your mind.

Sin blocks knowledge

… weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,  always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth . . . these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. (2 Timothy 3:6-8)

To see clearly, your lens must be clean.

Truth: follow it or forget it

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:23-25)

Obeying aids understanding

• None of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. (Daniel 12:10)

• Start acting as though you believe, and you just might believe more strongly!

• If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. (John 7:17)