Not an in-depth theological or scientific study here, and not likely to convince the medical folks, but something to ponder maybe.
By: Keith George
April 11, 2008
I have always been opposed to human organ transplants as much as I am opposed to human cloning. In addition to being cannibalistic, it represents one of the most serious downfalls of modern man, which is allowing scientists and doctors to play God.
This news item puts another negative twist to the transplant issue:
“If Professor Schwartz and his ilk are right, it would destroy one of the foundation stones of modern biology. But then again, modern biology has a guilty little secret: it has, as yet, no viable theory to explain how we store memories and how we produce consciousness.”
There have been other cases reported where a person’s character was greatly changed after an organ transplant, especially after a heart transplant.
According to the Bible, and some scientists, the human heart is the place where the soul resides, and the nature of each person, whether good or bad resides there, either independently from, or in concert with the brain.
One report I read a while back showed laboratory tests that found more intense magnetic activity around the heart than around the brain. And I also finf it interesting that the above-mentioned news item raises questions about the heart and soul. The Holy Bible often talks about the "heart" and "soul" when addressing the makeup of man's mental and spiritual character, but mentions the "mind" very few times.
In searching the KJV Bible with my' Desktop Bible', I found many verses that would lead me to believe that the heart trumps the mind in God's Word... here are but a few...
Old Testament:
Deut:11:16: Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
Deut:11:18: Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
Jer:29:13: And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
New Testament:
Mt:15:18: But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Lk:6:45: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Rom:6:17: But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom:10:10: For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
2Cor:3:3: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart
Heb:4:12: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Not one of these verses mention the mind or brain. When I searched both the Old Testament and N.T. for the phrase "your mind," I only found 9 verses total.
But a search for "your heart" produced 25 hits in the O.T., and 10 verses in the N.T..
Searching for "the heart" gave me 88 hits in the O.T. and 22 hits in the N.T..
Searching for "the mind" only produced one hit in the O.T., and that spoke of "the mind of God." In the N.T., I only found 6 hits, and again, most of these verses referred to the mind of the "Spirit" or mind of the "Lord."
The exact statement that the heart is, or contains the soul was not found here, but pretty close, I'd say. It's possible that there may be modern Bible translations that may say just that... but I cannot say.
Not an in-depth theological or scientific study here, and not likely to convince the medical folks, but something to ponder maybe.
If the Bible warns us not to mingle blood between different tribes of humans, it would surely put organ transplants within that catagory… in my humble opinion, at least.
Ezra:9:2:
“For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.”
