Energy, Spirits, etc.: an attempt to sort it all out

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jul 31, 2015 at 15:45

I think I've pointed out before that I use the term 'energy' loosley but stressed it is not smply a blind force like electricity. It is the fundamental force behind creation. It is the source of intelligence.

I disagree. In a way, energy is a partner to matter, since the two can interconvert. That makes the one as "fundamental" as the other. The really "fundamental" entity is the law that relates the two to one another. Part of that law is

E=mc²

"Intelligence" is not energy. I have plenty of intelligence (IQ was 140 in high school; don't know about now); but I don't have much in the line of energy. Stephen Hawking is a very intelligent man, but is dependent on battery power to stay alive and function. There is plenty of energy in dynamite; but it took a master sculptor to create the Mount Rushmore monument with it.

In scriptural terms, "the word" might correlate with applied intelligence; and the term "spirit" probably correlates with energy. In the human body, DNA might be thought of as correlating with "the word" -- it contains the design information for the proteins that mediate vital reactions in the body. Energy, on the other hand, is sort of dumb-dumb: one erg does the same thing as another erg. The energy required for bodily processes comes from the difference in ionic potential between reactants and products in the body's various "cycles".

The New Testament Greek word for "spirit" is the same as that for "breath"; and the Old Testament Hebrew word is the same as that for "wind". (For Trinitarians, who insist that the "Holy Spirit" is a masculine "person", I will note that the Greek word is neuter and the Hebrew word feminine). I say the "spirits" in the Bible correlate with "energy", in that they are agents that effect things. There is an intelligence behind them, though. Here's an example:

Rev 16:
[13] And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
[14] For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

In this case, the "frogs" are spirits: They effect miracles; but the design (intelligence) of those miracles comes from the entities that send them, namely, the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. In another example, a spirit is sent to cause men to believe a lie:

2 Kings 22:
[20] And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
[21] And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
[22] And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
[23] Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

In this case, "the LORD" (YHVH) was the one who sent the lying spirit; and it went into the prophets' mouths intstead of coming out of them (as with the frogs). I don't consider lies to be a form of intelligence, though intelligent people certainly are capable of generating them. Ultimately, lies come from the Devil:

John 8:
[44b] ...When [the Devil] speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Remember that the Devil is God's devil; and He uses him any way He wishes. In all these examples, energy does not create intelligence; instead, intelligent entities direct energy. From a scientific or engineering perspective, this is fairly easy to understand; but to a theologian? May God protect me from theologians!

May God bless and keep you, strengthening you through His spirit.

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