<quote>

And yet, we don’t hear God as we ought to hear Him since the roughness of life has hardened us against God. People have hurt us in many ways, wounding us so deeply that we haven’t been able to forgive. Unforgiveness has hardened our hearts with bitterness. The manipulators have persuaded us to enter into various sins, and those sins have built a wall of separation between our God and us. They’ve convinced us of doctrines that added to God’s words or diminished God’s words and deceived us so that we can only hear those twisted doctrines when He speaks. The culture blinds us with the philosophy of naturalism, which convinces us that God can’t speak or move. Our spiritual ears have trouble hearing God’s voice. The manipulators have told us that we don’t need God to reason and that our own minds have a magic power to get knowledge that goes beyond what we can observe. They try to convince us that we can rationalize beyond our observations without the benefit of divine revelation. Of course, we can rationalize beyond our observations, but we aren’t thinking sanely when we do.

</end quote>

Scientia, “Real Faith & Reason Journey”

DIRECT LINK TO FREE BOOK – http://RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_1_-_Scientia.pdf

<quote>

“and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. “~ Colossians 2:2b-3 Berean Study Bible

This passage speaks of knowledge, but is clearer in the original language:

all precise and correct knowledge is hidden in Christ.

We can see that God the Father has hidden this knowledge, and this knowledge is precise and correct. Mystery is whatever God the Father has hidden, and the Father has hidden all knowledge and understanding in Christ. He delights in those who humble themselves to seek Him and receive this knowledge from Him. But He’s disgusted with those who follow a vision out of their evil hearts and who lean on their fallen natural minds.

</end quote>

Scientia, “Real Faith & Reason Journey”

DIRECT LINK TO FREE BOOK – http://RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_1_-_Scientia.pdf

<quote>

not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:6b Berean Study Bible

We know the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Even though the Holy Spirit infuses the Bible with Himself, a mind closed to the Holy Spirit won’t receive anything from the Bible. A Bible will do no good to a thinker who doesn’t in any way want God or His righteousness. Still, many have read the Bible intending to ridicule the Bible, but the Holy Spirit touched them. And they responded by opening their minds to God and coming to know Jesus Christ. In these cases, God miraculously touched them and softened their hard hearts, so they began to have precise and correct knowledge of truth for the first time in their lives.

</end quote>

Scientia, “Real Faith & Reason Journey”

DIRECT LINK TO FREE BOOK – http://RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_1_-_Scientia.pdf

<quote>

Dr. Lisle also made another absolute claim: Only the fear of the Lord leads to knowledge.

At first, Dr. Lisle’s statement seemed extreme to me, and I considered it to be an exaggeration for a while because I had trouble understanding how this statement could be true. Now I understand. No one can know anything except by knowing Someone Who knows all things and Who can’t lie. And that Person must also reveal the knowledge. Only God meets this requirement. Therefore, only God can reveal knowledge. True knowledge is alive with God’s Spirit, so even revealed knowledge goes dead if we don’t allow God’s Spirit to flow. Only the fear of the Lord leads to knowledge.

</end quote>

Scientia, “Real Faith & Reason Journey”

DIRECT LINK TO FREE BOOK – http://RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_1_-_Scientia.pdf

<quote>

Dr. Jason Lisle spoke about the ultimate proof of Creation. He said something that shocked me when I heard it:

“If the Bible were not true, it would be impossible to prove anything because the Bible alone makes sense of those things that are necessary for knowledge. There are certain things that have to be already true in order for you to have knowledge. Consider the reliability of your senses. You really couldn’t learn much about the universe if your senses were not reliable.” ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvRy6AjeyLc

</end quote>

Scientia, “Real Faith & Reason Journey”

DIRECT LINK TO FREE BOOK – http://RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_1_-_Scientia.pdf

<quote>

As followers of Christ, we don’t want to be manipulators, and we surely don’t want to be manipulated. Manipulative, self-serving wisdom comes from evil. However, we can have another form of wisdom. We can have wisdom that flows with love and goodness.

</end quote>

Scientia, “Real Faith & Reason Journey”

DIRECT LINK TO FREE BOOK – http://RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_1_-_Scientia.pdf

<quote>

“Without truth, there is only manipulation.” ~ Dr. Os Guiness

Why does Dr. Guiness say manipulation is the only alternative to truth? Perhaps he might be thinking that if no objective truth exists, no right or wrong could exist. If we couldn’t know reality, we couldn’t tell right from wrong. Then everything would be relative. For those who follow post-modernism and relativism, winning is the only goal, and they use power to win. This power comes from politicking, deception, intimidation, or force. These tactics are manipulations, so without truth, there’s only manipulation.

</end quote>

Scientia, “Real Faith & Reason Journey”

DIRECT LINK TO FREE BOOK – http://RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_1_-_Scientia.pdf

<quote>

Understanding makes knowledge easy. If we can judge the difference between reality and made-up stuff and turn from evil, we have the key to understanding since sound reasoning judges between reality and made-up stuff. However, unsound reasoning can’t tell the difference between the two.

“The mind of a discerning person gains knowledge, while the ears of wise people seek out knowledge.” (Proverbs 18:15 International Standard Version)

Truth exists, but we must discern between truth and untruth. If we can discern, we gain precise, accurate, and certain knowledge of truth. Truth is reality. It’s what’s real. Still, we make mistakes. We think God said such and so, and then we find out we were wrong. Satan says, “See, you can’t know anything for certain. You can’t even know that Jesus leads you or that He exists.” However, the Holy Spirit speaks from within saying, “That’s a lie. I’m right here with you, and I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.”

“He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3 New Heart English Bible)

He restores our souls. “Soul” means “mind” or “life.” He restores our minds. He lives within and continues to build us up in Him. He continues to put the flesh to death. So if we focus on Him, He’ll be faithful to complete the work in us despite our flaws. We must listen to His voice and not to the voice of Satan since we can’t deal with reality unless we know the truth. All we need to do is to ask the Holy Spirit to help us have righteous, godly thoughts. We ask Him to restore our minds and lead us into the paths of righteousness. Righteousness comes from Him, and He’ll give us righteousness if we ask Him for it.

If it depended on us, we would all be lost. It depends on God. God knows how to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask for Him. God knows how to impart discernment. God knows how to communicate clearly. Only when we follow our own desires do we become confused.

“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts” ~ A.W. Tozer

</end quote>

Scientia, “Real Faith & Reason Journey”

DIRECT LINK TO FREE BOOK – http://RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_1_-_Scientia.pdf

<quote>

“A mocker searches for wisdom without finding it, but knowledge comes easily to a person who has understanding.” (Proverbs 14:6 God’s Word Translation) Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding—God reveals these three through this Scripture as He tells us that an arrogant person tries to get wisdom but can’t find it. However, knowledge comes easily for those who understand. What then does it mean to understand?

“And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28 Authorized Version)

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10 Authorized Version) The Hebrew word “biynah” means both “understanding” and “discernment.” To depart from evil is understanding or discernment. The knowledge of the holy is understanding or discernment. If we understand, we know the difference between the holy and the evil. We discern the difference between truth and lies. We understand that lies are evil and we depart from them and their fruit.

Sound reasoning discerns between truth and lies, but unsound reasoning makes truth appear untrue, and it makes untruth appear true. Since unsound reasoning is often complicated and confused, it makes truth seem difficult. From Job 28:28, we see that understanding is turning away from evil.

The hardest part is discerning good from evil, truth from error, or reality from concepts. And though we may feel unsure of this difference sometimes, God makes us confident that He’ll oversee our entire journey to the end. And even if we have only a vague understanding of this certainty, as we walk with Him, we see the vision becoming a bit more stable and defined. And He’s faithful to finish the work that He started in us.

</end quote>

Scientia, “Real Faith & Reason Journey”

DIRECT LINK TO FREE BOOK – http://RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_1_-_Scientia.pdf

<quote>

How did we build our beliefs? If we built them on untruth, on made-up stuff, they self-destruct when God exposes them to light. In a moment, they implode unless we block the light. So we sometimes fight the light since we don’t like our world shaken this way. In these moments of unveiling revelation, we weren’t aware of any problem with our made-up stuff, and we didn’t particularly want it fixed. We didn’t think our made-up stuff was made-up stuff. However, when we opened our minds to God’s leading, He began to demolish the strongholds in our minds. He began shaking everything built on made-up stuff. If we walk in the Spirit, we experience this shaking. If we walk in the Spirit, God shakes us sometimes since God is shaking made-up stuff that can be shaken so realities that can’t be shaken remain. There’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on.

</end quote>

Scientia, “Real Faith & Reason Journey”

DIRECT LINK TO FREE BOOK – http://RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_1_-_Scientia.pdf