What Does Mind Renewal Really Mean?

[Cal]

"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." That's what Romans 12:2 tells us. Since the buzzword "transformed" was used, Witness Lee conformed this verse (pun intended) to mean that mind renewal was a matter of being "metabolically" changed, that mysterious hard-to-pin-down process by which God's "element" is somehow "in-wrought" into our being. i.e. soul.

This understanding of renewal and transformation, of God getting "added to our being," dies pretty hard for former LCers--which is interesting since the idea is neither taught nor suggested in the Bible, nor supported by experience. If God's element is added to our soul, just where does that element disappear to when we have a bad day-- you know, a day when you totally fall off the wagon and do things that would make unbelievers blush? But Lee's heady definitions are attractive in their fuzzy promises of making us "like God" (see Genesis 3:5). That's why they are hard to let go. More "high peak" gnosis for Gnostics.

So what is mind renewal, and what is transformation? Although there is no doubt that the Spirit is involved in any real transformation, I would offer that mind renewing simply is what it sounds like. It's learning to think differently (Phil 4:8). Where the Spirit comes in is that transformed thinking is of a pattern that you could not arrive at without His help. But it all boils down to how you think, not what mysterious element is added to your pseuche. The mind, after all, practically speaking, is just our thoughts.

When all is said and done Lee's definition of transformation is a total misaiming. No God element addition. No infusion. No tea-water. Just the Spirit teaching you to think different thoughts. That's it.

What did you think about today?