Healing the Wounded Spirit: The Christian Approach

Avoiding jumping to conclusions on the root causes

Jumping to conclusions is basically guessing and assuming the guessed matter is the true answer to the subject of inquiry. A person reaches such a conclusion due to either, 1) lack of needed information to make an informed inquiry, or 2) due to disregarding the need for objective inquiry.

Jumping to conclusions is the opposite to objective inquiry. Objective inquiry considers all available information before making any conclusions. It is a search for the actual truth rather a search to prove one's side of understanding, biases or preferences. More on this subject in the chapter ahead that addresses it in detail (chapter titled: “The Enemy Within: Breaking Strongholds Hiding in Our Lives”).

The most vulnerable areas in life that people tend to be less objective are areas that that do not need to be subject to laboratory or evidenced based inquiry. And what other field is not subject to laboratory or evidenced based inquiry than religion? As religious people we are the masters of making easy conclusions even where objective inquiry can be made.

For example, in USA after New Orleans and neighboring states were badly hit by Hurricane Katrina there were nearly as many answers on its causes as the people you'd come across. It was worse when you heard from ministers. It's worse because you expect ministers to be well informed people and more cautious not to make guesswork conclusions.

This tendency is among the major factors that have contributed to us ending up having many denominations (and non-denominations) in the body of Christ. The other major factor is as the bible says: we know in part, i.e. we do not have perfect knowledge.

Some people disagreed on certain interpretations ended up forming their own group after being constantly ignored. Some were right in their understanding –like Martin Luther, the protestant church reformer who broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. Others were very wrong in their analysis - like the Jehovah's Witnesses' founder.

Centuries ago we used to fight over our denominational differences or hang those that differed from the dominant denomination. The dissenters or doctrinal rebels in those days used to be called heretics. Now we're more mature and more tolerant of each other (for the most part). We're able to tolerate our somewhat different interpretations and convictions by focusing on the fundamental issues most of us all agree on.

Nonetheless there is only one truth. We cannot all be right on one issue with different interpretations (or different misinterpretations). We're all God's children yet what we know or don't know will influence our outcomes in this life. That is why it's not worth being stubborn about holding on to teachings that have been found to be in err or misinterpretations of scripture.

In this section my emphasis is to be careful not to be jumping to conclusions on the root causes of matters in our spiritual areas. Objective inquiry is essential whether as a Christian counselor, minister, as an intercessor, as a patient, or as a believer helping someone. Objective inquiry for us Christians is what we call biblical inquiry or biblical analysis. With biblical analysis we use the bible by considering all available information before making any conclusions. We search for the actual biblical truth rather searching to prove our own side of understanding, biases or preferences.

This becomes more crucial when dealing with major obstacles others may be facing. Instead of prescribing easy answers we seek sound biblical answers.

It also becomes crucial when dealing with matters that partly require our spiritual discernment. This is because our spiritual discernment is not perfect. It can be limited or colored by our own understanding, emotional hunches, and expectations. If you think our spiritual discernment is perfect try taking someone with a spiritual problem to seven different ministers who claim to be so anointed with the gift of discernment. You're likely to get at least two different answers. It won't surprise me even if you get five different answers.

The bible says we're to test the spirits. “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world,” 1 John 4:1.

John was saying that each Christian was liable to receive revelations from various spirits other than the Spirit of God. There are two categories of spirits that are other than the Spirit of God. One category consists of human spirits and the other category consists of evil spirits. Chapter 4, “Deception, the No. 1 Doorway for Spiritual Wounds,” covers extensively on these sources of deception.

The most important way of testing the spirits behind matters we're analyzing is by using God's word as the standard of evaluation. We use the bible by considering all available information before making any conclusions.

Avoiding Easy Conclusions in Relation to Dealing with a Wounded Spirit

There are two ways demons or fallen angels can have access to human beings. These so called loopholes are what have enabled them to have increased access to affairs in the earthly realm. God in his own design allowed fallen angels to use these avenues:

Next Part Through demonic influence or demonic interference.

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