Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: GLUTTONY (overindulgence and overconsumption) (01/15/15)
-
TITLE: Freud and Paul | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ramona Cook
01/20/15 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
At best the comfort offered is only momentary and the results of my indulgence is a thing of progressing destruction of myself, which I must then live with until finally the thing done brings me to disease and death before my appointed time.
Like him or not, Sigmund Freud honed in on a Biblical Truth. I know, I know you will say, "Freud was an atheist!"
However, there are two points about Freud's trichotomy of the human psych that is supported by Scripture. That fact does not make the Bible correct. That fact makes Freud correct. Even an atheist can comprehend this spiritual problem and the way it works.
Id is the part of the human psyche that cares nothing for the outcome of an action. Id has appetites, and Id wants what Id wants, and Id wants it now! Don't bother Id with reasoning because Id cannot be persuaded. Id insists, "I will die if I don't get this now!"
The Apostle Paul would say it is my "flesh" speaking. Our flesh does have appetites and it is unregenerate before we have received salvation from Jesus, and even then always remains a possible source of problem to us.
The second part of the human psyche, according to Freud, is Ego. Ego is that portion of the person that makes the decisions. Ego can go either way.
The third component of psyche is Super-Ego and, says Freud, that is the part of the psyche that knows the right things to do and has discussion with Ego. Ego can be persuaded by the use of reason.
It is the function of Ego, or our mind/soul, to make the judgment of whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, and then to agree with Super-Ego, or our God consciousness, that we will do it, if a it's a good thing; or will not do it, if it is a bad thing.
God has written His Laws upon the hearts of all human beings.
Adam and Eve also bear witness to our knowing the difference between good and evil, they have bequeathed to us that knowledge which they gained from eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
So I submit that everyone of us, redeemed and not redeemed, know the difference between right and wrong and have a fight going on inside ourselves about the choices we make.
Doing an act over and over again, when we know it is not the correct choice, builds in us a pattern of rebellion and our enemy is there, hidden but very present, to encourage us to listen to Id, our flesh appetite.
We establish then what the Scripture calls a "stronghold;" for anyone ever caught in a stronghold, we know it is properly described.
I took up smoking cigarettes after my marriage dissolved. It was something to do after meal-time that was a kind of social replacement. I found smoking also to be comforting when in a group of people with whom I was not totally comfortable.
Of course, we are legally banned from those smoking venues today. That is a good thing in my view. It does not however remove the reasons why people smoke cigarettes, or do whatever they do, and it does not obliterate the stronghold of a habit that is physically harmful.
I recall the day I was ashamed to the core of my being; my children wanted candy and I "needed" cigarettes. I had only enough money to purchase one of the two. I bought the cigarettes.
The Holy Spirit had been dealing with me about letting that habit go, but I kept waiting for the "desire to quit" to overtake me. I tried and failed so many times. Finally I told God, "I don't want to quit smoking." I asked Him to give me the want to, to want to quit.
Eventually, I did quit. That was 24 years ago.
I decided that the same resolve I had about not taking a dose of arsenic was the same resolve I would apply to smoking a cigarette, "Never!"
Note: The second interest about Freud's trichotomy is that he could also perceive a trinity; three separate functions of one entity.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
God bless~