Jennifer Valenzuela's Archive

Viktor Frankl’s views on existentialism can be categorized with the fall. His studies on people’s views of life after their experiences in the concentration camps is associated with the results of the consequences from the first Adam. Frankl stated that, “…it becomes clear that the sort of person that the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not the result of camp influences alone.” Not only was the Holocaust one of the most tragic and horrifying displays of what human beings can do to one another, but what people became of themselves and how they dealt with the aftermath is a direct result of the fall. “When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task, his single and unique task.” His statement leads us to believe that if we are dealt a certain, unfortunate hand in life, we cannot change it, we can only deal with it; we have to accept the way things are and there is no other way around that certain circumstance. As a result of the fall, we are continuously fed lies about ourselves and our circumstances. If we believe that we cannot change a certain situation, then we can never move forward and redeem ourselves from the curses of the lies. Of course, not all of Frankl’s views were so pessimistic but when looking at his view from this angle it is definitely associated with the fall.

Gestalt Psychology is based on perception. Sometimes the way we perceive things is not always the truth. That is one of the results of the fall. Many times the truth is right in front of us, but because of circumstances that don’t allow us to see the truth, it remains hidden behind our own perceptions. It kind of reminds me of the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. Throughout the movie, he claims he has a  blinder on his mind that keeps him from being smart. At the end of the movie when he is finally able to meet “he great and powerful Oz”, Oz convinces Scarecrow that he never really had any blinders on his mind, he had been smart all along. After Scarecrow is enlightened to the truth, we can see that he only felt held back because of how he perceived himself. In reality, many times our perceptions can be our downfalls. In a sense, before we become new creations in Christ, we all have “blinders” on our minds that change our perceptions that keep us from the truth. Not all perceptions are wrong or bad. God’s perceptions about us are the ones that we should strive to believe and receive. When we are enlightened to his truth about our lives, we are able to find beauty in ashes and hole on to hope when all seems lost. Unfortunately though many people still life their lives with blinders, believing their own faulty perceptions. While it is refreshing and freeing to take off these blinders, we are bound to be born with them because of the fall. The blinders will cause us to live with thoughts and perceptions that do not align with the truth until they are removed, which sometimes does not happen for everyone. Your glass can either be half empty or half full, it all depends  how you view it.

When Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they thought they would be like God. Unfortunately that is not what panned out. They suddenly became aware to the evil they were completely oblivious to before. In this case, ignorance was truly bliss. Despite the results of the fall, God was not going to leave his children hanging. Because we are now aware of both good and evil, he has given us His Word to continue to fight against the evil. This is why I would categorize Human Studies as part of the redemption. With all of this new knowledge and theories emerging, it can only benefit us. Human Studies opened the door to new knowledge about the brain and how it effects human beings and their behavior. When we know the root of what is causing us to do harm, we can defeat and overcome it. That is the beauty of redemption. Not only did Christ redeem us on the cross, but it opened the door for us to have a relationship with the Father through his word. It helped us to live in the new covenant where we have access to the tools and to the same Holy Spirit that led Jesus to live the faultless life that he did. Human studies is just one of the examples of that. While ultimately phrenology was proven to have many flaws, it gave way to many different theories regarding the brain and human behavior. The Bible says that if we know the truth, the truth will set us free. Phrenology helped people to understand more of the truth about themselves, even if it wasn’t completely accurate. I believe that to come to the truth we must be open minded and not be biased to our own beliefs. When we expand our minds  we give ourselves more room for whatever truth resonates with us. The idea of phrenology did that for people. It expanded the mind to different truths, the truth sets us free, and I turn, we are redeemed.

Jean Jacques Rousseau stated that, “man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains.” This correlates with the fall in so many ways. int he spiritual realm, when we are ‘born again’ only our spirit man is made whole and new. The rest of us-our minds, flesh, and souls-stay the same. Yes, we are spiritually free but because there is sin in this world as a result of the fall, we have to constantly battle to keep our flesh in line with our spirit. Arthur Schopenhauer said that, “for the world is hell and men are on the one hand of the tormented souls and on the other the devils in it…” This statement blatantly shows the world we truly live in. I would not go as far to say that it is ‘hell’ but I can see where he is coming from. Because of the fall, we live in a world that is not always beautiful and just. Everyday we are faced with challenges and trials. Even in our newness in Christ, we still have to battle to keep our ‘chains’ broken off. God did not promise us an easy life, but He did promise to be by our side through all the trials and tribulations. Romanticism also placed a lot of emphasis on passion. I see this as a characteristic of the fall. We are constantly surrounded by things that tell us that it is ok to give in to our fleshly desires and passions. Instead of thinking rationally, we give in to what gives us pleasure. This is why we must hold fast and be let the Word renew and transform our flesh and mind. The world is fallen, we are a fallen people, and we need a savior to break us free of our worldly chains every single day.

2 Corinthians 5:17 states that, “…anyone who is in Christ is a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come.” Looking at it through a spiritual perspective, this is what Hermeticism emphasizes. One of the things that this myth emphasizes is that we as individuals “can command the supernatural forces and share in the Cosmic spirit.” As new creations in Christ, Jesus gives us the same Holy Spirit that lived in Him to do the works that he did on his time on this earth. We ‘command the supernatural forces’ by casting out demons and all other un-holy supernatural things on this earth. We are able to ‘share in the Cosmic spirit’ by empowering and filling one another with the Holy Spirit and sharing all the good things that come with being filled with it. The myth of Hermeticism also believes that, “man is an agent of change, a rational-spiritual force capable to change the course of nature.”  As new creations in Christ we are constantly changing and growing (agents of change). Because of the Holy Spirit inside of us, we are able to gain more revelation and knowledge of who Christ is and what He did for us. Romans 12:2 says that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. According to the Webster dictionary, to renew means to make new, fresh, or strong again; to begin again with more force or enthusiasm. As we are renewing our minds, we are changing our thinking to how God thinks. We are seeing things the way God sees them which is one of the great benefits of being a new creation. His ‘newness’ is not just for our spirit, it is for our whole self, including our physical body and mind. As our minds change and are renewed and refreshed to God’s ways, so is everything and everyone else around us. Our ‘newness’ is so powerful that we are actually capable of changing someone’s destiny (rational-spiritual force capable to change the course of nature). When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we are empowered to do the same things that Jesus did, one of them being leading his lost children back to Him and saving them from the curse of sin and death. As we speak truth to those who are lost and begin to disciple them, we have changed the course of their lives. Because of the first Adam we were born into the category of The Fall, but since we are redeemed from the cross and are now new creations in Christ, we have the power to change lives and share the good news with others. By sharing the gospel we literally change lives. Hermeticism is a reminder that God has empowered his children with the same Holy Spirit that lived in Jesus because we are living under the new covenant. As new creations in Christ, We are called to do even greater things than Jesus did (John 14:12) and be a mighty spiritual force of change to the brokenness of this world.

Plato falls under the redemption category, mainly because of his famous “allegory of the cave” and because of his source of knowledge (remembering).

His allegory reminds me of my own redemption. I was caught up in living in the “cave” that I did not know of any other reality. The “cave” was all I knew. It wasn’t until I came out of the cave, that I realized that what I thought was reality, was not reality at all. An entire new world of truth had been revealed to me and since coming out of the cave, my only desire is to go back in to reveal the real world (the truth) to the other people that are still caught up with fake reality. This is what Jesus does for us. He awakens us by revealing the truth to us and redeeming us from the ‘caves’ that we were all once stuck in. It can also be seen as a better way to go through life. Instead of being in  dark and gross cave, Jesus comes, takes us out of the cave and says, “Hey, here is a better way to live. Stop living in the cave, it’s dangerous. Let me save you.” Yes, thats entering into a new life and being awakened into all things good and new, but before that we have to be saved, to be redeemed from our old ways. That is redemption.

Plato’s other theory on ‘remembering’ can also fall into the redemption category, because we are saved once we ‘remember’ who we truly are in Christ. Think about it like this: Say, you’re taking a test. You feel confident and sure of yourself when you ‘remember’ everything that you studied and have all the right answers. What happens to you when you don’t remember though? You start to freak out, feel less confident in your status as a student, and maybe even start to feel a bit lost because you don’t know what you’re doing anymore. But, instead of working yourself up, you calm yourself down, take a few deep breaths, and everything that you studied starts to come back to you. Once you ‘remember’, your confidence comes back and all previous assumptions about yourself are gone. Think of this in spiritual terms now. When we ‘forget’ our status as a son or daughter our assurance in God starts to waiver and we start to freak out a bit. But once we are reminded of the truth and our true identity, it seems as if we are saved all over again (well that’s the feeling that happens for me anyway ha). Remembering means being reminded of something and once we are reminded of that truth, it saves us from falling back into our old ways. So this is what Jesus does, He saves us from the cave and shows us a better way to live, and when we forget who we are in Him, he reminds us (in a very loving way) so that we can continue to live and walk in his redeeming grace.