{"id":39572,"date":"2024-11-19T17:20:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T01:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=39572"},"modified":"2024-11-19T17:20:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T01:20:03","slug":"was-paul-liberal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/was-paul-liberal\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Paul Liberal?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cI do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The apostle Paul certainly was not afraid to highlight some of his shortcomings. Actually, he was not afraid to highlight the shortcomings of others either. At some point in our lives, we have all asked similar questions, \u201cWhy am I doing (fill in the blank)?\u201d<\/p>\n

In their book, The Molecule of More, <\/em>by Lieberman and Long they too, ask a similar question. “Why do I do the things that I do? Why do I make the choices that I make?”[2]<\/a> What Paul attributes to his sinful self, this book attributes to the molecule of dopamine. Was the apostle simply chasing more and more dopamine hits? Was dopamine the cause of his sinful self? Lieberman and Long write, “We make choices that are not in our best interest, but we feel powerless to resist. It’s as if our free will has been compromised by an overwhelming urge for immediate pleasure.”[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

While some critics have argued that the book is too speculative,[4]<\/a> I found the simplicity of their claims easy to understand even if the ending of the book becomes a bit Orwellian.<\/p>\n

The premise of the book is simple. “The dopamine motto is, ‘More.'”[5]<\/a> They compare the idea of abstract thinking which is dopamine based to the more concrete thinking of the here and now, or what is directly in front of us. “Abstract thinking is one of the primary functions of the dopamine system. Abstract thinking allows us to go beyond sensory observation of events to construct a model that explains why the events are occurring.”[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

But what does all of this have to do with Paul being liberal?<\/em><\/p>\n

Paul was the conservative of conservatives. He was the pharisee of pharisees. Trained under a very conservative leader, Paul followed the law to exact measures. He was conventional and followed the traditions. He was educated but primarily through scripture memorization. He knew what was right and what was wrong. Followers of the Way were wrong but pious Jews were right. In essence, he had a fixed mindset, until one day he met Jesus. A fixed mindset is defined by psychologist Carol Dweck as, “Believing that your qualities are carved in stone – the fixed mindset – creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over.”[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s encounter with Jesus changed everything.<\/em><\/p>\n

It took him years to develop a growth mindset and begin to understand the ways in which Jesus fulfilled the very Scriptures he had memorized. “This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts, your strategies, and help from others.”[8]<\/a> Developing the growth mindset took every bit of grit Paul could muster.[9]<\/a> Paul was very deliberate in his training and preparation to share the gospel of Jesus to people all around the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

The gospel of Jesus was salient to Paul. Lieberman and Long define salience as, “Things are salient when they are important to you…Things are salient if they have the potential to affect your future… Things are salient if they trigger desire dopamine.”[10]<\/a> Dopamine hits kept coming to Paul. Dopamine was there when he was shipwrecked. Dopamine was there when he was bit by a snake. Dopamine was there when he preached in Athens. When he was chased out of cities \u2013 dopamine. When he was writing abstract letters to churches far away \u2013 dopamine. When he penned the creative and thoughtful letter to the Romans \u2013 dopamine.<\/p>\n

Did the sinful self of Paul cave into the dopamine hits that kept coming his way? Certainly, it is conjecture but Lieberman and Long separate the two, the dopamine response and the here and now response into divisive camps.<\/p>\n

So, was Paul liberal? Did his conservative ways and his fixed mindset give way to a more liberal personality with a growth mindset? We will end with this quote, “On average, liberals are more likely to be forward thinking, cerebral, inconstant, creative, intelligent, and dissatisfied. Conservatives, by contrast, are more likely to be comfortable with emotions, reliable, stable, conventional, less intellectual, and happy.”[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Zondervan, NRSV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Hardcover, Comfort Print: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture<\/em>, ed. Craig S. Keener and John H. Walton, Illustrated edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019), Romans 7:15-17.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long, The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity-and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race<\/em>, First trade paperback edition (Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, Inc, 2019), 28.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Lieberman and Long, 46.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Richard Cytowic, \u201cA Book Review by Richard Cytowic: The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity\u2015and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race,\u201d accessed November 19, 2024, https:\/\/www.nyjournalofbooks.com\/book-review\/molecule-more.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Lieberman and Long, 16.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Lieberman and Long, 172.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Carol Dweck, Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential<\/em>, Revised edition (London: Robinson, 2017), 6.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Dweck, 6\u20137.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance<\/em>, First Scribner trade paperback edition (New York London Toronto Sydney New Delhi: Scribner, 2018).<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Lieberman and Long, 113.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Lieberman and Long, 161.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2967,2156,2161],"class_list":["post-39572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp03","tag-lieberman","tag-long","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39572"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39574,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39572\/revisions\/39574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}