[xzins]

I haven't read the websites yet, but I will. I've got to get a prayer list done for the printer by 3 PM (est) so I've got to cut out for a while.

You said, "in sum it is the 'authentic self.'

Can I use that as a simple operating definition?....divine spark = authentic self?

Are you a dichotomist or trichotomist in terms of human nature? Body & Soul/Spirit OR Body, Soul, Spirit?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

PLEASE READ THE LINKS. Nowhere did I say the "divine spark" is the authentic self."

[Dr. Eckleburg]

~"Are you a dichotomist or a trichotomist?"~

I think too much time spent on these distinctions is foolish. Man is body, mind, soul, spirit -- which can generally be termed "body and soul." But what good end does this constant dissection serve?

And ultimately, it can lead to heresy, as in the following interesting article "Trichotomy: Beachhead for Gnostic Influences" --

http://www.modernreformation.org/mr95/julaug/mr9504trichotomy.html

Perhaps a better place to spend our time would be this link, "The Knowledge of God and of Ourselves Mutually Connected" by John Calvin.

http://www.smartlink.net/%7Edouglas/calvin/bK1ch01.html

And then there's Scripture, ever faithful.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time; also He has put eternity into men's minds, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." -- Ecclesiastes 3:11