PCT AND THE BIBLE

 

PCT is said to be a theory founded in the belief that human beings are organized to self-control.

 

There are six definitions for the word “theory” listed on http://www.m-w.com/, Merriam-Webster OnLine.

 

1:     the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another;

2:     abstract thought: SPECULATION;

3:     the general or abstract principles of a body of fact, a science, or an art <music theory>;

4a:   a belief, policy, or procedure proposed or followed as the basis of action <her method is based on the

        theory that all children want to learn>

4b:  an ideal or hypothetical set of facts, principles, or circumstances -- often used in the phrase in theory <in

       theory, we have always advocated freedom for all>;

5:    a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena

       <wave theory of light>;

6a:  a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation;

6b:  an unproved assumption: CONJECTURE

6c:  a body of theorems presenting a concise systematic view of a subject <theory of equations>.

 

Take your choice on how you want to define PCT as a theory.  Would you choose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6?  I would choose none of the above, because PCT is not a theory.  It is a principle of life decreed by God the Father in eternity past and revealed as such in Holy Scripture.  It can be said, then, that perceptual control is the belief that man was created by God to control himself.  He is designed to self-control rather that control by someone else.  If this is so, and it is, self-control can only be self-control if one is in control of his own life.  If self-control in a person’s life is really self-control, then self-control in that person’s life cannot be labeled as such if anyone or anything else is in control of that person’s life.  Self-control must mean self-control.

 

Self-control implies freedom of choice.  It does not determine the nature of a person’s choices, good or bad, right or wrong.  It determines only that an individual is free to choose.  If anyone or anything limits a person’s choices to either good or bad, right or wrong, then that is no longer free to choose and self-control has been relinquished to another source.

 

God has created man to control himself, free to choose right or wrong, good or bad.  The term volition will be used to denote freedom of choice.  It is one of man’s five soul characteristics:  self-consciousness, mentality, volition, emotion, and conscience.  It is sometimes referred to as the decider of the soul.  Volition has a positive pole and a negative pole.  The positive pole is used to make choices that are deemed to be right or good.  The negative pole is used to make choices that are deemed to be wrong or bad.  The fact that right and wrong, good and bad are relative terms in the minds of some, remember that this book acknowledges absolutes.  This implies that whatever constitutes God’s truth in any dispensation of time, good and bad, right and wrong are distinguished from one another by comparing them against God’s divinely revealed standard.  To force man into right choices destroys the very nature of volition.  To deny man wrong choices also destroys the very nature of volition.  If volition is tampered with in any way, freedom of choice as man’s God-given right to self-control is destroyed.

 

Man’s God-given right to self-control is first evidenced in the Garden of Eden when the divine prohibition was introduced in Genesis 2:16-17 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  Properly translated from Hebrew in to English, the latter part of this verse should read, “ . . . dying thou shalt die.”  The word “dying” refers to spiritual death which is defined as separation from God in time, not eternity, but in time, that is, separation while physically alive.  The phrase “shalt die” is a reference to physical death.

 

With this divine prohibition, man was given choices—obedience or disobedience.  So, under the principle of self-control, man chose disobedience and suffered the immediate consequence of spiritual death which is tantamount to separation from God in time, that is, while he is physically alive.

 

The word “whosover” is used 183 times in 163 verses in the King James Version of the Bible.  Each “whosoever” recognizes a person’s prerogative to control his own destiny through personal choices.  This is tantamount to self-control.

 

The language of the New Testament is basically Koine Greek, and there are four conditional uses of the word “if” in the Greek language.  The first class condition says, “If, and it’s true.”  The second class condition says, “If, and it’s not true.”  The fourth class condition says, “If, I wish it were true, but it’s not.”  The third class condition says, “If, maybe you will, and maybe you won’t.”  This third class condition recognizes the God-given right of self-control.  Man rightfully says, “I’m in control.  I’ll decide whether I will or won’t.  I’m the captain of my own ship.”

 

As has been shown in this chapter, the Bible confirms that PCT is not a theory, but a fact, decreed by God in eternity past.

 

The Computer of Divine Decrees

 

The computer of divine decrees is a term used to define and describe the decrees of God in eternity past.  God doesn’t own a computer, but this analogy will assist in understanding how God’s plan for the human race was designed and is being carried out.

 

There are three Persons of the Godhead:  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  While the three Persons of the Godhead are co-equal and co-eternal, they each have different job descriptions regarding a plan for the human race:  the first Person of the Godhead known as God the Father authored a plan.  The second Person of the Godhead known as God the Son has executes the Father’s plan, and the third Person of the Godhead known as God the Holy Spirit is the revealer of the plan to the human race and restores to the plan anything out of alignment with the plan.

 

As the Author of the plan, God the Father decreed that plan in eternity past while the only things in existence were the three Persons of the Godhead.  Using a computer analogy, there are two sides to this computer:  the ROM chip side and the PROM chip side.  The ROM chip is a “read only memory” chip programmed at the factory and unalterable by the user, and in this sense, the ROM chip in the computer of divine decrees is programmed by the sovereign will of God and unalterable by any human being.  The PROM chip is a “programmable read-only memory” chip into which data can be entered from the user outside the factory.  In this sense, God the Father as the master programmer, enters data into the PROM chip, using His omniscience to do so.  Through omniscience, He observes human history and enters into the PROM chip every decision made by every human being throughout all of human history.  It makes no difference whether human decisions are consistent with or contrary to His will.  All decisions are entered into the PROM chip of the computer of divine decrees.

 

At some time in eternity past when God the Father called for the printout of human history, the printout came out of the computer just as it was programmed, from both the ROM chip side and the PROM chip side; and because there is a divine purpose for human history, God the Father has coordinated the programs on both sides of the computer so as to accomplish His divine purpose in human history, namely, the resolution of the spiritual battle referred to as the angelic conflict.

 

Freedom of choice is the issue in resolving the angelic conflict.  Why freedom of choice?  God the Father’s plan called for man to be created lower than the angels.  If man, the lower creature, would choose obedience to the Creator’s plan, the implication is that the higher creature, namely angels, one of which was Lucifer Son of the Morning, later known as Satan, could have chosen obedience, but didn’t, therefore, God the Father, as Creator of all things, is justified in sending Satan to the Lake of Fire.  The Lake of Fire represents a location of eternal condemnation which is eternal separation from the Living Creator God.

 

When God created man, namely, Adam in the Garden of Eden, He created Adam a trichotomous being:  body, soul, and human spirit.  The human body places man in contact with the world outside himself.  The human soul places man in contact with himself, and the human spirit places man in contact with the Living God.

 

The human soul has essence or characteristics.  The human soul is comprised of self-consciousness, mentality, volition, emotion, and conscience.  Self-consciousness makes him aware of his own existence.  The soul’s mentality is comprised of two lobes, a left lobe and a right lobe.  The left lobe is location wherein man is able to say, “I understand.”  The right lobe is the location in which man stores all of his understanding that he has chosen to believe.  Volition is the decision-maker of the soul.  It has two poles, a positive pole and a negative pole.  With the positive pole, man chooses those options in life that are consistent with God’s plan. With the negative pole, man chooses those options in life that are contrary to God’s plan.  Emotion is the appreciator of the soul, and it too, has two poles:  a positive pole and a negative pole.  From the positive pole man expresses such emotion as happiness and joy.  From the negative pole man expresses such emotion as anger and bitterness.  Conscience is the location in man’s soul where his standards are stored, and his conscience is based upon whatever he accepts as true, without regard to whether it is true or not.

 

Volition is the issue in the resolution of the angelic conflict.  It is an issue throughout the entire Bible.  Volition means freedom of choice.  Freedom of choice implies self-control, and self-control is a basic tenet of the Perceptual Control Theory (PCT).  Since volition, self-control, and freedom of choice have been decreed by God, and His decrees are revealed in the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God, there should be no doubt that the concept of PCT finds its source in the divine decrees.  If these relationships can be confirmed, one only needs to say, “CASE CLOSED.”  PCT is biblically based and the concept has been decreed by God from eternity past.

 

When man discovers a concept such as PCT, it can only be stated that he has discovered the faithfulness of God as that faithfulness relates to His divine decrees.  The concept is decreed whether discovered or not, but when discovery is made, man must discovers what the Creator has decreed.

 

The principles associated with PCT will explain how we as human beings are always trying to achieve what we want by behaving in ways to change our perceptions to match our internal goals.  It also shows how little we can know what is going on in the mind of another human being.

 

Consider the following principles associated with PCT, none of which transgress any Church Age principle, promise, doctrine, technique, or rule for living the Christian way of life.