The Plastic Brain

There is nothing more beautiful than the Word of God. It is truly a lamp unto the feet of all those who have surrendered to its inerrancy. It is the answer to all of life’s questions. It can break the back of every bondage and set the captive soul free. It is the book of life and purpose. God’s Word is the solid rock of truth that never changes. It is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The Word of Truth has defeated over 6,000 years of the world’s greatest carnal minds. It continues to march on undefeated and it will continue accomplishing that which God has purposed.

Deuteronomy 30:19:

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

The choice is man’s to make. Have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ? Are you ready to embrace the peace that passes understanding? Click on to "Further With Jesus" on this website for an immediate and personal introduction to Jesus Christ, the King of Glory. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Romans 12:1-2:

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

GOD SAID, Colossians 3:9-10:

9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

MAN SAID:  The Bible is only the writings of mere men and has no real supernatural source or eternal values to offer its readers.

Now THE RECORD. At the time of this writing, there are approximately 1,400 pages representing over 260 subjects on GodSaidManSaid, all proving the veracity of the Word of God. Many of them literally boggle the mind. Every Thursday evening, God-willing, we launch a new subject. How could the Bible, a book the skeptics claim has no supernatural source, declare the most fantastic truths thousands of years before modern academia even begins to cobble together a partial understanding of the subject? The answer is that the majority-text Authorized Version is the Word of the living God, who stands as the master over all thought and over all understanding. This week’s subject will be just one more demonstration.

It has been proven on this website that the entire universe (including our physical bodies) is actually made out of words. The Bible declares that God spoke everything into existence out of that which is invisible, with literal words. For serious life-changing details on this subject, click on to "Everything Made of Words," "The Superhuman Brain," "The Superhuman Brain II," and "Some of the Greatest Principles of All Time, Part One, Brains and Words."

Top neuroscientists were interviewed in the May 2005 issue of Discover magazine concerning what they considered to be the most critical development in neuroscience in the past 25 years. A dominant theme, the concept of the plasticity of the brain, kept recurring. The amazement in neuroscience is that the adult brain actually adds neurons and literally changes form. Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, Chairman of the Department of Neurology, University of Iowa College of Medicine, had this to say:

The discovery that new neurons can appear in the adult brain may be the most surprising of the last quarter century of neuroscience. The scale of the phenomenon and its significance remain to be established, but it appears that one of the oldest dogmas in the business is not true.

Neural plasticity was addressed by M. D. Hauser, professor of psychology, Harvard University:

The most important development in the last 25 years? No contest: the discovery of neurogenesis in adult animals. Until this discovery, made in the 1980s, every neuroscientist believed that the birth of new neurons was confined to early fetal development and the juvenile years. This dogma was flattened when biologists discovered that the brains of adult male canaries undergo considerable neural change as a function of seasonal variation in their song. New neurons are born in the song control areas, find their way to the relevant neural pathways, and then hook up so that new songs can be produced to lure willing female canaries. The finding set off a spate of parallel discoveries in rats, primates, and humans, with dramatic implications for how we think about neural plasticity and its potential role in rehabilitating individuals with acquired and inherited neural deficits, including patients with phantom limb pain, spinal cord injuries, and Parkinson’s disease. [End of quote]

Brain plasticity means that the shape, size and the number of neurons and synaptic connections change with experience. Elizabeth Gould, professor of psychology, Princeton University, weighed in with the following:

One of the most important advances in the field of neuroscience in the last 25 years was the recognition that the adult brain exhibits both functional and structural plasticity. Indeed, an entire subfield of neuroscience has emerged that focuses on plasticity as a basis for understanding brain function under normal conditions as well as after brain damage. Because of this large body of work, we now know that the shape, size, and the number of neurons and synaptic connections change as a result of experience.

Rutgers University’s Paula Tallal, Codirector of the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience said,

The discovery that the central nervous system is plastic—physically adaptable and as such directly modifiable through behavioral intervention—is already being used to develop a novel generation of educational and rehabilitative methods for enhancing human mental function, both in children with learning disabilities and aging adults. Just as psychopharmacology and genetics have dominated new treatment approaches in the past 25 years, neuroplasticity treatment approaches will have the potential to revolutionize both educational and clinical intervention strategies in the next 25 years. [End of quote]

Mark Pagel, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Reading in England, was interviewed in Discover magazine. During the interview, the following "Q and A" was recorded:

Discover: You’ve said that the loss of languages will lead to the loss of unique ways of thinking.

Pagel: Nobody’s language has forced them to believe that the world is flat or that something like gravity doesn’t exist, but there are much subtler ways in which language, as an expression of culture, may structure the way we think. Japanese infants discriminate the r sound from the l sound, but Japanese adults have trouble making the discrimination. It’s an actual physical alteration to the brain. There will be other discriminations that you and I cannot make that speakers of other languages can make. If that’s the case, if language can structure the brain at those levels, maybe language in its association with culture make us think about the world in different dimensions. If we lose languages, those ways of thinking will also be lost.

The big news in the field of neuroscience is that the brain is plastic—it changes form over time, and words and experiences are central to this process. Thousands of years before neuroscience was even conceived, God declares this principle over and over again in His Word. Romans 12:2:

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The Godly renewing of the mind—making new the mind—actually transforms your entire being: mind, heart, body, soul, and spirit. This process, through a very dramatic life-changing experience, is what Jesus Christ calls "born again." John 3:3:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The Words of God renew the mind and we are transformed. Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language defines transform: "To change the form of; to metamorphose." Metamorphose is defined: "To change into a different form." Again, Webster defines it in theology as follows: "Change the natural disposition and temper of man from a state of enmity (war) to God and His law, into the image of God, or into a disposition and temper conformed to the will of God." [End of quote] The Greek dictionary used in the Strong’s Concordance also defines transform as metamorphose. The call to the mind of Christ is the call to be transformed into the likeness of God—back to Paradise where only one voice, one Word, was heard. Imagine: God changes our entire being with words—His!

So, neuroscience now understands that the brain can be transformed. The Word of God, the foundation of all that is true, proclaims this revelation thousands of years ago.

GOD SAID, Romans 12:1-2:

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

GOD SAID, Colossians 3:9-10:

9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

MAN SAID:  The Bible is only the writings of mere men and has no real supernatural source or eternal values to offer its readers.

Now you have THE RECORD.




References:

King James Bible

Damasio, A., "Neuroscience," Discover, May 2005

Gould, E., "Think Tank," Discover, May 2005, p75

Hauser, M. D., "Think Tank," Discover, May 2005, p73

Pagel, M., "Behaviorist Seeks What Divides Us," Discover, May 2005, pp20- 21

Tallal, P., "Think Tank," Discover, May 2005, p75

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