_{by Trent - from October 2005}

Prudence is an art. The more you apply it, the better you become at it, but discernment is slightly different. Spiritual discernment involves seeing what is authentic, through the programming that infects thought.

"A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him." [Proverbs 28:11]

The discerning fellow has no trouble seeing how many (seemingly opposed) true statements fit together into a monolithic truth. Appearances and deception do not distort the reality that they apprehend.

Did you know that the Australian Continent has four main island groupings. One Continent with many parts. Each of those sections (Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia) have many smaller islands. So, how are the many masses considered to be only one continent, if they seem so separate? Doesn't each island define it's own context?

This is the struggle that undiscerning fellows have with spiritual truth. Each doctrinal topic seems like a solitary island and unconnected with the other doctrines. They see that there is a glorious city after judgment where indwells righteousness, and they see how the grapes are crushed in the winepress of God's wrath during the harvest, but neither seem to fit together in any way, so the doctrines live in the mind as lonely islands. We are saved by grace through faith: agreed, and yet salvation is worked out. Wouldn't it be simpler to simply camp on our island and dismiss everything else as folklore and confusion. God is not the author of confusion, so lets just pick our favorite island group and call this the truth, and call all the others frauds, or purveyors of an obsolete truth.

However, something has hindered authentic view of reality. The revelation is of one Truth, and the parts of that revelation fit together.

You know what makes those islands in the continent seem to be separate? The ocean interferes with our view of the continent. In fact, only because the there is water, do we consider that they are islands, but if the water is burnt away, and we see what is substantially there. The reality is that all of those parts are summits if a single land mass that was hidden from our view. Discernment is the ability to see through the water as if it is not there.

Spiritual discernment is a way to see through the cultural bias and misinformation that makes all the doctrines seem as though they are mere islands, and then becoming acquainted with the deeper parts that tie them all together. As someone grows in wisdom and spiritual discernment, they will begin to recognize the inclusiveness of revelation, and appreciate more and more of the written word, or the input from saints that you might have previously thought crazy, because they weren't talking about the islands that you know about.

"Don't be nitpickers; use your head--and heart! -To discern what is right, to test what is authentically right." [John 7:24]