From the book ‘Following Christ’, Stephen E. Robinson wrote:
“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. . . . For the wisdom of the world is foolishness unto God (1 Corinthians 3:14, 3:19). If we are ever to detect and arise above the distortions of our fallen intellect, we need another yardstick—a correct one—to measure our reason by, and that yardstick is the revealed gospel of Jesus Christ.
Much of the time, even most of the time, relying on our best reasoning is a sound operating procedure—but it must always be tempered with humility that comes from understanding the effects of the Fall on our reason. Fallen intellect can’t get things right, not completely. Fallen intellect can never arrive at the whole truth on its own. Thus those who rely on intellect and human reasoning alone as their surest guides are doomed to be ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” They have a self-verifying—but nevertheless defective—yardstick. Only the gospel gives us a reliable indication of when we are working beyond our rational limitations. Only a revealed yardstick can be used to check the calibrations of human wisdom, for the false yardstick of human wisdom will always validate itself when used to measure itself. Absence the influence of the Holy Ghost on some level (whether as revelation, inspiration, intuition, or whatever) our reason will eventually lead us into error.
Another way in which we are fallen is emotionally. Our emotions, like our flesh, are part of our carnal natures. They are flawed and often out of our control. We cannot choose our temperament. We don’t usually choose what will “bug” us. Sometimes our emotional state can be influenced by physical or chemical factors in the brain, and in these cases may not be governed by agency or subject to accountability. However, in most cases our fallen emotions, like our fallen bodies can and must be subjected to the rule of our spirits. Moreover, we can’t choose whom or what to love or determine how intensely to love them. If we have too much of the wrong kind of contact, our emotions can create new kinds of attachments or dissolve old ones when we didn’t intend for that to happen. Our emotions are a poor substitute for the Spirit as a guide in our lives, and to follow our unbridled emotions is as foolish as to follow our unbridled flesh. I express it as my opinion that in the resurrection, our emotions, if we have subjected them to our spirits, will no longer be out of control, will no longer be fallen, but will be subject to our will. They will then be as God’s emotions are—always under control and always redemptive in their expression.~Stephen E. Robinson, Following Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2019). 316-19
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