Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 6
“Broken cisterns” are described as both source-less and leaking, and the speaker adds: “Spiritualizing physical things that God has not instituted will suck the life out of you”; what are concrete examples today of taking something God didn’t institute, calling it “spiritual,” and then watching it drain life, joy, or obedience?
Another way to ask: “Broken cisterns” are empty and leaking, and the speaker warns that calling non-biblical things “spiritual” can drain you. What are real examples today of people doing that and losing joy, life, or obedience?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript doesn’t give a modern list of examples, but it teaches a principle: when people invent “spiritual” systems God didn’t establish and treat them like life-sources, those systems can’t supply life and actually drain it. A reasonable inference is that any man-made substitute treated like a life-giving authority becomes a “broken cistern.”
- The metaphor is twofold: they “forsaken… the fountain of living waters” and “hewed… cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
- He explains a cistern has “no source coming into” it—only stored water—and if it’s broken, “the life… is just draining away.”
- He identifies the cisterns as “a metaphor to talk about idols and idolatry… to replace God.”
- He states the application principle: “Spiritualizing physical things that God has not instituted will suck the life out of you… diminishes God’s authority.”
- He contrasts true life-source: “obeying Him is drinking from that source,” implying substitutes compete with obedience.