Lost in Thought
"Most Christians would rather die than think; in fact they do."
- Bertrand Russell
Christian biologists have said for years that one of the reasons evolution continues to thrive and hold people captive is because of a lack of interest in changing their paradigm. There are many holes in this theory and even blatant lies, but people still hold to it because of how much of their thinking they would have to change. So instead of admitting that the theory of evolution is a lie, they try to cover up and change the holes that are so evident in it. Christians have called this foolish on the part of secular scientists.
Scientists aren't the only ones who do it, in fact they may be the most insignificant ones in this sort of denial and unwillingness to change their way of reasoning. Those who are without Jesus have adopted an anarchial way of living in belief that it will lead to a better way of life, but anyone with any sense at all knows that this paradigm is just the first step in a sort of suicide of society.
Even if one were to come up with the best example of not being able to let go of a false pardigm, it would still pale in comparison to what the Church has done. The examples to prove this point would wind up a dissertation but consider even the source of this ideology within the realm of christendom; thinking, reasoning, and the like.
It's not that Christians in America are incapable of thinking, nor is it that they don't. Strangely they have just stopped thinking about things holy and have replaced the work of understanding with whatever is popular and easy.
Christianity feeds the hungry, is active politically, houses the homeless, and engages in many other noble causes in hopes that practicing Christianity will never have a minimal source of venues or reasons not to be in the limelight. All of this done without even understanding why it is we do what we do which makes us nothing more than a second coming of the pharasiacial judaism that Jesus so quickly denounced.
Christians will say we do our deeds because we love people, or we do our deeds because Jesus did. Yet how does this seperate us from do-gooders and false religions who also had exemplary leaders. What seperates us as from everyone else.
Naturally the answer is Jesus. Jesus is what seperates us from the cults and makes our deeds eternal and yet this simple answer is so complex that most Christians couldn't even begin to answer the question why if the answer is what has been said.
This is what I mean. How would the average church attendee explain the importance of the virgin birth in connection with salvation. How would most pastors do if they were to preach on the topic of the deity of Jesus Christ in connection with the humanity of Jesus Christ. These types of sermons naturally take study and work to deliver and receive and the average parish would gladly exchange substance for something that would make them feel momentarily inspired.
Knowledge of the God of the Bible is far outweighed by spiritual experience cloaked in the word christianity. If you don't know God, really know him, how can you claim to be his? How can you claim to serve him? How can you worship someone you know nothing about? How can you go to his house (if God could be housed) and act like you know the owner if you can't talk about his nature?
The truth is you can't. It is a sad reality that American Christianity is quickly becoming (has become?) no Christianity at all. The reason is because we have bought into the lie that thinking isn't a neccessity of Christianity and because of this the Christian paradigm has so many holes that if one were to set it afloat at sea it wouldn't make it past the harbor.
What shall we do? How will it change? I fear for the denomination that I am apart of. When I was in Bible College one of my professors said that if this movement were ever to embrace the ordaining of homosexuals that he would immediately turn in his credentials. I remember thinking that would never happen, we're "evangelical." Yet now I fully realize we are but a step away from it as most "evangelical" denominations seem to be. Not that this is necessarily the worst thing that could happen (yet I may be a Piperite at this point) to the church, but it is a visible sign to how decayed Christianity is in this country. There are many signs. Divorce. Abortion. Allowing our children to be led by the state because some philosopher named Rousseau had 5 children out of wedlock and wanted to settle his conscience. The list goes endlessly on.
We have smilingly went from Lewis to Graham all with the notion that everything is okay. God help us. God deliver us. Somehow may the Church engage in the art that has always been theirs; thinking. Not looking for some new theory or idea in theology, but engaging in what has always been known. As Kierkegaard said, "We live forward, but we can only think backward."
Once we live this way, once we engage in study we will clearly see how weak our paradigm has become in America. We have a responsibility to do nothing less. Os Guiness said, "Sin is deliberate violationof the responsibility of knowledge." I suggest we repent of weak minds and easy believism and equip our thinking to engage in the battle we have been called to. Principle always comes before practice. It is true that people want to know how much you care, not how much you know, but you can't truly care the way Jesus did unless you truly know who Jesus was. Learn the Savior, study him, not so as to have facts about him but so as to have a right relationship with him based on truth so you will properly represent who he is to this lost world.
- Bertrand Russell
Christian biologists have said for years that one of the reasons evolution continues to thrive and hold people captive is because of a lack of interest in changing their paradigm. There are many holes in this theory and even blatant lies, but people still hold to it because of how much of their thinking they would have to change. So instead of admitting that the theory of evolution is a lie, they try to cover up and change the holes that are so evident in it. Christians have called this foolish on the part of secular scientists.
Scientists aren't the only ones who do it, in fact they may be the most insignificant ones in this sort of denial and unwillingness to change their way of reasoning. Those who are without Jesus have adopted an anarchial way of living in belief that it will lead to a better way of life, but anyone with any sense at all knows that this paradigm is just the first step in a sort of suicide of society.
Even if one were to come up with the best example of not being able to let go of a false pardigm, it would still pale in comparison to what the Church has done. The examples to prove this point would wind up a dissertation but consider even the source of this ideology within the realm of christendom; thinking, reasoning, and the like.
It's not that Christians in America are incapable of thinking, nor is it that they don't. Strangely they have just stopped thinking about things holy and have replaced the work of understanding with whatever is popular and easy.
Christianity feeds the hungry, is active politically, houses the homeless, and engages in many other noble causes in hopes that practicing Christianity will never have a minimal source of venues or reasons not to be in the limelight. All of this done without even understanding why it is we do what we do which makes us nothing more than a second coming of the pharasiacial judaism that Jesus so quickly denounced.
Christians will say we do our deeds because we love people, or we do our deeds because Jesus did. Yet how does this seperate us from do-gooders and false religions who also had exemplary leaders. What seperates us as from everyone else.
Naturally the answer is Jesus. Jesus is what seperates us from the cults and makes our deeds eternal and yet this simple answer is so complex that most Christians couldn't even begin to answer the question why if the answer is what has been said.
This is what I mean. How would the average church attendee explain the importance of the virgin birth in connection with salvation. How would most pastors do if they were to preach on the topic of the deity of Jesus Christ in connection with the humanity of Jesus Christ. These types of sermons naturally take study and work to deliver and receive and the average parish would gladly exchange substance for something that would make them feel momentarily inspired.
Knowledge of the God of the Bible is far outweighed by spiritual experience cloaked in the word christianity. If you don't know God, really know him, how can you claim to be his? How can you claim to serve him? How can you worship someone you know nothing about? How can you go to his house (if God could be housed) and act like you know the owner if you can't talk about his nature?
The truth is you can't. It is a sad reality that American Christianity is quickly becoming (has become?) no Christianity at all. The reason is because we have bought into the lie that thinking isn't a neccessity of Christianity and because of this the Christian paradigm has so many holes that if one were to set it afloat at sea it wouldn't make it past the harbor.
What shall we do? How will it change? I fear for the denomination that I am apart of. When I was in Bible College one of my professors said that if this movement were ever to embrace the ordaining of homosexuals that he would immediately turn in his credentials. I remember thinking that would never happen, we're "evangelical." Yet now I fully realize we are but a step away from it as most "evangelical" denominations seem to be. Not that this is necessarily the worst thing that could happen (yet I may be a Piperite at this point) to the church, but it is a visible sign to how decayed Christianity is in this country. There are many signs. Divorce. Abortion. Allowing our children to be led by the state because some philosopher named Rousseau had 5 children out of wedlock and wanted to settle his conscience. The list goes endlessly on.
We have smilingly went from Lewis to Graham all with the notion that everything is okay. God help us. God deliver us. Somehow may the Church engage in the art that has always been theirs; thinking. Not looking for some new theory or idea in theology, but engaging in what has always been known. As Kierkegaard said, "We live forward, but we can only think backward."
Once we live this way, once we engage in study we will clearly see how weak our paradigm has become in America. We have a responsibility to do nothing less. Os Guiness said, "Sin is deliberate violationof the responsibility of knowledge." I suggest we repent of weak minds and easy believism and equip our thinking to engage in the battle we have been called to. Principle always comes before practice. It is true that people want to know how much you care, not how much you know, but you can't truly care the way Jesus did unless you truly know who Jesus was. Learn the Savior, study him, not so as to have facts about him but so as to have a right relationship with him based on truth so you will properly represent who he is to this lost world.
posted by big african at 11:50 PM
4 Comments:
Hi,
We're old friends if you don't recognize me. I've been visiting your lovely wife's blog lately. I so enjoy reading about your family. What a blessed man you are!
Just a few thoughts about your post. I have a dear friend who feels strongly that most pastors want or need their congregation ignorant. That way the people are more likely to be submissive and passively follow the leadership. A "thinking Christian" might have an opinion contrary to current Churchianity trends.
I don't know if I qualify for the title of "thinking Christian", but I do try. I often find myself cringing at what I hear, because the sermon is more about a man's opinion than God's word.
I am thankful for sermons that have at least 10 verses of text. That way I can feel fed even if I disagree with the pastor's sermon.
Hope 2007 is a blessed year for you... Suba
It's like cold water... oh to be inspired to think by being forced to do it.
I believe one of the great epidemics in our society is noise. How can anyone think if there is constant noise? People live for sound. Wake up, to a clock radio, listen to the news to get ready for work, listen to the radio on the way to work and while working, watch tv in the breakroom during lunch, talk on cell phone while racing home to catch favorite lineup of tv and finally set the tube to shut off after falling asleep. Thinking requires silence, and silence requires changing the environment, which requires effort. And so we march on to the pied pipers drum...
Dale,
Have you read How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture.
by Francis Schaeffer
It's a must read!
Blessings,
Topher's Gal
"The goal of a classical liberal arts education is to free a person (thus “liberal” = liberating) from the narrowness, rigidity, and prejudice which is the natural characteristic of our minds. The goal of a Christian classical education is to do so for the glory of God. While it is true that apart from salvation an educated person may be nothing more than an educated fool, it is also true that an ignorant Christian, no matter how godly, is limited by that ignorance; an educated Christian is a more effective servant of God because his natural abilities and talents have been developed rather than allowed to atrophy. The tradition of education in western civilization has been propelled for nearly two millenia by Christianity, during which time it has always assumed diligent training in godliness by a child’s parents as an underpinning to education.
That assumed, the liberation of a child’s mind is accomplished by teaching him the following, which can be grouped according to the classical Trivium-- grammar, logic, and rhetoric (the first five points)--and Theology, the King of the Sciences (the last two points):
• to listen and read carefully;
• to think clearly and express himself persuasively;
• to comprehend his position in space, time, and culture and his relation to other places, times, and people;
• to appreciate and learn from the difference between his own and those other places, times, and people;
• to enjoy a wider range of beauty as a result of that wider exposure;
• to devote himself to continued learning on his own, using the tools of learning acquired in the previous five points;
• to evaluate, and ascribe the proper significance to, all of the above in the light of a transcendent, absolute standard;
• to construct and defend a coherent, biblical worldview as a result of his education."
Wes Callihan
Thought of your blog when I read this...just sharing!
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