Thinking Christianity, For the Rest Of Us: Purpose

"Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies."

Why try to develop a thinking Christianity? Aren't there higher priorities for Christians? What are we seeking in it? Before proceeding in how "the rest of us" can grow in thinking Christianly, we had better be sure we know why we would want to do that.

A quick computer search of the New English Standard version of the Bible returns 381 results for "know," "knowledge," or "knowing." There's more than just a hint there that God values knowledge.

The three Synoptic renditions of the Great Commandment all instruct us to love the Lord our God with all our minds. What can this mean other than developing our minds to understand and embrace more and more of what is true and right? Our minds can make the difference between living in true life or in death:

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot."

And our transformation into godly character takes place via our minds:

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

The very fact that God has been himself known to us primarily by a written word shows that he wants us to engage our thinking--especially since not everything about that word is plainly obvious. It calls for deep reflection. Jesus Christ is known (among many other things) as the Word, the logos, a word closely connected with reasoning.

And then there are questions raised, and opposing viewpoints lifted up:

"[I]n your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame."

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ."

These passages differ starkly in their tone. The first, from 1 Peter, calls for gentleness and respect in regard to questions asked. The second, from 2 Corinthians, calls for rather a combative stance against "arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God." The two are not contradictory but complementary. The fight is against ungodly arguments and opinions, against which Christians are called to stand firm. It's not against people but against ideas. Therefore we can (and must) treat persons with gentleness and respect, even if we vigorously disagree with what some may say. Further, this warfare is not fleshly, but spiritual; so worldly approaches--ranging from name-calling up to violence--are to be rejected, and spiritual approaches including prayer and teaching are to be employed instead: speaking the truth in love.

Conservative Christianity went through a profoundly anti-intellectual period in the early 20th century, in response to the modernist challenge. It was supposed for a time--incredibly--that there was something spiritually superior in taking a simplistic view. "The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it!" That's not all wrong. If the Bible really says it, then it's true. The weakness of that stance, though, is first in its taking the Bible to be simpler than it really is in many places, and especially in the way it can truncate exploration of deep knowledge of God. It's too easy, too satisfied with what's on the surface. Even if what's on the surface--Christ's incarnation, say--is true, there's an infinite depth of riches to be explored in just about every Biblical truth. What does Christ's incarnation mean? What did he give up? What did he retain, or employ, of his powers and privileges as God? How did he manage to be God and man at the same time? How do we handle the paradox that entails, and the non-Christian challenges associated with that paradox? Why did he do it? What aspects of his incarnation continued after his resurrection and ascension? How does this affect our view of him as being our intercessor? And much more.

The second weakness of simplistic belief is that it is completely incomprehensible to those who don't start with that same trust in the Bible. The message of the Bible is powerful in itself, but it must be explained, translated as it were, for those who don't understand or accept it. Missionaries know that the Bible needs to be told in the language of the people, and explained in ways that make sense culturally. So they study language and culture. We in the Western world may forget we have the same responsibility.

This just scratches the surface of purposes for pursuing a thinking Christianity. I should close where I began: "knowledge puffs up, but love edifies." Learning, misdirected, leads to conceit. Properly and humbly pursued, it builds people up. The ultimate purpose for Christian thinking is to know, worship, and follow God ever better, and to build up one another.

Second in a series on Thinking Christianity, For the Rest Of Us

• Foundation

• Purpose

• Overviews and Helps

• Worldview Sources

Posted: Thu - October 4, 2007 at 10:10 PM |

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson getCategoryName("<$CategoryUUID$>");

Thinking Christianity, For the Rest Of Us: Purpose

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson