By Sandy Tan
A Christian leader once said:“We Christians hink too much. We ought to put our brains on a rocket and shoot them into outer space!” Remarks, such as the above, are rather popular, but totally wrong. We don’t think too much. We think not enough.
 Thinking, nowadays, is out of fashion. Experience and feelings are in vogue. Disappointed with the misplaced rationalism of the Enlightenment, people – including Christians – have sought refuge in the castle of personal experience. But Christians must think. Here are three good reasons:
1) We think, that we may reflect the image of God
Yes, we think because God thinks! God has created us with the capacity for much thinking. What is it that differentiates us from other mammals, our closer cousins in the animal kingdom? The neocortex, that is the section of the brain in control of rational thought, is much larger (proportionately) in humans compared with other mammals, whereas the limbic section in control of emotions has roughly the same size.
An overarching theme of the Bible is that God has a plan. Even before Creation and the Fall, God has planned out in detail the course of salvation history. This is thinking! In comparison, many Christians live as though there is no tomorrow. There is no long-term planning to maximise the return on God’s investment in them.
“Sooner or later, we all encounter storms that shake the foundations
of our faith. We will survive and
come out even stronger only if we possess the ability to think through
the issues.” |
2) We think, that we may love God
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30) Many of us have neglected loving God with our mind. It is said that a very important thing a person must do is to think correctly about God. How can we truly love God with our mind if we do not think correctly about Him and His Word? Or if we do not think at all?
Some fear that thinking and studying put us at risk of losing our faith. Is our faith a myth that cannot stand up to rigorous scrutiny? No, because God is the smartest Being in the universe (or rather, He is beyond the created universe, to think precisely)! More Christians lose their faith by not thinking than by thinking. Sooner or later, we all encounter storms that shake the foundations of our faith. We will survive and come out even stronger only if we possess the ability to think through the issues.
3) We think, that we may witness for God
A pastor was urging his congregation to witness: “You don’t have to cough in Hebrew and sneeze in Greek before you can go out to share the Gospel!” True, but this is no excuse for laziness.
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Pet. 3:15) How can we give an answer to everyone if we are armed with only our personal testimony and a little knowledge of the Bible? In some situations, hard thinking and much study are necessary.
We often find Paul arguing with the Jewish gurus on the basis of the Old Testament and “proving that Jesus (was) the Christ” (Acts 9:22).
Consider the situation in our nation. I have heard that at this very moment, there are more than 100 Malaysian Islamic scholars pursuing doctoral degrees in the UK alone.* Include those in undergraduate programmes and those studying in the US or the Middle East. Now, compare this with the Christian figure. How many Christians are doing likewise? How is the Church to face this looming intellectual challenge? Aren’t these enough reasons to don our thinking cap? What do you THINK?
*This figure comes by word of mouth and has not been confirmed against the official statistics.
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