The only thing more powerful than the nuclear bomb is the mind that invented it. Everything mankind has done good or bad, grand or small, starts out in the mind as a single thought. The ‘Final Solution’ didn’t start at Auschwitz. The holocaust began years before, in Hitler’s mind. A rape takes place in the mind before it physically occurs. No wonder Jesus said, ‘Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart’ (Matt 5:28). The life-changing aid agencies of Compassion and Christian Blind Mission didn’t just happen. They were conceived in the minds of their founders. God created the mind and its capacity to think logically and rationally. Like the laws of gravity and physics, God also made the laws of logic part of reality. Aristotle didn’t invent logic, nor did Sir Isaac Newton create gravity. They merely discovered what God had already put in place.
The Bible is a spiritual book but it is also a logical book with a consistent message and down-to-earth teaching. This is why its theology can be studied, examined and tested. Make the effort to find out why Christianity is true and you will discover it to be a most reasonable faith. It’s anything but blind. The Bible gives us good reasons to have faith in God. The Christian world-view is grounded in truth and defines reality like no other world-view. The secular world-view, for example, promotes evolution to explain origin. The arguments for naturalistic evolution might seem scientific but it’s sophistry. Essentially, they are asking you to believe that something can come from nothing and the vast complexity of that ’something’ happened by chance! It’s more logical to believe in the supernatural.
The true atheist believes there is no such thing as good and evil, right or wrong. Does that line up with reality and the world we live in? Professor Richard Dawkins (a notable atheist) from Oxford University claims, ‘There is at the bottom of it all, no good, no evil, no purpose, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.’ Would the victims of violent crime accept ‘no evil’? And I’m sure you would agree that the work Mother Teresa did was good and not ‘blind pitiless indifference’. But if you really want something that’s detached from reality, nothing beats Eastern religions and the New Age world-view. Apparently, there are no absolutes, and truth is whatever you want it be! It sounds tolerant but it is total nonsense. If you believe in the law of gravity and I don’t, we can’t both be right. The law of non-contradiction won’t allow it. And it’s probably best for my sake you are intolerant about what I believe before I hurt myself and prove just how exclusive truth really is. To say ‘truth is relative’ is foolish and self-refuting (that statement must include itself in its own assertion). Reality supports what the Bible teaches: truth is exclusive and there are absolutes.
When people object to the Christian world-view’s right to pre-eminence because it’s not fair to the other world-views, they have missed what qualifies it. It’s not about fairness; it’s about what is true. The world-view that earns the right to govern should be the one that can answer all the major questions reality asks of it: origin, meaning, morality and destiny. Only the Christian world-view gives complete, sustainable answers to each one. Truth should determine validity. The only time fairness should enter the discussion is to ask the question, is it fair to promote ideologies and world-views that are self-contradicting and based on lies? Is it fair to deny people access to the truth and disconnect culture from the reality of evil?
Unfortunately, some Christians have ignored the mind, falsely believing that the intellect and rational thought would diminish faith and spirituality. So they replaced thinking with feeling. Altar calls and feel-good experiences are poor substitutes for reading, study and meditation. Mindless Christianity produces a fragmented, ignorant world-view that’s open to heresy and superstition. There is a deplorable lack of knowledge, especially among young people, regarding the basic tenets of the faith. Few can offer a reasonable defence of what they think they believe. No wonder a high percentage lose their faith during university.
Starvation of the mind, caused by neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life. Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. — Oswald Chambers
‘Think about it’ isn’t just a catch phrase; it is a command directly from God. In Matthew 22:37 Jesus says, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your MIND’ (emphasis mine). ‘Mind’ is translated from the Greek word ‘dianoia’ which means ‘deep thought’. In this context Vines describes it as, ‘a thinking through, or over, a meditation, reflecting, the faculty of knowing, understanding’. God takes our minds very seriously. Why, because the mind is more powerful than your faith to believe. You can’t believe anything you want. Your mind must be conditioned or renewed in order to believe it. If I was told to believe Hitler was a good man, I could not do it, even if I was threatened. I may desperately want to believe he was good in order to avoid harm, but I would be lying to say anything other than he was evil. So how do people, like Neo-Nazis, actually believe Hitler was good? By renewing their minds! The same was true for Hitler. He didn’t wake up one day a Nazi. History tells us he was heavily influenced by Darwinism and the writings of Nietzsche. These theories and philosophies helped condition Hitler’s mind and provided the reasoning for what he did.
Romans 12:2 says, ‘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.’ Don’t down-play the important role of your mind. Scripture is clear; your mind has transforming power and discerning abilities, both essential to living and maintaining the Christian faith. The mind must be constantly renewed. Disengage your mind, start seeking experiences, and you will conform to a self-centred humanist version of Christianity. You might even end up denying the Christian faith altogether.
God wants you to use your mind to understand the cross: why it had to happen, the significance of blood, its divine justice. He wants you to research Him: find out what qualifies Him to be God, what are His primary attributes, why He should be worshipped. He wants you to study His ways: why they can be trusted, how they reflect His glory and wisdom. Engaging your mind and intellect will help you understand, love and appreciate Jesus more. You will also gain faith and confidence, preparing you to make a ‘defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you’ (1 Peter 3:15). Our ability to defend the hope that is within us is directly related to how much we know Jesus. For example, the only reason I can defend my father as a good man is because I know him. I cannot defend the character of people I don’t know. If we cannot defend our faith then it’s fair to say that maybe we don’t really know Whom we have believed in.
Loving God with all your heart and soul is not enough. Without the mind your love will become superficial and your faith will jump the guardrails of truth. God has given you a logical, rational, intelligent mind. He insists you use it.
(All Bible quotes from ESV)