Tom Cocklereece writes a blog called: Simple Discipleship Weblog -- Helping Churches Make Disciple-Making Disciples. He posted an entry by a guest writer called:
Why Don’t Smart People Get Jesus? By Guest Writer: Rachel Fox
I was quickly reading through the article, thinking about how choices in fonts can really impact the joy of reading, when a few sentences just jumped out at me. Sometimes a quote is so honest that it hurts to read.
So, why don’t smart people get Jesus?
*Spoiler Alert*
"So, why don’t smart people get Jesus?
Simply because they lack a child-like faith. Instead of beginning with the foundation, they attempt to begin by building the high walls of theology and education."
How does one "begin with the foundation?"
"We should reason according to the beliefs we already have, according to our simple faith. We should learn about Christian theology and other theologies with the understanding that what we already believe is totally true."
It's rare that I get an example of "How to not think about things and other self-delusions" in such succinct and coherent language. It is simply amazing to me that a person could actually write those sentences and not realize that they are promoting Anti-Thinking as a virtue.
Want to know an exact formula for propagating dogmatic belief through the ages? Encourage children to "learn about other theologies with the understanding that what we already believe is totally true."
At an absolutely fundamental level, that approach is an intellectually dishonest way of operating.
{ 5 comments }
You are clearly taking Rachel's comments out of context. We indeed challenge people to reason out their relationship and faith in Jesus Christ. Many atheists begin with a presupposition that God does not exist which requires empiracle faith. Many Christians would argue that atheists are impressed with their own reasoning that God does not exist and refuse to admit that theirs is as much of a belief system as Christianity or a religion of the world–in fact atheism may require more faith with less empiracle evidence. Authentic Christianity is open to reasoning, debate, discussion, interpretation, and challenge. Any leader, religious or not, who has an answer for everything or is unwilling to discusspoints of belief is not someone to be followed in any arena of life or learning. (continued)
Rachel's primary point is that many people have "out-thought themselves" and consider themselves to be wise in their own eyes. They are so impressed with themselves an their opinions that they cannot see the more simple things of faith. The Christian faith is simple in it's complexity–simplexity I suppose. Some people try to begin with the complex aspects of Christianity and stumble. Many Christians begin with an epiphany experience of Jesus Christ, learn the simpler things of the Christian faith , and then move on to the more complex. An analogy: the root is a salvation experience with Christ, the tree trunk is the simple doctrines of faith, and the detailed branches and leaves are the complex things of the faith. (end)
Hey Tom! Thanks for stopping by my website. First things first, real quick, you ever have a chance to respond to my comment that I left on your blog post:
You (Dr. Tom) wrote: “I love the freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or freedom from religion–if that is your choice. These are God-given rights for all of humanity.”
To which I responded: All right, I’ll bite. Which God gave us these rights? When did He tell us that we have them? If you think it’s from the Bible, I challenge you to quote a Bible verse that you think supports any ONE of the following:
1. freedom of thought
2. freedom of speech
3. freedom of religion
4. freedom from religion
Looking forward to your response. I'll let you post your reply here since you closed future comments on your page.
Second, you talk in vague generalities. Give me specifics — is the virgin birth of Jesus a simple aspect of Christianity? When your Authentic Christianity is challenged by, "Why do you think that?", what is your response?
Do you start out believing that what you already believe is true, therefore, Jesus was born of a virgin? Or is there some kind of reasoning going on there that I'm missing?
I'm flexible and genuinely curious, so if you think that the virgin birth is a bad example, I'll let you decide on any SPECIFIC aspect of Christian faith that you think is simple yet carefully reasoned out — not believed for terrible reasons (like we should believe what we already believe).
Second, you talk in vague generalities. Give me specifics — is the virgin birth of Jesus a simple aspect of Christianity? When your Authentic Christianity is challenged by, "Why do you think that Jesus was born of a virgin?", what is your response?
Do you start out believing that what you already believe is true, therefore, Jesus was born of a virgin? Or is there some kind of reasoning going on there that I'm missing?
I'm flexible and genuinely curious, so if you think that the virgin birth is a bad example, I'll let you decide on any SPECIFIC aspect of Christian faith that you think is simple yet carefully reasoned out — not believed for terrible reasons (like we should believe what we already believe).
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }