I still remember the warnings given to us, when Donna and I were thinking about attending Bible College. “You go and get education, and you will backslide.” Our first church experience was in an extremely conservative and traditional group, who were obviously, ‘anti-intellectual’. We joined with little knowledge of the Bible. Yet, it was not all negative. We learned many of the basics while there, but we also learned a lot of unbiblical traditions —no jewelry, long hair for Donna, short hair for me, women could not wear pants, no doctors, etc. Some of you completely understand this kind of tradition. However, there was one other subtle teaching at our church and the Bible College we attended that took me years to recognize and overcome. It was never verbalizes, but it was an underlying philosophy—”put your brain in neutral, do not think because you must never question what we taught you.” It was role memory, not critical thinking.
Although I was born and raised in South Carolina, there must be some Missouri (the Show-Me state) blood in me somewhere. I would not have done well in the military. If you tell me to stand up, my first thought is ‘why.’ Please do not take this to mean I am against biblical leadership. We must have leaders. However, that does not mean we put our brains into neutral in the church or in the world. This thought has been pressing on my heart for several weeks because I know so many Christians who just do not think. They merely believe what people tell them and never even see if that is what the Bible teaches. Like our first church experience, they probably have not been taught how to think.
Several times, Jesus addressed this problem concerning his disciple’s lack of thinking. In one example, Jesus was warning them about the yeast or false teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Totally missing the point, the disciples became concerned that they had not brought anything to eat. Jesus responded, Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you collected? (Matthew 16:9). Jesus could have used several different words for understand, but he chose one that literally means to exercise the mind. Jesus was saying, haven’t you exercised your mind yet or thought about all the leftovers? He uses this particular word seven times in the Gospels.
I encountered a lady last week who was in a desperate family situation and passively accepted the circumstances because her church leaders told her that she must not make any effort to change what had happened. It was justified by taking a scripture completely out of context. Thankfully, a friend advised her to study that scripture in its context.
In the past year, I have watched the riots around the world in amazement. Even here in the USA, groups of people were in the streets protesting. A few of the demonstrations seemed loosely coordinate by use of cell phones and the social media. However, others appeared as a mindless crowd only there because everyone else was there or someone told them to participate. During one of the violent protests over a book, a reporter asked the main leader if he had even read the book. He replied, “No, someone told me what it said.” This made me wonder how many in the crowd had even exercised their minds and knew why they were protesting.
Some of the business men of Ephesus started an uprising over Paul’s teaching. So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together (Act 19:32). In other words, they were mindlessly following the crowd without having exercised their ability to think. The LORD created us with a brain and the ability to reason and to think whether in the world or in the church.
Many of the problems of life would be solved if everyone would take their brain out of neutral, put it into drive, and merely think. I had an intelligent student in her 40’s during the past national elections. She asked me to pray for her because her pastor had told the congregation how they must cast their ballot; despite the fact, the person was not the candidate she thought would best follow Biblical principles. When we stand in judgment before God, our pastor, our leaders, or our family and friends will not be there testifying in our behalf. It will be you and God. I wonder if He might ask, “Why didn’t you just use the brain I gave you? I gave you my Word to guide your thinking.”
I thank the LORD that I went to a Graduate School that taught me to think and employ critical thinking. Yes, some of my first church acquaintances thought that we ‘backslid’. No, we just found freedom through Christ because we exercised our minds about what we believed based on His Word.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
If you are indiscriminately following anyone or are just going with the crowd, put your brain in gear and begin to think. Just make the Bible your foundation.