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Reason and Faith: Difference between revisions
→The Bible requires us to think
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=The Bible requires us to think= | =The Bible requires us to think= | ||
Christianity is the only thing that encourages thinking and gives a basis for it. There are only three basic worldviews you can have right now today. There have been other worldviews, but there are only three basic philosophies of life out there. | Christianity is the only thing that encourages thinking and gives a basis for it. There are '''only three basic worldviews''' you can have right now today. There have been other worldviews, but there are only three basic philosophies of life out there. | ||
You have scientific materialism, which says there is no soul, there is no supernatural, there is no God, and there is no heaven and hell. Therefore, everything is an accident, and everything has a natural cause. These people will tell you, ultimately, that means your mind is an accident, and the thoughts you’re having right now are just the chance reaction of molecules under your skull. They’re just bouncing off of each other. You believe what you believe strictly because of biological and chemical determinants. Therefore, on the basis of that, there is really no reason for you to trust your thinking. There is no reason for you to reason. Everything is relative. | You have '''scientific materialism''', which says there is no soul, there is no supernatural, there is no God, and there is no heaven and hell. Therefore, everything is an accident, and everything has a natural cause. These people will tell you, ultimately, that means your mind is an accident, and the thoughts you’re having right now are just the chance reaction of molecules under your skull. They’re just bouncing off of each other. You believe what you believe strictly because of biological and chemical determinants. Therefore, on the basis of that, there is really no reason for you to trust your thinking. There is no reason for you to reason. Everything is relative. | ||
For the last 30 years, people have been saying, | For the last 30 years, people have been saying, “''Because there is no truth, we are free! Our minds are free to think! In the old days, we thought there was a God and there was the Bible. We thought there was this and that, so we couldn’t be free thinkers, but now we know everything is relative. There probably is no God. There certainly is no Bible and revelation, so we are free.''” Do you know what that leads to? For about 30 or 40 years, people were saying, “''Because all things are relative and all morals are relative, therefore, we shouldn’t impose our values on each other.''” | ||
That doesn’t make sense. If all morality is relative, why not impose your values on other people? That’s just your value that says you shouldn’t impose your values on other people. Don’t you see that? If there is no truth, there is no basis for freedom of thought at all. “''I’ll control your thought if I want to. I’ll do whatever I want.''” | |||
The '''postmodern deconstructionists''' say, “''Because all values are socially constructed there is no right and wrong. The purpose of life is not to try to find out what truth is and what justice is and conform to it. Absolutely not! You do whatever the heck you want,''” which means there is no search for truth. There is no reason to reason. There is no reason to think. It’s all a power struggle. | |||
“''Whoever has the power, whoever comes out on top is the one who rules. We don’t find out what is right. We don’t find out what is wrong. There is no right and wrong.''” Don’t you see that scientific materialism leads to the death of thinking? “You don’t need to think. You can’t trust your thinking.” That’s the first basic philosophy you have. | |||
Eastern | The '''second basic philosophy is Eastern monism''' (Eastern pantheism and Eastern religions). They believe, and anyone will tell you this who understands the New Age and understands the Eastern religions, what is wrong with us is that we think, that we’re rational, that we reason. Eastern meditation is after what they call pure awareness without thought. Eastern meditation says what you need to see is that it’s all one. “''You’re one with the tree. You’re one with nature.''” There is no individuality. | ||
Eastern thought tries to frustrate the reason and tries to frustrate your analysis. It says, “''Eventually we’re all going to go back into the All Soul, and there won’t be individualism. There won’t be individuals. There won’t be personality. There won’t be rationality. We’ll all be one.''” Eastern religion gives you no basis for rationality, but Christianity, or I should say the religion of the Bible (Judaism and Christianity and even Islam, which is based very much on the Bible) teaches there was a God who created the world who was rational. | |||
It’s the only thing in the world tonight that gives you a basis for doing it, and it’s the only thing in the world that really liberates the thinking. Somebody says, | “''If there is a God who is rational, my reason is not an accident of molecules, and my reason is not an illusion. My reason is a reflection of his person. It means if a rational and orderly God created the world, then when I use my reason I’m going to find out what is really out there.''” But philosophically, at the end of the twentieth century, '''Christianity''' is the only thing in the world tonight that really encourages you to use your mind. | ||
It’s the only thing in the world tonight that gives you a basis for doing it, and it’s the only thing in the world that really liberates the thinking. Somebody says, “''What are you talking about? I got out of Christianity because I felt I couldn’t be liberated. Now I can think of whatever I want to think about.''” But the Bible says you’re not free unless you know the truth because “…the truth will set you free.” | |||
Do you know why? Look at all the people who really understood the truth and said, “The Bible is the truth.” That’s freedom. Do you know why? No matter what your friends tell you, no matter what your political party tells you, no matter what the ideology tells you, no matter what the dictator or the king who is ready to cut your head off tells you, you know what the truth is. | Do you know why? Look at all the people who really understood the truth and said, “The Bible is the truth.” That’s freedom. Do you know why? No matter what your friends tell you, no matter what your political party tells you, no matter what the ideology tells you, no matter what the dictator or the king who is ready to cut your head off tells you, you know what the truth is. | ||
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If you have the Bible, if you know there is an absolute truth, you could be the only person in the whole world, it could be you against the entire world, and you can know you’re right. Look at Elijah standing before Ahab. Look at Moses standing before Pharaoh. Look at Paul standing before Herod Agrippa. Look at Polycarp in AD 88, the old man standing in the coliseum. They were about to throw him to the lions, and he said, “Away with you all!” He dies. Look at Latimer and Ridley being burned at the stake. Look at Martin Luther standing before the whole world. | If you have the Bible, if you know there is an absolute truth, you could be the only person in the whole world, it could be you against the entire world, and you can know you’re right. Look at Elijah standing before Ahab. Look at Moses standing before Pharaoh. Look at Paul standing before Herod Agrippa. Look at Polycarp in AD 88, the old man standing in the coliseum. They were about to throw him to the lions, and he said, “Away with you all!” He dies. Look at Latimer and Ridley being burned at the stake. Look at Martin Luther standing before the whole world. | ||
These were free thinkers because they knew and because they had submitted to the truth. Now they had a standard by which they could judge any ideology. They had a standard by which they could judge any philosophy. They weren’t the victims of their culture anymore. They weren’t the victims of their party. They were always able to judge their own culture and their own party and their own philosophy and their own school. | These were free thinkers because they knew and because they had submitted to the truth. Now they had a standard by which they could judge any ideology. They had a standard by which they could judge any philosophy. They weren’t the victims of their culture anymore. They weren’t the victims of their party. They were always able to judge their own culture and their own party and their own philosophy and their own school. Christianity is the only basis for being a free thinker. It’s the only basis and encouragement for actually using your mind. | ||
If you want me to know why Christianity stimulates the use of the mind, I can prove it to you historically. Wherever there have been revivals, great awakenings in the history of the world, you will see the common people always receive the gospel. You go back to the New Testament, and it says, “…the common people heard [Jesus] gladly.” | |||
Well, all the religious leaders thought that proved he couldn’t be a great teacher. “Look, the common people like you! The common people are following you.” Of course, all through the early church, they were all the common people. They were the slaves. They were the illiterates. And what happened? Their minds woke up. The gospel always arouses the thinking. Throughout the history of the church, throughout the history of the world, whenever the gospel has spread amongst people, their minds wake up and they want schools. | Well, all the religious leaders thought that proved he couldn’t be a great teacher. “Look, the common people like you! The common people are following you.” Of course, all through the early church, they were all the common people. They were the slaves. They were the illiterates. And what happened? Their minds woke up. The gospel always arouses the thinking. Throughout the history of the church, throughout the history of the world, whenever the gospel has spread amongst people, their minds wake up and they want schools. | ||
The gospel always makes you gird up your mind, and do you know why? Because the gospel is not a teaching. The gospel is not a philosophy that says, “''Here, live in this way. Just live in this way.''” That doesn’t make you think. The gospel says, “''God has broken into the world in the form of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He died for us, and he was raised from the dead.''” Don’t you see? You can’t even listen to that teaching without it electrifying the mind. It challenges the mind. It shocks the mind. | |||
The gospel always makes you gird up your mind, and do you know why? Because the gospel is not a teaching. The gospel is not a philosophy that says, | |||
It’s not at all like a philosophy of how to live. That doesn’t stir up the mind. The gospel stirs up the mind. You can’t even reject the gospel without using your mind because the claims are so incredible. God has broken into history. | It’s not at all like a philosophy of how to live. That doesn’t stir up the mind. The gospel stirs up the mind. You can’t even reject the gospel without using your mind because the claims are so incredible. God has broken into history. “''…when the time had fully come, God sent his Son… born under law to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons [of God].''” That claim is so incredible you can’t even reject the gospel without thinking because you have to say, “''What is the evidence for the resurrection, and how do I know these things?''” | ||
There are only two kinds of people reading this. The first kind are the people who think Christianity is something maybe that might help them privately spiritually, but they really are afraid to actually let it challenge their minds. If Jesus is who he says he is, you must belong to him wholly: intellectually, emotionally, and volitionally. | |||
If he is the Son of God as he said, if he rose from the dead as was claimed, you have to look at that evidence. You can’t just say, | If he is the Son of God as he said, if he rose from the dead as was claimed, you have to look at that evidence. You can’t just say, “''Well, I don’t know what I think about all of this. I want to just have a kind of personal, mystical experience. I just want to have peace''.” You can’t do it. God says, “''I will not come into your life unless I come in through your mind. You have to receive the form of teaching. You have to look at the evidence. You have to believe it. You have to check it out.''” Don’t you dare try to do it and run around the mind. Listen to the gospel. Let it argue with you. | ||
Lastly | Lastly, some of you are Christians, but you’re not very consistent Christians because, really, so many people come out of fundamentalism or come out of liberalism or out of all these different churches, and they all really do bypass the mind. Don’t you dare. You need to study the Word of God. You have to let the Word of God sink in. You have to let your mind be completely bathed in the authority of God.<ref>Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).</ref> | ||
=How are we supposed to think?= | =How are we supposed to think?= | ||