GREAT POINTS FROM Tim Challis's blog today: A Failure to Think
"In John Stott’s little book Your Mind Matters I found this quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He was commenting on Matthew 6:30 in his Studies in the Sermon on the Mount and offered a great critique to those who feel that faith and thinking are opposites; that a person who has faith is a person who refuses to use his mind. Instead, says Lloyd-Jones, a person who exercises faith must use his mind.
"Faith according to our Lord’s teaching in this paragraph, is primarily thinking; and the whole trouble with a man of little faith is that he does not think. He allows circumstances to bludgeon him. … We must spend more time in studying our Lord’s lessons in observation and deduction. The Bible is full of logic, and we must never think of faith as something purely mystical.
"We do not just sit down in an armchair and expect marvelous things to happen to us. That is not Christian faith. Christian faith is essentially thinking. Look at the birds, think about them, draw your deductions. Look at the grass, look at the lilies of the field, consider them. … Faith, if you like, can be defined like this: It is a man insisting upon thinking when everything seems determined to bludgeon and knock him down in an intellectual sense.
"The trouble with the person of little faith is that, instead of controlling his own thought, his thought is being controlled by something else, and, as we put it, he goes round and round in circles. That is the essence of worry. … That is not thought; that is the absence of thought, a failure to think."
I whole heartily agree with Stott and Challis, above, but would take this observation even further: The thinking that goes with authentic Bible study can often be the deepest, most profound and time consuming intellectual study one can ever engage in. Ultimately it leads to the renewing of one's mind, intellect and entire thought processes. Being born again means being born again intellectually as well as spiritually.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
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6 comments:
I am young in terms of understanding Christianity. I am consistently torn: how much thinking vs how much Holy Ghost? If I FEEL and SENSE completely strongly that an action is proper: is it proper? Is this spiritual inspiration? Or, is this mere instinct(?) - like instinct to run from a lion, when the actual best action is to strategically crouch in the grass and let the lion pass by.
I have friends who, for instance, if they are offered a job: they pray about whether to take the job. They are led by the Holy Ghost in making the proper decision. To me, taking a job looks like a rational business decision: consider all factors(business and personal), then make your best decision. As I write this, I realize I should be talking more with my friends, to feel out their thoughts on the subject.
I think this is a wonderful point and bears discussing with friends and others who are walking on the spiritual journey with the Trinity leld by the Holy Spirit.
Several points come to mind, however, which I'm going to put back at the bottom of the post with thanks to you, Greg. And I hope we can continue this discussion whenever appropriate.
Such generous sharing. Thank you. And I'm a sucker for anything with a cool word or phrase like "manna and quails". That's a contender for the title of my biography: "Manna and Quails."
So, I thought about your reply yesterday, then reread this AM, and will have to sit with it some more. My tentative grasp of your points:
- sometimes we are led by the Holy Spirit without much thinking being done on our part(McClean Bible Church)
- inviting the Holy Spirit, reading Scripture, displaying faith: improves/clarifies our thinking (Moses' Jews and Lazarus/rich man)
- re Martyn Lloyd-Jones
In the face of a world where everything seemingly conspires against rational thought: to consciously think about what we see around us, to draw deductions about what we see around us, is an act of faith.
To which you add: the thinking which goes along with spiritually based bible study is a gateway (the narrow gate? lol), as with the rich man's brothers, to spiritual insight. And you further add that the gateway runs both ways: drawing deductions about our surroundings enriches our scriptural study.
Anyway, this got kind of long, and I'd rather put it out longer than put it off until I can edit later, even though I maybe have not yet quite grasped your points. I'm trying! This is good and interesting stuff. Thanks for being so gracious and thoughtful.
You're most welcome, Greg. Took all this down this morning for space, but glad you saw the main points. You are most eloquent in your comments here and elsewhere...and I always appreciate what you have to say.
I think there's no final answer to this. It's a life-long process---a concerted effort if you will----of balancing the leading of the Spirit and using our intellect to think things through. Over the past decade or so I've focused on Scripture, especially since my born again experience at McLean, prayer and also Christian Centering prayer with Lectio. All have helped me begin, and I do mean begin, to integrate the Gospel into my life, relationships and actions.
BTW, mindless, charismatic carrying ons in today's world is not, in my opinion, of the Holy Spirit. It's a loss of control that seems to be a monumental and immature self-indulgence.
One final point: Only once do I remember being completely over-taken by the Spirit that quietly, systematically, thoughtfully told me exactly what to do in an emergency situation: I was held at knife-point in an underground empty parking lot in Denver, Colorado after bidding adieu to a great love of mine at a fly fishing trade show. It was the most amazing incident and I was instructed exactly what to do second by second. It was quiet, systematic and extremely effective in making an escape from a man who intended to rape and rob me. I did exactly what I was told and believe I'm alive today as a result. I'm also profoundly grateful for the Spirit's leading, especially when there's no time to argue. But the leading caused me to use my head and keep my emotions in check until after this incident was over....then I let loose emotionally when the police arrived.
Best wishes.
Oh my gosh, Web. I find it interesting that somehow I was drawn to read your comments today. I bet this experience happened to you on or near Colfax. I wrote about Colfax today. I am so sorry you experienced such horrendous trauma; but I am delighted that you used your brain to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you through this horrific experience.
Thanks, Bob. Actually this man followed me from Currigan Hall downtown along Champa and then into the underground bank parking.
And you might find it interesting to know the inner voice directed to respond to this man like I was trained to respond to a grizzly bear...
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