Let My People Think Series

The preoccupation with style over substance

No comment here; think about it later.

The disappearance of truth via postmodern hermeneutics

I spoke about this with our CELL group on Wednesday evening. It’s not like it used to be; Christians understood truth as bound up in Jesus Christ; Muslims in Allah thru his prophet Muhammad; Buddhists in enlightenment. Pomos say, "there is no truth to be found anywhere, except as it might be true for you". We are witnessing the disappearance of what Francis Schaeffer called "true truth." Where there is, as David Wells calls it, “no place for truth”, then the whole concept of thinking becomes illogical and absurd. And yet we dare to believe that not only does truth exist as a category, we proclaim that it is found in Jesus Christ!

III. Practically speaking, how can I learn to love God with my mind?

A. By seeing thinking as an act of worship

To develop the mind that God has given me, to train it to discern truth and error, to employ it in honest thinking, and then to use that discipline for the building of God’s Kingdom and the furtherance of His glory, is a matter of stewardship. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, and as a Christian, it is a sinful thing not to develop my mind in accordance with God’s truth.

B. By committing to the diligent study of the Word

I must "be transformed by the renewing of my mind", and this takes place through gaining a thorough grasp of God’s Word. Why is IBS so important? Because we are engaged in systematically renewing our minds thereby! How to Read the Bible for All its Worth is the starting point of our studies; it’s not too late to get in on this; it is critical to do so! Failing to love God with my mind is a sin!

C. By becoming a reader of solid Christian literature

I won’t belabor this point, though it is a critical one. I’ll just refer you to the bottom of the note sheet for some recommendations I’d make to you; love to speak with you further on this subject!

D. By cultivating the practice of seeing the world through the lens of the Word

"All truth is God’s truth!" One compelling argument for Christian education is an understanding of this truth. Can I understand history--indeed, does history make any sense--apart from an understanding that there is a God Who is behind history, the fact that history is "His story", the outworking of His plan? Can I understand math without understanding that God created an orderly universe, without realizing that, at root, 2+2=4 because God says it does? Can I understand language without an understanding that God is Himself a Communicator, that "the Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." "The Word was God!" Can we understand science without having a firm grasp of the fact that "in the beginning, God created"? At root, we cannot understand any of these disciplines fully unless/until we see the hand of God behind them!