Loving God is a Mind Thing
Other Posts in this Series
- Loving God is a Heart Thing
- Loving God is a Soul Thing
- Loving God is a Mind Thing
- Loving God is a Strength Thing
Love the Lord your God. . .with all your mind. . . .
Have you ever heard the phrase, “The Bible says it, I believe, and that settles it”? I want to scream when I hear these words. I begin looking left and right to see who else heard these words hoping that no non-Christians are anywhere in sight. Christianity already has a bad enough reputation in the “non-believing” world. This kind of statement implies that Christianity is a mindless belief system for fools. For me, Christian living that pleases God requires us to use our minds, to think about what scripture says, to challenge and question passages until we understand the true meaning God has for us in those passages.
To state, “I believe everything the Bible says,” is meaningless to me. If we ask 50 Christians from 50 different denominations we are likely to get 50 different understandings of what the Bible says. The key is to determine what exactly the Bible is saying. Is a particular passage meant to be literal or figurative? What do the Biblical symbols represent? How do we understand the Bible in light of modern science. For example, every reputable scientist in the world believes our earth is billions of years old and that we are the products of evolution. God put into place a complex system of creation and re-creation that makes us each unique and beautiful. See my recent post, We are a Field of Beauty.
To hold that the earth was made in six literal days not only makes Christians play the fool, but turns “thinking” people away from faith. Why do we hold to these beliefs when contextual studies of the Bible indicate these “days” are highly figurative? Peter states that one day is a thousand years to God. Why not a million or a billion? In the creation stories the sun is not created until the third day, so how could we have had a 24-hour day prior to that? In addition, when we look closely at science and evolution we don’t find any disproof of God. Instead, we find a complex and amazing blueprint that points us toward a powerful and brilliant God who cares about sustaining life.
When the false, unthinking, belief systems people hold on to are shown to be wrong, un-thinking faith falls apart and “believers” are thrust into deep spiritual crisis. A faith, however, that is given to thinking, examining, and allowing God to be beyond our preconceived, unexamined notions, is a faith that is resistant to shattering. It is a faith that bends and gives, but does not break when challenged.
In seminary, I was introduced to Process Theology, a belief system that allowed for the possibility of a changing, fluid God, rather than a stagnate God. I remember how appalled I was at the idea to begin with. It didn’t fit any of my preconceived notions of God. In fact, I hadn’t thought much about my understanding of God. I became aware that my unthinking faith was, in fact, a weak faith that limited God. Since then, I have continued to look for what God is saying to me that may be outside the “company line.” Many of my blind beliefs have been verified through searching, asking tough questions, and seeking answers (using my mind). However, some of my prior beliefs have been changed or altered, stretching my understanding of God and God’s activity in the world to new places.
I believe Jesus says to truly love God, we must use our minds. God gave us thinking capacities that no other animal on earth has. We should use that gift to seek God out, to learn new things, to challenge old and sometimes wrong notions. We love God when we try to understand more about the Divine activity through scientific endeavor and through honest biblical analysis. I love God when I ask questions that lead me to deeper understandings. I wonder what people who oppose such rigorous mindfulness are afraid of. Are they afraid God will somehow be disproved? Are they afraid that God won’t hold up to their limited view? Are they afraid we might find something that will turn potential believers away? From my vantage point, mindlessness does far more to turn people away from Christianity than mindfulness could ever do.
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