and am persuaded

"If our lives and ministries are expressions of what we actually believe, and if what we believe is off center and yet so pervasive that it is seldom even brought to conscious discussion, much less debated, then this explains why our impact on the world is so paltry compared to our numbers. I cannot overemphasize the fact that this modern understanding of Christianity is neither biblical nor consistent with the bulk of church history." *

For centuries within the history of the church, believers were identified as very able and willing individuals who often engaged the broader intellectual culture of the world. Many ecclesiastical leaders during the 1800s were considered to be among the most learned members of a community. Sadly, this all began to change at the turn of the nineteenth century when fundamentalists started to withdraw to their own holy huddles and left the public discourse. And thus, the salt removed itself from the culture.

Moreland lists five characteristics that capture the essence of anti-intellectualism on today's evangelicalism:
1) a misunderstanding of faith's relationship to reason
2) the separation of the secular and the sacred
3) weakened world missions
4) anti-intellectualism has spawned an irrelevant gospel
5) a loss of boldness in confronting the idea structures in our culture with effective Christian witness

Unfortunately, faith is not often characterized in these terms in much of our modern Christianity. I will never forget that a senior pastor with whom I once worked (with forty years of ministry experience) told me that church members could not be challenged very much because they would not have the ability to follow. In other words, it is the responsibility of church leadership to dumb down Christianity so that people will continue on with their botox-esque churchy smiles that ignore real spiritual growth or biblical maturity. With this attitude prevailing in our pulpits today, it is no wonder that the church is seen as ineffective and stereotyped as a safe haven for stupidity.

By contrast to this approach to church is the biblical understanding of faith that is always built upon reason. Although I have been told many times that you cannot reason your way to heaven, we should have a good foundation for thinking that Christianity is true before we dedicate ourselves to it. Further, in every single instance where faith is mentioned in Scripture it is built upon knowledge and understanding. Nowhere does the Bible speak of a blind faith nor does Jesus ever say, "Don't think about it, just believe. . .just believe." Yet so many Christians repeat this mantra over and over and over again.

Faith is a necessity for the Christian life. However, a misunderstanding of faith leads to a misrepresentation of faith which means we have an entire culture of beleivers that are believing in false doctrine. Theoretical reason is no longer part of our churches - sould we be surprised when so many of our own fall for so much? Let us work to recapture the spiritual mind, which thinks and reasons and postulates on God. Then we will know him more and grow in our effectiveness in the world.

Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding.
~Proverbs 2:2




*J. P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1997), 25.