Thinking Deeply for God’s Sake

 

by Alastair Begg Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything 2 Timothy 2:7 It is not unusual—in fact, it’s quite common—for Christian faith to be regarded as a kind of illogical belief in improbable events. For some, faith is seen as a crutch to prop up less rational people as they navigate life’s challenges. Such critics may be surprised to learn that in reality, Christianity calls its followers not to neglect their minds but to critically engage them. When we read the Bible, we discover that it never invites us simply to feel things; it never attempts merely to sweep us up in an emotional surge. God never once asks for or endorses the disengagement of our thinking processes. Instead, God’s word repeatedly shows us that Christianity is actually a call to think rightly and deeply about God, His world, and our place in it. When the apostle Paul addressed the Ephesians, we read that he was “reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus,” which was likely a school for philosophy or rhetoric (Acts 19:9). Paul wasn’t just singing songs or attempting to stir up some emotional experience. No, he essentially said, Citizens of Ephesus, I want you to think and reason with me today. In Thessalonica, too, Acts tells us that Paul “reasoned” with the people, “explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead” (17:2-3). The book of Isaiah begins with a similar call to think earnestly: “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD” (Isaiah 1:18). This exhortation to think and reason isn’t just for proclaiming the gospel but for growth in Christian maturity too. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul said, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking” (1 Corinthians 14:20). He wanted the church to think intently and intensely about the issues they were facing. Paul was even more direct when he wrote to Timothy: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” We do need God’s Spirit to be at work in order to think rightly (Luke 24:45; 1 Corinthians 12:3), for our intellects are as affected by sin as every other part of ourselves (Ephesians 4:17). But it is as we expend mental energy to consider the wisdom of the Scriptures that God will give us greater and greater understanding. To follow Christ, then, is not to take a step of blind faith into the darkness but to have your eyes opened to the light of rigorous truth. It will take a lifetime—and more!—to unearth the riches of the truth you encounter in God’s word about His Son, but one thing is sure: today, as every day, God wants you to love Him and honor Him with all your mind.

The Scriptures

excerpts from Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton ...............


This was the beginning of my life in Christian ministry, a life of studying, teaching, applying Scripture, and it was deeply satisfying.

To a point.

You see, something else was happening that was very subtle. Somewhere along the way I figured out that you could get really good at studying and memorizing verses, filling in the blanks of Bible study guides, checking chapters off a reading list, coming up with creative approaches for Bible study and message preparation.  In my circles, you could get major brownie points for such things.  Although I wouldn't have known how to talk about it then, slowly but surely the Scriptures were becoming a place of human striving and intellectual hard work.  Somehow, I had fallen into a pattern of using the Scriptures as a tool to accomplish utilitarian purposes rather than experiencing them primarily as a place of intimacy with God for my own soul's sake.

And somewhere along the way I got tired.  Very tired.  When I was alone with the Scriptures, they began to feel lifeless and boring, irrelevant and obligatory.  When I was with the Scriptures with others - in Bible studies, listening to sermons, reading books and commentaries - the Scripture felt ponderous, like a tool people were using to rein me in, or tell me what to do, or coerce me into their way of thinking.

This kind of admission doesn't go over very well in your average church setting or small group Bible study, but it was true nonetheless.  The real surprise was not that this happened but the fact that the shift was so subtle. After all, the purposes for which I was using the Scriptures were not bad in and of themselves.  Its just that over time, without my awareness, those purposes had trumped the greater purpose for which the Scriptures have been given:  to allow my own heart and soul to be penetrated by an intimate word from God. My mind remained engaged, but my heart and soul had drifted far away.

Many of us approach the Scriptures more like a textbook than like a love letter.

When we engage the Scriptures for spiritual transformation ..................  we open ourselves to a deeper level of understanding and insight that grows out of and leads us deeper into our personal relationship with the One behind the text.

When we engage the Scriptures for spiritual transformation, we make it our top priority to listen to God relationally rather than seeking only to learn more about God cognitively.

Then, as God speaks to us through Scripture, we respond to what we read with our heart and soul rather than just our intellect.

In addition to asking, What does it say? What does it mean? How do I apply it to my life? we might ask:

How do I feel about what is being said? Where do I find myself resonating deeply? Why do I feel this way? What do my reactions tell me about myself - my attitudes, my relating patterns, my perspectives, my behaviors? Am I willing to look at that in God's presence?

Intellect vs. Emotion

Growing up the child of a controlling mother, certain emotions were something frowned upon and discouraged.  If she could have gotten into her children's heads she would have scrubbed them clean of any disparaging thoughts or rebellious interludes.  In fact, opinions that differed from hers were not even tolerated.  Perhaps emotions such as peace, happiness and joy were allowed, but the funny thing is, when a person is robbed of the full gamut of emotions, even those elevated as superior will begin to fade and diminish - either stuffed down inside or replaced with depression and/or despair.  Every emotion we can name is supposed to be present in our human beings.  Of course because of the fall that was ruined, but certainly we should not continue down that road by disavowing the existence and usefulness of certain emotions either.

From The Gift of Anger by Carroll Saussy:

When beliefs about emotions are embedded in dualistic thinking, the emphasis shifts to separations rather than intimate connection between one value and another. 

Instead of emphasizing that thought and emotion can be the best of intimate partners, dualistic thinking implies that they are separate and competing.  The insinuation is that being rational and objective requires following rules and standards; being emotional and subjective means running wild.  However, the unavoidable truth is that thought and feeling are so mutually wedded that there is no thought without feeling tones, no feeling that is mindless.

Dualistic thinking shapes religious teaching about the emotions, and with it, parental injunctions about their expression.  Most people have been taught that emotions are to be under the control of the mind - if not the mind, then the will - but in either case one should be able to control those unruly troublemakers, especially anger, fear, sadness, hatred, and depression.

Nico Frijda in The Law of Situational Meaning says: "Emotions arise in response to the meaning structures of given situations; different emotions arise in response to different meaning structures."

Thought and feeling are not to be separated.  Because a person holds certain thoughts or assessments regarding a particular person or value (and those thoughts are laden with feeling), she or he experiences certain emotions when that person or value is present, other emotions when the person is absent, and still different emotions when the value is secure from when it is endangered. 

Frijda uses the analogy of the pianist, saying that experience "appraised in terms of their meanings are the emotional piano player's finger strokes; available modes of action readiness are the keys that are tapped; changes in action readiness are the tones brought forth."


This struck a chord in me (no pun intended) as I thought back to my childhood.  I started piano at the age of six and very quickly became a pretty good pianist, receiving a perfect score at my first National Piano Playing Auditions in Washington D.C.  I loved playing piano for probably several different reasons but the one that comes to mind after reading the above is that I could use ALL my emotions while playing.  It was probably the only time I was allowed, no encouraged, to let go and experience my feelings in their fullness.  And I did.  Sadness, joy, anger, sorrow all came flowing out of my little fingers.  It was euphoric and liberating.  It brought me in touch with my emotions and allowed me to validate them in a way my controlling parent prohibited.  Wouldn't it be equally liberating to have this experience in our daily lives?

Frequently we hear "Don't get emotional" being tossed at women as a way of putting down their powerful reactions, almost always with the implication that clear thinking is trustworthy (and masculine); strong feeling, suspicious (and feminine or perhaps the characteristic of an unmanly man, out of control").  James and Evelyn Whitehead, Shadows of the Heart: A Spirituality of the Negative Emotions

Trust and cherish the whole gamut of emotions, no matter how troublesome they can be at times. I developed a passionate dedication to helping others believe in their emotions as messages from their "true selves."

Can it be that when feelings/emotions are combined WITH logic/intellect followed by deep immersion in Godly prayer there will be the potential for the most powerful witness we can be blessed to behold?  That we are created to combine emotion and intellect, not separate them, and when we align our will with that of the Lord's, we will be able to achieve all things in His name.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13