Anti-Intellectualism and Our Day
According to a number of social commentators, one of the things that characterizes our day is anti-intellectualism. We naturally assume that “you gotta have heart”, but have a great suspicion of those that “think too much”. Remember the words to the Billy Joel song, “Still Rock-n-Roll to Me”? “Trying to be a straight-A-student? Well, if you are then you think too much.” Anti-intellectualism is pervasive.
Sadly, this can be especially true among Christian people. We are big on “experiencing God” but not as big on thinking accurately about Him. But can you truly experience one that you don’t really know? When we disdain “theology” (i.e. the discipline of thinking accurately about God) in the name of “just loving God”, we are actually following the pattern of the world. Theologian R.C. Sproul puts it like this: “We live in what may be the most anti-intellectual period in the history of Western Civilization.…We must have passion, indeed hearts on fire for the things of God. But that passion must resist with intensity the anti-intellectual spirit of the world.”
We need a paradigm shift in the Christian world, a movement back to a biblical view of the mind. Is your thinking about God in line with the world or in line with the Word? One just happens. The other takes work.
Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective”.
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
~Matthew 22:34-40
Email
|
Print
|
Comments (1)
