Love God with all your mind?

pic from ASBO Jesus

There has been a bit of theme about thinking faith around the houses recently and it resonates with some things I am experiencing at the moment. There is a always a danger that faith (which if it is to be Christian faith needs to involve the whole person) becomes overly cerebral and all in the head but not the heart (I know it is a cliche, but it is often true), but that risk does not excuse us from needing to love God with all our mind (e.g. Matt 22:37). It is a basic biblical command that means we cannot leave our brains at the door of the church when we go to worship. If your church doesn't allow you to ask awkward questions, doubt, or think about things then you are not at a biblical church, it doesn't matter what else they preach.

Marc Cortez has been reflecting on his encounters of the philosphical kind,

You don’t truly realize how “fuzzy” your understanding of something is until you’ve had dinner with a few analytic philosophers. They’re relentless. Questioning, probing, analyzing. They’ll find concepts you didn’t even know you had and then press you to clarify exactly what that concept means and how it relates to your other concepts. It’s kind of like a mental enema. Uncomfortable and messy, but helpful in the end.

Lesley has reviewed a book about thinking Christianly,

If all truth really is God’s truth, then we must not live fragmented lives leading to Christian schizophrenia. We cannot mindlessly absorb the hidden worldviews of our culture and still expect to have the courage and conviction to fulfill our mission as the people of God.

Simon Walker introduces us to his friend who

believes that all truth is God's truth and that Christians need to be learners and thinkers who help critique and transform culture.

The temptation can be for Christians to think they are saved because they know all the right answers to the questions, but the truth is we are saved because God has had mercy on a bunch of confused people who still have a long way to go. So anyone who thinks they have nothing more to learn, or can't be questioned seem to believe they have already reached perfection, but now we only see in part, as through a glass darkly. If we have any wisdom at all it will prevent us from claiming to see 20/20.

Let me know what you think,  :-)