How often do you think about thinking???
Why should we think in general? What does thinking impact? How will thinking help society? Can it help society? For the Christian, will it help save souls? Is it just for the universities? These are all questions about thinking and some seem to have very obvious answers but we have to start with the purpose of thinking in general before we can move on to how much thought we should be pondering about thinking, as an abstract term. Let’s take a journey into some thoughts about thinking.
Thinking impacts every decision we make. Even making a conscious choice, not to think, not thinking then becomes very impactful to your decision. We have all had situations where we did not think much before acting that resulted in serious reppurcussions. These might be the times where we most see the importance of stopping to think. The mind is a universe within itself that cannot be captured and leaves open doors for discovery. We can choose to dive into those open rooms with knowledge to be gained that can impact family, politics, friends, employment and so much more. If it wasn’t for most of the great thinkers that have made the choice to open new doors of discovery and put their ideas out there, we could very much still be riding horses around without any knowledge that it could be possible to have an automobile. Yet, it can seem scary putting thoughts for people to see, or, even letting people in on your ideas. But, it is a necessity that we as a people and society as a whole are thoughtful people. This is especially true for the Christian and average religious person who according to the social norm, most people already carry a presupposition that they are less intellectual than the average person. This seems to be due to many factors. The most apparent one being that the average person in society will look at religious people, the same as say, a person who believes in fairy tales.
It’s not hard to see why they think that way considering we, many times carry our own bias towards other religions that are not our own and wecan easily categorize a whole religious group of people, making a load of assumptions about all the individuals because of things we have heard or seen from what could be a small majority of the group. Aside from this though, we still are left with the issue of whether or not the bias carry’s some truth to it? Will it take thinking to help us figure this out? Do we think enough as Christians or in general. Do we realize the weight and impact that thoughts carry? Can our thoughts be developed to the point that what we say can hit hard enough to help bring a soul to conversion. That the Holy Spirit will use our words to save somebody? We are commanded to be the hands and feet of Jesus throughout the earth. There is only one plan from God. There is no plan B. The plan for the beginning was that Jesus would die to save us and that we the church would help bring others to the truth of that life changing knowledge, that they themselves could experience it.
You might still ask though, even if thinking has all these capabilities, what do thoughts about thinking have to do with it? It’s a question that comes to mind and, about the same time you can realize, it’s what were doing right now. We are thinking about thinking and it is vital to our existence and capabilities as people. Because, without even realizing it, we can forget to think! We can also forget to think about thinking. Philosophy itself, a system that thinks about life’s deepest issues is one that a lot of people don’t want to study because it can be tough. But, shouldn’t something so impactful be tough. Something that can change our lives and others, shouldn’t that not be easy. We so many times think Christianity should be easy even though, it can be the exact opposite, and i would venture to say 90% of the time it is. Yet, it is still 100% of the time a better life, with purpose.
But, what happens when we don’t take this time to think about life’s most critical issues? Such as morality… right now morality is being put on trial and is in question of being itself, a reality. People think it’s created based upon culture and society. That it can’t actually be objective. They assume already that there cannot be a God and therefore, that there is no basis for objective moral truth. This leaves us with a post-modern society where truth and morality become objective. Everything is relative and anyone can be right. But, we don’t even truly believe this at our core. No relativist could actually say murder in cold blood is o.k if a society says so. I mean, sure they can say it but, if they actually have some sanity, they definitely don’t believe it!
We, have to be a thinking people. Thinking should not just start and end in the universities. Especially, when we think about the idea that it seems average Christians spend a significant less amount of time in universities than the average non-religious person. This puts us as individuals and the church as a whole, in a weaker position. How many Christians can actually compete on an intellectual level? You could ask should we be able too, and, i don’t know any reason why we shouldn’t. If any, I see more reasons to believe that we should be able too. Paul, the apostle himself engaged in debates for the sake of the gospel and contended intellectually to help people see its truth. We have an obligation to people and our society to contribute. Thinking is seemingly in my opinion one of the greatest ways to do this. Not just for society but also the sake of reaching people.
We can reach our community through our thoughts. Especially, considering that many of our greatest thinkers end up with the biggest platforms of influence, this should help us personally to want to reach them knowing, there potential to reach others. Even if it’s tough. The reason a lot of people don’t want to think critically is because it seems like too much effort to them. But, shouldn’t it be? If thinking has the impact I’m talking about now, then can’t it be one of the most important capabilities we have? And, if that’s true, then should it be difficult? We shouldn’t run away from thinking because, it’s not always easy. Something that can be so life changing will be tough but, will also produce great results.
We need intellectual Christians that can compete on a university level. Christians that don’t run out of universities to jump into ministry and not know what they are talking about. God cares very much about preparing us for our work and training yourself to think is an investment that is more than its worth in investing. So, knowledge and schooling shouldn’t be looked at as a waste but, rather, a treasure and a lifelong investment. A time, where we can have our brains stretched, and be around people that are going to challenge our ideas. This causes our thinking to grow and can help very much in relating to other people and other cultures.
This is not to say God can’t use people they don’t have a high level of education but, it is also to say that thinking can be understood apart from knowledge itself. Also, knowledge cannot be measured on a scale and intellect can take different forms, in terms of thoughts. Your thoughts can be amazing even if you don’t know much about history or our forefathers, though, more study and knowledge can increase your thought process. Meaning, they go hand in hand. Yet, still realizing that you can be a good thinker by taking time to think and explore ideas. Thinking involves community and hearing others ideas. Especially, former great thinkers that came before us, the books that may seem boring can open your mind up in ways you might think are unimaginable. We should be willing to venture into these depths with our thought process. Into this universe that will equip us to think of new products and means that can be helpful to people, our communities and society. By doing this we are reaching new heights and helping others to also. Yet to do this, you have to be passionate and see the big picture being painted here that your thoughts are very important and that every thought can be loaded with power for change. Maybe you just have to see what I’m thinking for this to happen and maybe to do that you just have to think a little bit more about thinking.
