Love God With All Your Mind Part 4-3


• Is there a God? – No

• What is the nature of reality? – What physics says it is

• What is the purpose of the universe? There is none

• What is the meaning of lie? – There is none

• Why am I here? – Just dumb luck

• Is there a soul? – Are you kidding?

• Is there free will? – Not a chance!

• What is the difference between right/wrong, good/bad? – There is no moral difference between them

The Atheist's Guide to Reality by Alex Rosenberg


In philosophy, objective refers to existence apart from perception.

An object independent of perception does not change with our feelings, interpretations, or prejudices.

Applied to moral values; if they are objective, then they are discovered, not invented.


The Universe Next Door, James Sire

There are multiple editions out there. I think the 5th is the newest.


James Sire in his book, The Universe Next Door, developed seven questions to help you determine your worldview.

1. What is the Nature of Ultimate Reality?

2. What is the nature of material reality?

3. What is a human being?

4. What happens to a person at death?

5. Why is it possible to know anything at all?

6. How do we know what is right and wrong?

7. What is the meaning of human history?


Intellectual Virtues

• Intellectual Virtues• Passion for the truth

• Passion for holiness, application of truth

• Passion for consistency

• Compassion for others

• In a framework of humility

“He [Christ] wants a child’s heart but a grown-

up’s head.” C. S. Lewis


Intellectual Disciplines

• Intellectual Disciplines

• Solitude, Silence, Attention

• Lateral Thinking

• Prayer

• Create good intellectual habits, this is honoring to God

• Taking classes, reading books, research

• Liberal arts has a place, interdisciplinary reading


A place and time to think

• Make a place and time to think

• No noise, silence

• No interruptions, location is important

• No background music

• Society, Community, and Groups

• Rest

• Exercise

• Keep a journal, notes, keep notebook around

• Set goals


Study, Exercise for the Mind

“The desire to know, to think clearly, to pursue ideas back to their sources and on toward their implications: this desire should not be difficult for one who is called by God to think.” – James W. Sire Habits of the Mind pg. 132

“If we are to love God adequately with the mind, then the mind must be exercised regularly, trained to acquire certain habits of thought, and filled with an increasingly rich set of distinctions and categories.” J.P. Moreland pg. 105


Intellectual Loneliness

• “In too many churches, a questing mind can be a plague to its owner. The thinking woman or man seldom gets much support today—and more often than not meets with resistance and suspicion. This is true, not only for those inclined to dig more deeply for a more reasoned, better-founded faith, but for the Christian who is laboring out in the world to resolve debates and value-clashes in fields like social justice, medical research, education, law, and finance. And so the Christian who must use his or her mind, because they are driven by the joy of using it, can exist in an odd, ambivalent relationship with his brothers and sisters in Christ. This should not be.” - David Hazard


Resistance and Suspicion

• “In too many churches, a questioning mind can be a plague to its owner. The thinking woman or man seldom gets much support today – and more often than not meets with resistance and suspicion.”

• “According to the Bible, developing a Christian mind is part of the very essence of discipleship unto the Lord Jesus.”

• “[God] does not love intellectuals more than anyone else. But it needs to be said in the same breath that ignorance in not a Christian virtue if those virtues mirror the perfection of God’s own character.”

J. P. Moreland, Love Your God With All

Your Mind


Resistance

• “If anything, the pressures against using the mind carefully, honestly and faithfully as an essential aspect of the Christian’s calling are stronger now than ever before.” Mark Noll (J. Stott 2006, 8)


“…contrary to popular opinion, Christians

are not supposed to “just have faith.”

Christians are commanded to know what

they believe and why they believe it. They

are commanded to give answers to those

who ask (1 Peter 3:15), and to demolish

arguments against the Christian faith (2 Cor.

10:4-5). Since God is reasonable (Isa. 1:18)

and wants us to use our reason, Christians

don’t get brownie points for being stupid. In

fact, using reason is part of the greatest

commandment which, according to Jesus,

is to “Love the Lord your God with all your

heart and with all your soul and with all your

mind” (Matt. 33:37).

- Norman Geisler & Frank Turek pg 29


What is faith?

1. A decision to believe something independent of reason (Reason and Faith have no relationship).

2. A decision to believe while ignoring the lack of evidence (Blind belief).

3. A decision to believe in spite of the evidence to the contrary (Belief in opposition to evidence).

4. A decision to believe because we have a reason to believe (Faith based on reason).


Thomas Aquinas

• By reason alone we can know of God.• In fact we can know there is one and only one God.

• No need for special revelation.

• By Faith we can know Christian doctrine.• We can learn of Divinity of Jesus, Trinity, Redemption etc…

• Through special revelation, (Bible and Tradition).

• All truth is harmonious.• If our Faith and Reason are correct.

• There will be no conflict between what faith tells us and what reason tells us.

Professor Thomas Williams, Ph.D., University of Notre

Dame


Apologetics Removing Obstacles

Jesus

Intellectual Barriers

Emotional Barriers

Spiritual Barriers

Unbeliever


The Church in an Age of Crisis

The failure of the Church to

cultivate an intellectual

tradition has lead the

Church not to engage the

culture for Christ.


Media

• Supersaturation (much knowledge, little wisdom) Chapter 16, The Church in an Age of Crisis, James E. White

• Media use and abuse Chapter 17, The Church in an Age of Crisis, James E. White

• Shallow News, No substance, bias, shape opinion rather than inform, Chapter 18-19 The Church in an Age of Crisis, James E. White


Resources


Recommended Books to start with


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Love God With All Your Mind Part 4-3

Spiritual

Transcript of Love God With All Your Mind Part 4-3