Category Archives: Thinking About Big Questions

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Is Christian Faith Blind and Irrational?

On the Christian worldview, faith is not opposed to reason. It cooperates with reason. “Faith is trusting in what we have reason to believe is true.” (synonyms for faith = trust, confidence, reliance, God-confidence).

Put another way, “Faith is a readiness to act as if something were so” (cf. Dallas Willard). It is important to notice that this is the same faith we employ when we get on airplane or decide that forgiveness is really better than bitterness and Jesus was right about that.

A challenging aspect of this understanding is also that “what we we believe is what we actually act as if it were true.” (ouch)

Finally, it is important to recognize that faith doesn’t make anything true or false…whether airplanes are safe, forgiveness really is better than bitterness, or that Jesus rose from the grave. Sincerity doesn’t make something true or false. Faith is only as good as the object in which it is placed.

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Understanding the Bible…where do you begin?

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)


Christianity teaches that God has spoken in the Bible. And yet, it remains a very intimidating book and this intimidation keeps people from reading it…and therefore being transformed by it (Romans 12:2).

Over at the main think Christianly website (this blog is just one of the things we do to try to encourage you in your daily adventure with God), you will find resource pages in our (always growing) Card Catalog to help you on your faith journey. To learn how to start understanding the Bible for yourself, click here.

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Has the Church lost her mind?

“Has the Church lost her mind?” That is a question that many within the evangelical world are rightly asking. After much study of this question, historian Mark Noll concluded that “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.”[2] Os Guinness laments “Anti-intellectualism is a disposition to discount the importance of truth and the life of the mind. Living in a sensuous culture and an increasingly emotional democracy, American evangelicals in the last generation have simultaneously toned up their bodies and dumbed down their minds.”[3] Guinness even begins his book by including a humorous cartoon illustrating this sad state of affairs with one character saying to the other “Buns of Steel—Brains of Silly Putty!”[4] Evangelical Philosopher and Theologian William Lane Craig observes that “Our churches are filled with people who are spiritually born again, but who still think like non-Christians.”[5] Is this an accurate portrait?


Unfortunately, in many circles it is. But it shouldn’t be; it doesn’t have to be….

That is why Think Christianly exists. (Luke 10:27)

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[2] Mark A. Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1994), 3.

[3] Os Guinness, Fit Bodies, Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don’t Think and What to Do About It (Grand Rapids: Hourglass Books, 1994), 9-10.

[4] Ibid., 8.

[5] William Lane Craig, Hard Questions, Real Answers (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003), 13.

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God Has Spoken

It is sometimes said that God has written two books: creation and the Bible. God has first revealed Himself through and in what He has made. This is His general revelation to all people, in that everyone has equal access to it simply by watching a sunset at the beach, standing on a mountain top, or observing the night sky.

But God has also spoken through people in history and this is known as special revelation. In special revelation, God reveals information that could not have been discovered any other way (e.g., people can’t deduce from a sunset that Jesus Christ has provided salvation for any who would place their trust in Him). As they were led by the Holy Spirit, the authors of Scripture communicated God’s words to His people (from 1405 bc to ad 95). The books we possess, from Genesis to Revelation, are God’s final and authoritative revelation to the world. No clearer word is needed and no higher authority can be appealed to.

An important corollary to this discussion is the Bible’s status of being “without error,” known as the doctrine of inerrancy. Because of God’s perfect character and the fact that He cannot lie, it follows that His revelation to us would be without error. But, you might ask, didn’t flawed and sinful human beings pen Scripture? Yes. But that is why the Holy Spirit guarded the original writings from error.

Theologian David Dockery offers a good summary of this doctrine, “When all the facts are known, the Bible (in its original writings) properly interpreted in light of which culture and communication means had developed by the time of its composition will be shown to be completely true (and therefore not false) in all that it affirms, to the degree of precision intended by the author, in all matters relating to God and his creation.” And even though none of the original manuscripts exist today, biblical scholars have sufficiently demonstrated that the Bible has been accurately and reliably preserved for us. Therefore, the Bible you can buy today is essentially the Word of God. Indeed, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17).

Passages to explore: Psalm 19:1–4; Matthew 5:18; John 10:35; 17:17; Romans 1:18–25; 2:14–16; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 1:1–2; 6:18; 2 Peter 1:16–21.

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On Knowledge and Virtue

Peter has some encouraging and instructive words for us. Notice the role that effort plays in the cultivation of virtue and maturity. It is all fueled by grace and the power of the Holy Spirit of course…but we must be intentional about it if we are to mature.

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.