Saturday, July 17, 2010

Is religion bad for intellectual development?

Oh...it sure can be. Since faith is such a crucial part of Christianity, there is a tendency to tackle difficult questions with more "faith" than thinking.  In order words, when we encounter things that we don't understand, instead of encouraging intellectual curiosity, we stop our thinking process short by saying that this just takes more faith to believe. Sometimes if the questioning persists, then the questioner is labelled a doubter, someone who is faithless.

My own experience is that the desire for an answer is not driven by the lack of faith. Rather it is the very opposite. "I have no doubt that God has an answer and that it will be a good one; I want to know what God thinks!" That is not a bad thing, is it?  In a friendship, we want to know what the other person thinks about this and that; it is just natural curiosity.  And through Jesus, God has befriended us.   

Some will quote Isaiah 55:8-9 to say that God's ways are higher than ours, and his thoughts are higher than ours. That is true, but it doesn't mean we can't access his thoughts. James 1:5 states "If anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously without finding fault, and it will be given to him."  The apostle Paul puts it even more poignantly in 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 by saying that the Spirit of God who dwells in us searches all things, even the deep things of God...we have the mind of Christ!

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