Written by Dawn Rutan
This Sunday in Sunday school we were talking about learning as a spiritual discipline, then this week I’ve been reading a few books that go along well with that theme: Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God, by John Piper; Good to Great in God’s Eyes, by Chip Ingram; and If I Had Lunch with C.S. Lewis, by Alister McGrath. Piper makes the following comment in regard to “anti-intellectual impulses” within the church:
“If we were to succeed in raising a generation of people who give up serious, faithful, coherent thinking, we will have raised a generation incapable of reading the Bible… The problem with those who debunk the gift of thinking as a way of knowing God is that they do not spell out clearly what the alternative is. The reason is that there isn’t one. If we abandon thinking, we abandon the Bible, and if we abandon the Bible we abandon God” (123).
Ingram urges believers to “think great thoughts” and “read great books” that help us to understand Scripture, meditate on it, and apply it to our lives. One author quoted by McGrath wrote of C.S. Lewis, “Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.”
It seems in many churches that members don’t feel any need for spiritual nourishment outside of an hour or two on Sunday morning. Something I listened to recently (I forget who it was) made the claim that churchgoers are receiving too many messages with no chance to apply them. Maybe that was true when the primary social activities of a community revolved around the church—Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday night, etc. Barna Research states, “Regular attenders used to be people who went to church three or more weekends each month—or even several times a week. Now people who show up once every four to six weeks consider themselves regular churchgoers.”
So I doubt that these folks are hearing too many messages for them to apply. I believe the real problem is that people don’t want to have to think. They want to be spoon-fed a simple message that does not challenge them to consider how they should respond. They will forget the message as soon as they leave the pew, and won’t think about their faith until the next Sunday morning when they decide whether to go to church or not.
That’s a mindset I can’t really understand. In addition to being raised in the church, I’ve spent about 9 years in formal education at Christian colleges and seminaries, and much of my free time since then has been spent in reading and study of a wide variety of Christian books. The more I read and learn, the more I want to learn and the more I want to truly know God. I shared this quote recently on Facebook:
“A real Christian’s hunger may begin slowly, but it will grow over time, so that by the end of life a real Christian is hungrier than ever for God. By contrast, someone who is not real may have hunger that starts off strong, but it will diminish over time, so that eventually this person is less hungry for God, if at all” (Todd Wilson, Real Christian).
I’m afraid that’s what has happened to a lot of church members. At one time they realized a need for God, but they haven’t fed that need with the solid food of the Word and have gradually lost interest. Apathy has set in and they are satisfied with occasional appearances at church services to maintain the illusion of real faith. I wonder how many will hear those terrifying words, “Depart from Me, I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23). I don’t want that to happen to any of the people I love. I want us all to be confident that He knows us and that we are seeking to know Him as well as we are humanly able.
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” –Matthew 12:30
