A lifestyle of thinking and the art of learning
The WFL on sound minded church has set me thinking. I have earlier blogged about faith and argued that faith is not anti-thesis to reason, but rather, the both need to co-exist together. I wished that the church can understand this better than it is currently.
I am by no means saying that I am practising a very sound minded lifestyle right now, but I certainly can say that I spend a lot of time thinking and contemplating about issues, be it intellectual issues or existential issues. Last week, I started a series of sharing on worship, adapted from Ravi Zacharias' several teachings on worship. Along in the sharings include a few philosophical points which are difficult to understand. And comments from my cg are that these points are a little difficult to understand. I was immediately reminded of what Ravi likes to say, that we are constantly being 'idiotised by the television'. But let me acknowledge that most of the stuff I shared are not easy to understand and I had to personally reflect on these points before I was confident to share these.
Yet, perhaps Ravi was right when he said that we lost our ability to reason and think critically as a result of this era, which allows us to obtain ideas through the projection of certain images and thus reduces the need for active imagination and abstract reasoning. In television, the images just come and we have no need to think critically, unless you are the sort of film critic, or is into film literature or some sort of similar discipline. Yet, essentially, the power of movies and images is that it is able to deliver a philosophy of thought without giving you the abstract reasoning and argument at the most basic level.
That is why I am a serious advocate of sound minded thinking, or perhaps living a lifestyle of thinking and learning. The past few WFLs confirmed my thesis that we need to be able to think reasonably. By that, I dun mean being able to think like Bertrand Russell or Nietzche, or like Hegel and people of their thinking calibre, but be able to make sense and reason out our faith and thoughts properly. The bible instructs us to take captive of our thoughts, to be ready to answer people's questions on our faith.
One moment which encapsulates this happened two weeks ago. While going out from work, I was walking with my boss to the train station. Along the way, we somehow are able to transit to an intellectual conversation on philosophy as I was asked how I came to the conclusion of the Christian worldview. It was a stimulating experience as I found myself able to articulate clearly why I believe and the methodology involved. It was, to me, a testimony of a lifestyle of constant thinking and learning.
We do not need to think about abstract issues, but we certainly need to be able to think and articulate our faith such that it does not look silly and remains relevant to people who need to hear these testimonies. It applies to both believers and non-believers. Paul was able to articulate his faith and his stand on certain issues (guided by the Holy Spirit) to both believers and non-believers. Most of the disciples who spoke (in Acts) were able to. Christianity is certainly not just simply an existential thing, and it certainly does not only involves the passion and emotions of living, although these are important factors in our faith.
It's about a lifestyle of thinking. We are created to think. Contemplation and reflection can happen at any moment, and I am a serious believer that these do not need to happen in a deliberate setting where it is quiet or what, but it can happen anywhere. While we do need to set aside time to deliberate on issues with God, thinking and reflection can happen anytime.
We seriously need to get in touch with our thoughts.
I am by no means saying that I am practising a very sound minded lifestyle right now, but I certainly can say that I spend a lot of time thinking and contemplating about issues, be it intellectual issues or existential issues. Last week, I started a series of sharing on worship, adapted from Ravi Zacharias' several teachings on worship. Along in the sharings include a few philosophical points which are difficult to understand. And comments from my cg are that these points are a little difficult to understand. I was immediately reminded of what Ravi likes to say, that we are constantly being 'idiotised by the television'. But let me acknowledge that most of the stuff I shared are not easy to understand and I had to personally reflect on these points before I was confident to share these.
Yet, perhaps Ravi was right when he said that we lost our ability to reason and think critically as a result of this era, which allows us to obtain ideas through the projection of certain images and thus reduces the need for active imagination and abstract reasoning. In television, the images just come and we have no need to think critically, unless you are the sort of film critic, or is into film literature or some sort of similar discipline. Yet, essentially, the power of movies and images is that it is able to deliver a philosophy of thought without giving you the abstract reasoning and argument at the most basic level.
That is why I am a serious advocate of sound minded thinking, or perhaps living a lifestyle of thinking and learning. The past few WFLs confirmed my thesis that we need to be able to think reasonably. By that, I dun mean being able to think like Bertrand Russell or Nietzche, or like Hegel and people of their thinking calibre, but be able to make sense and reason out our faith and thoughts properly. The bible instructs us to take captive of our thoughts, to be ready to answer people's questions on our faith.
One moment which encapsulates this happened two weeks ago. While going out from work, I was walking with my boss to the train station. Along the way, we somehow are able to transit to an intellectual conversation on philosophy as I was asked how I came to the conclusion of the Christian worldview. It was a stimulating experience as I found myself able to articulate clearly why I believe and the methodology involved. It was, to me, a testimony of a lifestyle of constant thinking and learning.
We do not need to think about abstract issues, but we certainly need to be able to think and articulate our faith such that it does not look silly and remains relevant to people who need to hear these testimonies. It applies to both believers and non-believers. Paul was able to articulate his faith and his stand on certain issues (guided by the Holy Spirit) to both believers and non-believers. Most of the disciples who spoke (in Acts) were able to. Christianity is certainly not just simply an existential thing, and it certainly does not only involves the passion and emotions of living, although these are important factors in our faith.
It's about a lifestyle of thinking. We are created to think. Contemplation and reflection can happen at any moment, and I am a serious believer that these do not need to happen in a deliberate setting where it is quiet or what, but it can happen anywhere. While we do need to set aside time to deliberate on issues with God, thinking and reflection can happen anytime.
We seriously need to get in touch with our thoughts.
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