The Limited Place of the Mind⤒🔗

Certain quarters in the Christian world complain that the church today emphasizes emotion and neglects thinking. Such complaints protest against the idea that modern believers do not want to think but want to experience something. According to these critics, the situation of the church has become so desperate that another reformation is needed. We need a movement today not only to change how people think about God, the authority of Scripture, and salvation, but a reformation that begins by teaching people to think.

The call for reformation is so urgent because in their view, Christianity is an intellectual religion. All genuine Christian truth comes to man in a rational form. Although rationalism, which treats human reason as sovereign, is wrong, rational thought is the very essence of Christianity. The Christian must commit himself to the honest pursuit of the truth, in the spirit of the best intellectual Christian thinking of the ages, and then carefully use what he learns to serve others. To summarize this view in a few words: To be saved, human beings must think.

This picture of Christianity as basically an intellectual religion, must be rejected, and it is important to be clear about this prior to dealing with the Christian mind. How can it be maintained that rational thought is the essence of Christianity when Micah says:

God has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?Micah 6:8

God requires Israel’s religion to be much more than thinking about God and His will. It should be living honestly with one’s neighbour and in close communion with God. The Lord Jesus summarized God’s will for our lives in the twofold command of love:

The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 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. The second is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.Mark 12:29-31

Christ emphasizes love, not the intellect.

The statement that Christianity is an intellectual religion betrays the influence of evangelicalism. This movement has received a strong intellectualistic character, particularly on this continent. On the basis of Scripture, however, we have to reject the suggestion that Christianity is foremost an intellectual religion.

This does not mean, obviously, that Christianity may neglect the mind. Summarizing the law, the Lord Jesus mentioned among other things that we should love the Lord with our mind. Even in this case, however, the mind is not mentioned as the central part of our religion. Love is foremost in our relationship with God, and loving God with the mind is one aspect of this love.

Romans 12:1, 2 speaks in a similar vein. Paul begins by appealing to the congregation “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” With “your bodies” he clearly referred to the whole person. As an animal was sacrificed to God in the Old Testament, so the New Testament people of God must devote themselves completely to the service of God. To this belongs the “renewal of the mind.”Paul speaks here of a process of renewal that affects our consciousness and thought. This text does not say that Christianity is an intellectual religion; rather, our mind, including our intellectual powers, must be renewed to serve God.

We can be thankful that Christianity is not an intellectual religion. There are people who are not particularly intellectually gifted, but that does not mean they are unable to really serve God. What we find in Scripture is that we are completely in the service of God, with every ability we have. That applies to the mind, as well. From those to whom little is given, little is required and from those to whom much is given, much is required.

Within this context of total submission to God, we can maintain that we are called to serve God with our mind.

Two Developments←⤒🔗

We need to be aware of certain recent developments that threaten our serving God with all our mind. Two things in particular deserve our attention. In the first place, a flood of information inundates us every day. Newspapers survey the events of the day, and magazines present more background information. No one is able to read the whole paper, every day. The sheer amount of information requires one to skim the pages. Much is quickly read and instantly forgotten.

The radio broadcasts the daily headlines often in snippets of two or three lines for a topic. No time is given for something to settle in the mind, let alone to be reflected upon. Instead, the listener is dragged along to the next item. A recent poll showed that news on TV was highly appreciated but that people actually remembered few things were actually remembered. The many channels available via cable do their best to draw the public with their shows. The result is that people are surfing through all the programs in search of the most interesting one. And when a program fails to hold the attention, another show is selected. The idea is not to gather information, let alone to consider it, but to be entertained.

Even greater possibilities are provided on the Information Highway. One can tap into news and knowledge from far away, and link into discussions with people on the other side of the globe. A virtually unlimited and unsupervised (think of child porn!) amount of information is available.

All this has led to what is sometimes labelled “information overload.” People are so overwhelmed by the amount of information coming to them that they lose their grip on reality. Moreover, all this information does not leave them any time for reflection. This has consequences for our faith life. Loving God with the mind becomes impossible when we take no time to think and reflect because we have to know the latest.

The second development that threatens to undermine Christian thinking is the fact that today so much information is offered in visual form. No longer do we listen to the news, we watch it. Reading books at home is replaced more and more by watching videos. The same tendency can be observed in the classroom. There is a tendency to allow videos to take over the role of instruction by the teacher. Our time is to a large extent oriented towards the visual.

It can readily be admitted that visual presentation is in some instances the best way to provide information. A picture, and even more so a film, will confront people directly with impressive natural phenomena such as Niagara Falls. A good photograph of the Tower in London will result in a clearer impression in the mind than any description can achieve. Moreover, the direct impact of visual information is great, and it has a direct appeal to the emotions.

On the other hand, visual presentations are greatly limited. One needs to go beyond what is seen to come to a deeper understanding. We need information about the forces that contributed to the making of Niagara Falls, and the story of what happened at the famous Tower. That leads to a more comprehensive appreciation of what is seen.

But man is more than a being in need of being entertained or shocked. People also have to think, to reflect, to internalize. Today’s ongoing flow of visual information does not stimulate thinking. It has to grab and hold the attention and therefore has to come quickly with yet another arresting view or tense event. It cannot afford to give people time for reflection, for a static view is boring. Moreover, many things cannot be shown or made visible. Thoughts and motives are by nature invisible but play a tremendous role in our world. The present emphasis on the visual is not conducive to developing the mind in the service of God.

Two Examples←⤒🔗

How do these two developments impact on the church and its teaching? To give an example: How can we explain the doctrine of the Trinity today? A well-known theologian has said that the church has to take into account that we live in a visual age, and that the people have a short attention span. The following “sermon in two points” was recommended as fitting for our time. First, three chairs are placed on a platform facing each other. The minister moves from one chair to another, representing the roles and perspectives of each of the Persons of God in the atoning work of Jesus Christ. It appears that at this point the emphasis is on the “Three Persons.”In the second part of the message (after a musical interlude, for the sermon should not be too long!) three men appear, together wearing one large white robe. Their heads protrude through three openings in the robe. At this point “One God” is represented, discussing the work of Christ.

In this example, the need to make the Trinity understandable led to the choice for a visual representation. The attempt, however, trivializes God. Particularly the scene where three heads emerge from one robe is a ridiculous way of presenting God. It is true that the people in the pew no longer need to think, they can see with their own eyes how God exists. They are, however, misled, for God is not like three heads on one body. He is one God, and at the same time three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No visual representation of this Trinity is possible, either “one God” is denied, or Father, Son and Spirit are not really Persons.

What cannot be represented in an image, however, can be expressed in words. Scripture has been studied to see how God reveals himself. It has taken centuries of thought to find suitable formulations. The church has come up with the useful expressions: One Being, Three Persons. Moreover, one of the important early Creeds, the Athanasian Creed, deals particularly with this. It attempts to make clear to our minds how to speak about the Trinity, and we need to train ourselves in this language. To be sure, even after all these centuries we still cannot understand how God can be One God, and at the same time Three Persons, let alone that we can visualize Him. After having carefully listened to His word, however, we can know how God presents himself to us. We have learned how to express this, and we can use this when we approach Him in prayer. Rather than being misled by a visual representation we should learn from a well-considered teaching.

The same limitation of the visual approach can be demonstrated for the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross. The crucifixion has often been portrayed; moreover, in contrast to the Trinity it was, obviously, a visible fact. But how helpful can pictures be? They can show the outside, the nails and the thorns, but not the internal physical suffering. Even for understanding the physical suffering we need a description of what happens to a crucified body.

Even so we have not touched the real depth of Christ’s suffering on the cross. At that time, many people died on a cross, physically they suffered the same as our Lord did. The essential aspect of Jesus’ crucifixion is that He suffered there the curse of God to the fullest extent. It was His life to be with God, but there He was rejected by God and subjected to the complete hatred of God, as He expressed it in His cry: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” This cannot be painted. We can only imperfectly understand this when we think of ourselves being rejected and cursed by those whom we love most. But it was even worse for our Lord Jesus Christ, for He was sinless and wanted to live in full communion with God. We need emotion and understanding to gain some insight into the suffering of Christ on the cross. To sum it up, we need more than a good picture, we need a good sermon.

An old teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism becomes relevant in a new context.

But may images not be tolerated in the churches as “books for the laity?”

No, for we should not be wiser than God. He wants His people to be taught, not by means of dumb images but by the living preaching of His Word. (Lord’s Day 35)

Originally, this question and answer was directed against pictures and statues which had adorned the church buildings for hundreds of years prior to the Reformation. Now, it should also be applied to dramatic presentations of the gospel.

The apostle Paul assigned a vital role to preaching when he wrote:

So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ.Romans 10:17

In our own time, the possibilities of visual information have increased dramatically but people still need to be trained to think through what God’s revelation means and requires. The preaching should stimulate them in this.

The Task of the Church←⤒🔗

The church cannot neglect to make people think. This is expressed in the Heidelberg Catechism. Church people have to know how great their sins and misery are, how they are delivered from all their sins and misery, and how they are to be thankful to God for such deliverance. They have to know this in order to live and die in the comfort of faith (Lord’s Day 1). Faith is knowledge and confidence together (Lord’s Day 7). Knowledge is an integral aspect of faith.

The church is, therefore, heavily involved in instruction, in the training of the Christian mind. In the sermon and in catechetical instruction, but also in the study societies, God’s people have to learn to use their minds to grasp the riches of God’s revelation, each according to his ability. The people need to think in church. It would be a bad day, however, when thinking was merely required in church. There should be a unity between family, church and school.

The school should not just strive to teach the students a number of skills needed to find a suitable job. The students should also learn to think, to sift through the flood of information and to form a Christian opinion. The home should not be dominated by TV shows and videos for entertainment. Parents should take time to discuss issues with their children to help them serve the Lord, so that they will not thoughtlessly follow the ways of the world. The preaching and teaching that has been entrusted to the church, can flourish in that climate.