“This explains why it is so hard to reason with some people. Their very mind has been taken over by one or more feelings and is made to defend and serve those feelings at all costs.”

“Combined with a sense of righteousness, strong feeling becomes impervious to fact and reason.” – Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, pgs. 124-125

In our last Knowing session, we discussed the importance of turning our focus inward toward developing our own critical thought, including the relation of critical thought to maturity in trust in God via the spiritual disciplines. This session, we will turn the focus outward toward ministering to others.

From my experience, people do not tend to engage in conversation of which they have no knowledge. Rather, people tend to discuss things in which they are confident, especially when it is material as sensitive as belief in God. Therefore, part of having an effective conversation on belief in God includes engaging people in the knowledge of which they can speak. As we embark on this type of conversation, we will find a lot of misinformation, falsehoods, misperception, dogma and slogans, as well as some different ways at looking at the same truth. We have a role to play as a light bearer in the journey together with our fellow humans towards truth. I do not say this to sound trite, as if a person who is not a Christian has no truth (or light). I do say this to remind the Christian to be a light bearer; a person who is willing to sacrifice their own comfort in order to discover and gain more light.

Let’s carry on with the task of discovering truth together!

First, let’s assume that a Christian should use their Scripture as part of renewing their mind in order to rightly engage others in conversation. Due to the fact I’m going to stress logic and critical thinking–which I believe goes hand-in-hand with our Scripture–some Christians may think there is an overemphasis on human reason alone and wonder where the Scripture fits in the life of the mind. For that purpose, I harken back to the first post on Spiritual Disciplines and to the book of Proverbs, which explains that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Now, we will carry on with utilizing God’s good gift of rationality, specifically with regard to making a case for what we believe.

Second, Christians should care deeply about utilizing right reasoning. In John 18, when Jesus is standing before Pilate, he says that his people are “of the truth,” and therefore know his voice. In order to know the truth, we utilize our thinking…our critical thinking. If we even stopped to think about whether or not we are thinking critically, one is most likely thinking critically. I don’t say this to confuse the reader, but there is much falsehood in our culture on the subject of good reasoning and logic.

I’ve often times seen people equate a major world religion with either the ability to think well or to not think well. However, a major world religion is a set of doctrines and or a group of people to which one makes reference. The ability to think well or the inability to think well is a personalized trait of every individual who has ever lived. These two things are not rightly equated. Yet, the equivocation of the two has become popularized dogma, used to marginalize people who adhere to a major world religion. For example, Bill Maher states, “Faith is a lack of critical thinking.”[1] So, we must point out that it is a hasty generalization to label all people of faith as uncritical thinkers. A brief glimpse through human history will also show the statement as grossly false. In the Christian faith, critical thinking has been a hallmark of a maturing individual due to a growing understanding of the value of knowledge and the gift of rationality as being made in the image of a rational God.

Third, we must learn to argue well. In order to argue well, we have to learn some basic rules of logic. The most prevalent errors committed today are called, “material fallacies.” Fallacies are an error in our thinking. The word “material” indicates that the problem is in the content of what we have stated, rather than in the form of the argument. Therefore, a material fallacy is an error in our thinking related to the content of what we have stated. In my logic class, when I introduce these fallacies, I tell the students that I encounter these fallacies every single day of my life. I typically cannot avoid all of these fallacies myself on any given day, even though I teach them. Human beings and their propensity for fallacies are like Bruce Banner (the Incredible Hulk) and his anger. When asked how he learns to control his anger, Bruce explains that his secret is that he’s always angry. In talking with people about belief in God, the secret is that were always making fallacies; no matter how educated or eloquent or self-aggrandizing or intellectually smug we have become. In plain words, the secret to discovering fallacies in others’ arguments is to learn to hear them in your own arguments. We all make errors in our reasoning no matter how much we profess we do not do so. As a professing follower of the truth (Jesus), learn to take correction and to give correction in a manner that is loving and gracious. This one endeavor could change the outside perception towards many Christian believers, and put to shame those who malign the intelligence of Christians simply for being Christian. (Similarly, 1 Peter 3:13-16)

In our next Knowing session, we will look at the claim that “faith is a lack of critical thinking,” as well as discover some of the material fallacies. If you want to get a head start on learning the fallacies, you can start with the Bluedorn Brother’s website, Fallacy Detective. I highly recommend their book for preteen through adult to learn the fallacies. Another website is Your Logical Fallacy. Have fun!

 

[1] On the television show “The View,” September 2008.