Robert Ennis defines critical thinking as “reasonable,
reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do.”
What should I think about a certain claim or proposition? What should I do in a
particular set of circumstances? Nancey Murphy writes, “If Christianity in
the abstract is to be reasonable, then the concrete individuals who embody it
must exercise the skills of reasoning in their writing, reading, and speaking.”
(Reasoning and Rhetoric in Religion) Harold Netland comments, “Whatever the
case in the past, however, there is little question that the traditional links
between Christianity and Western culture have been loosened considerably, through
both the diminishing cultural significance of Christianity and the growing
impact of non-Christian (especially Asian) religious traditions in the West.”
(Encountering Religious Pluralism) The historical ties between the American
west and Christianity have created an intellectual culture within the Christian
community that has grown lazy. The cognitive respect that had previously
defined the relationship between American culture and Christianity
historically, has rapidly faded into the background. Some Christians are
finally beginning to see that America never was a Christian nation as if
anything like that could exist in this world. The rapid shift in the
environment has left the Christian community with a considerable gap in her
intellectual skills. Christians, many of them, most of them, have not had to
use their intellects while living out their faith. Jesus loves you was
understood by all or most and accepted by most without question. “The Bible is
the good book” is a claim that millions received without any hint of push back.
But times have changed and they have done so rapidly. The church is playing
catch-up, or at least, she should be. What changes have we seen in the
Christian churches as culture has shifted? I see few but I also think some
pastors are becoming acutely away of the fact that their people are not
prepared for the new post-Christian America.
The early Christians were faced with a Christianity that was
so infinitesimally small that it wasn’t even large enough to qualify as a
minority, so to speak. Luke describes Paul as engaging his culture this way: But
Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in
Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. (Acts 9:22) And again: And
Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with
them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that
it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and
saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” (Acts. 17:2-3)
And yet again, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the
Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. (Acts 18:28)
Paul commanded his successors and appointed leaders to equip
themselves to deal with opponents of the Christian faith in the same way he
himself had done. He tells Titus as it relates to an elder: He must hold
firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give
instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (Titus
1:9) In our postmodern, politically correct culture, we do everything we can to
promote an undisciplined and unbounded tolerance. As Christians, such behavior
is not an option. While we must be respectful, gentle, kind, and patient, we do
not have the option of being silent or of tolerating any teaching that
contradicts sound doctrine. We are duty-bound to act. That action begins with
thinking. Paul here is using a basic law of logic, the law of non-contradiction,
to instruct elders how to deal with people who are opposing sound doctrine. Those
who oppose sound doctrine are actually speaking against it. You can speak
against sound doctrine directly by denying it or you can speak against it by
speaking and teaching doctrines that contradict it. Even though the Greek word ἐλέγχω
(elegcho) is translated rebuke, we must take care to understand the
fuller sense of this word. The word is used 17x in the NT and only 4x is it
rendered rebuke. The range of translations are as follows: convict or
convince 5x; reprove 4x; 3x; tell 1x.
When we think of rebuke, we are thinking of a scenario that
is much more stinging than is the case with this word. The ESV uses the word rebuke
32x in the NT. Only 4x is it translated from this word in Titus. We should note
that the Greek word that is typically rendered rebuke is ἐπιτιμάω
(epitimao). Of the 32x it appears in the ESV, rebuke is translated from
this Greek word 25x. The word means to express a strong disapproval of someone,
and even to punish. It is critically important that we see the differences in
these Greek words and ensure that our actions toward others in this area are
submitting to biblical principles.
The Christian loves the Lord with all his being, which
includes his intellect. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deut. 6:5) God’s people
love God with their entire being and they do so with all their energy. The
Hebrew word for strength is mĕʾōd.
It means very, very much, or greatly, and in some cases utterly or completely. Jesus
himself also was clear that this is the greatest commandment of all: 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 Greek word translated strength
is ἰσχύς (ischus). It means one’s strength, power, might, the capability of
functioning effectively. We are to put every effort into loving the Lord with
all our being. This is the greatest commandment of all. Obviously, the
intellect, our cognitive functions should be aimed at loving God entirely.
Modern, American pastors have dropped the ball. In their
zeal to grow the number of professing Christians, they have created a hollowed-out
version of Christianity, a Christianity that is intellectually bankrupt and
empty of anything remotely resembling intellectual potency. Men like Andy
Stanley have all but surrendered the intellectual high-ground that is Christian
belief by employing a strategy that does not defend the faith but one that
relinquishes core Christian truth all in the name of wanting to remain
intellectually acceptable to unbelievers. If the virgin birth is offensive, we
shouldn’t preach it. If the Bible is offensive, we should avoid quoting it.
Worse, we can quote it so long as we don’t tell people that the quote is from the
Bible. If we attributed the sayings of Jesus or Paul to Gandhi, I doubt people
would be offended. The point is this: rather than train Christians to trust God
and take him at his word, we are training them on how to compromise. The Church
has a serious gap in training and teaching her people. It is a gap that Sunday
morning sermons alone cannot close. It is a gap that Sunday school classes and
small groups cannot close.
The church, the Western church in particular, must wake up
from her slumber. Pastors have to recognize that times have changed and are
changing rapidly. There has to be an emphasis on training, not just checking
the box. The training has to increase, not only in its frequency, but in the
kind of training that is made available. The staff has to make training a
priority. There has to be a conscious effort to recognize the seriousness of
the problem and then do something about it.
Training the church should begin with a plan. First,
structure your staff, paid and voluntary around the goal of training. Place
leaders in charge of training, not in title only, but in execution. Expect
things to change. Talk about it, all the time. Second, create an annual
learning plan along with the budget and other ministries. This is more than
just purchasing a Sunday school curriculum. Most SS curricula are part of the
problem, not the solution. They are shallow, misguided, and contribute to bad
habits to include poor Bible study methods as well as poor thinking. If need
be, build your own. But that is not enough. Look at your congregation and
create a learning plan. Perhaps a high-level learning plan that extends 2-3 to
even 5 years. Then narrow the focus to next year and be very deliberate in what
you want to teach your people for the coming year.
Next, turn your attention to the Sunday school and small
group leaders and teachers. Place a leader (elder or pastor) over your Sunday
school program. If you don’t have the staff, place a qualified non-staff person
in charge. Structure the teachers in a way that they realize that being a
teacher under your leadership is a serious matter. They should feel the weight
of that responsibility. The teachers should have someone they report to and
they should meet on a regular basis. Teachers should be teamed up with each
other as accountability partners. The group should be close. Relationships
among the teaching team should be tight. There should be on-going training for
teachers. They should be receiving instruction from their pastor and providing
information to the pastor and leadership regarding the members in their class.
Teachers should be expected to build relationships with their class members,
calling them, meeting with them, getting to know them. They should have a hand
in their discipleship.
What I am suggesting is that the current model in our
churches in the west does not support the sort of equipping Paul talks about in
his letter to the Ephesians and elsewhere in the NT. The environment of the NT
churches was remarkably different from the last 400 years of Christianity in
Western culture, especially the Americas. Because of the cognitive respect
extended to Christian principles and values for so many years, the church
slipped into a pitiable state. Our training became sloppy, lazy, shallow,
taking far too much for granted. We stopped asking questions and diligently
searching the text for answers. Secondly, the philosophies of the enlightenment
started to take root and the 3% grade has turned rapidly becoming a10-20-30% grade. The
point is that Christians in Western culture are encountering views, beliefs,
and opinions that contradict Christian belief at a rate much higher than ever
before. Moreover, not only are those views contrary to Christian belief, they
are more than a little hostile to it. I cannot count the number of times that
pastors have expressed concern that I ventured too far into a particular
subject. My response is usually something like this: I have doctors,
accountants, and lawyers in the audience. If they can do their job, they can
spend some time and energy learning about the One Person who is supposed the
most important Person in their lives: Jesus Christ.
Here is the picture. Christians should be the best thinkers
in their culture. They should be the best thinkers because they are the only
thinkers who actually possess true knowledge about reality.
·
Every church should have a
2-3-5-year high-level learning plan.
·
Every church should have a
focused learning plan in place for the coming year.
·
Every church should
structure their staff in such a way to support a learning structure.
·
Sunday school teachers
should be required to complete an initial training program as well as on-going
training.
·
Sunday school teachers
should report to a leader responsible for providing oversight to the Sunday
school program.
·
It wouldn’t hurt to
reconsider changing the name from Sunday school to something else.
·
Every church should create
and maintain a Sunday school teacher community.
·
The Sunday school teachers
should be paired together with an accountability partner.
·
The Sunday school teacher
should organize small groups within his Sunday school and appoint group
leaders.
·
Sunday school teachers
should be responsible for training small group leaders.
·
Sunday school teachers
should also be expected to be in regular contact with their class members.
·
Sunday school class sizes
must be capped in order to ensure they are manageable.
This list is not intended to be exhaustive or even
prescriptive. It is intended to serve as a straw man so that others may review
it, see where I am going with it, and then take it and bend it to fit their
unique situation. The point is that we must turn up the intensity of our
training in our churches. The truth is that it should have never been turned
down!
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