Missed Messages

Odd. Somehow, somewhere along the way, certain items became taboo in the Church. First is the mind. The popular Church has grown largely anti-intellectual. "Think not" would be their cry, it seems. Oh, they do it with words from the Bible. "Lean not on your own understanding," they say, "which means you're not supposed to use your brain." "We walk by faith, not by sight," they say, "and everyone knows that 'sight' refers to 'logic'." There is a rampant distrust of learning, scholars, higher education, or "too much thinking." I'm sure most of us have heard the phrase "too heavenly minded to be any earthly good." That's the concept.

With the ejection of the mind comes the castigation of tradition. Now, the Roman Catholic Church regards tradition as equal to (or perhaps higher than) Scripture in authority, but Protestants have rejected tradition wholesale. With it goes Church History and anything else that smacks of "that was then." I was stunned, for instance, to read at Monday Morning Insight that the author was delighted that people who liked traditional church were completely repelled by his church, as if "traditional" was evil and "new" was good. Perhaps it's a late date backlash to Roman Catholicism's view of tradition as authoritative, but it's amazingly pervasive in the non-Catholic churches today.

There are more, mostly accompanying these two big ones, but these two are particularly disturbing to me. They are disturbing because they stand in stark disagreement with the Bible. On the use of the mind, for instance, the Bible is not vague. It is part of the Great Commandment: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37). How, then, are we required to neglect the mind? After 11 masterful chapters from Paul on Christian doctrine to the Romans, he concludes that we should, in response, offer our bodies as a sacrifice to God. The first step in this process, he tells us, is "the renewing of the mind" (Rom. 12:2). How then are we to neglect the mind? Over and over Scripture calls for us to change how we think. God Himself offers to reason with us (Isa. 1:18). How, then, are we to neglect the mind?

As for tradition, despite the Roman Catholic over-stating of its importance, the Protestant removal of tradition is not a biblical position. While Scripture condemns "traditions of men" which clearly countermand biblical teachings, Paul says, "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us" (2 Thess. 3:6). It is not, then, "tradition" that is the problem, but the source of that tradition.

We are living in a post-modern society that holds to relativity. This relativity holds that there is no truth. Instead, what you feel is important. And, following with that, much of the Church has rejected thinking in favor of personal enlightenment. And while our American society worships youth and rejects tradition, it appears that, again, the Church is following closely with the world's perspective. Is it a good idea to reject thinking and tradition? Ask the older generation. You see, the Bible teaches that we get wise teaching from them. Maybe we should listen?