During the early years of the Christian faith, Christians did not have a complete collection of all the gospels, epistles, and other books that make up the Bible.  Different groups of Christians had access to different sources, but it took several years before a complete collection of all sixty-six books was compiled.  As a result, the early Church leaders came up with a method in combating any heretical doctrines that might sneak their way into the faith.  This solution was the creed.  Creeds were statements of faith that declared what a particular group believed about something.  People would memorize and recite these declarations as a group.  For the early Christian Church, one of the most prominently recognized creeds was the Apostle’s Creed.  Although the Apostles are not attributed with the authorship of this statement of belief, it provides a basic and accurate summary of what they taught:

             “I believe in God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth.

            And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven; and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

            I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic¹ Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.”²

                Although the Apostle’s Creed was principally used by believers hundreds of years ago, it is still very relevant to the Church today.  The message of the gospel is still the same, and the words and life of Christ are just as effective today as they were two thousand years ago.  Even so, there is another important principle conveyed by the Apostle’s Creed — and other such statements of faith — that needs to be considered.  The people who memorized and recited these statements were, in a way, doing a form of apologetics.  In essence, they were providing an answer for the hope that they had, a response to the charge of 1 Peter 3:15.  Just as the gospel of Christ still holds its power to save, the Word of God is likewise just as powerful now as when it was initially written.  The command of 1 Peter 3:15 is to be taken with just as much gravity today as it was when it was first read by the early Christians. 

                While the aura and language surrounding the Apostle’s Creed do make it sound a bit antiquated, the basic statements it makes provide a clear, well-summarized foundation of some of the most basic and crucial tenets of the Christian faith.  The concise yet effective method of stating these principles has produced a declaration that all Christians would do well to study to some degree.  If you would like to learn more about the creed and its background, this LINK provides a brief summary of its development and impact.  You can even hear the creed in song, as the late Rich Mullins set it to music.  Later on, Christian music group Third Day recorded their own version of the song based on Mullins’ original.  Third Day’s rendition is a live recording with a definitive rock sound, while Mullins’ inspiring studio version incorporates a wide variety of softer instruments.  You can check out both of them on iTunes – both are titled “Creed” — by clicking on the following links: (Third Day) (Rich Mullins). 

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1. The term “catholic” church as stated in the creed refers to the entire Christian church as a whole, not specifically to the Roman Catholic Church.

2. Grudem, Wayne, Systematic Theology, Zondervan, 2000, p. 1169.

Gyms are interesting places.  The equipment is interesting, the variety of people — and their workout routines — are interesting, and the music is interesting.  I’ve used my share of the equipment, I’ve observed several very unique workout regimens, but I’ve only recently thought very seriously about the music.  Most gyms play guitar-induced rock anthems that get the adrenaline flowing and keep you focused on your workout via their monotonous rhythm.  The gym I go to is no exception.  It’s odd in that downstairs in the locker rooms one hears all those gushy songs about love, life, and all that good stuff, but when you migrate upstairs to the weight systems, the mood quickly changes.  Guitars start crunching, drums start throbbing, and the occasional scream is elicited from the pulsing speakers.  Even though I can’t understand the words to most of the songs, there are a few that are intelligible enough to grasp something of a meaning from them.  And it just so happens that those few songs are also some of the most catchy.

Some songs are just destined to be catchy.  I don’t know what the formula is, but those exceptionally well-crafted pieces of music that conquer it can be mighty hard to get out of your head.  Sometimes that’s a good thing, but all too often it isn’t.  For a time I never really thought about the potential impact of the songs playing around me as I worked out, but when I would catch myself humming them later, I began to realize just how powerful the influence of a finely made song truly is.  Some songs are so well produced that they can enter your mind and embed themselves to the point that you sing them without realizing it.  However, therein lies a problem: just what are the songs we sing and listen to telling us?  Are we ingesting truth, or are we gulping down lies?  Be that as it may, songs are not the only area where this subconscious ingestion takes place.  What about movies, TV shows, speeches, books, or information taught in a classroom?  Just how often do we step back and take a look at the information that is flying at us and test it against Biblical truth?  Just how often do we, as Christians, choose to think critically about the messages around us?

Critical thinking is not an easy task, but it needs to be a very integral part of every Christian’s life.  2 Corinthians 10:5 instructs us to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  While this truly is a tall order, it is of extreme importance if we are to lead our lives as obedient and effective Christians.  If our minds are not in order, we can hardly expect our lives to be any better.  Learning to take control of our thoughts in order to bring them under Christ’s control will drastically improve our focus and set our eyes more fixedly on Him.  Test your thoughts about a particular situation, person, etc.  Do they line up with Biblical truth?  Test the music you listen to, the movies you watch, the literature you read.  Are you allowing it to influence you negatively?  Or, even worse, is it something that should be influencing you in the first place?

I have already written one post that provides a basic definition of critical thinking (LINK).  This one isn’t written as a sequel to it, but more so as an accent mark. Critical thinking is a highly valuable pursuit that everyone — Christian or not — should cultivate in their lives.  However, we will never reap the benefits without first implementing the process.  I will be one of the first to say that I have a great deal of improvement to make in this area.  Disciplining yourself to stop and analyze all the messages that bombard you every day is indeed a challenge, but, like so many other disciplines in the Christian life, it is a challenge worth pursuing.

Let’s say you go see a movie.  You get to the theater, buy your ticket, and grab a seat, maybe after a quick stop by the concession stand for an $8 bag of popcorn.  The previews drag on for about ten minutes, and then the movie finally starts.  You sit on the edge of your seat throughout the whole showing, totally engrossed in the story that flashes in front of you on the silver screen.  After about an hour and a half the film comes to an end, the credits start rolling, and you make a beeline for the nearest restroom.  Then you head home.  However, what you may not have realized is that for the entire hour and a half that you sat in a sedentary daze, a philosophy about life was being drilled into your mind.  What’s more, it may have been absorbed without even being challenged.  That is, unless you were thinking critically.

When a person thinks critically about something, he doesn’t just take it at face value.  The goal isn’t to swallow it in one bite, but to break it down and analyze it, making careful judgments about everything that is said and done.  For Christians, critical thinking is, well, quite critical to their faith.  No matter who says something, no matter where it was seen, every message that is heard must be dissected and carefully examined in order to distinguish truth from lies.  According to Scripture, Christians are called to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5), as well as being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).  How can this be accomplished if we turn our minds off to what we read, watch, and listen to?  To be honest, we’re never really immune to the messages.  Whether we realize it or not, we absorb them without a challenge when we fail to think critically and take them captive for Christ.  When this happens, our worldview is gradually overtaken not by the truth of God’s word, but by the lies we fail to detect and destroy.

Let’s take a second to address the issue of worldview and how it relates to critical thinking.  (If you don’t know what a worldview is, check out a previous post on this topic by clicking here.)  In essence, your worldview is the lens through which you view all of reality.  If your worldview “lens” is blurry, you will likewise view reality in a blurry and misinformed way.  The Christian’s job is to always be examining and “touching up” his worldview, feeding himself with the truth of Scripture. As he does so, he will be able to see reality in an increasingly clearer light.  This clearer vision will enable him to become more effective at locating messages that are contrary to or in correspondence with reality.  As he learns to apply this vision in all areas of his life and carefully examines them, he becomes a better critical thinker.

 That’s a quick look at the importance of critical thinking.  Critical thinking, like many other worthy pursuits, is not an easy thing to do.  However, when it is faithfully and methodically employed in our thoughts and reasoning, our minds — and judgments — will become increasingly stronger and prudent.  This post is just a brief overview of the value of critical thinking.  If you would like to learn more about critical thinking in general and how to develop and apply it to your life, you can check out this link from Summit Ministries here.

   The other day while I was at the gym, I had a thought cross my mind.  In fact, the thought was about my mind. As I lifted __ pounds of iron without hardly breaking a sweat, I got to thinking  about how our minds are kind of like our muscles.  When we work them out, exercise them, and challenge them, they develop and grow stronger and we are better off for it.  On the flip side, if we let them take it easy all the time and only tackle what’s within — or below — our comfort zone, they remain weak and progress becomes stagnant.  If we feed them a balanced, nutritional diet with only an occasional allowance for something less healthy, they are given the dietary support they need in order to complement our exercise program.  If all they get is junk, they return the favor and make us think and feel like junk.  So what’s a body (or mind) to do?

   Obviously, the most comfortable way is the easy way.  Just stay in your comfort zone and hit the automatic button for an everyday, predictable routine.  No challenges, no pain – and no growth.  This approach might appear to be comfortable, but in the end it actually bites back.  You feel sluggish, rotten, and possibly depressed.  Eventually, you might get to the point where you decide to bite the bullet and start making changes.  I can remember the days leading up to my purchasing a gym membership.  I had been dissatisfied with how out of shape I was, and sporadic workouts weren’t getting the job done.  I knew that if I wanted to get results, something had to change.  So I joined a local gym and got a workout routine going.  The results didn’t come as fast as I would have liked, but they eventually did come.  Now I wouldn’t even consider trading them for the previous condition I had simply accepted for so long.

   Our minds clearly can’t get physical exercise, but there are other ways that they can be exerted.  Turn off the TV, take a vacation from the computer, and unplug the iPod.  Granted, there are certain programs, internet articles, music, etc. that do succeed in engaging the mind on a challenging level, but they aren’t very common.  Try to get into a reading routine, especially with books that are above your reading level.  A particularly refreshing and challenging pursuit can be found in studying and memorizing Biblical passages.  Read some of the works by the early church fathers and other authoritative Christian authors (St. Augustine, Thomas à Kempis, William Wilberforce, C.S. Lewis, etc.)  Good literature can often be the equivalent of a full body workout for the mind.  But don’t just stop with literature.  Though they may not be in the majority, there are some examples in the electronic realm of music, websites, and videos that are also capable of exercising the mind.  Don’t just settle for post-digested content that you only have to absorb.  Search out stuff that requires you to work before you can understand the message.  If music, look for complex (and definitely morally sound) lyrics that cause you to think about the message the artist is trying to convey.  If websites, don’t waste a lot of time surfing through trivial information that won’t matter in a couple of hours.  Look for some blogs or resources where you can be intellectually encouraged in your Christian walk.  If videos/movies, challenge yourself to determine the message that a director is embedding in his film or, if you want to be really unorthodox, watch (or listen to) some quality lectures or sermons on a particular topic that interests you.

   Exercising and challenging your mind is not an easy thing to do, especially with discipline.  I’ll be the first to say that I fall short in consistently applying myself toward mental workouts.  Physical and mental fitness, as good as they are, can’t be purchased cheap.  The price is steep and the work is intense, but the rewards surpass the exertion.  I may not be anywhere near the level of mental fitness that I want to be, but the compensation I’ve received for what little work I have put forward has been encouraging.  I’m more able to identify underlying agendas in media and literature, more appreciative of difficult books and teaching, and more aware of how my Christian faith applies to the world around me.  Exercising my mind has not been especially easy and there have been times when I haven’t considered it as important as it truly is, but just like with my experience with the gym, I wouldn’t even consider tolerating what I had before.  Working out our minds is an awesome privilege that God has given us, and we need to be sure to take advantage of all the opportunities we have to develop it for His glory.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

In verse 1 we are given our spiritual act of worship (offering our bodies as living sacrifices to God).  However, notice the turn that the next verse makes.  Instead of addressing a spiritual matter, verse 2 concerns an intellectual transformation: the renewing of our minds.
 

 If we consider living the Christian faith in light of these two verses, it becomes evident that there is a dual-pronged approach.  On one side we have spirituality, and on the other we have intellect.  We are called to give Christ not only our lives, but our minds as well!  Jesus addressed this in Matthew 22:37:

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ”

We are called to love God with our heart, with our soul, and with our mind.  We can’t love Him with a couple of them and forget the third.  He wants everything.

 
Before I end this post, I want to consider a quote by John Dewey, the man who made huge strides in establishing secular reforms in the American public education system:

“While you Christians examine your spiritual bellybuttons, we burly sinners will rule the world.”

Ouch!  How painfully true Mr. Dewey’s statement is.  As Christians, we can’t live our lives doing nothing more than “examining our spiritual bellybuttons”.  There is a whole other intellectual dimension to the faith that we just don’t want to go to.  We can’t be that selfish.  If we want to see progress made, if we want to take back our schools, cities, businesses, etc., we are going to have to claim something more than the little space our culture allots us for exercising religion.  We need to engage the world with our intellect, meeting them and ministering to them by giving them a reason for the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:15).  Becoming well-rehearsed in apologetics and worldview-awareness is essential.  Our goal isn’t limited to just giving the gospel, but also in getting those to whom we witness to think.  If the mind isn’t open, the pathway to the heart is boarded shut.  We can’t afford to just be “spiritual Christians”; we have to get down and accept the rigorous challenge of renewing our minds as well.

All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love.
Love is all you need.”

“All You Need is Love” – written by Lennon/McCartney

 Love is all you need.  If everyone would just love one another, we would live in a much better world.  Man’s love for one another is the answer to our problems.  Really?  Would humanity be able to pull itself out of the sinful rut it’s stuck in if we all just loved one another more?  Well, Jesus seemed to cover love quite a bit in his teaching.  After all, it was out of His love for us that Jesus died on the cross.  But I’m absolutely sure it wasn’t because of the same kind of love that the Beatles sang about.
 
 Love has solved the world’s problem of sin.  God’s love, that is.  Check out what Ephesians 2:4-5 says:

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”

 According to the Bible, God’s love is indeed what we need.  It is because of His love that we have hope for eternal life through Jesus Christ.  Man on his own can’t provide the love that he needs for fulfillment, much less obtain the hope of eternal life by his own works.  God has created a spiritual longing in every persons’ heart, and he is the only one who can truly satisfy it.
 
 There are two things that need to be pointed out in reference to this discussion.  The first point was already covered in the above paragraphs: the only love that can provide ultimate satisfaction to the spiritual longing in every human beings’ heart is God’s love.  The second point concerns our responsibility to search out and understand the meaning conveyed by the song.  It’s not mature in any respect for Christians to simply ignore the messages they hear.  They need to seek out the messages conveyed in songs, movies, art, etc., understand what those messages are saying, and decide whether they line up with what God says is true.  2 Corinthians 10:5 provides direction:

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

 We’ve got to realize that no message is neutral.  Every message that is presented has an agenda, and it is every Christians’ responsibility to identify, understand, and compare these agendas to the standards Christ has established.  There are no excuses for inactivity.  It is our duty to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”, and to do so without being captured ourselves.