Act with Knowledge

I fear there is a myth going around in Christian circles that Christians are not supposed to be intellectual. We aren’t supposed to question what we believe, because then God won’t like us, or something along those lines. We can’t be critical of the Bible, because for some things the answers are difficult. Well, besides the obvious verse 1 Pet 3:15, which says to “always be ready to give an account (a defense) for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and respect,” there are plenty of practical and biblical reasons for criticizing our own beliefs and relying on evidence and knowledge rather than simply having blind faith.

Before you do this, however, you have to ask yourself one thing: are you willing to go wherever the truth leads you, even if that means your beliefs (in this case, Christianity) is false?! Are you willing to do that? You must be willing. Besides, as Christians we are obligated to know the truth because “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

First off I would like to come straight out and say that if you hate knowledge you are a fool and the Bible agrees with me. “Fools hate knowledge” (Prov 1:22). Anyone who hates knowledge is not on a Biblical path, so don’t let anyone tell you not to do archaeology, or study the claims of the Bible, or explore contradictions in the Bible, or dig in to the original language, or consider perhaps an atheist’s argument against the existence of God. The truth has nothing to hide! It’s a wonder we Christians seem to run away from it so often. “With his mouth the godless man (atheist) would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered” (Prov 11:9).

In fact, I go so far as to say that those who dislike exercising their minds for God’s glory are not fearing Him: “They hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD” (Prov 1:29).

Secondly, I must clarify what I mean by the word “faith.” Some people think that it takes more faith to believe something you know little about. This definition of faith goes something like: a belief in spite of the evidence against said belief, or belief in spite of the lack of evidence for said belief. This is the wrong definition of faith. I might go so far as to say that this is the dead faith that James addresses in his epistle – a simple intellectual assent to an idea, no matter where the evidence points.

The faith I’m talking about is the kind of faith that James tries to encourage his readers to exhibit: the kind of faith that is reliance on or trust in something. For example, I have been putting faith in this chair for the last few hours to hold me up. I have no problem doing this, because I have had experience with it holding me up for such extended periods in the past. It’s not as if my faith in the chair diminishes with use. Just the opposite! My faith has been increased or, at the very least, confirmed. The same goes for God. The more we know about the reality of His existence and the more we have experienced His transforming power in our lives, the more we are certain of His actual, real presence in our lives, the more our faith increases! It’s not as if our faith in Him diminishes because we don’t need faith, we know. No, we have less trouble putting more faith in Him. It’s a beautiful thing. “…knowledge will be pleasant to your soul” (Prov 2:10).

Knowledge is actually an extremely valuable thing to the Lord. He commands us to guard it with our lips (Prov 5:2), to take it before choice gold (Prov 8:10), and if we are wise, to store lots of it (Prov 10:14). I wonder then why we have people saying things like “a god who can be proven to exist is not a god worth proving.” This is a common quote I’ve heard before, though I don’t know the original coiner. But think about it. If God can’t be proven to exist, then there is no foundation for the opening chapter of Romans which states that simply because the heavens exist, men are without excuse. Sounds like Paul thinks proving God is fairly easy to do! Yes, that means even the random aborigine tribe in the middle of a remote jungle in Africa is responsible for knowing some truth about Him, because His existence is that obvious… Of course, I by no means am saying that everyone will believe He exists. Men’s hearts are hard towards the things of God (Jer 17:9), and will often refuse to accept the obvious, logical implications of simply being alive in this amazing world that we’re in.

When we make decisions in life, they are calculated. We weigh pro’s and con’s, we examine the evidence and come to a conclusion based on a mess of inputs, yet with eternal things we are supposed to accept blindly what some book says? I think not. That is not a Christian value. That is a Mormon value. Instead, the Bible says “in everything the prudent acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly” (Prov 13:6).

I hope I have made a strong case for the importance of knowledge in the Christian life. I have some new dorm mates here at Stanford who are churchgoers who say that it’s impossible to know whether God exists or not. Forgive me, but what is the point of worshiping something you aren’t even sure exists? We don’t worship a false, dead, deaf God, but a living one. He actually exists. This isn’t just tradition. It isn’t a formality. It isn’t a matter of preference. The Christian life is about living in right relationship with God who is really here, not just an abstract concept in our heads.

Well, time to sign off. Perhaps next time I’ll post a few of the most commonly offered proofs/evidences for the existence of God. Until then, enjoy life with the Lord.

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3).