Where has Reasoning Gone?
The more I hear people explain their convictions the more I believe people have lost the ability to reason. I just read a story about a spiritual movement called a church for the “nones” that prides itself on accepting people who have no other church that will accept them. Their founder and preacher was raised in a religious home whose father was himself a preacher. These people want to be spiritual without being bound by scripture.
What does that look like? They will follow anyone who “preaches” a good message about being kind to others. They accept that their people can view Jesus as “a savior, a radical rabbi, or a metaphor.” The preacher above quotes from the Tao Te Ching, Chinese Taoism and Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu scriptures. It will produce, if it is not already rampant in the movement, the mentality that each person is his or her own god.
So, what is absent in this mindset? Reason. If everyone is god for themselves, who gets to decide what is right when gods collide? If humans are the standard of right and wrong, how can anything be wrong since some humans believe in every deviant philosophy coming down the pipe.
Paul encountered this same mentality when he entered the great city of Athens. Acts 17 records his visit and his words to people who were, in his own words, “very religious” (verse 22). They had a “spiritual community” honoring all the gods that anyone knew about. What did he do? “Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshippers…” (verse 17).
To reason is, “from one side across to the other, speaking to a conclusion…getting a conclusion across by exchanging thoughts…mingling thought with thought.” This word indicates a process of giving and receiving information with another person to reach a deeper understanding. This is what Bible study is all about!
However, it seems to me that people have lost the ability to reason. People seem unwilling to have their personal convictions challenged. This is probably true because they don’t want to find out that they might not be right. After all, they are comfortable in their lives and don’t want to think about believing and doing anything different.
The Greek word translated “reason” is used in Scripture 13 times. The word is most often connected with Paul as his manner of teaching and preaching. 10 times Paul is said to have reasoned with people. Peter later records that we should “…be ready always to give a defense for the hope that is within…” (I Peter 1:15). It was Paul’s practice to reason with people while making his defense of all that he hoped because of what Jesus had done. That should be our practice as well.
— Mike Johnson
