Monthly Archives: November 2023

Three Preliminary Steps

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I recently spoke at a conference of the Kuyper Christian Studies Center in Buenos Aires about loving God with the mind. I concluded my presentation with these suggestions:

 

Repentance

  • Complete this statement from the Shema (Deut 6:4-5; Mark 12:28-30): “I love ? with all my mind?” What do you use your mind for? How did you develop it?
  • Develop intellectual self-awareness.  Assess how your family background, economic status, education, culture, religion, racial and ethnic status, and gender influence your worldview and deepest priorities.
  • Evaluate where you’re getting information. Calculate how much time you spend watching TV or scanning Facebook and YouTube. Who and what determines how you think about yourself, your purpose, time, passions, expenses, lifestyle habits, and responsibility to society?
  • Ask yourself if you are really a good steward of your mind.
  • If you are not, repent in the fear of the Lord. Flee biblical ignorance and anti-intellectualism.

Learning

  • Together with other Christian thinkers,  build an educational infrastructure that fosters the fear of God as the foundation of knowledge (Prov 1:7).
  • Learn the history, people, themes, and worldview of the Bible.
  • Listen to the global Christian community and study the theological traditions of the church.
  • Participate in Bible studies, reading groups, and movie discussions. Take your questions and doubts to God’s word.
  • Develop your personal intellectual curiosity about the topics that interest you and learn to think about them with the biblical worldview.
  • Discern your true intellectual stance: “Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight”  (Prov 9:6).

Mental Piety

  • Learn what these verses mean: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov 1:7)  and “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Prov 9:10).
  • Learn these prayers about intellectual self-awareness that presume habitual repentance. Memorize and pray these passages:

” Prove me, O Lord, and try me;  test my heart and my mind.”       (Ps 26:2)

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” (Ps 139:23)

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be   acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”      (Ps 19:14)