Now that my book is available in English and Spanish, I often hear three reasons for not reading it. The first is, “I don’t read.” I addressed this response in the first blog of this series. The second is, “I won’t understand.” I discussed this response in the second post. The third reason is, “I’m not interested,” which is the topic of this commentary.

When I hear, “I’m not interested,” I want to ask, “Why? What precisely are you not interested in?”

I often discover that Christians who do not want to deepen their understanding of the Bible and theology or about loving God with the mind, simply lack the acquired taste. They have gorged on “junk food for the mind” from popular culture. As we saw in the previous two posts, many believers, sadly, suffer from distraction and indifference resulting from an unhealthy mental diet.

Often, negative attitudes and behaviors appear among those who come to “taste” what we offer at the Kuyper Center for Christian Studies. Below, I list several “defeater beliefs and practices” of those who struggle with the concept and calling of mental piety.

Anti-intellectualism: Some resist study and reflection because their religious tradition minimizes the need for theology or intellectual effort. Many know very little about the Bible and theology, worldview or the relevant biblical-theological thinkers. And they usually do not perceive the need or relevance of such knowledge.

Consumer approach: Some “shop” for knowledge, learning formats, and instructors that conform to their “buying” preferences. When study becomes difficult or boring, they take their “business” elsewhere.

Passivity: Some fulfill the role assigned to them by society― intellectual simplicity and subjective spirituality.

There comes a moment, however, for Christians to reckon with the stewardship of their minds. This is what true disciples do. As an aspect of spiritual discipline, they practice ongoing self-reflection and repentance under scripture and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Consider what Paul told us:

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph 4:17–24)

Now that my book is available in English and Spanish, I often hear three reasons for not reading it. The first is, “I don’t read,” which I addressed in the former blog. The second is, “I won’t understand,” which is the theme of this blog. The third comment, “I’m not interested,” is the topic of the third post in this series.

People who say “I won’t understand” are usually over thirty years of age. They are certainly no less intelligent than their younger friends. In fact, they are undoubtedly wiser. But most of us are products of educational systems focused on economic pragmatism. We acquire “how to” knowledge, learning skills to get a job to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle and experience the “good life.”

Further, for quite some time, university students have not read the Great Books or understood the perennial ideas that inform our minds and conduct historically. Also, for several centuries, we were taught that religion in general―the Bible in particular―are intellectually irrelevant. Jesus, they say, was merely an uneducated peasant. We do not need to pay attention to him. He is a diversion from what is important.

In addition, we are highly distracted. Our cultures and global consumerism are factories of mass distraction. There is always a party to attend, a TV show to watch or a football game to go to. We shop―and shop endlessly―for the latest styles and gadgets. Our cultures are hypnotically demanding: do this, go there, visit them, buy that, and so on. We are addicted to activity and rarely stop to rest, think, and learn.

This is a perfect storm, fostering biblical ignorance, anti-intellectualism, and mental passivity. We do not have time nor energy to love God with our mind. And we often no longer believe we can.

By educational and cultural grooming, therefore, we easily forget that intellectual growth is an integral aspect of spiritual devotion. Read, for example, Hebrews 5:12–14:

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

For this reason, in the Postscript of my book I wrote:

Apprentice thinkers acknowledge with their whole mind, soul, and strength this essential truth: “Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut 8:3). They build an educational infrastructure that fosters the fear of God as the foundation of knowledge. They learn the history, people, themes, and worldview of the Bible. They study the cultures of the ancient Near East and Palestine. They practice intertextual reasoning and learn to think like the biblical authors. They listen to the global Christian community and learn from the theological tradition of the church.

Now that my book is available in English and Spanish, I often hear three reasons for not reading it. The first is, “I don’t read.” The second is, “I won’t understand.” The dividing line between these comments is age. People under thirty confess, “I don’t read,” whereas people over thirty express self-doubt, “I won’t understand.” The third comment is, “I’m not interested.” (In the next two blogs, I deal with the second and third comments.)

First, non-readers are not telling the truth, at least to themselves. They are reading and watching―all the time. But the content is often chatter, trivia, and stimulation via social media, what I call “junk food for the mind.” Do they hear and consider meaningful questions carefully considered? Or do they absorb hastily concocted opinions from influencers who are often not qualified?

Since they are not reading (except social media), they are not thinking critically, especially with the advent of AI. They are easily influenced and manipulated. They are not reflective but responsive. They are not questioning but complying. Regarding themes that matter, they are passive. Reading is arduous and boring compared to scrolling, texting, television, and online gaming. Tribalism, doom scrolling, and conspiracy mongering are much more interesting than biblical knowledge and wisdom.

Second, followers of Jesus Christ who do not read are not likely to love God with the mind. They do not acquire understanding and do not develop discernment. This is a significant spiritual problem. Why? Because God is a thinker and we are created in his image as thinkers. God communicates with us through words―scripture. Christianity, after all, is a religion “of the book.” Reading and learning are integral aspects of biblical spirituality.

Third, nonreaders ignore the Great Commandment. The core of Old Testament piety is the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Dt 6:4–5). When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he cited the Shema and added, “with all your mind” (Mk 12:30) and “love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 31). Loving God with the mind is a critical feature of Christian spirituality.

For reasons such as these, I wrote in the Postscript of my book that repentance is the first step in loving with the mind:

Aspiring thinkers bring their brains to God and turn back to the Bible as an act of worship. They evaluate whom they listen to and where they learn. They turn away from negative speakers and false messages. They discern our intellectual context (Eph 2:1–3). They distinguish between the trivial and the momentous. They reinvest their intellectual capacity in the true, good, and beautiful. They develop intellectual virtues—such as curiosity, discipline, creativity, and humility—in accord with the Scriptures.