Exploring the Matrix: The Perception Balance—Knowledge - Developing your Mind.
To grow in knowledge, we need to deliberately
seek to add to our character the virtues of the mind—curiosity, humility,
persistence, and clarity. These virtues
are necessary for anyone embarking on the process of learning in faith. This process contains four steps--studying, imagining,
discerning, and relating.
1. Studying. Studying is the accumulation of information. Facts are to knowledge what bricks are to walls. Every piece of data is a part of the truth and can be useful to understanding the whole.
We gather facts by asking questions. The more questions we ask, the more facts we accumulate, the more answers we find, along with deeper questions.
When it comes to facts, the rawer the better. Don’t take someone else’s word for what is
true—find it out for yourself. If
someone says “The Bible says ”. . . “, your
response should be to ask “Where does it say it?” If someone drops a statistic on you, ask
where it came from. Rely heavily on the six friends of any curious person,
“Who?” “What?” “When?” “Where?” “How?” and especially “Why?”
Jesus rebuked his disciples many times for their lack of
faith, but He never rebuked them for asking questions. Instead, He gave
answers. Doubt isn’t the enemy of
faith—only doubt that isn’t openly and honestly explored. The answer to doubt isn’t blind faith, but seeking
and receiving answers.
Christians regard the Bible as a primary
source of revealed truth. It is a huge
book—over fourteen hundred pages long, containing sixty-six books written by
over forty authors covering a period of thousands of years in non-chronological
order. When we first begin to study it, we hardly know where to begin. Suffice to say that any Bible study method is better than no Bible study method. Start with whatever version you feel most
comfortable and just read. We may start
reading anywhere, and keep reading forever.
There is always more truth and wisdom to discover in its pages.
Albert Mohler wrote; “Fewer than half of all adults
can name the four gospels. Many
Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples.
According to data from the Barna Research Group, 60 percent of Americans
can’t name even five of the Ten Commandments.
. . . The
bottom line? Increasingly, America is biblically illiterate.”[1] George Barna of the Barna Research put it this way. “No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time.
They don’t know what they are.” [2]
Good Bible study isn’t haphazard—it
requires mental discipline and determination. A person who thinks that he or she can simply
pick up a Bible and understand it without consulting others who have studied it
all of their lives is just lazy. They
refuse to benefit from the thousands of years of scholarship and debate that
preceded them. We cannot just rely on
the Spirit to lead us—our ability to discern the Spirit’s voice and tell it
from our own is just as damaged by sin as our reason. Neither the mind nor the heart can be trusted
alone.
2. Imagining. Knowing the facts is only “step one” of understanding the truth. Step two is analysis the ability to put the facts into a consistent whole. We do not know something until we can explain it in our own words. Facts and understanding are related together like bricks to a brick wall. Facts must be fitted together. For this, we need more than the ability to accumulate facts. We must be able to apply our imaginations.
C.
S. Lewis said that while the mind is the organ of knowing, the imagination is the
organ of meaning. “Imagination” comes
from the word “image.” An image is not reality in itself, but a model in our
minds. An image is an approximation of the whole. A theological confession or
creed is a model of truth, and how truths come together. Such models are never
perfect, and are always being remodeled and refined. Often our models differ from each other. The
differences give us reasons to debate.
But the act of making the model is important for us. As we struggle with
how information comes together we are better able to grasp the truth behind the
models.
Remember
the old “connect the dots” puzzles? By
drawing a line from one dot to another, we start to see the total picture. Our
imagination fills in the gaps in our picture, enabling us to see the end result
before we finish. Analysis of the truth
is like a connect the dots picture that will never be completed in our
lifetime, but from which we can see a general and useful shape.
We
do not make all these connections ourselves. That is why we have scholars and
theologians. We can read what others have written and benefit from the constructions
of the truth that they offer us. Their models lead us to think differently,
asking different questions and finding different answers.
3. Discerning. Once we have begun to build our models of the
shape of truth, we test our models.
There
are three basic tests for truth. First
there is the rule of consistency. A true statement will agree with
itself. Then there is congruency. It must agree with other
things we accept as true. Finally, there
is utility. A true statement must
work when applied in the real world.
4. Relating. When we have a working model of truth that we take as real, we begin relating it to other truth. What does our understanding of God say about how we do business? What does it say about our choice of entertainment? How does it relate to our political opinions? We cannot understand the significance of ideas until we see how they interconnect. Every field of study leads to every other field, completing what is missing somewhere else.
This was the original meaning of the term “university.” In the Medieval world, philosophy and
theology were the together the king and queen of all learning. That is why experts
in every field were called “doctors of philosophy” or “PhDs.” All truth interrelated with God’s
truth. Every field of study went
together like a great jigsaw, with God in the center.
This great jigsaw is infinitely complicated. We have been trying to solve it for thousands of years, and we still have only one small corner complete. But every new piece which falls into place, give us a glimpse of one small part of the Mind of God.
Do
not dismiss a faith that has served you well because of one or two unanswered
questions. Learn to “question your
questions and doubt your doubts,” as C. S. Lewis said. Judgment is never purely logical, and logic
is not sufficient in itself to lead us to faith. Even so, a wise believer will seek answers to
the basic questions of faith, and not stop entirely until he receives answers.
How hungry
are you for knowledge? Do you tend to
take what people say for granted, or do you seek out more of the truth? How do
you test the truth in your own mind?
Write an answer in the comments below.
[1] http://www.albertmohler.com/2005/10/14/the-scandal-of-biblical-illiteracy-its-our-problem/
[2] Ibid.
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