The Power of Critical Thinking
I recall once my father commenting on the disconnect between taking antibiotics and not believing in evolution. Without the “theory” of evolution we wouldn’t have antibiotics. Without quantum physics our phones would still be “dumb” too! But the one that really gets me is, why do Christians who rant about the evils of evolution at the same time support the most darwinian economic policies?
What happened to the power of critical thinking? It was the task of systematic theologians to create a belief structure in which ideas were consistent. If one believes that God is all powerful to every occasion then God must know everything too; if God knows everything God must know what will happen; if God knows what will happen God must know whether we are saved or not, and thus was born the “theory” of predestination. John Calvin was a systematic theologian so his theology matched up with his soteriology (big word for theory of salvation). Today people think willy nilly whatever they want and are as consistant as Mitt Romney is on healthcare.
It bothers me that people who defend their views on homosexuality use Leviticus 18 to support their views. Can you hear the cry, “God calls it an “abomination!” Well, read a little more of Leviticus and apparently God also thinks it is an abomination to eat shell fish – do we set up guard outside of Ivar’s? And there are some really interesting things in Leviticus about what women must do at that “time of the month.” I’d like to see how that goes across. In Romans too, the other big text that supposedly condemns homosexuality for all eternity, what about all the other sins in the rest of the chapter? (I could say much more about this but will save it for another time.) What about Jesus command for the rich man to go and sell all he owns? We can ignore that one but the Bible is clear about homosexuality? And why are the people who claim to be the most biblical seem to be the most cruel – missing the point of the Word of God which is that love is the bottom line? Why do Christians who claim the bible is inerrant and that evolution is a falsehood live not by love but by survival of the fittest? Just sayin’
