01-13-08-ss

THINKING LIKE JESUS AND SOCRATES

Dr. Gary VanDeWalker
Dr. Robert Hughes

Evangelical Free Church of Mount Shasta

Lesson One:   Why do we think like we do?
       (Why do people use stinking thinking?)

1.   Over time, the concept of truth has changed.

2.   Most people are not aware how they have been affected by the shift in truth.

3.   Even this shift of truth is divided between modern and postmodern views; at sort of Star Trek vs. Star Wars viewpoint.

4.   Before 1890 in Europe and 1935 in the United States, this shift in truth did not impact many people.

5.   People generally accepted the existence of absolutes, whether or not they had a reason to.

6.   Today to speak of absolutes is to be seen as an odd thinker or behind the times.

7.   Christian thinkers did not respond to this shift in thought, the worldview of Christianity was thought to be too firmly entrenched.

8.   Christians of the past century have left thinking behind, replacing it with a false notion of faith.

9.   To simply present “evidence” is no longer enough in the face of current thinking.

10.   This shift in thinking is evident in what Francis Schaeffer called “the line of despair”.

11.   Thought progressed through philosophy, art, music, general culture, and theology.

12.   Rationalism replaced the rational, in the form of humanistic thinking.

13.   By failing to think, Christians lost the battle for culture.

14.   For the Christian, thinking does not replace the Scripture, but is informed by God’s Word.

15.   God made us to the thinking people, faith is reasonable.

16.   As Christians, there is a need to demonstrate to the world that God is there, speaks, and is active, and a Christian mind can deal with truth on every level.

New International Version (NIV)