Gairney Bridge

While my wife and I were on vacation at Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg a couple of weeks ago, we stopped into a Christian bookstore (actually a sort of clearance book warehouse), where I picked up a copy of the book Smart Faith: Loving Your God with All Your Mind, written by J.P. Moreland and Mark Matlock. It is a fairly accessible book on apologetics/worldview, and even though Moreland writes from a different apologetical perspective than I (I tend toward presuppositionalism), I think his insights are generally useful and wise. For instance, the following discussion, on pp. 33-34, is good in helping clear up some mistaken notions that both Christians and non-Christians have about the God of the Bible:

God is a God of reason. We know this because of the character and actions of God described in the Bible. The Bible teaches, for example, that God’s unique attributes include omniscience: He is perfect in knowledge and knows everything (see 1 Samuel 23:11-13; Job 37:16; 1 John 3:20). The Bible also describes Him as the only ‘wise God’ (Romans 16:27), the God of truth who cannot lie (see Titus 1:2), and completely reliable (see Romans 3:4; Hebrews 6:18). God’s very word is true (see John 17:17), and His church — not the university — is the pillar and support of the truth (see 1 Timothy 3:15). Most amazing of all, the God of the Bible invites His creatures to come and reason with Him (see Isaiah 1:18) by bringing a legally reasoned case against His actions to which He will respond (see Ecclesiastes 6:10; Jeremiah 12:1; 20:12).

Compare this portrait of God with what we know of other gods. With Islam, we have a god who is so transcendent that he is beyond understanding. The Greek gods and the gods of other polytheistic (having many gods) religions such as Hinduism are fickle, are swayed by their emotions, and act inconsistently. The God of the Bible never changes (see James 1:17), requires teachers who diligently study His Word and handle it accurately (see 1 Timothy 4:15-16; 2 Timothy 2:15), and requires His evangelists to be able to give a rational justification for what they believe to all who ask (see 1 Peter 3:15).

With monistic (reality consisting of a single element) religions of the East, we are offered meditations — like the sound of one hand clapping — to escape logical thought. … The Buddhist is to leave her mind behind, but God asks that the Christian to be transformed by the renewing of her mind (see Romans 12:1-2).

No wonder Christians started the first universities and have planted schools and colleges wherever missionaries have gone. No wonder science began in Christian Europe — after all, the same rational God who made the rational human mind also created the rational world so the mind would be suited to figure out the world’s structure.

God created you to be a follower of Christ with your mind turned on and tuned in to the life He made for you. This does not mean God loves academics and scholars more than He loves other people. … But if virtues mirror our God of perfection, then ignorance is not a Christian virtue.

I have commented on the poor logic behind the attempt to equivocate the gods of false religions with the Christian God (even celestial teapots and flying spaghetti monsters) on this blog elsewhere (see here for an article explaining some of the problems with this weak analogy). Perhaps this citation from Moreland/Matlock will also clear up some of the misconceptions.