Quotes from J.P. Moreland

As our Savior has said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). To do this, we cannot neglect the soulful development of a Christian mind.

There is no nonempirical knowledge, especially no theological or ethical knowledge. Science and science alone carries authority in culture because the alleged possession of knowledge gives people authority, and science and science alone is perceived to have knowledge. Outside science — especially in theological, ethical, or political discussions — the makeup man is more important than the speech-writer (feeling and image are more important than reason, knowledge, and truth).

As Puritan Cotton Mather proclaimed, "Ignorance is the Mother not of Devotion but of HERESY.

What was a problem, however, was the intellectually shallow, theologically illiterate form of Christianity that came to be part of the populist Christian religion that emerged.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we must ask how we can become the kind of people we need to be to bring honor to Christ, to help turn the culture toward Him, and to be lights in the midst of darkness for our families, friends, churches, and communities.

The spiritually mature person is a wise person. And a wise person has the savvy and skill necessary to lead an exemplary life and to address the issues of the day in a responsible, attractive way that brings honor to God.

we cannot "prove," that is, "make known to ourselves and to others," what God's will is without the renewing or transformation of our minds.

If we are going to be wise, spiritual people prepared to meet the crises of our age, we must be a studying, learning community that values the life of the mind.

Ought not a Minister to have, First, a good understanding, a clear apprehension, a sound judgment, and a capacity of reasoning with some closeness. . . . Is not some acquaintance with what has been termed the second part of logic, (metaphysics), if not so necessary as [logic itself], yet highly expedient? Should not a Minister be acquainted with at least the general grounds of natural philosophy? JOHN WESLEY, ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY

English professor Carolyn Kane wrote an article in Newsweek about the loss of thinking in American culture generally. After putting her finger squarely on the problem, Kane identified her solution in front of both God and the Newsweek readership: "But how can we revive interest in the art of thinking? The best place to start would be in homes and churches of our land.

Christians must rely on the Holy Spirit in their intellectual pursuits, but this does not mean they should expend no mental sweat of their own in defending the faith.

Perhaps Kane has a better grasp of the importance of the intellectual life in the Christian faith than many of us do. Perhaps she has read enough Scripture to know that the church was meant to be and has often been the instrument of reason in society.

If our lives and ministries are expressions of what we actually believe, and if what we believe is off center and yet so pervasive that it is seldom even brought to conscious discussion, much less debated, then this explains why our impact on the world is so paltry compared to our numbers. I cannot overemphasize the fact that this modern understanding of Christianity is neither biblical nor consistent with the bulk of church history.

Here's a simple definition of knowledge: It is to represent reality in thought or experience the way it really is on the basis of adequate grounds.

It involves (1) adopting feelings and attitudes toward oneself that are not oppressive and harsh, (2) setting aside being inordinately self-judgmental by giving oneself messages that are self-condemning—e.g., I am such a failure—and produce shame and guilt, (3) not slandering and demeaning oneself, and (4) not beating oneself up and holding a grudge against oneself.

while few would actually put it in these terms, faith is now understood as a blind act of will, a decision to believe something that is either independent of reason or that is a simple choice to believe while ignoring the paltry lack of evidence for what is believed. By contrast with this modern misunderstanding, biblically, faith is a power or skill to act in accordance with the nature of the kingdom of God, a trust in what we have reason to believe is true.

Understood in this way, we see that faith is built on reason.

If this is correct, then sermons should target people's thinking as much as their wills and feelings.

1. Knowledge by acquaintance.

It's actually all right with God if you are nice to yourself! Rather than experiencing your anxiety or depression as an occasion for self-loathing and condemning yourself for being such a failure, you can experience it as an opportunity to soften your heart towards yourself. Seek to have an open heart toward yourself with gentleness. After all, we are all flawed and fragile! Your anxiety or depression is simply a part of common humanity.

Knowledge by acquaintance is sometimes called "simple seeing," being directly aware of something.

Training in apologetics should be a regular part of discipleship. Apologetics is a New Testament ministry of helping people overcome intellectual obstacles that block them from coming to or growing in the faith by giving reasons for why one should believe Christianity is true and by responding to objections raised against it.

2. Propositional knowledge.

Propositional knowledge is justified true belief; it is believing something that is true on the basis of adequate grounds.