LIE: Understanding truths is simply a matter of applying my mind

Lie:      Understanding truths is simply a matter of applying my mind.

Truth: Some truths can only be understood by the mind and the Spirit.

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. — I Corinthians 2:14

Our minds are amazing instruments that can comprehend a vast array of concepts:

• 2 + 2 = 4
• If A=B and B=C, then 2A = B + C
• The meaning of antidisestablishmentarianism
• The law of non-contradiction
• The sovereignty of God

We understand when we see that something is like what we already know, that is, we learn largely by association. For example, children learn to count: one bunny, two bunnies, three bunnies. Then, put one bunny with another bunny and you have two bunnies (1+1=2). Comprehension proceeds from the natural world to the conceptual world.

The very fact that I’m describing, explaining, illustrating these truths should tell you that I do believe we grasp things with our minds. But we now live in a postmodern world where we are skeptical of reason. We doubt anyone who claims to have an objective perspective or who talks of universal truths. And most importantly some still doubt a Supreme Deity who makes an absolute claim on them. Consequently, we’re set adrift to ourselves and throw off any tethers to culture, history, family or locale.

As Roger Scruton says in An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Modern Culture:

The enlightened individualist, by forgoing such things [history, language, common culture], lives increasingly as a stranger among strangers, consumed by a helpless longing for attachment which his cold thinking has destroyed.[i]

In other words, postmodern man still longs for relationships and community but cannot have it because he has dismissed the importance of the things that make it possible: history, language and common culture. Words mean little today. Many believe words are infinitely manipulatable and cannot be trusted. We feel vulnerable and weak, but it’s through words that God communicated to us, through the Word, the Logos.

We must humble our minds and accept that we’re hopelessly confounded by our mysterious mind/brains. A thought arises, from where we don’t really know. We effortlessly recall things even from our early childhood. We hear something and immediately feel a dread we cannot understand. Sometimes we try to recall someone’s name, which we know, but can’t for the life of us remember. Why? Perhaps brain researchers can describe the electro-chemical process. But what set those things in motion in the first place? We simply don’t know. But, we do know that even the smartest among us must admit that their minds have limits and are ultimately a grand mystery. See also the lie: I am my brain.

Some people are obviously smarter than others, can recall more, quicker, easier, cogitate and figure faster; some, like Mozart, can compose music at the age of three.  Some, like the late Kim Peek, with a below-average IQ of 87, could memorize books from the age of 20 months and was, by the end of his life, an expert in at least 14 subjects, yet couldn’t walk until age four and never learned to button his own shirt.

So we must humble ourselves before the Lord of all minds. Jesus said:

I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. — Matthew 11:25–26

In the final analysis we really don’t know where the line between our thinking and revelation begins or ends. We are not machines or computers, which actually don’t even come close to the power of the human brain, anyway. We are human beings with beautiful minds which are partly under our control, but are meant to work in partnership with God in his limitless ‘brain power.’ Our minds and the Spirit of God are meant to synthesize, to work together, to walk hand-in-hand. We think the material brain is somehow antithetical to the Spirit, but that’s because the world cannot see beyond its own material monism.

Perhaps the most pervasive of the world’s counterfeits to the Spirit are ‘big data’ systems – artificial intelligence (AI) systems that draw upon massive data sets that are beyond human comprehension. We humans are ceding more and more of our responsibility to these systems and consequently the world grows more alien. Similarly, but in contrast to this trend, we as Christians, should be drawing more and more of our intelligence from God, the Holy Spirit, the One who knows us and has perfect vision of the world, past, present and future.

We must accept the fact that we will never fully understand some things in this life, but conversely, we will understand some things very deeply, yet not purely by our own minds, but by the Spirit of the living God. When that happens, we will have made a huge leap in true spiritual understanding.

[i] Roger Scruton, An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Modern Culture, pg 28.

See also the Introduction, Lies about salvation by knowledge.