Board index ‹ Assorted Bible Questions

[Zealous]

Is it possible to be Christian and have critical thought?

As I understand it, as a Christian you must follow the word of god, and afaik there is no actual evidence towards its existence, so as a "critical thinker" to me critical thought and theism appear to be mutually exclusive without some compartmentalizing (with it theists are capable of great critical thinkimlng as long as it doesn't "question god").

I don't mean to be hostile or condescending, I've just been curious about this recently (my single mom was a theist but I never got into it at all for background).

[jimwalton]

Being a Christian requires critical thought. Christianity requires us to search, inquire, question, and assess. We use logic, weigh evidences, consider the nature of truth and reality, and learn to investigate. We ascribe to science, and it helps us to know as much as possible about history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, and language. We question God and His ways, we deal with doubt and the nature of knowledge.

There is actually considerable evidence for the existence of God, the deity of Jesus, and the truth of the Bible. You must be aware that intellectual greats such as Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Blaise Pascal, Johannes Kepler, Robert Boyle, and Tycho Brahe, not to mention scores of modern scholars and scientists like C.S. Lewis, Francis Collins, Alvin Plantinga, and Richard Swinburne are all Christians and critical thinkers.