God-Dependent Thought

In recent days I have been struck with the need of the individual to be proactive about creating space between himself and the endless deluge of news and entertainment in order to preserve a Biblical worldview in his own mind. I wrote an entry called Digital Monasticism where I compare the leaving of corrupt mainstream society by the monks to be akin (though with certain caveats) with choosing to limit one’s consumption of media. I wrote another entry called Now these were more Noble-Minded than those is Thessalonica about how the way the Bereans decided to filter a new message through the written Word of God was what caused them to respond correctly to a trendy new spirituality when it came knocking on their door. It was this same commitment to discernment that would have caused them to reject said spirituality if it wasn’t in fact in the Bible. I believe that both of these practices in some measure are needed to help us navigate these days.

And don't get me wrong I'm not trying to put forth some new form of legalism in regards to media but instead I want to draw attention to the fact that the constant canvassing of certain points of view can over time act as water that carves out the caves of our minds until we give up our Biblical convictions at the expense of mainstream norms. And with that in view I see the need to begin to make moves to separate oneself to preserve the way God has shaped your heart. Note that this isn’t a call to independent thought. I think the idea that we can think independent thoughts is naive. Any study of the history of philosophy will reveal that every philosopher in the history of time was largely shaped by the ideas that preceded them and their postulates were formed either in acceptance of or in reaction to those ideas.

The Limitations of Man
Socrates reacted to the Sophists. Plato systematized the reaction of his mentor and Aristotle both furthered and reacted to Plato’s thought - embracing the disagreement with the Sophists but doing so in a way that differed from his former teacher¹. Descartes reacted to the theological confusion of his day to place philosophy rather than faith as the foundation for his thought. Kant reacted to both the Rationalists and Empiricists of his day and sought to make a synthesis between the two but ended up denying knowledge all together. Hegel reacted to Kant’s Skepticism and so has the the spiral continued.

Inventors are not exempt from this either. Thomas Edison didn’t create electricity, rather he discovered it. Nor did the physicists who worked on the Manhattan project will the atomic bomb into being. Rather they discovered how to harness the power of the atom. Artists are the same. Ludwig Von Beethoven didn’t cause musical sounds to exist but rather he figured out how to arrange music in a beautiful way. Picasso didn’t invent paint. Nor Hemingway words. Rather they took what already was and ordered it in a way that captured the imagination of many.

As such the words like “independent” and “creative” shouldn’t be applied to people. We discover, harness and arrange things that are already in the world but we lack the ability to actually bring something new into existence². Rather independence and creativity is only rightly applied to God who is Self-Existent, Eternal and who brought the material world into being out of nothing (Hebrews 11:3). God is the only One who has ever had an original thought. And when He created the universe He actually built it according to a blueprint that He called Wisdom (Proverbs 8:22-31).

The Pursuit of Wisdom
And it is this blueprint that is the real pursuit of the philosopher, physicist and painter. We may lack the ability to truly think an independent thought or create something from nothing but we can seek for wisdom. And it is in this endeavor where we begin to see something I call God-Dependent thinking. This form of thought of course being contrasted from Independent thinking in that where “Independent Thinking” would tell you to think for yourself, “God-Dependent Thinking” would tell you to seek God for His thoughts. This of course would practically work itself out in the study of Scripture and in prayer. In doing this we emulate the Bereans and strive to filter all of the thoughts of our day through the Bible - keeping what is good and rejecting what does not line up with His Word.

But if it practically is an exercise in discernment through being faithful to Scripture it finds its driving desire in the pursuit of the God who keeps secrets. God keeps secrets of course for our glory (Proverbs 25:2) because as we seek Him He reveals Himself to us and causes us to love Him more. And this Divine dance is the pursuit of Wisdom. Where we seek understanding of the world out of a desire to know God’s thoughts so that when He gives us wisdom that we can exercise it in a way that honors Him. Whether that means harnessing the things of the world to solve natural problems or arranging divergent parts to express beauty that we would use wisdom in a way the pleases His heart.

But such wisdom is rare to those who don’t separate themselves to seek God. We may wish to know the secrets of His heart but likely won’t get very far because the noise and the confusion that comes from being too closely connected with the world will distract and weigh down our hearts. And as such it is my prayer that God would give me the ability to consecrate myself unto Him so that I would be able to comprehend His mysteries.

Help us to walk in Your wisdom oh God



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¹It is one of the fascinating facts of history that three of the greatest philosophers were all students of one another. Plato was the student of the great Socrates and Aristotle was Plato's pupil. To take it even further we see that Aristotle's greatest student was Alexander the Great, which means that we see a succession of impact that started with a man who was frustrated with the cultural relativism of his day (Socrates) who in his desire to ground Greek thinking in objective truth was able to influence the most consequential political leader in the world for at least a thousand years. This is a beautiful picture of multi-generational impact that can occur with those who sow their lives into helping the youth.

²The only exception to this is the bearing of children. Which is why sex is the most powerful act a human can take part in and why God gave us the covenant of marriage for us to have sex within the context of a committed relationship so that we would be best fitted to raise the children He gives us. See The Christian Vision of Sex and Family for my whole thoughts on this.