I traveled back to Rockledge, FL, this past weekend to visit my mom for the Mother's Day holiday. It was a nice weekend with her, if not a bit awkward since it was my first time back home since finding out about my parent's divorce. On Sunday, my mom and I attended church services at Suntree United Methodist Church in Viera, FL. We caught a guest speaker, a young man (at least younger than me, I think) by the name of Philip Tallon who is working on his PhD in theology at the University of St. Andrews. Mr. Tallon spoke on the importance of Christians loving God with their minds, and he did a solid job. This is an important issue that needs to be addressed within the church and on college campuses in particular. A person cannot know another person intimately, much less God, without learning who that person is, and that process includes both the mind and the emotions.
The most intimate relationship that most people will ever experience is a serious romantic relationship that (hopefully) ends in marriage. Imagine a man who says to his beloved, "I love you with all my heart; my whole being overflows with love for you. I desire you more than anything and love you truly." The woman awkwardly says, "Thank you so much. However, we've never really talked about who we are. You've never asked me about what is important to me, or about my life's story, or even about what I want out of our relationship. In fact, we never talk at all. I am a little confused, how can you love me if you don't really even know me." Our man then responds, "Oh, I don't care about any of that. Love is what is important, and I love you with all my heart and it feels wonderful. You will always have my love. I know all that I need to know--that I love you." Our woman, who is a smart cookie, wonders to herself "he says he loves me, but he doesn't even want to get to know who I am, my history, my desires, my character. He doesn't love me, he loves either a fabricated idea of who I am, or simply loves the feeling of being in love."*
Similarly, a person cannot know God intimately without learning who God is--His character, nature, and purposes. A person who loves another will want to learn all about the other. Note the use of the word learn. The person who learns about another engages their whole being--their mind along with the other faculties to learn about the other, and the same goes for the true love of God. Please note that I am not saying that a deep theological education or a genius IQ is required. The person who loves God desires to know who God is, and since the mind is the organ of knowing, it will be engaged in learning about God throughout life.
The person who learns who God is with their mind and heart then (and only then) is prepared to think about how the truths of God can be applied in all areas of life, not simply in a segment of life that is religious. This enables that person to have the wonderful experience of being prepared to use their mind in areas (such as the person's career) outside of theology (for not all of us are professional theologians, thank goodness) to the Glory of God. Thinking about God and then taking that truth and applying it to the world around us can and should be done at all times, but the university is a particularly important and strategic setting for this to happen in. It is the time in life dedicated to thinking and learning, and a time when men and women decide what their profession will be. Thus the Christian who learns truths and how to apply them with wisdom will be prepared to tackle all the areas of life from a Christian point of view, including their careers.
During Mr. Tallon's sermon, he mentioned his website and organization Appleseed Ministries which I looked over today. Mr. Tallon and another campus minister Brian Marshall are helping to foster an environment on the University of Kentucky campus where students and scholars can think Christianly. The group hosts various debates on campus and is seeking to start a Christian Study Center on campus where students can take courses and receive college credit for them. It is exciting to see what is going on at UK, at UF at the Christian Study Center there, and with people such as Jay Woodham through InterVarsity Grad Fellowship at Florida State.
*Of course, a person cannot truly love another by engaging only the mind and not the emotions. For instance, if our man provided a logical proof to the woman he was seeing that proved that he loves her and showed it to her explaining that, "the light of reason indicates that I love you, so therefore I must" he would be laughed at by our woman. She would realize that he doesn't really love her; at best he loves thinking about things and using her as a discussion parter (assuming they talk intelligently about all sorts of issues). He is willing to think because he finds it pleasurable, but does not truly desire her other than an object of thought or means to thinking via conversation. In the same way, the Christian thinker can love thinking about God (no one is more interesting), but not love God Himself.
