Critical Thinking

A few years ago, the Orlando Sentinel published some statistics and thoughts on the decline of religion in America. The article began on page A1, but most of the material appeared on page A11. At that time (August 25, 2012), for example, Mississippi had the least amount of non-believers (9%) while New Hampshire and Vermont had the most (46%). The national average was 29%, and it seems to have remained unchanged since then. 5% of those are atheists; 6% claim to be agnostics; and the remainder claim to believe in Nothing in particular." Of course, this information is not good—except that many of those in the "nothing in particular" category might be reached with the gospel if they have simply never thought about sin, salvation, or eternity. The article quoted from Charles Negy, an associate professor of Psychology at the University of Central Florida. He grew up in a denomination and "didn't begin to question his religious beliefs until he was a college student in Spain and learned about Islam." Then he began to think:

Is Jesus the true prophet or is Mohammed? What proof is there that either is? And then I realized, "Oh, my God [interesting choice of words, GWS]; I've been believing this for 25 years because everyone around me believes it." I understand if you are never raised to think critically, and question those beliefs, you are shocked that anyone would question that validity. That's what I want to do in my class.

The first problem is that he was never thought to think critically—by his church group. Classes, sermons, and written materials should be available and emphasized to the nation's youth. Your congenial editor's even more congenial wife had principles of critical thinking instilled from a young age. She was taught not to accept anyone's word on anything—neither the preacher's nor the Bible school teacher's—unless it could be proven by the Scriptures. Today, that must be expanded to demonstrate that God exists and that the Bible is His Word.

Probably not much emphasis is given to critical thinking in grade school or even high school. College students must take a course in composition; a follow-up course is offered involving thinking critically in writing essays (a course which your congenial editor once taught). But Negy should have known enough to tell the difference between Jesus and Muhammad. Jesus had the testimony of many prophets—including Moses and Isaiah. His miracles bore witness of Him, as did John the Baptizer and the Father Himself. No one prophesied of Muhammad, and he did not do any miracles. Furthermore, Jesus was spiritual, and Muhammad was clearly carnal. If he still cannot tell the difference, his critical skills are beyond redemption.