Does It Matter What We Think

[Starwynd]

As long as we obey and fear God?

Or another way of putting this is that is it only behavior in what counts in being A Christian?

 

[Nepenthe]

I can’t answer you about what that means to being ‘A Christian’, but damn straight it matters what we think, and how we think. Heck, the Observer Effect is enough on the face of it, and more to the point, how we treat each other, the world and the universe, for us seculars, as well as the religious.

So, in my opinion, yep, it sure does. One thing I decided after long hard consideration (quite complex too, but I’ll keep it simple) is that yeah, people matter. A whole lot.

 

[davidv]

It absolutely matters what we think. I offer this passage from Matthew in support of this:

[10] And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: [11] not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

What come out of our mouths is begun in our thinking.

 

[JDaniel]

As long as we obey and fear God?

Or another way of putting this is that is it only behavior in what counts in being A Christian?

Hello, Starwynd:

No disrespect directed towards you in any way, but, it’s sad that our culture has reduced God to an angry man, who demands obedience and instills fear. Not to say that He doesn’t, but, God is primarily a “lover”. Yes, you read it right, He is primarily a “lover.”

What we think, do and say we should filter through this sieve. God has created us out of pure love and hopes for and expects some love in return. What else could be the purpose of giving us wills?

Adult “sin” is not some litany of simple sins, as we might have produced for the confessional booth as a kid, rather, it is a look at how we respond to God’s outpouring of love. PLUS, it is a look at how we respond to the outpouring of love from others.

What other immaterial thing exposes the essense God to us more than Love?

This may seem to not be philosophical. It is theological, but, I think, it should also be discussed in philosophy.

Merry Christmas and
God bless,
JD

 

[crowonsnow]

Of course it matters what I think. But it matters more what I do.

We can only guess what the good Samaritan was thinking, but we know with certainly what he did. Even if he hated the victim, I still prefer the Samaritan’s hypocrisy.

 

[Donald45]

Does it matter what we think, as long as we obey and fear God?

The two can in no way be separated. As theologians like to put it, “orthodoxy [right belief] leads to orthopraxis [right behavior].” Given that God looks at and judges the human heart (which includes the mind), it’s clear that ideas and beliefs are centrally important. As St. Paul so wisely wrote: “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; be babes in evil, but in thinking be mature” (1 Cor. 14:20).

Gaudium de veritate,

Don
+T+