BECOMING
LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN
A Christian Missionary I know once commented
that in the mission field they have no difficulty of sharing the Gospel to
ethnic groups or tribes once they have immersed themselves in their way of life
and establish communication with them, but they find sharing the Gospel more
challenging when they face the intellectuals.
This is naturally to be expected. The mind is
the battlefield, and the Word of God has been breaking down strongholds of
unbelief even among the intellectuals.
It is amazing, said this missionary, that
they have no arsenal of human knowledge in dealing with this type of people.
They are ordinary men and women without
superior talents or education. They only trusted the pure unadulterated Word of
God to open the minds and hearts of the intelligent and the wise. They are amazed
of the lives that have been changed by the power of the Gospel of Christ.
Before becoming a Christian I thought only
simpletons could embrace Christianity, or even any form of religious conviction.
I realized later that the Christian faith can stand honest intellectual
inquiry.
The challenge of the modern secular mind,
against the Christian faith are not necessarily overwhelming. It is true that many great minds are steep in
unbelief, but many great minds are believers as well. The growth of
anti-religious prejudice and atheistic advocacies, spearheaded by academics and
intellectuals like Richard Dawkins, and the world famous physicist Stephen
Hawking, has been hyped up by the secular media. But the other side of the
fence who have come to embrace faith, are full of intellectual giants as well. Intellectuals
like C.S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, Josh Mcdowell, and Atty. Frank Morison, have
become committed Christians. Dr. William Craig and Dr. Norman Geisler have
raised the level of intellectual debate, as Christian apologists.
The great Apostle Paul, Christ’s servant of
no ordinary intellect, in his exhortation to the Corinthian converts, declared: “Brothers think of what you were when you
were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were
influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of
the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame
the strong.”(1 Corinthians 1:26-27) The Apostle further reminds us even
today in this wise: “Do not deceive
yourselves. If anyone of you thinks he is wise, by the standard of this age, he
should become a fool so that he may become wise.”(1 Corinthians 3:18)
What this Saint is saying is, intellectual
arrogance darkens the heart, and blinds the mind of spiritual discernment.
If there is one thing the unbelieving
intellectual giants of this age need, it is the humility of becoming like a
child. This is the first step. A little child accepts everything by faith.
The words of Jesus Christ still reverberates
to this day.
“And he said, I tell you the truth, unless
you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
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