I Think???? Not!

How many times have you heard someone say, “I think this” or “I think that” only to come out with something that is inane at best and devoid of any semblance of thought? The fact is that most people in our society have lost the ability to think and critically face the future consequences of their decisions and as a society we often enable them to do so.

For example we hear people say how they think God understands when someone chooses to do something that is clearly against what God has deemed appropriate. This is especially prominent with parents of teens whose hormones are in full flight. Perhaps to cover their embarrassment and appease their shame, parents errantly refer to God’s understanding and loving nature. After all God is a father too isn’t he? Sadly, their unthinking friends often empathize and agree without engaging a single brain cell or bit of theological reasoning.

The fact is that some critical thinking and even a modicum of biblical research will reveal that what God understands is that the teen has sinned and his parents have also sinned in abetting his or her self-destructive behaviour by encouraging it instead of correcting it. God doesn’t understand sin in any way that condones it because that sin cost the life of his Son. Sadly we often confuse love as an emotion with love as a decision, like we often confuse feeling with thinking.

To feel something is not the same as thinking something and in fact feeling may exclude thinking much of the time. As a result many people today seem to be driven by emotion and not intellect.

Take for instance the young father of three who came to me asking for money to help feed his hungry children. He claimed to deeply love his children but couldn’t afford to feed them. During the course of our brief introduction I discovered that he had a reasonably good job and among other things a pack-a-day smoking habit. I also discovered that his wife, though employable and able to work, had chosen not to even look for a part time job. This young man’s request from me was for money to buy milk for his children, one of whom he had brought along for emotional support. I asked him to think his request through with me.

I asked how much his cigarette habit cost him? He said about $5 a day. I asked how much a bag of milk costs? He wasn’t sure so I informed him it was about $4. When I asked if he loved his children, he was very convincing, until I asked him if he loved them enough to give up his selfish smoking habit so they could drink milk. I even informed him that he would actually have $1 left over. To say he was unimpressed by my deduction is an understatement. Never the less I agreed to go to the store with him and buy a bag of milk, which he declined and then walked away blaming me for not enabling him.

As I try to deal with this seemingly brainless unthinking societal tsunami I wonder if I am the one who is off the mark but the more I think about it I think not.