Most people know that Jesus was a great teacher and rhetorician whose storytelling skills were second to none. Believers often speak and sing of his warm heart and his merciful manner, especially in his interactions with unsavory tax collectors and sex workers. One of Christ’s most evident characteristics, however, is also one that we most often overlook: his intellect was nothing short of elite.
No one is sure where Jesus of Nazareth received his education. Perhaps in Egypt, where he and his family lived under the radar for several years after escaping King Herod. Having been regaled by the magi with invaluable treasures like gold, frankincense, and myrrh, Mary and Joseph could have easily afforded a premier education for their firstborn. We also know that Jesus had an uncle named Zechariah (John the Baptist’s dad) who was highly educated; maybe he helped educate his young nephew. It’s also conceivable that, between age 12 and 30, in addition to working in construction, Jesus was educated by the religious elites in the Jerusalem Temple.
What really matters here is that Jesus valued higher learning. He didn’t just get by on his moral superiority or his charismatic charm. Jesus was an intellectual. Why does this matter? Because, somehow along the way, Christianity has gained a reputation for being anti-intellectual, and Christians are too often seen as backward and brainwashed by our unbelieving peers. Recent studies show that as many as eight out of ten non-religious Millennials believe Christians are uninformed and out of touch with reality.
How did this happen? How did we get from Jesus, the scholarly Savior, to where we are today? Part of the burden lies with the Church, which has too often treated doubt like an enemy. Too many young people who have questions are shown the door. That’s on us. We can’t say we love God without being genuinely, intellectually curious about Him and the world He created. We can’t say we love God and completely ignore science. Christians should be the first ones to applaud scientific achievement.
While it’s true that Christians are primarily to blame for the perception that we are anti-intellectual, it must also be said that, in recent years, a movement has mobilized in certain sectors of our society to marginalize all religions, and Christianity in particular. I’m not whining about how Christians are persecuted – although, on average, over thirteen Christians are killed every day for their faith in other parts of the world. In the US, they don’t kill us; they just condescend us. They pat us on the head and treat us like we’re children who, one day, with proper education, will outgrow these backward, superstitious beliefs about God. One day, this imaginary God of ours will finally die and secular materialism will triumph, and when that day comes, all we’ll need are science and reason.
This anti-Christian current is so strong, even the most secular voices in our culture are beginning to recognize it. Some of you may be familiar with The Onion, which is an online “newspaper” where everything is satire. They just make fun of everything. A few years back they ran a piece called, “Local Church Full of Brainwashed Idiots Feeds Town’s Poor Every Week.” The story begins this way:
“Sources confirmed today that the brainwashed morons at First Baptist Assembly of Christ, all of whom blindly accept whatever simplistic fairy tales are fed to them, volunteer each Wednesday night to provide meals to impoverished members of the community.”
At first glance, I thought this was going to be just another hit-job on Christianity, but as I read the last line, I realized something else was going on:
“We try to help out as best we can,” said 48-year-old Kerri Bellamy, one of the mindless sheep who adhered to a backward ideology and is incapable of thinking for herself, while spooning out homemade shepherd’s pie to a line of homeless individuals. “It feels great to share our blessings with the less fortunate. Plus, it’s fun to work alongside all the members of our [corrupt institution of propaganda and lies] who come out each week.” As of press time, the brainless, unthinking lemmings had donated their winter clothing they no longer wore to several needy families, and still hadn’t opened their eyes to reality.
I thought the joke was going to be on Christians, again. But to my surprise, The Onion’s joke was on those in our culture who condescend Christians and drag us through the mud, while we just keep on doing what we do: believing in God, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and visiting the prisoners. We’re all still waiting for that Atheist Prison Ministry. When it starts, it’ll be the first one ever, and that’s precisely the point The Onion is making here.
The truth is that Christians have always been intellectuals. Everywhere in the world Christianity has gone, they established the world’s best schools, teaching boys AND girls how to think, how to reason, how to read. Many atheists resent it when you remind them that every great academic institution in America was founded by the Christians. These days, Harvard University is a hotbed of secular materialism, but Harvard’s first mission statement was that its students “be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ.”
We Christians have a long and proud history of intellectual achievement. My favorite Christian academic was GK Chesterton, a 20th century philosopher who often debated famous atheists in public settings. People paid money to watch Chesterton have his way with the likes of George Bernard Shaw.
At one such event, Shaw believed he had Chesterton on the ropes. He said, “You Christians must have an explanation for the problem of pain. You must explain why a loving God would allow for suffering.” Chesterton thought for a moment before responding, “I’ll explain the problem of pain, if you explain the problem of pleasure. You must explain why, in a cold, indifferent universe, there is beauty. Why there is ecstasy, intimacy, and joy. We may have a pain problem. But you, sir, have a pleasure problem.”
One another occasion, Chesterton was the only Christian on a panel at Oxford University. A student asked the panelists, “If you were stranded on a deserted island, what’s the one book you’d most like to have along?” The academic atheists all proudly gave the sort of answers you might expect: Darwin’s The Origin of Species, Paine’s The Age of Reason, or anything by Nietzsche. Then came Chesterton’s turn, and the moderator quipped, “I suppose you’d want the Bible, Dr. Chesterton?” Audience members snickered with condescending delight. But Chesterton didn’t miss a beat. “No sir,” he responded, “I should like to have a book called The Practical Guide to Shipbuilding, of course.”
Chesterton once famously wrote, “The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.” But the second-worst moment for some atheists might be running into a Christian like Chesterton. Just like Jesus’ intellect shocked the elites of his day, many secularists today are shocked when they encounter Christians who’ve done their homework.
You may be undecided about following Jesus because of your intellect – because you enjoy learning and you love science. I’m here to tell you: you can be a Christian and an intellectual. In fact, it’s not even optional; Jesus demands it. When they asked Jesus about the most important Commandment, this is what he said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Here he’s quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, but that verse says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Jesus added the emphasis on the mind. He wants us to love God with all our minds.
There are many ways to do that. Obviously, going deep into Bible Study is huge. The Psalms always talk about meditating on the works of the Lord. Which means stopping every day to take it all in, and to think about God. Another way to love God with your mind is to ask questions; that’s why we value questions so highly at The Story. Loving God with all your mind doesn’t mean giving up whenever you have doubts. You keep searching for the truth. A disciple of Jesus Christ never stops learning, never stops reading, never stops growing. Loving God with all your mind means learning more about Him and the things He has made. And the more you learn about God, the more you learn to love Him.
