Good book reminding us of the importance of holistic Christian growth - not only experiential walk with the heart but also intellectual growth in the mind. For someone who is often told of "thinking too much", this book is such a comfort to me.

First thinks first, please dun be mistaken. I am not against people who dun think.

Though i do get irritated with people who are against people who think. People who look at you blankly, blink a few times, and self-righteously claim that heart-knowledge is more important than head-knowledge.

People seem to have this impression that i think a lot. But i dun. I mean at least not in a way people think thinking is. But thats another matter.

Guess my position with regard to thinking is along the same line with john piper’s recent book and guess what’s the title- you are right- it’s think- think that doesnt need quite a lot of thinking to figure out- in fact i think people who think less will have more chance of getting it right. The title of the book, i mean.

Piper values thinking and i value his valuation. Think is an excellent book on why christians should think. At the end of the book, piper added that non-thinkers should thank God for thinkers cos without them you would not even have christianity to start with; and also thinkers should thank God for non-thinkers for… wait…

But erhm guess piper is right. As long as thinkers are humble and think with charity (and can i add a generous spread of good spirit), and keep themselves away from misguided thoughts, they can be really joyful people useful for the Lord.

Again, am not against non-thinkers. I mean when i love a book, i still place it against my chest, then put it on my head.

But the problem is people always think there is a raging battle between faith and reason.

But of course there is not. The line was first drawn between empiricism and rationalism. If you embrace the former, you will only believe anything that your senses tell you- which means you wouldnt postulate the existence of God given His works; whereas rationalism allows you to reason for (and of course against) the existence of God given His works.

Rationalism, being rational, reason. We are rational, we are reasonable. Yups even if you lift up your Bible and place it in your bosom, you know there is a reason why you are doing that. It’s just whether how clear your thoughts are- how good you are in verbalising your thinking into words, or at least, in working out your thinking train.

My point- faith has reasons too. Experential reasons- because believing gives you a sense of peace; because your life is transformed because of believing, etc- these are all reasons, even if you cannot reason out your reasons.

The line seems clear- it’s whether you want to reason it out or not.

And of course i cant possibly be against anyone who does not want to do that. It will be like against someone choosing to rest instead of work.

I love work cos it defines me. I love rest cos it defines me too.

But that does not mean a working person is better. And for that matter, neither is a resting person so.

Though that does mean a working person loves the company of working people when he is working; and a resting one otherwise.

Every resting person is capable of working; it is whether you want to or not. (And of course to be fair the vice versa is true too.)

But personally, i find rest sweeter after work. (And yups the opposite’s also true!)