Saw this and thought of so many students past and present. You are a delight and I have been glad to teach you.

I am horrified by the lack of thought that takes place in most peoples minds today – inside and outside the church. The church is massively guilty in not teaching people how to think – we almost treat it as a crime to help someone to love God with all their mind – heart is ok, we think we should feel inspired after a sermon, have warm cosy feelings about how much God loves us and how special we are – but to go home and want to pore over the Bible, to seek to love God by thinking about Him, dwelling on his nature and saturating your mind with God focussed thoughts well most people do not think that is normal, in fact such pursuits are thought of as “intellectual” and “academic” not suited for normal life. (I suspect many people would rather play on the PS3 or watch a movie with a good bit of violence and extra-marital sex.) Do yourself, (your family and the future generations) a favour: Love God with your mind.

On the same theme I read these comments on Tim Elmore’s blog, I am very tempted to say more but will leave you to think about it for yourself:

I read recently that 70% of Americans do no thinking for themselves. They simply parrot what the commercials tell them, what their friends tell them or what Oprah tells them.

(I have not been able to find the original source for this but am trying.)

Earlier on in the post he said this,

One of the chief reasons it is difficult for young people to assume leadership roles is that they’ve been conditioned to gain consensus on almost everything. I know teens that won’t make a move until they check with friends on Facebook. College deans have told me a new trend is that students will only sign up to take leadership positions if they can do it “with their friends.” They don’t want the responsibility of doing anything on their own. They have always worked on teams; they have played sports where everyone gets a trophy; they are told to fit in and accept everything including mediocrity.

Much of this is not bad; in fact a lot of it was well-intentioned. The unintended consequences are, however, that many don’t want to stand out and take a risk. They just want to fit in and make sure everyone is happy with their decisions. When they aren’t sure about something, their first response is to check and see what friends think. Unfortunately, many don’t think on their own.

The Art of Critical Thinking

This is almost a lost art. Most parents and teachers fail to do it.

A cartoon for sad old people like me.

I had always been taught that prophets and seers were the same thing. Maybe they are. However I got excited reading Isaiah 29:10 (I know that sounds a bit sad but it is true),

(ESV) For the LORD has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).

(TM) For God has rocked you into a deep, deep sleep,
put the discerning prophets to sleep,
put the farsighted seers to sleep.

Is Scripture simply bringing emphasis by repeating an idea in a slightly differing way? Possibly, it is a regular pattern which would be taught in basic hermeneutics classes.

I couldn’t help wondering if there was a difference, and if there was, what is it? Returning to basic hermeneutics we also see the development of themes at times, a building up of an idea to complete it or to give fuller understanding. So, I had a simple thought based upon a very rudimentary knowledge of the human body- if prophets are the eyes, they observe what is happening; and if seers are heads maybe they are giving some interpretation or greater understanding to the events that are seen or predicted?

Of ourse I could have missed something