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It’s been said that the modern-day children are born way more intelligent and certainly smarter than the previous generations. From another angle that seems true, thanks to the advancement of technology that has made knowledge a little more accessible to this age than it was before. Yet I can’t help but disagree on the point that the modern generation is more intelligent, in fact, I think it’s just the opposite. Are you surprised that the so-called smart generation is producing some of the most confused young people who can’t even define the difference between a man and a woman? How about the fact that more and more young people are disbelieving the existence of God, an increase in suicide cases among the young, a spike in the youth that are into drugs and are filling prisons and an increase in disobedience to parents? Reading a Facebook article about this issue I got impressed by these words, “I just wish each of these millennials had an elder by their side to offer some wisdom to their foolishness.” The reality is, today’s generation is far more childish than the previous period of our grandmas and grandpas. No matter how supposedly “smart” they are, they still have no ability to reason about the serious issues of life and the basic principles of being a human. My first article that was published on a newspaper was called Real Men. It was written with the burden that modern young men are just not manly enough like the young men of the old times who could work, marry and sufficiently provide for their families at a relatively early age. We can’t say the same thing with today’s youth; their level of immaturity is deeply concerning.I see the same problem in the Church. There is a new generation of wishy-washy Christians and its ministers that have no problem with childish behaviors at all. Ever wondered why a large group of fully grown men and women are made to eat grass and snakes, in the name of God? Years ago, citizens went to church to reflect internally; to think deeply about the serious issues of their souls; with life, death and eternity in mind. Those who lived in sin, knew that their sins would be exposed under the true, soul-searching power of the Word. Yet, today, people actually prefer it when church time is all about dancing, feel-good “motivational” stories and silly jokes.
The importance of the mind
I believe Satan has successfully attacked our minds and has made us foolish by taking our intellect from that which matters the most. Go to YouTube right now and notice the small amount of views on those videos that contain good doctrine, and sound Christian wisdom, then you compare them to the vast viewership of those videos that contain comedies, skits and a whole lot of useless things that only serve to keep our thoughts occupied and disengaged from reality and the serious issues of life. Just these past few years we have seen social media emerge and shoot right to the top of the public interest. There is an eight-hour video on one of these sites with two million views. It’s a video of a ticking clock (just a quiet clock watch ticking). Can you imagine that the so-called intelligent young people are the ones who spend much of their time watching silly things like those? These are the times we live in, a time when foolishness is famous!
Many people seem to believe that true spirituality means disengaging the mind. This is the idea of Hinduism, that God can only connect with you when you are in some trance-like state of unconsciousness. Similarly, there is a belief in the church that the power of God will completely fill you if you are not questioning anything, but you just have to open your spirit through some emotional frenzy; some powerful warm fuzzes that cannot be understood through basic reasoning.
Yet, the true Christian faith begins with reasoning; to hear and to understand who God is, and what He has done is a matter of the intellect. Through that, we can then make conscious decisions to follow Him. The Christian life requires a lot of mind use, many times we are encouraged to “be sober; to gird the loins of our minds, and to have our minds enriched by the word of Christ.” Time and time and again Scripture tells us to increase in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus; a full use of the brain is required; to take in information and to process it. One preacher once said that the biggest problem of the church today is a lack of discernment. That is, Christians are not prepared to test and examine anything that comes in the name of God, they just blindly accept and follow. Ever wondered what the major difference between us and the animals is? It’s the mind! We are created to reason, to think independently; to process information and to delineate between good and bad, truth and error. For the last time, I ask, what happened to the human virtue of common sense? It is a sad thing when Apostle Peter describes a generation as “brute beasts, who are born to be caught and destroyed” (2 Pet 2:12)
For those who are ministers, it is our duty to bring back the mind; to shake people out of their stupor, into reality and awareness. We need ministers who are not going to hide behind their titles, in fact, a holy title and position without the corresponding knowledge is mockery, but we need sound men who know their stuff and can teach people well-defined truth; to engage their thoughts, and to deal with those difficult theological questions that most people have. To minister to people is not being emotional; jumping, clapping and yelling all over the platform. It’s giving people substance; something tangible; something that will not just affect the emotions but will also inform the mind and convince the will. From this, our people will develop discernment and will never be deceived by false prophets who prey on those who are foolish enough (Rom 16:18). Part of our Lord’s task for the great commission is to teach people (Mat 28:20). Teaching is a long term investment, of course, (sometimes it takes years) and it requires a lot of patience and a great deal of hard work on our part, but it’s worth it. Little by little, truth will be understood.
Let’s come to a conclusion. There is a reason why many people are falling away from the faith, that is, their minds were not grounded in truth. Many are they who can’t even define a simple thing as what is the Gospel, hence when they are met with questions and objections about the truth of Christianity they have no defense, but are easily swept away. Minds are too occupied with a lot of things that really don’t matter, while the real issues of eternity are left to ignorance. Let’s bring back our minds!
Sinothi Ncube
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