think think think. and repeat.

Worldview Academy taught me to 'Think Hard. Think Well.'this summer.

I've learned in these two and a half months since camp that we need to think all the time.
For example: my cousin sent me a forward a few weeks ago. She doesn't usually send forwards, so I thought that this one would be fun. I opened it, and sure enough, it was interesting. It talked about how on the third week in August the planet Mars would be so close to earth it would be as big as the moon, and that it wont happen again for 200 years! I did not even stop to think.

It came from a trusted source, so I assumed it was reliable. Was it? Well, did you see any planet as big as the moon? No, I think not. It was a scam. I did not bother to check the credibility either. It would have been easy. A quick stop at the NASA website, or even a google search.

Another example? Alright: In Sunday school, one of the attendees (or whatever you call people who come to your Sunday School) brought up the verse that says 'I can do everything through him who gives me strength.' Sounds good and dandy, doesn't it? Well, if you're not thinking. But if you think, and decide to go look it up, you realize that IN CONTEXT Paul was saying he could be content in anything. Because it was in church, and in Sunday school, you might turn your brain off thinking that everyone knows what they are talking about. But you can't turn your brain off. (unless you want to believe everything that people tell you, and never think for yourself. And that could become very difficult, because people are going to tell you all sorts of things, and they will often conflict one another.)

Actually, I think that the times we think it is okay to lay back and not think about what information is being fed to us are the times we need to have our brains working twice as hard as normal. It is easy to think and evaluate things you arent sure about, but when you trust the credibility of the presentor you ought to turn your brain on. You don't want to just accept whatever people tell you as truth, no matter who they are, without checking it out a little. See if they have people backing them up. Look at the research, or the places they got their information, and see if all the facts align.

 It is those times we allow our minds to run slower that the Enemy bombards us with lies and half truths. We don't notice it because we trust the person presenting it. Beware! And keep thinking. It could be something as silly as believeing Mars will be as big as the moon, and just looking silly, but it could be something as big as the doctrine your faith adheres to. 

What does this mean for me? That even though I go to a Christian University, I don't want to just accept what the professors say. I want to look for information that backs them up, or that refutes what they say. I want to make sure I'm not getting information that is too biased (although, technically, I guess all information is biased to a point), and I want to make sure I am getting the truth. I want to keep thinking, and be critical. And sometimes (hopefully more often than not) thinking hard and well will mean realizing the professor is right, and accepting what they say.

Just don't stop thinking.

Ever.