The Rationalism Venom

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

One of the most amazing parts of the human body would have to be the brain. Just a quick study of some of this organ’s functions leaves me with no doubt of God as my Creator. In fact, I find it ridiculous for anyone to believe that something so profound like our minds just happened by mere chance.

I place a very high priority on keeping my mind at its utmost, as I work to stretch its thinking daily. My wife and I have both agreed that the loss of our minds would probably be the greatest bodily loss we could endure—much greater than loss of hearing, vision, speech, or anything else on our bodies.

That being said, there is a great danger in placing too much importance on our thinking. Remember, the devil works in taking things that are good and distorting them for his evil purposes. When it comes to our intelligence, Satan brings a poison called rationalism.   

What is Rationalism?
Rationalism is the idea that human reason is the source of all our knowledge, to the detriment of faith. Philosophers with this mindset believe that everything happens the way it does because it must. It is only rational. Rationalism places intellectuals at odds with people of faith.

People of the world have always struggled with the questions of how faith should be looked at in relation to reason. This is a question we too must answer if we are going assert our own views of life. What rationalists do is they negate the power of faith, saying in fact that faith does not exist. If it does exist in some indistinct way, faith is all in vain because there is nothing out there to put your faith in.

The two time periods from history that stand out the most in regards to rationalism are the 15th century Renaissance and 18th Century Enlightenment. Both of these eras saw unfortunate moves away from God and toward humanism. This man-centered thinking was not only prevalent, but human reasoning was thought to be the apex of all thought. All of this high intelligence and learning was held independent of personal faith.
 
The reason the philosophers throughout history have had so much difficulty in reconciling faith with reason is because they tried to do so apart from the Bible. They use human reasoning as a starting point of instead of Scripture.
 
Faith versus Intellect
This is not just a problem in the past, though. Satan still causes much chaos where faith and reason are concerned. We sometimes find the opposite of rationalism in our churches in the form of fideism (or faith-ism), where only faith is considered, to the exclusion of reason. It ignores the common sense that God has put into our brains and clings to blind-faith alone.

Faith and reason should not be at odds, though, because both come from the hand of God. We can have a “faith that can move mountains,” while being simultaneously rational. Satan steps in and pits the two against each other, which leads to either an intellectualism that deems faith unnecessary, or the über-faith individuals who see no need for the brain.

It is easy for us to relate rationalism to our study a couple months back on materialism. Both see the unseen spiritual world as nonexistent. Herein lies the great danger; if Satan can focus the world’s attention on only the physical or the mental, then the concept of God is annihilated. Without faith, without the mental assent of a Creator God, then more souls are ripe for the Devil to thoroughly destroy.

Rationalism in the Christian’s Life
On a lesser scale, we as Christians can fall prey to rationalism as well. We certainly would not knowingly deny the existence of God, but we can place so much of an emphasis on intelligence that God is snuffed out in the process. Though we may refuse to admit doing this, if we search our hearts we know it to be true.

Here is what we do. A small problem arises, we figure out the solution, and then move on. A larger problem faces us and—because of our previous success—we think our way out again. What can happen if this cycle continues is we will inevitably face problems that lie beyond our mental scope. Because we are so out of practice in going to God first, we will not know what to do.

God gave us wonderful minds, but it was never His intention for them to replace reliance on Him. So what are we to do in preventing rationalism in our lives?

The Psalm 23 Solution
Besides the obvious—prayer and Scripture study—I believe David had the answer to this dilemma. The 23rd Psalm is one that many of us have memorized and many more have loved. It basically is an extended, poetic way of saying this: God provides.

When we have successes in life it can seem natural to feel we were the reason for it. The best thing to do, though, is to daily recognize the Lord’s provision in our lives. The Lord is our “shepherd,” who leads us, nourishes us, heals us, and offers us a home with Him. He holds His divine “rod,” to give a beat-down to those problems facing us which we are unable to deal with alone. Most importantly, he stands between us and the devil who “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

The best thing we can do when life continues to throw curve-balls our way is to pray. Not only pray, but pray specifically in a way that recognizes God is in control. We should pray that God will help us place our dependence on Him and not our own intellect. Whether our crises are manageable or beyond our control, let us go to God in submission and thankfulness.

Next month we will continue our study of the devil’s poisonous philosophies when we will study relativism. Until then, my prayer is that God blesses you in ways that further His Kingdom.