‘Do you think for yourself?’ asked the conspiracy theorist keen for an opportunity to get onto his favourite soap box and deliver his spiel about Bill Gates, the Rothschilds, the Pope, the World Economic Forum and so on.

‘I mean, I like to think so,’ I replied. I was something of a captive audience as he hadn’t yet returned to me my bike which he’d been repairing. I’d been on the receiving end of his impromptu lectures before – all part of the service!

To be fair, I’m hardly the voice of the establishment; I disagree with the scientific and societal consensus on a lot of things be it macro-evolution, the likely age of the earth, politics, or whether I’m actually any good at football! I can get where he’s coming from to a certain extent; there are indeed many rich, powerful elites in this world, sometimes with less-than-altruistic designs it must be said. That’s always been the case; there’s ‘nothing new under the sun’ (Ecclesiastes 1:9). But the suggestion that all these evil elites have all been in cahoots with each other, pulling the strings behind puppet governments for the last five hundred years from the Habsburgs to the Nazis, I find a bit of a tall order to believe. Quite simply, notwithstanding our vivid imaginations, I think human beings are just too incompetent for all that! To fabricate the moon landings, blow up the Twin Towers, hide all the aliens and UFOs, plan a global coronavirus outbreak and fake the death of Paul McCartney… conspiracy theorists ask for a lot more faith in the competence of human beings (to cover this stuff up) than any religion ever did! Of course, the clincher for the Christian is that God is sovereign and does as He pleases (see Psalm 2, and when it comes to conspiracies, Isaiah 8:11-15).

That being said, my cycle repairman raises a good question: how many of us genuinely do our own thinking?

Stopping to think

We exist in a world where we are constantly bombarded from all sides by information. We are constantly served up a sensationalist diet by our preferred media outlets or fed increasingly extreme echo-chamber social media feeds. We are distracted left, right and centre. We avoid stopping to properly think at all costs; we’ve largely forgotten how to. Our attention spans are so short, so goldfish-like, that if a headline or video doesn’t grip us in the first second, then we’re off in search of a dopamine hit somewhere else. Our minds are never at rest or able to mull things over. We stare transfixed at our phone screens from the moment we wake to when we go to bed (and even then, the phone is often still our companion…). The phone is a powerful tool with instant access to many rich treasures but instead of feasting on the best resources and sermon series or phoning a friend in need, we fill our lives looking at ‘worthless things’ (Psalm 119:37; 101:3) so that our use of our phones becomes unproductive and harmful. Is it any wonder that our generation is so anxious, so depressed and chock-full of personality and attention disorders and other mental illnesses?

In his Pensées (‘thoughts’), the French thinker Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) writes:

All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

I was at a church service recently where the minister called for a few moments’ silence to reflect before continuing, except he kept interrupting the silence to explain at short intervals why their church practised ‘silence’, that it was alright if it felt a little awkward or unusual, and we’d only take a moment longer! If lack of silence is the source of humanity’s problems, then he sure didn’t give me any opportunity to quieten my mind and my heart!

The Bible tells us in many places to ‘be still’ and wait for the Lord (e.g. Psalm 37:7; 46:10; 62:5). This can be hard at times, but perseverance produces ‘character’ (Romans 5:4 NKJV). And patience is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). If you’re anything like me, many of your regrets in life may well be the times when you’ve put your foot in it with hurtful words said without thinking. The Bible tells us we must be ‘quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry’ (James 1:19 NIV), and where ‘words are many’, sin is not absent (Proverbs 10:19). ‘To answer before listening—that is folly and shame’ (Proverbs 18:13). Busy, unthinking automatons do the devil’s work very nicely.

Thinking critically

Thinking for yourself isn’t trying to go against the grain for the sake of it or about finding the most left-of-field conspiracy theory out there. Actually, we’re a lot less independent than we like to think. If we’re honest, how many of us uncritically regurgitate what we read online somewhere, adopting the opinions and thoughts of total strangers? Tribalism is still going strong: whether it’s Trumpism, libertarianism, liberalism, fundamentalism, denominationalism or sectarianism, we like to find our tribe, our in-group, even if we end up in the miserable old cynics’ club! Or we follow the latest headlines designed to provoke angry, emotional (and often unthinking) responses playing on our fears. 

Part of the problem is that being in the company of people you disagree with is hard work (as Christians we ought to be more used to this than we are!), you have to think about what you believe and be more careful what you say. But I find I have some of the best conversations with people I disagree with! Often, they are who make me go away and think the most.

Increasingly I’m realising that the best books, blog posts and podcasts are the ones that make me do the thinking: the slower-going, dense but deep books, or even the content from viewpoints we disagree with. Our brains are lazy, so there can be a natural tendency to go for simpler content that tell me what to think; but if we don’t use it, we lose it! We go in for the microwave ready meals and so lose our taste for meals cooked from scratch that we have to work harder for but ultimately are better for us.

Church history tells us that the strongest theology is found when the truth is under question and under threat. Truth will prevail, the Lord sees to that. For example: the Nicene Creed was drawn up in response to Arianism; the Chalcedonian Definition in response to confusion over Christ’s humanity and divinity; the Reformation clarity on salvation by faith alone was in response to Roman Catholic works-based salvation; and you could argue that LGBT+ ideology today has made us hone in on what marriage is and better define what it is to be a man or a woman. We can use our own doubts and our generation’s big questions constructively. God allows them for a reason! We dig deep to see what the Bible actually says and what we actually believe.

We are far more vulnerable than we like to think we are. The reality is we are all followers; we are sheep, liable to be led astray or ravaged by wolves (Acts 20:28-31). Refusing to be labelled a sheep and calling yourself a goat only reveals the depth of this delusion. None of us have got it all worked out; recognition of this requires humility. Everyone assumes they’d never fall for a scam, until they do – humility makes us realise that we can be complete mugs at times!

We can be like David with Mephibosheth and Ziba, not sure who to believe and not bothering to properly get to the bottom of the matter (2 Samuel 16:1-4; 19:24-30). ‘The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him’ (Proverbs 18:17). We seem incapable of differentiating between hills to ignore, fight or die on. Evangelical churches are splitting themselves into extinction over minor theological issues and personality clashes (often relating to pride, lack of respect of church authority or unacknowledged insecurities in a person’s own faith). How many people have left churches for inane reasons because like Zophar they hear something ‘that insults me’ (Job 20:3)? Do we realise we are actually the problem (Matthew 7:3-5)? If we’re not careful, we can be as ‘children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes’ (Ephesians 4:14). 

Thinking Christologically

In a world where black and white has turned to shades of grey, where truth is relative, the only way for us to ensure survival is to stay close to the one who is the ‘good shepherd’ (John 10:11), to remain rooted and grounded in Christ and in His word. We have to validate – ‘fact check’, if you will – all that we read or hear against a source of truth that we can trust. Ultimately, there is only one ‘golden source’, one solid ground that we can trust to be the truth: the word of God (2 Timothy 3:16). This is how we can sock it to Satan, ‘the father of lies’ (John 8:44). If we want to be free of his lies, then we must hear the words of Jesus:

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free

John 8:31-32

Christ is the ‘belt of truth’ who holds us together (Ephesians 6:14). ‘On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand’. Christ is ‘the sure and steady anchor’. Christ is the focal point of all history. We should never tire of the Gospel of Christ, never accept a fake Gospel or a fake Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). It was through the lens of the Gospel that the Puritans thought and wrote (in that order!), and they reached such great depths! It’s at the foot of the cross of Christ that we find answers to life’s biggest questions. It’s in Christ and by the Spirit of Christ that we can have the richest, most-fulfilling, most-rewarding thought life (Romans 8:6). Forget conspiracy theories, it’s through Christ that we can come freely to Almighty God and enjoy communion with Him. In Christ we find true fulfilment as worshippers of the Triune God. Today it seems like most of us are living in the shallows if at all. This really is the sin of slothfulness; of thinking on nothing of value. But there is a vast ocean out there if we’ll only experience it for ourselves. In the words of John Flavel (c.1627-1691), a Puritan thinker:

Christ is the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is the meeting-place of all the waters in the world, so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet. […]

Away with those empty nothings, away with this vain deceitful world, which deserves not the thousandth part of the love you give it. Let all stand aside and give way to Christ. O if only you knew his worth and excellency, what he is in himself, what he has done for you, and deserved from you; you would need no arguments to persuade you to love him! O how many pour out streams of love and delight upon the vain and empty created thing; while no arguments can draw forth one drop of love from their stubborn and unbelieving hearts to Jesus Christ! […]

Let us all be humbled for the corruption of our hearts that are so eager in their affections for vanities and trifles, and so hard to be persuaded to love Christ, who is altogether lovely.

Let’s be our own thinkers too. ‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things’ (Philippians 4:8). Supremely, I think this means Christ.