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Breakpoint

Yes, Christians are Free Thinkers

Breakpoint

Colson Center

News, Religion & Spirituality, News Commentary, Christianity

4.82.8K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2023

⏱️ 1 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A listener recently asked how to respond to the accusation that Christians are not free thinkers. One way is to go over the list of novelists, artists, scientists, and philosophers from the last two millennia and see how many of them were Christians or worked from a broadly Christian framework.  

Consider also how much art over the past 20 centuries can be called "sacred." Read Augustine of Hippo or Jonathan Edwards and see if they qualify as free thinkers. Learn about the lives of scientists like Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, Galileo and others. And then look up how much science advanced before Christian civilization. 

Christians believe the world is knowable and that, made in God's image, we are knowers. There is no thinking without that basis. And then you need to be clear about the word "free." Historically, that meant the freedom to do whatever he or she wanted to do. Those people rarely made the world better. 

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Transcript

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0:00.0

With the point

0:04.4

A culture from a Christian worldview. I'm John Stone Street with the point. A listener recently asked how we would respond to the accusation that Christians are not

0:08.2

free thinkers. Well one way is to go over the list of novelist, artists,

0:11.9

scientists, philosophers from the last 2,000 years and see go over the list of novelist, artists,

0:12.5

philosophers from the last 2,000 years

0:14.7

and see just how many of them were Christians

0:17.0

or work from a broadly Christian framework.

0:19.8

Consider also how much art over the past 20 centuries can be called sacred.

0:24.0

Read Augustine of Hippo or Jonathan Edwards and see if they qualify as good thinker.

0:30.0

Learn about the lives of scientists like Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, Galileo, and others.

0:34.7

And then look up how much science advanced before Christian civilization.

0:38.5

But Christians believe the world's knowable, and that man in God's image we are all know errs.

0:43.0

There is no such thing as thinking without that basis.

0:46.0

And then you need to be clear, of course, about the word free.

0:49.0

Historically, that's meant the freedom to do whatever someone wanted to do and those people rarely made the world

0:55.2

better at least not like Christians did the Colston Center I'm John Stone Street

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