Intelligent, Rational People Can't Believe in God

Conversation Stopper

One of the false dichotomies that has arisen in the course of time since the Enlightenment era is the belief that one cannot possibly be both a person of faith and a person who uses their intellect or reason. It is widely held, at least in academia, that a person who chooses to believe in the Christian faith (or any faith for that matter) is someone who is not as intelligent as a person who relies on the hard data of science and technology. Christians are often seen as people who have “checked their brains at the door.” People who pray and believe in miracles and claim to trust in an invisible God are seen as superstitious, irrational and lacking real intelligence.

Assumptions

  • True knowledge only comes from that which can be studied scientifically, measured, and quantified.
  • People of faith rely mainly on their emotions or their subjective experience for making decisions.
  • A person must give up rational thought in order to become a Christian.
  • The more education a person has, the less likely he or she is to have faith in God.
  • A person who has chosen to believe in God is a person has chosen to stop thinking.
  • Thinking people don’t do irrational things.

Talking Points

  • What is it that makes Christianity irrational? How have you seen Christians be irrational?
  • Many great thinkers and scientists throughout history have also been Christians (eg. Blaise Pascal, Isaac Newton, Galileo, John Locke, Francis Collins, etc).
  • Many of the great universities in our country (eg. Harvard, Yale, Princeton and others) started with a solid Christian foundation.
  • Would you be willing to hear my explanation for how Christianity makes sense?
  • Share your story of coming to faith.
  • Talk about how you made key decisions to confess, repent and believe in Jesus.
  • Talk about the reasons you have for putting your faith in Jesus.
  • Talk about the evidence that exists for things like the Bible’s historical reliability of Jesus’s resurrection.

Additional Resources

Are there any intelligent Christians you can think of that are also well respected for their ideas, opinions, and thoughts?

Share some examples in a comment belows.

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