By Marlin Kilpatrick
One of man’s attributes is the ability to think. God created man as a rational being. The ability to reason through complex problems separates man from the beast of the field. The beast operates by instinct, but we operate as rational beings. The ability to think does not guarantee we will always be rational. Sometimes we fail to think rationally. When this happens, we get into all kinds of trouble.
The Bible obligates each of us to think correctly. The apostle Paul said, “Prove all things, hold fast that which is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). He also said we are to “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2). In the preceeding quotations the word “prove” means “…to test, to prove with expectation of accepting” (Vine’s, p. 146). The same word is translated try as in “…try the spirits whether they are of God, for many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). We are to try or test every doctrine to determine if it is from God or man, and the standard by which such trying is done is the word of God.
The obligation to think correctly implies we, among many other things, should study our Bibles daily. After developing a knowledge of what the scriptures say, we must reason correctly about those scriptures. The apostle Peter wrote, “…and be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Pet. 3:15). The word answer is translated from a word which means to make a defense of our hope, but how are we going to be able to make a defense, if we do not know how to reason correctly about the scriptures? Here is where the study of the elementary rules of logic becomes useful.
I was just thinking, how wonderful it would be if all people thought correctly about the scriptures. If everyone thought correctly about the scriptures, all the religious confusion in today’s world would be eliminated. A failure to think correctly about the scriptures will cost many sincere people their home in heaven.
No one will enter heaven just because he was lucky. No one will make it to heaven just because he happened to guess right. Only those who know and obey the truth and who can think correctly about the scriptures, have the hope of being with the Lord in eternity. Think about it.
Biblical Notes 