Only Fools Use their Heads

Stop! Stop thinking right now. Just sit there and slowly read (don't think about) the following post. This is not a threat but a warning: if you continue to think you may be jeopardizing your very soul. The thinking I speak of is not your everyday "gee, I wonder what I need at the store?" thinking, but pondering (which may lead to doubting) elements of your faith. Have you started thinking again? Well stop. At least promise you won't think until you're done reading.

[Copy of The Thinker by Augeste Rodin in Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. The Thinker was originally meant to depict Dante in front of the Gates of Hell, pondering his great poem.]

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"I don't want a God that I can understand", a pastor once told me and I can see his reasoning. If he can understand God, and by understand he meant a comprehendable God that lacks mystery, then he would be on the same level as God rendering Him equal to humans. This is the same pastor that told me that it was dangerous for me to study and read into other faiths. And again, I understand why he says this. His argument was that if I thought too much about my faith I just might lose it because faith isn't about thinking, it's about believing.

Here's a list of a few things you should never EVER THINK ABOUT, EVER. I'm only listing them as a warning, so DON'T, I repeat don't think, read, or talk about anything in this list after today. Don't even leave comments, because that would imply that you thought.

• A strikingly similar story to that of Noah's was written over a thousand years before that of Noah's in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
• No evidence of the Israelites mass migration (Exodus from Egypt) has been found in the Sinai Desert.
• Jesus died on two different days according to the Gospel accounts.
• The Comma Johanneum (1 John 5:7-8) only appears in eight out of the thousands of surviving Greek manuscripts and only after the 10th century c.e.
• New Testament scholars across the board only consider 7 out of Paul's 13 epistles authentically his. The others were written after his death and some do not line up with Paul's theology.
• The original ending of Mark in our oldest manuscripts ends at Mark 16:8, due to death of the author before completion, lost to history, or intentionally written to end at Mark 16:8.
• There were various forms of Christianity in early church history and they all fought each other until one branch remained, the Orthodox (which then branched into others).
• Mythical (or miraculous) events in the life of Jesus as depicted in the gospels are strikingly similar to "pagan" gods that predate Jesus by thousands of years: Horus, Mithra, Krishna, etc.
  

Now that you've read them don't ever think, read, or talk about anything in this list. Don't even check to see if I'm lying, because that would cause you to think. Just forget everything I just wrote and continue believing, which is more important than thinking. This is an example of things you should avoid thinking when it comes to faith but even one may be challenging enough. You should believe that the Bible is inerrant in infallible even though it was written by fallible hands at the behest of a church that wrestled with its theology for the first few hundred years after Christ. You should believe that no matter what archeologist may find through scientific study that the Bible is the ultimate authority. You should believe that through Christianity you're saved and EVERY other religion leads to the hellfire without thinking how terribly unjust it is for the millions of people who have never heard of Jesus. Again, DON'T THINK, just believe, because thinking is overrated.