Or none of the above, for that matter. I have about 30 minutes before the youth start filing in for our Thursday evening small groups. So, I don’t know where my mind is. (Which is sort of ironic considering what I’m going to say… Or not.)

Anyway, you may or may not have seen this by now:

It’s Rick Perry’s “Strong” ad.

This has spawned many spoofs, some hilarious but too inappropriate to show here. (I’m using restraint. Please be proud.)

But here’s a spoof that I can share:

I just want to say something quick.
I found this funny. It made me laugh.
But, I’m tired of people saying that Christians are not intelligent and don’t use logic or reason. (A lot of the parodies were using that to make fun of Rick Perry and other Christians).
I have met many Christians who love God with ALL of their hearts… but for some reasoning, seemingly choose to check their brains at the door when entering the church.

We’re supposed to love God not just with all of our hearts, but with all of our MINDS as well.
Reason is a gift from God.
In the Wesleyan tradition, we understand that the core of Christian faith is revealed through/in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience and confirmed by reason (¶ 104 in Book of Discipline, emphasis mine).

I don’t think science is the tool of the devil or an evil thing to further separate us from the knowledge of God. I don’t think that God or the Devil or someone planted bones of the dinosaurs to trick us or whatever the thought is. (Please don’t take away dinosaurs. They’re so cool. They have to be real! And on this side tangent, does it really matter if the world is 6000 years old or 6 billion years old? Isn’t the heart of the story that God created the world?)

And it’s tiresome, as a Christian, when atheists “attack” us, they challenge our reasoning skills and belittle our intelligence. And at times, I don’t blame them.

Of course, I realize that I’m only describing a handful of Christians. But they’re the ones non-Christians associate all Christians with. Seemingly.

Anyway, there’s the other side too, where Christians have pretty much reasoned God out of their faith… or explaining miracles to say what really happened… which wouldn’t make it miracles anymore…

It’s all about balance. We need to love God with all of our hearts, minds, soul and strength.
We need to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. Not one or the other.

Reasoning is a gift from God.
We were given brains for a reason.
We shouldn’t check knowledge or common sense at the door just because we’re at church.

And I don’t care if I’m 31. Dinosaurs are awesome.