Have you experienced being told by Evangelicals that goes like this? - You should not put too much thinking on your circumstances. All you need is God to guide you, be led by the Spirit. Don't trust too much your intellect. Do not rely on your own wisdom, have you prayed for it? Have you consulted it with God? Did you hear His voice? etc. etc.
Notice that they have an allergy from anything that resembles with thinking too much, intellectualism, or in short "reason"?
It's a phenomenon! Really, it is!
And then I read a New York Times article entitled "The Evangelical Rejection of Reason". The article leans more on Evangelicals versus science and atheism, however, it is the same problem I am encountering when talking to one, only in a different aspect (not science and atheism).
The heart of the matter lies with the question "Should we leave our brains when it comes to matters of the faith?".
I say we shouldn't. Even St. Paul didn't when he faced the Greeks and philosophers in public discussions of the faith. But it doesn't mean that we don't leave room for mystery. Christian mysteries like the Trinity, hypostatic union, etc. are there because it is beyond our reasoning, but God, who was a mystery in the Old Testament has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ. Everything is revealed to us already.
This revelation, although we can understand initially, will become deeper and deeper as you grow in faith, which becomes more mysterious. Isn't it ironic?
There are things revealed to us through Christ, which are essential for our walk in God and salvation, and there are things which are still hidden from us.
So, in our walk with God, let us be considerate of other people. Some people chose to follow the "voice within", the "Silent Whisper" and all that - I respect them.
But let us also be charitable to those people who follow God even though they don't hear the "Voice" that some Christians are saying. People like us who are normal people who follow God using His Word and the Traditions that the apostles passed on to us. People like us who just use their brains don't become second-class, less priveleged Christians just because we use them.
God works differently for every person. He does not whisper to me. He does not speak to me directly. All the major decisions I made, I asked Him first to help me, but I never had that "Voice" that some Christians would like to believe to have spoken to them. Looking back in all of these decisions I made, whether good or bad, I saw that I was always guided, protected and cared for by God.
