CIM Technical Papers

                   THE CONVERSION OF THE MIND 
 
(Note this article originally appeared in the Journal: 
REFORMATION & REVIVAL.  Summer, 1994.) 
 
     One effect of global, high-tech communication on this 
shrinking planet is the increased exposure we have to other 
lands, peoples, and worldviews.  Today students on major 
university campuses will likely encounter professors who teach 
their subjects from vastly different perspectives.  For example, 
a Hindu may be found teaching psychology; a Marxist, history; an 
existentialist, literature; and a humanist, science.  Young 
people are now confronted with a virtual supermarket of worldview 
options upon which to base their lives.  As a result, many 
Christians--confused, defensive, and often in the minority--tend 
to incorporate much non-Christian thinking into their own 
worldviews. 
 
     Christianity as a world and life system (weltanschauung) was 
not always on the defensive, nor has it always been viewed as one 
option among many, as we find today.  For much of the history of 
western civilization, Christianity has been the basis for world 
order.  In the areas of critical thought, moral order, and 
culture, Christianity (i.e., its ideas) was predominant.  
Christianity set the agenda.  This is not to say every important 
thinker or artist of the past was a devout Christian.  But many 
were.  And those who were not at least affirmed or accepted the 
basic rudiments of the Christian worldview.   
 
     Retreat and withdrawal of the church from active engagement 
in culture began, we believe, somewhere in the nineteenth century 
when it failed to adequately answer the contra-Christian 
arguments of the Enlightenment.  Instead, the church took an 
increasingly defensive posture.  As Christianity slowly lost 
ground in its conflict with Enlightenment humanism, it began to 
concede the area of culture to the enemy.  This concession was no 
doubt partly due to the church's embrace of the erroneous Neo- 
Platonist idea which dichotomized life into the "sacred" and 
"secular" (or "spiritual" and "physical").  In keeping with this 
view, the "sacred" or "spiritual" area was deemed more 
important.  Therefore the church became increasingly pre-occupied 
with the mystical and the hereafter, and looked upon itself only 
as an instrument of spiritual or internal change, while it 
retreated from its mandate of being salt and light in society.1 
 
     Many Christian leaders spoke out against this error but were 
largely unheard.  Perhaps the most eloquent was the great New 
Testament scholar J. Gresham Machen.  He challenged his students 
at Princeton Seminary in 1912: 
    "The Christian cannot be satisfied so long as any human 
    activity is either opposed to Christianity or out of all 
    connection with Christianity.  Christianity must pervade not 
    merely all nations, but also all of human thought.  The 
    Christian, therefore, cannot be indifferent to any branch of 
    earnest human endeavor.  It must all be brought into some 
    relation to the gospel.  It must be studied either in order 
    to be demonstrated as false, or else in order to be made 
    useful in advancing the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom must be 
    advanced not merely extensively, but also intensively.  The 
    church must seek to conquer not merely every man for Christ, 
    but also the whole of man."2 
 
     Another strong voice calling for a Christian penetration of 
culture was Oxford scholar and prolific Christian author, C.S 
Lewis.  He remarked: 
    "I believe that any Christian who is qualified to write a 
    good popular book on any science may do much more by that 
    than by any directly apologetic work.     What we want is not 
    more little books about Christianity, but more little books 
    by Christians on other subjects--with their Christianity 
    latent.  It is not the books written in defense of 
    Materialism that make the modern man a Materialist; it is the 
    Materialistic assumptions in all the other books.  In the 
    same way, it is not books on Christianity that will really 
    trouble him.  But he would be troubled if, whenever, he 
    wanted a cheap popular introduction to some science, the best 
    work on the market was always by a Christian."3 
 
     And more recently, the late Francis A. Schaeffer, popular 
apologist and theologian, has forcefully and effectively 
communicated the role of the church in culture to a generation of 
young people looking for an explanation (a worldview) that spoke 
to all of life.  It is this author's opinion that Schaeffer's 
greatest contribution has been to alert the church to its 
complete role in the world.  The cultural mandate of Genesis 
1:26-28 is still in effect.  The power of the gospel is not only 
sufficient to change lives, but to change culture as well.  
Christians are to challenge their spheres of influence with 
Christian truth claims.  We believe that God still wants 
Christians to bring all areas of thought and life under the 
captivity of the Lordship of Christ (IICor 10:5).    
To do so involves the developing of a decidedly Christian 
worldview.  It involves the individual Christian thinking God's 
thoughts after Him in every discipline of study--whether in art, 
science, history, psychology, or economics, and applying what he 
or she learns, on the canvas, in the laboratory, at the 
chalkboard, in the counseling process, or in the business world!  
 
     Of late many fine Christian books on the subject of 
worldviews have been published, but most of these books only 
critique and analyze various worldviews.  While there is 
certainly a place for this, our experience in a variety of 
ministries has taught us that criticism must be followed by 
suggestion of a positive alternative.  Analyzing what is wrong 
with the world is important but, we feel there is a corresponding 
need to set a new mood with the attitude, "Look what Christianity 
offers the world."   
 
     For those who believe the church's mission is solely 
spiritual and that the cultural mandate was negated by the Fall, 
worldview building will be seen as an exercise in futility.  If 
that is the opinion of any readers, we challenge you with this 
question:  What would the world be like without the works of 
Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, or Calvin?  These men were not just 
great theologians; they distinguished themselves in their 
attempts to develop a Christian world and life view which 
incorporates the implications of Christian thinking into every 
area of knowledge.   
 
       It is the conviction of this author that Christ is Lord 
and that all areas of life and thought are to be brought under 
His dominion.  It is therefore, the duty of every believer, not 
only to think Christ's thoughts after Him, but also to act 
accordingly as His regal representative on earth. 
 
     Most Christians will agree that the Christian worldview 
should be applied in personal relationships, the family and in 
the Church.  But, should Christian principles also be applied in 
culture and in government?  In other words, should Christians try 
to reform society?  If the Christian experience of the new birth 
is genuine, we believe it cannot be otherwise.  Changed people 
thinking "Christianly" and applying Christian principles will 
lead to changes in every area of life including the institutions 
with which believers come into contact. 
 
     In saying this, we wish to make it perfectly clear that we 
are in no way advocating an "ecclesiocracy" or that Christian 
principles should be imposed by force on unbelievers.  Christ 
clearly taught us in the parables how this change would occur-- 
through the evangelization process or the revival-reform dynamic 
(see Matt. 13).4 
 
     The conversion process is not just a change of heart or an 
emotional experience.  We are also to be converted in mind.  In 
Romans 12:2 Paul speaks in the imperative:  "Do not conform any 
longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the 
renewing of your mind."  But, we are not to stop there.5  We are 
to apply biblical thinking in every area of life.  To a Christian 
medical doctor it will mean, among other things, the application 
of the biblical view concerning the dignity of life.  To a 
Christian legislator, it means seeking to make laws which are in 
accordance with the principles of Scripture.  To an Christian 
artist, it means creating works of art which speak truthfully and 
honor the Creator. 
 
     The implications of this are clear.  Christians will thus 
inevitably be in conflict with non-christian worldviews.  
Thinking worldviewishly in a context of like-minded people is one 
thing, but holding to certain convictions about the world and 
ultimate questions where there exists a plurality of answers and 
no consensus is another.  At the close of the Twentieth century 
we find ourselves in just such a state.  The Judeo-Christian 
conception of reality based on revealed absolutes no longer 
enjoys the consensus it once had in Western civilization.  
Various forms of humanism are presently in the ascendancy and are 
threatening to impose their worldview on all of life.  As 
Christians, and as Christ's theocratic representatives, we have a 
mandate to enlarge His Kingdom during our sojourn on earth.  This 
is taught, we believe, by Jesus in the parable of the pounds (Lk. 
19:11-26).  The servants were charged to increase their master's 
assets during his absence.  The goal was not to break even.  They 
were to profit, to improve the situation!  Thus Christians today 
should not be building cloisters but a culture that increasingly 
reflects God's will.  This means that Christians have a divine 
call to every worthy vocation, be it science, economics, 
medicine, the arts, politics, or the military--each according to 
his gifts and abilities. 
     Should Christians then attempt to Christianize the world?  
Yes, in the sense that efforts should be made to convert people 
from ungodly ways of thinking and acting.  We hasten to add 
however, that we are not referring to the transference from our 
western culture those aspects which do not have Biblical 
sanction.  We should attempt to speak only where Scripture 
speaks.  Many laws in the Old Testament applied specifically only 
to the Hebrew culture.  For example, the Mosaic Law decreed that 
homeowners had to have a wall around the roof of their house (Dt. 
22:8).  The purpose of the law was to protect children from 
falling off the roof.  In the dwellings of their day many family 
activities occurred on the roof.  To seek to impose such a 
measure on modern societies with different structures is 
ludicrous.  However, the principle that can be deduced here is 
that parents are responsible for the safety of their children.  
Such can be proclaimed in any culture.   In our pluralistic 
society conflicts and polarization are inevitable because the 
opposing humanistic worldviews have a different basis for 
determining moral values.  Each side attempts to legislate laws 
based on its own moral perspective.  The abortion controversy is 
a perfect example of conflicting worldviews.  Those advocating 
abortion-on-demand do not want the worldview (religious views) of 
those against abortion imposed on them.  At the present, however, 
the will of those advocating "pro-choice" is being imposed on 
those who are opposed.  This imposition takes form in several 
ways:  tax money is being used to pay for abortions, and our 
children are increasingly exposed--in various avenues of our 
culture--to non-biblical views of human life. 
 
     How can the Christian consensus of the past be restored to 
what it once was?  Obviously not by the power of the sword (II 
Cor. 10:3,4)!  Rather we seek to evangelize and influence those 
that oppose God and His laws.  This takes time, just as it has 
taken centuries for humanism to get where it is today.  Western 
civilization with its Christian roots did not rise in a day 
either.  Jesus taught this principle of time to His disciples in 
the parables (Matt. 13).  A mustard tree starts with a tiny seed 
and takes some time to grow to maturity.  Yeast as well takes 
time to leaven a whole loaf of dough as it works quietly and 
persuasively within ( Note that its action is latent not 
blatant!).  As Christians we are called upon to "leaven" the 
whole "lump" of society.  We are to affect change in its 
composition.  The process is spiritual in that people's hearts 
are changed through the preaching of the Gospel, and whose minds 
are then influenced and changed by the teaching of biblical 
principles (Christian worldview). 
 
     Christians should therefore strive to set the agenda on 
cultural issues (i.e. to be a genuine counter-culture) and to be 
the continuing conscience of society.  This again is taught by 
Jesus when He declared His followers to be the "salt" and "light" 
in the world (Matt. 5:13-16), two of the most common and 
necessary elements in every household.  Through the use of these 
two metaphors Jesus is describing the positive and wholesome 
influence His disciples are to have in the world.  Salt was of 
extremely high value as a commodity.6 It was used as a condiment 
(Job 6:6), as a preservative (Bar. 6:28 in the Apocrypha), for 
purification (Mk.9:49), as medicine (Ezek. 16:4), to seal 
covenants (Num.18:19), as a symbol of wisdom and wholesome speech 
(Col. 4:6), and as a method of sterilizing an enemies' field 
(Jud. 9:45).3  Salt, however, when contaminated by white 
limestone or gypsum dust loses all its value.  It is only salt 
found in its pristine state that has any value.  The application 
is obvious.  The command to the disciples of Christ is to "keep 
oneself unpolluted by the world" (James 1:27).  It is only in 
this pure state that the Christian can effectively offer a 
counter-culture.  If through the metaphor of salt the church is 
to offer something of value to the world, it is only through the 
second metaphor of light that the world can discern this value.  
It is light which dispels darkness and presents the truth of what 
is really there.  The teaching of Jesus in this all-important 
passage makes it quite clear that christians are not to be 
passive in their earthly sojourn.  Indeed the application of this 
truth in the early church changed the face of the Roman world. 
 
                     The Need for a New Mood 
     As Christ's ambassadors we must not be intimidated by the 
size of our task.  We serve a powerful God and He has given us 
all the necessary tools to carry it out.  There is no room for 
pessimism in the Christian's thinking.  It is not only time for a 
new mind, but a new mood as well.  Communism in past decades has 
had its successes because its adherents believed victory was 
inevitable.  Christians above all people should reflect the same 
certainty.  We know that the Gospel works wherever it is applied; 
it brings order out of chaos. 
 
     We must guard against a pessimism that arises from a faulty 
emphasis in our eschatology.  We are not to retreat because 
"things are going to get worse according to biblical prophecy.  
Therefore, we might as well let things get worse, then Jesus will 
come and straighten out this mess.  We should not polish the 
brass of a sinking ship."  This attitude is found nowhere in the 
New Testament writings.  In fact, three books of the New 
Testament contain warnings about the seriousness of retreating 
from our task.  (see I and II Thessalonians and Hebrews).  
Furthermore, Jesus said "no man knows the day or the hour" 
(repeated many times in the Gospels).  Most agree that the second 
coming of Christ will occur in the midst of world-wide suffering 
and conflict.  Our error today is one of presumption, concluding 
that these events must be near.  They well may be, but what if 
they are five hundred years away?  Do we not have to face this as 
a very real possibility?  How will we "occupy" in the 21st 
century if our Lord tarries?  Do we not have the awesome 
responsibility of equipping the church and our families to be 
God's ambassadors in this micro-chip world? 
 
     We have every reason to be optimistic.  Why advise 
Christians to be active if they cannot win?  We initially focus 
on raising Godly seed in our own household, establishing a small 
beachhead in enemy territory.  We next build strong churches 
where we ourselves find strength and teaching that equips us for 
our task.  We then live before and confront the world wherever 
God has called us.  We are to "occupy till He comes."  We have 
the promise of victory from the Lord Himself when He prophesied 
to His disciples that the gates of Hades would not prove stronger 
than the church (Matt. 16:18).  The picture Jesus paints is a 
walled city in which Satan and his kingdom have taken refuge.  
The gates and walls however, are no match for the battering rams 
of the Kingdom of God.  Many times Christians read this passage 
and get the figure reversed.  Jesus is not saying that the church 
is huddled behind the walls with the forces of Satan trying to 
kick in the gates.  It's the other way around.  The gates of hell 
are not strong enough to prevail against the force of the 
gospel.  We can be optimistic.  We must begin to think in these 
terms, and of taking the offensive.  
 
     Humanism as a system contains within itself the seeds of its 
own destruction.  It is bankrupt, and we as Christians need to 
take advantage of its weaknesses and re-establish the Christian 
worldview with its moral and spiritual capital.  In doing so we 
must have a quiet confidence and optimism that Christianity will 
triumph. 
 
     As we seek to perform our task it is essential that we have 
a proper attitude toward the lost.  It must be a "but for the 
grace of God, there go I" kind of an attitude or the truth we 
preach will meet with a negative reaction.  We recognize that 
some of the enemies of God will resist even a gracious approach, 
but we must never present the truth nakedly to the lost.  It must 
be adorned with a genuine love and compassion for our fellow 
humans as creatures that Christ loved enough to die for.7  (See 
Eph. 4:15 and I Thess. 1:5.).  The entire epistle to Titus seems 
to stress this very thing.  The Apostle instructs Titus to rebuke 
the Cretans for teaching false doctrine.  Yet the rebuke would 
have had a hollow ring to it if his own life were not above 
reproach.  In the rest of the epistle Paul exhorts his young 
apprentice to "make the teaching about God our Savior attractive" 
(2:10), and to devote themselves to "doing what is good" (3:8).  
One of the reactions of those that came into contact with our 
Lord while He was on earth that boggles our mind is the fact that 
sinners were attracted to Him (Lk. 15:1).  His adornment of the 
truth made it alluring! 
 
     We are living at an opportune time in history.  Not only is 
there an immense spiritual vacuum throughout the world, there 
also seems to be a corresponding dearth of ideas and solutions to 
solve current problems.  We must have confidence that the 
revealed truth of God is adequate for our times and all times.  
We must not make rallying cries like "Jesus is the Answer" or"the 
Bible has the answers" into hollow slogans.  We must demonstrate 
to the world that Christianity works.  As the truth is lived we 
must then be prepared to: 
 
   ...give the reason for the hope that we have.  But do this 
   with gentleness  and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so 
   that those who speak maliciously against  your good behavior 
   in Christ may be ashamed of their  slander (I Pet. 3:15-16). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                           References 
 
1.  We are in no way demeaning the spiritual ministry of the 
    church or the mystical relationship of the believer to 
    Christ.  Our point is that the ministry of the church must 
    be viewed wholistically. 
 
2.  This address on "The Scientific Preparation of the Minister" 
    was delivered September 20, 1912, at the opening of the one 
    hundred and first session of Princeton Theological Seminary.  
    It is found in the Princeton Theological Review, Vol. XI, 
    No. 1, 1913, p. 1. 
 
3.  Lewis, C. S.  God in the Dock.  Walter Hooper, ed.  (Grand 
    Rapids, Michigan:  William B. Eerdman's Publishing Co., 
    1970), p. 93 
 
4.  We see revival and reform as two sides of the same 
    coin. True revival leads to reform in individual lives and 
    in society.  Trying to push for reform without the revival 
    of men's hearts is futile.  As new-born men are then 
    sanctified those institutions with which they come into 
    contact will also be sanctified. 
 
5.  The early Christian church would have been of little 
    consequence in the Roman world if its ideas had only changed 
    minds.  It was the actions that caused Caesar concern.  Even 
    today a totalitarian society is not concerned about a 
    Christianity that is confined to a certain religious ritual 
    at a certain geographical location (in church) at a certain 
    time (on Sundays).  As long as Christianity can be kept on a 
    "reservation" its enemies will rejoice. 
 
6.  The most common interpretation of "salt" in this passage is 
    that of a preservative.  But it is almost certain from the 
    context and related teachings of Jesus that a wide use of 
    salt is meant.  Jesus did not come to preserve the corrupt 
    system He found in Israel.  He did not come to put new wine 
    in old wineskins, but rather new wine in new wineskins 
    (Matt. 9:16,17).  For an excellent treatment of the use and 
    symbolism of "salt" in Scripture see the article on "salt" 
    in Colin Brown (ed.)  The New International Dictionary of 
    Theology.  3 vols.  (Grand Rapids, MI:  Zondervan Press, 
    1978). 
 
7.  For an excellent treatment on the subject of how to present 
    the gospel to a non-christian world see Francis A. 
    Schaeffer.  The God who is There.  (Downers Grove, IL:  
    InterVarsity Press, 1968),  See sections IV, V, and VI.  And 
    also Francis A. Schaeffer.  The Church at the End of the 
    Twentieth Century.  (Downers Grove, IL:  InterVarsity Press, 
    1970).  See especially Appendix II. 
 
 
Copyright 1994,  by Bill Crouse 
 
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