markstake

Since my other thread has now been firmly hijacked, I thought I would create a new thread to bring up the topic that the hijackers thought should be discussed instead.

The question is whether or not a lapse in critical thinking is necessary to become Christian.

The way I see it, here are the possibilities:
1) Critical thought can lead directly to Christianity, when the critical thought is valid. In other words, evidence supports Christianity.
2) Critical thought can lead directly to Christianity, when the critical thought is invalid. In other words, evidence does not support Christianity, but Christians think it does.
3) Christians suspend critical thought when considering the topic of religion. In other words, a "leap of faith" is used, and evidence should not be considered.

Feel free to add any other possibilities I haven't considered.

Biff the unclean

I think another possibility is that critical thought is deferred to authority
Herd instinct is a very important evolutionary survival trait that has evolved in many species of animal. In humans, like the rest of the primates, the group has an "Alpha" leader. Trust is placed in this Alpha, and for the safety of the group their authority isn't questioned.
Critical thinking wouldn't arise, it would be assumed that your authority figure (priest, minister, Jesus, witch doctor) was correct. That if there was any critical thinking to be done the leader would have done it.

Proxima Centauri

I think most Christians suspend critical judgement over Christianity. Here's an example given by Gemma Therese.

Quote:

"Faith is not an emotion, not a feeling. It is not a blind sub-conscious urge towards something vaguely supernatural. It is not a feeling that God exists. It is also not an opinion. It is not a conviction based on rational analysis. Faith is an intellectual assent. It perfects the mind, it does not destroy it. It puts the intellect in possession of Truth which reason cannot grasp by itself." ~Thomas Merton

Some Christians are mislead by spurious arguments on the less scientific Christian Web Sites etc. Their belief may be misguided but rational.

I don't know any rational and valid reason for being a Christian.