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"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5 ESV).
As we ponder the idea that our faith is under pressure, consider today the challenge of "rationalism" as a kind of slippery slope for our faith — a temptation to place our human reason above God's Word rather than under it.
Rationalism is the attempt to explain everything logically and according to human understanding. This has been a challenge throughout history and still today as well. Thomas Jefferson was a man well acquainted with religion, Christian teachings, and the Bible. Yet as a son of the "Enlightenment," he used his superior intellect and reason to try to explain everything in earthly dimensions instead of a godly perspective. He had a version of the Bible that he wrote, yet omitted all the miracles as fantasy that could not be logically explained. He literally cut out the miracles with scissors. A very slippery slope indeed.
In 1839 Saxon Lutherans left Germany to come to America for religious freedom, settled in Perry County, Missouri, and established today's Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. They left largely because the local government mandated that all should worship in one state-run church to establish unity. However, this state-run church taught and preached rationalism, and the confessional Lutherans believed, as we still do, that the Bible is to be taken literally and believed as written: as the inspired Word of God. Rationalism is powerful because we like to trust our own reason and intellect, so we often try to explain faith matters and biblical stories as logically as we can. We have trouble sometimes believing what is unbelievable.
Many children's books are written about Jonah and the "whale" even when Scripture says he was swallowed by a great "fish." Many say "whale" because that makes more sense to us; that is rationalism and one step on the slippery slope. Then maybe we suppose that the Red Sea did not actually part; I've never seen anything like that. Maybe, perhaps, it was a serious drought that left the land dry for the Hebrews to walk across? Yes, that makes more logical sense — one more step on the slippery slope. Then maybe Lazarus was not really raised from the dead; I've never seen that happen. I wonder if maybe he was just in a deep coma and he came out of it when he heard Jesus' voice. Yeah, that makes more sense to me — one more step on the slippery slope. Where might this rationalism and trust in our own logic lead?
Too many steps on the slippery slope and it may be too tough to climb back up to where we need to be in terms of trusting Scripture and the Word of God. If we doubt the "great fish," it may not jeopardize our salvation, but it is slippery. Maybe doubting the Red Sea parting or water turning to wine may not jeopardize our salvation, but it is slippery. If we doubt that a virgin could bear a son or that Lazarus was raised from the dead, what will keep us from having trouble trusting fully that Jesus was raised from the dead? At that point the slippery slope becomes salvation-critical, and our trust has been destroyed by our rationalism.
Many Bible-believing Christians struggle with this today. Some churches teach that the true body and blood of Jesus cannot be present in Holy Communion, and that does not make logical sense; you can "see" that it is only bread and wine. One more long step on the slippery slope. Some churches today even leave open to interpretation that the account of Noah and the great flood may be just an allegory or myth. There are even Lutheran churches outside the LCMS that teach that the Bible is not to be taken literally all the time, especially when the accounts defy logic and reason. This has been a problem for believers for quite some time, and Satan wants us to continue relying on our own rational minds before we can believe. Like Doubting Thomas, Thomas Jefferson, and many contemporary Christians, we want to only believe that which we can see, explain, and understand with earthly reason.
We are called in Scripture to have the faith of a child (Mark 10:14–15), trusting fully in God's perfect, inerrant Word. Those biblical accounts and stories that seem unbelievable are explained by faithful pastors as "divine mystery" — Scripture that can never be explained with our earthly brains. We are not called to make sense of everything; we can’t in our limited sinful minds. Many Bible truths will not be logical or rational this side of Heaven. I am eager for the day in Heaven when I can say often, "Oh, I get it now; that makes perfect sense," but not yet in this broken world.
The truth of God's Word will be revealed to us in His time, not ours. For now, we are to trust as a child trusts (Matt. 18:3), not demand answers to "divine mystery." It is so incredible that God's plan is way too awesome for our minds to comprehend; I am glad that I don't need to understand all of it. We are told not to lean on our own understanding (Prov. 3:5–6). We all pray that God's truths are revealed to us in faith and not in logic. Our salvation is grounded entirely in Jesus Christ — His life, His death, and His resurrection for you. Even when our minds wrestle and our faith feels weak, Christ remains faithful, forgiving your sins and holding you firmly in His grace. Therefore, we rest in childlike trust — not in what we can explain, but in what Christ has done for us.
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