Can you be smart and be a Christian? Is religion only for the less intelligent amongst us?

Question

Well? What do you think? I'm pretty smart and I've tried to be religious off and on in my life, but I have so many doubts. Often religion just seems silly to me.

Answer 1

I don't believe that to be true. I'm an atheist, always been and always will be. But I know a lot of truly intelligent Christians.

Not every Christian resembles GW Bush, really.

Edit: the answerer above me "Not of this World" obviously doesn't prove my point. Oh well.

Answer 2

Quite frankly, a lot of religious stuff 'is silly'. These are the elements you need to steer clear of. Use your noggin'

Nobody's forcing you, so do whatever you do with your 'head screwed on'. Don't leave your brains behind.

Now, to answer your question. I can only speak about Christianity the orthodox protestant kind as, thankfully, the Lord has kept me away from serious entanglement with the others. Even so, I've seen some pretty whacky things. Sometimes you have to experience them to learn how and why they're in error.

However, getting to the truth of the matter ...When I first began to ask serious questions - and I was a serious-minded person seeking after the truth - I determined that I wasn't going to commit 'intellectual suicide'. That means, I wasn't going to believe just because the nice Christians all told me it was so. I had to have some good, solid reasons to go ahead on this. And, what's more, I had to find them myself. Someone else's digging just wouldn't do.

So, I reckoned that everything hung on whether Jesus rose from the dead or not and I went to the local library and there was a mass of books there on theology, as dusty and dry as they come, and somehow I just knew that there was not a bit of faith and not a bit of help in any of them. There would be not a bit of help in any of them, because they were full of philosophy. But I would certainly not find faith there, and I wanted to find faith, and more - a REASON for faith.

I'll never know, because I never opened any of those bad-looking books, but I did find a little paperback somehow amongst them which looked intriguing. It asked 'Who Moved the Stone?' by Frank Morison.

I took it home and read it. It was a bit 'courtroom lawyer' but that didn't bother me, because I wanted to get into the 'nitty-gritty' of things. The book went through the whole of the last week of Jesus' life, step by step, from the Bible, looking at all the evidence, so to speak. Yes, that was what I wanted - evidence!

Then it came to the punchline. What happened to the body? There were just a handful of options - a small handful, actually. We went through them:

i) The disciples had stolen away the body
- what, after a professional guard had been set, with strict instuctions to stay awake and look out for this very thing? And, if they did steal the body, how come nobody noticed, and how come they managed to live with the lie ever after? How come it didn't get out among the believers? I just couldn't believe that one.

ii) The priests had stolen away the body
- well, in that case, they would have produced it pretty quick to refute the claim of the resurrection. In any case, why would they steal the body, because he was where they wanted him already - in the grave?

iii) Someone else had stolen away the body. Who? No-one else had any interest in that body being anywhere else than where it was. The Romans? - why make trouble for yourself?

iv) We're running out of options here. The only other possible thing that could have happened is that Jesus revived in the tomb and somehow rolled away the stone himself and snuck past the guards.
- But the Roman centurion certified that he was dead on the cross. Even if he didn't completely die, how could a half-dead person unwrap the bindings (folding them neatly), get away from a sealed tomb and then appear before the disciples looking so well?

That's it. That's the end of all the possible, natural explanations. Pretty stupid, aren't they? But there is one other explanation, but nobody believes it because it's even more mind-boggling. But, think about it, it makes more sense than believing any of the other options.

It is that God raised up Jesus from the dead, his angel rolled away the stone and, when the guards saw him, they fell down as dead - because they couldn't cope with the supernatural, either! That's it, the only possible answer! I could hardly believe it, but I couldn't shie away from the question any more. Amazing though the answer was, it was really the only one which answered the question in anything like a logical and sensible way.

Hmmm! Is religion only for the less intelligent amongst us? I don't think so. Well, real Christianity (not the religious type) certainly isn't.

Answer 3

You have to be smart to be a Christian. What would you call a person who would want to die and burn in hell and if you are not a Christian that is what is going to happen. Not my words, this is Gospel.
Christian--Follower of Christ , we were first call that because we are so much like Christ. You say you think religion is silly, will I do too. Try becoming a Christian and see if that does not work better, Guaranteed. Christianity is a way of life, not a religion, a person can be religious and still not know Jesus as Savior. That is what counts.

Answer 4

Intelligence is not a factor in believing in something. Faith not only comes from the mind but the heart as well, while Intelligence is 4 pounds of brain. Miracles have been performed through me but that doesn't make me less intelligent. I expected something crazy before it happened, it was based on faith and whether or believe this or not it happened. Although I don't like the term "religion" (described as a sect based on beliefs), I know you're reffering even past that.
Take it like this man: Forget religion! Wipe away all that extra stuff. There's just you and God. Now go be friends.

Answer 5

I know several Christians with 2 earned doctorates. A seminary doctorate requires a minimum of 90 semester hours on the masters level plus 3 years in the field before qualifying to enter the program. If its the ThD program, then the masters is 120 hours.
How many hours are required for a university PhD?

Answer 6

My husband has a Ph.D and a M.D. He used to be a nuclear physicist and is now an Opthamoligist. He's extremely religious.
Me? I'm a highschool dropout and am far from being the sharpest tool in the shed :D But I can hold my own most of the time.

I've known extremely educated people who have nothing to do with religion as well as some country folk' who didn't even get past 5th grade.
Secular intellect has nothing to do with spiritual intellect.

Answer 7

I'm so tickled to hear that you, a "pretty smart" guy, feel that religion is beneath you. Really, I can't be happier for you. I mean, a guy with your intellect shouldn't have to be burdened by being a part of a religion that has touched billions of people - including some of the wisest, most intellectually gifted people in human history - over the last 2000 years. How refreshing! A man who's not afraid to toss out two milennia of tradition and faith because it seems "silly" to him. I daresay, sir, you are truly a prophet! May I come sit at your feet and listen to your wisdom? I can't wait to find out what you will declare to be "silly" next! Twinkies? Flag Day? K-Fed?

PRAISE R G!!! PRAISE HIM FOR THE MYSTICAL, PROPHETIC VOICE CRYING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS THAT HE IS!!!

Answer 8

Most Christians have studied and studied the Holy Bible,
so they are usually "smart" regarding what the Lord told
us in His Holy Word. You don't have to be a Seminary
student to understand it all.....just read and study it. You
either believe in Christ, or you don't. As a matter of fact,
Jesus said if you're neither hot or cold, He would spew
us out of His mouth........so I'd say He's not happy with
your "off and on" religion. Has nothing to do with being
less intelligent....it has to do with your personal belief.
"Without faith, it is impossible to please Him".
Read and study His Word every day. Ask Him
in prayer before you read to help you understand what
you're about to read today. He will. God Bless

Answer 9

Modern Western Science's origins are faith-based. How? The Scientists figured that the universe is rational and therefore can be measured and studied, because it is created by a rational creator (God). The greatest western scientists were Christians/believers-Newton, Mendel (Monk), Copernicus, Galileo, Liebnez, Gassendi, etc, etc.

Answer 10

I've known religious people that were very intelligent. There is indeed a connection between intelligence and how willing you are to believe blindly that miracles ever happened. But on the other hand religion is something very personal for most people, and it is subjective. Just like love, can't logically understand it, yet you feel it and it controles your life