Every week I stop by my old stomping grounds of Detroit by visiting the Metro Times website.  I try and keep up on the news, entertainment, and politics of a home I rarely miss, but miss the components of.  This week’s entries caught my eye when I saw the title of a piece written by Keith A. Owens.  The piece, entitled ”When Not Thinking is Fundamental,” is not essentially deep, nor does it have to be.  It is a story I see told over and over again.  Keith’s story is about his own dive into fundamentalist Christianity where thinking is abhorred and the reality-based community is shelved in the insane file.  To allow figments of thoughts or concepts to just guide us in lieu of thinking is irresponsible, if not completely wrong.  My belief within Christian doctrine is that neither God or the spirit of Jesus are invasive in our lives.  How can they be?  We can do what we think God wants us to do.  We can do things the way we think Jesus would do them.  But this involves thinking.  Damn those loopholes. 

Keith’s story is every fundamentalist’s story.  I’ve seen this scene played out a couple of times, personally, in the last 15 years or so.  First, I saw it occur in a friend of mine in high school (who ended up being my ex-wife), and I am seeing it occur daily with my wife’s sister.  There are ways to atone and to become in sync with God and, yet, still think and ponder on the reality of our world and our lives.  Thinking, indeed, is fundamental.  Read On…

I began attending church twice a day on Sunday and a couple of times during the week. We had overnight prayer shut-ins. I was loving it, and I was hooked. I felt so much better. I had new friends. So many people cared about me.

So it didn’t seem the least bit strange when one Sunday the pastor told us that Jesus didn’t even want us to think. He just wanted us to be open to his will and let him direct our each and every step. Not one move without Jesus. He’ll guide you.