"Only atheists attempt to comprehend God with their mind." - Count Zinzendorf

Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf was an Austrian nobleman turned theologian who lived in the 1700s. He was raised Lutheran by his grandmother, but he converted to the Moravian Brethren, attracted to this groups emphasis on simplicity, peace and community. After leaving his life of nobility behind, he became one of the first Protestant missionaries to the Western Hemisphere.

Another thing that drew Zinzendorf to the Brethren was his commitment to an experiential God. As more Protestant groups were being swayed by enlightenment thinkers, the Brethren held firm to belief in a supernatural God. It is in this context that he wrote the quote above.

It is sad that so often science and faith are thought of as opposites, or worse, opponents. While the enlightenment's emphasis on reason brought much positive change forever, especially to the western world, an unfortunate result was often the complete abandonment of the supernatural. Zinzendorf disagreed, and expected to see God move on a level beyond our senses, and the success of his mission work in the Caribbean indicates he may well have been right.

Talking to a teen recently, he expressed how he KNEW he had to speak to me about a certain burden he was carrying. He didn't hear God's voice, encounter a burning bush or have a vision. But he knew in a way that was more real than his emotions or thoughts that this had to happen. That, I believe, is a big part of what Count Zinzendorf was speaking about in the above quote. There is a part of us- our spirit or soul (I've heard there's a difference between the two, but I'm unclear if that's accurate) - that, as we push closer to God, can experience things more deeply than we do with our emotions, physical senses or minds.

However, God never intended us to check our minds in the church vestibule. Recently an untrained young man was murdered by an isolated tribe living on an island off of the Indian coast. He tried to reach out to them as a missionary. Yet he didn't know their language, their culture, was not accountable to any mission organization, and he went alone (Jesus always sent the disciples out in pairs. Even Paul never travelled alone.) While I fully believe God can use this tragedy for good, he was acting illogically and recklessly, and the outcome makes it hard to believe this young man was led by the Spirit.

Yet I encourage us to not check our souls at the university registrars office either. There have been times when I knew Something with more certainty than head knowledge, and certainly more deeply than emotional intuition. It is like trying to define the undefinable, but There were times when I knew without a doubt, for example, that bad things would work out well, and this assurance was more real than the air around me; more real than the beat of my heart.

Then there are the powerful experiences where God just reveals a little more of himself to our hearts. The day He revealed to me that I couldn't run from him any longer; the day he overwhelmed me to tears with how blessed I am to have the family I have; the day he assured me that my life was going exactly the direction he intended (See ' A Piece of Bosco'). These were some of the most real moments I've ever experienced. But they were all unmeasurable, unprovable, usually unpursued on my part. And they cannot be understood with our minds alone.