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Crucial Questions
How Should I Think?
Whether you realize it or not, you’re always thinking. Every word you speak and every choice you make comes from the mind that God has given you. Like all God’s gifts, this one brings responsibility.
In this booklet, Dr. R.C. Sproul shows that how we think is foundational to the way we live. The same Creator who gave us our minds has revealed His own mind in the Bible, calling us to know God and think according to His Word.
The Crucial Questions booklet series by Dr. R.C. Sproul offers succinct answers to important questions often asked by Christians and thoughtful inquirers.
In this booklet, Dr. R.C. Sproul shows that how we think is foundational to the way we live. The same Creator who gave us our minds has revealed His own mind in the Bible, calling us to know God and think according to His Word.
The Crucial Questions booklet series by Dr. R.C. Sproul offers succinct answers to important questions often asked by Christians and thoughtful inquirers.
126 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 25, 2022
About the author
R.C. Sproul
695 books2,080 followersDr. R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, an international Christian discipleship organization located near Orlando, Fla. He was founding pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Ligonier Ministries began in 1971 as the Ligonier Valley Study Center in Ligonier, Pa. In an effort to respond more effectively to the growing demand for Dr. Sproul’s teachings and the ministry’s other educational resources, the general offices were moved to Orlando in 1984, and the ministry was renamed.
Dr. Sproul’s radio program, Renewing Your Mind, is still broadcast daily on hundreds of radio stations around the world and can also be heard online. Dr. Sproul produced hundreds of lecture series and recorded numerous video series on subjects such as the history of philosophy, theology, Bible study, apologetics, and Christian living.
He contributed dozens of articles to national evangelical publications, spoke at conferences, churches, and academic institutions around the world, and wrote more than one hundred books, including The Holiness of God, Chosen by God, and Everyone’s a Theologian. He signed the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy and wrote a commentary on that document. He also served as general editor of the Reformation Study Bible, previously known as the New Geneva Study Bible.
Dr. Sproul had a distinguished academic teaching career at various colleges and seminaries, including Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando and Jackson, Miss. He was ordained as a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 11, 2026
I enjoyed the meta-analysis of thought that this booklet posits. It’s a good resource to encourage believers to “want to think with the utmost cogency and clarity,” loving our Lord with all our mind. It made me eager to persist in pursuing logic <= logos (Greek word in John 1:1) => the Word // Jesus!
(If reading the Crucial Question series, I definitely recommend reading this as one of the first ones. He uses these ideas of logic throughout all the others).
—-
Quotes:
“To be a moral being, one has to have the ability to behave in a way that is in correspondence with or opposition to some moral standard. And the standard in Scripture is the law of God. The God of the Bible is a God who holds us accountable for our obedience or disobedience to His law. To be a creature who is responsible for one's behavior morally is to be a moral being.” -6
“Our actions result from the choices we make, which are informed by our thinking and formed by our minds. Scripture exhorts us to have the renewing of the mind so that we will begin to think in categories that God is pleased with, that our thinking will influence our choices, and that our choices will be in conformity to the law of God rather than in disobedience to them. The mind is vital to the Christian life.” -7-8
“If we can establish the objective existence of God, then His very existence influences how we interpret everything in the universe.” -24
“The more carefully we examine the data of Scripture, the more amazed we will be at the internal harmony and profundity of it.” -27
“We’re asking, ‘How accurate is my perception of reality? Is everything the way it seems to be as I perceive it, or is there some kind of built-in distortion that takes place in this transition between the external world and my mind?’ My ideas are in my mind, and my ideas about you are not gained by having a direct link-up between my mind and your mind. The only way I can get into your mind is if you choose to tell me something or reveal something about what's in your mind…. Some part of my body would have to be engaged in this communication process between us. You see, the body is your personal transition to the world around you.” -31-32
“I'm morally responsible to act according to the perceptions that I have…. We don't want to be adrift in a sea of cynical skepticism about science or about sense perception. [Perceiving from our senses] is how we are constructed as creatures.… And so, I put great weight on sense perception, as the Bible does and as science does. We must remember, however, that our sense perception has limits. [This is where the] deductive side [helps by giving] us the certainty of an absolute conclusion…” -47
“No matter how many degrees you have after your name, a contradiction is still a contradiction, and it's a nonsense statement, and no matter how much education you have, you don't have the authority to carry the day with nonsense statements.” -58
“When God says one thing and somebody else says that which contradicts it, we are now morally accountable to reject the contradiction. God has equipped us with these categories of thinking and applying sound principles of the mind to real-life situations.” -74
“Whatever else Christianity is, it is a revealed religion, and we are committed to submitting to truth that comes to us from the Word of God, truths that are never discerned or discovered simply by unaided natural reason.” -76
“What reason does for our minds is not construct an idol of gold, but reason acts like a police officer on the corner with a whistle, so that when you start running through the stop sign, the whistle blows. Rationality says: ‘Time out! Youre confused. You've made a mistake. This does not compute.’ And rather than just throwing away the Bible in despair, you say, ‘If this doesn't compute, then there is something here I don't understand.’” -79
“The beginning of learning is when you realize that you've run into a wall and cannot find clarity. That is God's way of saying: ‘Look at it more deeply. Look at it more broadly. Let's try to see if we can resolve this?’ Working with difficult texts can be quite edifying.” -80
“if something exists now, then something must have necessary being. That is, something must have the power to be within itself, or nothing could possibly be, but since something is, then something somewhere, somehow must have the power of being within it.” -89
“Get back to the principal beginning points of all rationality.” -95
“That cosmic force presents no threat if it remains impersonal, because if it's impersonal, then I am not personally accountable to it. I don't have to give an account of my life, of my sins, of my virtues to the blowing of the wind or to the earthquake. But a personal, self-existent, eternal God who made me and who made me accountable to Him is the greatest threat to my soul that there is.” -96
“Logic was never invented, because logic has always been. Logic is an aspect of God Himself.… The second person of the Trinity is the One in whom all things find their coherence and unity and consistency. He is the outward manifestation of the inward logic, as it were, of God.” -97-98
“The Old and New Testaments contain many passages in which certain things are implied or may be reasonably inferred as possibilities. But we need to be exceedingly careful about drawing conclusions from such implications. That's why it's important to learn something about these rules of inferences and rules of logical deductions, lest we make the mistake of drawing improper conclusions from the Word of God. If the enemy can cause us to make illegitimate inferences from the Word of God, we become as putty in his hands.” -104-105
(If reading the Crucial Question series, I definitely recommend reading this as one of the first ones. He uses these ideas of logic throughout all the others).
—-
Quotes:
“To be a moral being, one has to have the ability to behave in a way that is in correspondence with or opposition to some moral standard. And the standard in Scripture is the law of God. The God of the Bible is a God who holds us accountable for our obedience or disobedience to His law. To be a creature who is responsible for one's behavior morally is to be a moral being.” -6
“Our actions result from the choices we make, which are informed by our thinking and formed by our minds. Scripture exhorts us to have the renewing of the mind so that we will begin to think in categories that God is pleased with, that our thinking will influence our choices, and that our choices will be in conformity to the law of God rather than in disobedience to them. The mind is vital to the Christian life.” -7-8
“If we can establish the objective existence of God, then His very existence influences how we interpret everything in the universe.” -24
“The more carefully we examine the data of Scripture, the more amazed we will be at the internal harmony and profundity of it.” -27
“We’re asking, ‘How accurate is my perception of reality? Is everything the way it seems to be as I perceive it, or is there some kind of built-in distortion that takes place in this transition between the external world and my mind?’ My ideas are in my mind, and my ideas about you are not gained by having a direct link-up between my mind and your mind. The only way I can get into your mind is if you choose to tell me something or reveal something about what's in your mind…. Some part of my body would have to be engaged in this communication process between us. You see, the body is your personal transition to the world around you.” -31-32
“I'm morally responsible to act according to the perceptions that I have…. We don't want to be adrift in a sea of cynical skepticism about science or about sense perception. [Perceiving from our senses] is how we are constructed as creatures.… And so, I put great weight on sense perception, as the Bible does and as science does. We must remember, however, that our sense perception has limits. [This is where the] deductive side [helps by giving] us the certainty of an absolute conclusion…” -47
“No matter how many degrees you have after your name, a contradiction is still a contradiction, and it's a nonsense statement, and no matter how much education you have, you don't have the authority to carry the day with nonsense statements.” -58
“When God says one thing and somebody else says that which contradicts it, we are now morally accountable to reject the contradiction. God has equipped us with these categories of thinking and applying sound principles of the mind to real-life situations.” -74
“Whatever else Christianity is, it is a revealed religion, and we are committed to submitting to truth that comes to us from the Word of God, truths that are never discerned or discovered simply by unaided natural reason.” -76
“What reason does for our minds is not construct an idol of gold, but reason acts like a police officer on the corner with a whistle, so that when you start running through the stop sign, the whistle blows. Rationality says: ‘Time out! Youre confused. You've made a mistake. This does not compute.’ And rather than just throwing away the Bible in despair, you say, ‘If this doesn't compute, then there is something here I don't understand.’” -79
“The beginning of learning is when you realize that you've run into a wall and cannot find clarity. That is God's way of saying: ‘Look at it more deeply. Look at it more broadly. Let's try to see if we can resolve this?’ Working with difficult texts can be quite edifying.” -80
“if something exists now, then something must have necessary being. That is, something must have the power to be within itself, or nothing could possibly be, but since something is, then something somewhere, somehow must have the power of being within it.” -89
“Get back to the principal beginning points of all rationality.” -95
“That cosmic force presents no threat if it remains impersonal, because if it's impersonal, then I am not personally accountable to it. I don't have to give an account of my life, of my sins, of my virtues to the blowing of the wind or to the earthquake. But a personal, self-existent, eternal God who made me and who made me accountable to Him is the greatest threat to my soul that there is.” -96
“Logic was never invented, because logic has always been. Logic is an aspect of God Himself.… The second person of the Trinity is the One in whom all things find their coherence and unity and consistency. He is the outward manifestation of the inward logic, as it were, of God.” -97-98
“The Old and New Testaments contain many passages in which certain things are implied or may be reasonably inferred as possibilities. But we need to be exceedingly careful about drawing conclusions from such implications. That's why it's important to learn something about these rules of inferences and rules of logical deductions, lest we make the mistake of drawing improper conclusions from the Word of God. If the enemy can cause us to make illegitimate inferences from the Word of God, we become as putty in his hands.” -104-105
February 11, 2026
Really good! and not what I expected. But learned a lot and leaves me with much to think on.
June 16, 2025
“Part of the perfect humanity of our Lord Himself is that Jesus of Nazareth never made an illegitimate inference. He never jumped to a conclusion that was unwarranted by the premises. His thinking was crystal clear. His thinking was coherent. His thinking was sound. Never has the world experienced such sound thinking as that which was manifest in the mind of Christ. As we are called to imitate our Lord, I plead with you to make it a matter of chief and earnest business in your life to love Him with all your mind.”
April 9, 2026
Alright. It was largely just an unpacking of Descartes' "I think, therefore I am." There wasn't much that was new to me, but it was a great reminder of just how rational the Christian faith really is (and conversely, how irrational naturalism really is).
"Never has the world experienced such sound thinking as that which was manifest in the mind of Christ. As we are called to imitate our Lord, I plead with you to make it a matter of chief and earnest business in your life to love Him with all your mind."
"Never has the world experienced such sound thinking as that which was manifest in the mind of Christ. As we are called to imitate our Lord, I plead with you to make it a matter of chief and earnest business in your life to love Him with all your mind."
May 23, 2022
In this book of the Crucial Questions Series, author R.C. Sproul takes a look at the way we as Christians should think in light of our salvation. With a heavy emphasis on logic and the rationality of the Christian faith, Sproul showcases the philosophies that have come about because of the Christian’s search for logic and meaning in the beliefs he espouses. If you have ever wondered how you should think rationally about your faith, this book is a great starting point for understanding some of the deeper philosophical ways of reasoning for your faith.
February 17, 2026
Very good, I read the consequences of ideas by sproul first and while I liked it, it lacked guidance on how Christian’s should actually think and this book talked about lot about the philosophy mentioned in the consequences of ideas but in the perspective of a Christian, so it was really helpful and intriguing
April 12, 2022
Rational on holistic life
Having a faith does mean an irrational things, rather having a faith we need to keep rationale. This book doesn't mean as a philosophical book, but only posed as an introduction to have a rational mind in walking the holistic life.
Having a faith does mean an irrational things, rather having a faith we need to keep rationale. This book doesn't mean as a philosophical book, but only posed as an introduction to have a rational mind in walking the holistic life.
April 30, 2022
This is an excellent, brief study on the important connection between faith and logic. The author argues that Christianity is fundamentally rational, despite what its critics might say. He also exposes the irrational thinking of the naturalists, or those who claim to be atheists or agnostics.
June 16, 2022
Excellent!!
I was expecting to learn about that in a biblical way, well, what he said it's biblical but is like more in a filosophal way, and I really loved it, but as I said I was expecting something more practical.
Excellent 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I was expecting to learn about that in a biblical way, well, what he said it's biblical but is like more in a filosophal way, and I really loved it, but as I said I was expecting something more practical.
Excellent 🌟🌟🌟🌟
February 10, 2026
Like the concept of this book but I feel like he focused way too much much on pulling from Greek philosophy and reason rather than relying on the scriptures to justify and reason for them selfs which they are very much capable of doing 🙏🏽
February 6, 2023
Deep, though provoking read.
July 27, 2023
This was a good but meaty read… You really need to focus on what the author is saying and reread sections, but well worth the effort…
March 10, 2024
The Discipline Over the Mind
An excellent read on disciplining our mind to think on Godly things above, the ability to say no on what is not Scripture & yes to faith
An excellent read on disciplining our mind to think on Godly things above, the ability to say no on what is not Scripture & yes to faith
August 13, 2024
Great book! Started off a little slow but comes all together in the end. Great book on thinking critically and how you should think about reality as a Christian. Great apologetic points!
May 1, 2025
I don't understand why Sproul seemingly approves of Descartes.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews