Dear Christis,

What has happened to your letters page debates? Are you exercising a policy of severe censorship on your innumerable sacks of mail? Are you suffering from an insufficient supply of letters (in which case, fellow readers, please try to make an effort to support this magazine, which I trust you enjoy?) Or are Christians so accommodating in their mental attitudes that they find themselves able to thoroughly agree with every letter and article you print? If that third suggestion is the case, then what glory and majesty do your readers ascribe to God by their intellectual efforts in this place of intellectual efforts? Is there no such thing as truth anymore?

As I perceive things, studying at university should stretch peoples' minds. As Christians we have a particular duty to do this as we love the Lord our God with all our minds (Matt 22). Many of the ideas we meet in our studies (certainly many of the ideas I have met) are based on immorality, or on denying the power, love and the very existence of God. We cannot just accept them, because we work from an entirely different basis - that of faith. At the same time, we cannot refuse to think about these ideas. Sometimes we do so, not always because we are guided away by the voice of righteousness. Sometimes, perhaps often, it belies an attitude of intellectual laziness. This is sin - the denying of the gifts God has given us which enabled us to get our places here. It also causes Christians to be scorned for being blinkered and narrow-minded, which brings no honour and respect to our Christ.

What can we do? St Paul tells us that we have the full armour of God, which enables us to stand against the Devil's schemes (Eph 6:10-18). I think that it is perfectly reasonable to add 'and against the Devil's thoughts' (reasonable from my presumptions of faith!). We can take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and challenge all ideas we come across to battle. We might not be such competent fighters as Jesus displayed himself to be during his temptation by Satan (Matt 4) and might not always feel we've won a convincing victory ... but we can have much more confidence as we step forward as part of the regiment of the faithful, and our comrades will also be able to rely on us to a greater extent.

Please forgive the rambling path this letter has taken, but try to grasp what I have been attempting to say. We cannot be lazy with our minds if we want to be growing in our faith and pleasing to God. Fellow readers, please use the (hopefully) friendly ground of Christis to improve your sword play.

Yours,