Recently I wrote a letter to someone who is planning on majoring in philosophy. I was not trying to discourage this course of study instead I was trying to clarify the path. I thought this letter was somewhat insightful so here it is with a brief addendum.
"I was a Philosophy Major at Portland State and will begin studying law in the fall of this year. I graduated in 2005 and thus have had time to clear or rather solidify my thoughts before taking the next step of law school. As you may well know Philosophy is one of the best majors to take if going into law school, you should certainly take formal logic and really focus mastering formal logic. The rest of the biographical, topical and survey courses serve the purpose of honing ones ability to ingest and analyze complex thought.
Philosophy can also be dangerous. As the Proverbs states bad company corrupts good morals. It does not say unintelligent company... We often think of bad company as wharf-rat, scoundrels who rejected their mothers greens and flunked out of the 6th grade. While those kinds of individuals might easily sway a interlocutor of their own cast, they are not the ones that pose the greatest threat to the modern man (especially the modern Christian man).
The great threat comes from intellectual bad company. This threat is far greater because the foundation of their belief is hatred for God, hatred for Morality and ultimately Self Hatred. These moral scoundrels are far more insidious. They often have gray hair and wear bow-ties, which gives them a grandfatherly aura. The canter of their speech can be mesmerizing, as a parent might tell a child a story. At unexpected moments during these warm feelings, one is taken up above humanity to see all of the failings and misconstrued beliefs of their own kind. If you're, "wise enough" there are new and better ways to believe and hidden in this secret society those ways can, "enhance" (replace) the ways you had previously thought. Over time you feel closer (in belief system) to professors than to pastors and have more affiliations (politically, fiscally, whatever) with faculty than one's own family.
The final and most staggering danger, a dark balm. While one's morals are being corrupted, knowledge is puffing them up, creating graveyard monoliths. Arches Calculated in their thought processes, polished to the proper sheen by the scientific method, but inside full of dead Men's bones. That is the real danger. The exultation of knowledge thus seems a fair trade for moral relativism.
What I have discovered outside of philosophy class is that the world is full and beautiful... and the things that are most potent are not written in text books or discovered in laboratories. They are rather the real, beyond clear and distinct, loves, fears and Dreams of Men.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John One is my favorite chapter in the Bible, it majestically recounts creation and the center piece of the creation Jesus, not that he was created but rather creating. At the end of the day while the painting is beautiful the joining of the painter and the muse are of much greater mystery and majesty. The painter is multi-faceted, infinitely more powerful than the painting although the painting has it's own special unique and innate value. Jesus is of course is that painter and on this day I am interested in him being full of two seemingly opposing forces.
Tension may not actually be the best descriptor of what I am trying to convey but other words have a hidden element of tension, even the scales of justice have a tension in their balance. Truth's are twisted and done away with when tension is forsaken and humanity rests upon it's own rationality rather than faith.
Our ability to be pure rational creature's without faith leads to morbidity and madness (see Orthodoxy by Chesterton). In the same way when we take a truth created to be in tension and destroy it's balance we create jails of tyranny. For example I am a Truth Loving Christian, Grace may only be applied after repentance (as according to the law). This kind of thinking creates monolithic structures of legality that are void of love and mercy. On the other hand I could be a pinned out on mercy and not allow for truth and justice and stand by as my home is ransacked and my wife and children enslaved while the whole time graciously sitting on my couch, "turning the other cheek."
Jesus came full of Grace and truth, there is no contradiction in him he is full of both. Where have we set the weight of belief on the scales of thought in our lives; Armenianism V Calvanism, Equality V Roles, Grace V Truth?
Websters 1828 Definition of Tension has a chordal element to it. It says the greater the tension the more acute the sound.
In the Gospels the Disciples were with Jesus in one accord, in acts 1 the disciples were together in one accord. There is an element of tension in our accordance. Tension does not guarantee weakness by rather utility. As we know if the string is not wound it makes no sound and cannot be in accord with the other strings, if a string is wound too tightly the same effect takes place (it is broken and produces no sound).
The tension of thought may often times be logically irreconcilable but that is where faith is applied. And faith is far more powerful than mere intellectual ascent.
I had an interesting thought today; We had a friend over last week and I told the individual some Mexican guys came over and gave us a bid on a roof project, after I said they were mexicans she asserted that I was being racist. I was very bothered over the following week. I was at first confused why in using a national term one would then imply that I resented that nation of people (or more specifically that I myself was a bigot). Then I speculated why this individual might say that and my mind landed on the topic of category. That categorizing a person is often times, through a liberal perspective, racist.
There is a cynical view of this necessary and needed element of its intellectual and social function. First, intellectual we categorize as a natural function to efficiently structure and relay information in our brains, that's easy. Second categories serve important social function.
To destroy categories is to destroy boundaries and to some degree to attack definition. Instead of having categories, functions and roles we become equalized as a mass of humanity which is the outcome of two philosophies first being socialism and the second being anarchy. Both philosophies are alive and full of power in the thinking of our generation.
The ultimate aim of these philosophies is to tear down roles of family and society (Husband - Wife / Father - Son / King - Servant). These systems of belief have no respect for authority (they believe education is the great equalizer and authority should bow to education [Man's Discoveries]) Therefore they desire to exalt themselves above God's ways, (i.e. the Bible can only be validated if science validates it).
According to these philosophies all authorities should be equalized or better yet done away with. No authority means, "frees," oneself to serve the desires of their bodies rather than someone or something in authority (i.e. The Bible, God's law). Christians who assent to these beliefs may quote scriptures like Eph 5:21, Rom 10:12 and Gala 3:28 which are all about equal value as members of a new nation but have nothing to do with equalizing or abolishing governmental roles in family or society.
Karl Marx said In his book German Ideology: "In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic."
One would never become those things because those roles would have been abolished. And not just those roles but roles of Mother-Father, King- Servent, etc. For Marx proletariat - capitalist. Those Roles being God ordained.
Dr. Mary Jo Bane, Clinton's Assistant Secretary of Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, said: "If we want to talk about equality of opportunity for children, then the fact that children are raised in families means there's no equality . . . In order to raise children with equality, we must take them away from families and communally raise them." Dr Bane is not asserting that we do such a thing but rather such a thing logically follows equality.
To destroy category destroys authority. Back to my first example, "You can't say Black Guy." These thoughts follow, He's just a guy like you and me he's not black or white he's just human, and so follows and strengthens the tearing down of definition then roles. I would say yes he is human and also most definitely a black guy and also many other things. Could it be one day the word parent will be a discriminatory term,? Will we have replaced it with the term Legal Guardian? Will the word Father will be discriminated against because, "What about a two Mom household? You Homophobe!" And as we know the term boss, or king has and will continue to be a source of mockery. Think of any popular sitcom, the secretary is the smart witty one and the boss (Like a Michael Scott) is a fool, a buffoon.
These philosophies are direct attacks against basic Biblical Principles:
Romans 13 1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
Philosophies like those mentioned sound closer to hell than heat is to flame:
Isaiah 14:The Fall of Lucifer12 “ How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,[b] son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!13 For you have said in your heart: ‘ I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
The root of both socialism and anarchy resides in self exaltation (pride). That is the fuel which tears down roles of authority so one can feel exalted. That has always been the heart of criticism, pulling someone down to lift oneself up.
Numbers 16 1Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took action, 2and they rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown.3They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves abovethe assembly of the LORD?"
You can clearly see that on their heart was not good will for the people of Israel but rather self exaltation, which is the Devil's bread and butter. Self exaltation is how humanity fell in the first place, it is Satan's most potent weapon because it is what he has done since heaven.
Self exaltation is the opposite of Jesus' way. Jesus came to earth and submitted to human skin, parents, John the B, local governing authorities (even honoring the Roman Centurion) and finally submitting to a brutal execution. Although Jesus was the only one without sin he still submitted and was exalted, not by himself or by creating an authority bashing ideology rather Jesus was exalted by the Father.
( an editorial comment: Racism is a real, vicious evil and we should not be flippant in our judgment of a persons heart. Also real racism does not exist in category but rather the heart of one who exalts one race over another. Race itself is tough definitionally. Legally it finds it's definition as coming from the the Latin Radix, where we get radius, one could envision products emanating from a center point or peoples having there root in a place or ideology. There is "racism" between people originating from the country toward people originating from the city and vice versa, people originating from a place of higher education toward people originating their knowledge from the street (see book, Same kind of different as me). As earlier stated racism is about self exaltation the same root which in a different outfit calls for the destruction of all categories.
Also our dear friend is neither a socialist or an anarchist, although she has like many of us been reared in systems of thought that seethe these philosophies)
Luke 815 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
The parable of the sower and the seed has always been astounding to me. I was reading it last week and a new element stood out to me. The element of nobility. The hearts that received the seed and produced thirty, sixty and one-hundred fold, were hearts that were noble and good. Two questions immediately arise; the first being what does it mean to have a noble heart and the second being do I have one?
To the first I'm not sure. Nobility has a direct relationship with birth, as one primarily becomes noble by no actions of their own, but is rather born into nobility. There is also a action oriented sense of the word being noble. Being noble is certainly connected to honesty, sacrifice and charity. I personally like the element of honesty. I imagine a nobleman's word is his bond. But it the sense of receiving the gospel there is a different kind of honesty that must be applied. The nobleman's self honesty is a difficult and continual process. Digging through the proverbial weeds of our heart and live in a state of honesty with our state. Not one where we see weeds and exalt them but recognize and diligently remove them. Weeds are interesting because they don't immediately damage the plant, they are much more insidious. They stunt growth, take nutrients that should be applied to the plant and feed something that is essentially a waste of life.
Noble of heart receive the gospel because they first recognize they need it and after receiving it they diligently protect it.
Nov 23rd.
I am so tempted to use some hackneyed global warming line, but alas I will restrain. I like snow, particularly after having been removed from a large part of it over the past ten years. In the Catskill's of N.Y.'s Appalachian range we'd get blasted very frequently. The dancing, swirling chaos of the falling snow brings back great, holiday-esque memories. Your hands start feeling like machines and your lungs feel like they've been frosted. It's a cleansing feeling for sure. My Dad wrote a book called white like snow. you can read a snippet of it or purchase it at whitelikesnow.com
I spoke this past Sunday about the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25. As I did my browsing style research (looking in the windows until something catches my eye) I noticed that the word talent, had nothing to do with what I consider natural talents.
The Biblical Talent in the NT was a unit of economic reckoning amounting to about twenty years wages. Our common use for the word talent actually be-little's the significance of the scriptural talent.
The Average American household makes approx 45000.00 a year. the biblical talent in our economy would then be 900,000.00 Dollars.
In the story the talent was given by the Master at his departure, a sure and direct correlation to Christ's departure. Philippians re-iterates when he (Jesus) ascended he gave gifts to men.
Lets think, did he give them the ability to sing great songs? Did he release skiing talents and hacky-sack talents and people that are talented at baking? When Jesus died for all Humanity and then ascended to the father did he release the talent of writing or skateboarding?
The answer friends is a clear and resounding NO. Those natural abilities were not what the parable referred to and certainly not what Jesus died for. When Jesus ascended he released million dollar sized blessing on Humanity.
That Blessing is a person and his name is the Holy Spirit. To compare your talent of cross-stitching with the power of the holy spirit is like comparing a tricycle with a Lamborghini.
I'm all for hacky-sack but we have been told that we need to use our, "talents," for the Lord when the reality is quite the reverse, he wants to use His talents through us. Applying them through what your good at is OK. It'd be like putting the tricycle in the passenger seat, nothing wrong with that, but the adulation goes to God when humanity doesn't see you as someone who is just great using their natural gifting, but supernatural in their expression.
Applying the real meaning of the word to the parable brings a whole new light to the story. The Master gave each according to his own ability and even the dude with the least bit of ability was still well off in anyone's book. It then makes sense why the master was upset because a huge resource was granted the servant and he buried it. The illustration is clear, he put it back down on the inside of himself, turned it off, whatever you wan to say.
Hear the Message if you are interested.
I like the sound of trumpets. I didn't much care for them in the fifth and sixth grade, when I played one. It was hard to play. My lips would hurt and I could never seem to remember the correct finger patterns and of course the wretched sheet music. I really only chose it because I wanted to hang out with my friends who were going to band practice. I think it was either that or work on Math homework. Looking back I definitely should have done the Math. I wonder about music and relationship. Music is great but outside of the context of relationship it doesn't hold the same force or value. I think it's probly like that with all art or all human productivity. Without relationship things are flatter. I can listen to certain songs that sound great and feel warmed by them but songs about relationships are the ones that move me. I hear a song one time and it had a line in it about a singer trying to sing with a choir but didn't have the ability to hit the right notes. The Correlation was living in accordance to a divine value system seeing the beauty of it even joining but not being able to live how you want to. I think what that has to do with the Trumpet is the desire for relationship that is real and authentic and beautiful and you are forced to do things you thought previously you were incapable of and you were you needed outside force applied to your, Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength.
It's the greatest relationship, Man and God.
