"Freedom? Oh Really?"

Exercise great care in your choices--in particular your choices of the prejudices you choose to embrace.
 
Choices have consequences which at times are subtle and unnoticed and at other times claim almost all of one's life and living.  

How often a person can claim freedom only to be hemmed in by biases, claim insight only to be bound by partiality, claim autonomy only to be trapped in self imposed limits, claim independence from faith and yet be trapped in prejudices against faith, and the list goes on and on?

It is as if one is caught in a vortex of understanding and then while being carried about in that vortex claims all reality outside of that vortex does not exist. That is the freedom some loudly proclaim.  However, the reality is that such freedom is not freedom at all but bondage. 

Any sincere seeker of truth and thus freedom takes down all preconceived notions and follows the trail of truth to wherever it may lead. If one cannot in all honesty say that they do so then such seeking is not legitimate.  

Most often when that trail leads into the arena of faith and in particular Christian faith, one's preconceived prejudices against Christian faith will block one's way. Such a person can be carried along by the trends and current of their prejudices without even knowing it. 

When such is the case they are by choice, blind to all that lies outside of their reality and rather than making a sincere effort as a seeker of truth they loudly make proclamations of special truth, superior insights, experience, and science. 

In doing so such a person purposefully turns a blind eye to that which is not in in one's your knowledge-comfort zone--even going on the attack. Such is not freedom but an enslavement to one's own limited understanding. These are the choices one has the freedom to make however one has no control over the outcomes of those choices.

Chose carefully as there are eternal consequences for how one decides.

Considering Standards of Progress

Pastor Timothy Keller in his book, The Reason for God asks a very interesting, if not challenging question.  It is this. “How can we use our time’s standard of ‘progressive’ as the plumbline by which we decide which parts of the Bible are valid and which are not?”*

Of course one might broaden the question out and ask the same of one’s notions of truth, progress, and a whole host of other assumptions.  Pastor Keller goes on to make the observation that just as people in our day look back and view the past as primitive, one day people will look back at us with the same label.  Yet one must ask, “Is this really so?” and “Are we really more advanced that those of years ago?”

The Benchmark of Progress

This notion that today is a legitimate “plumbline of progress” is a part of a greater question.  Is our benchmark for deciding progress based upon accurate truth or biased assumption?  For example one might offer the speed with which knowledge is expanding as evidence that man is no longer primitive and in fact advanced over what he was in past centuries.  Or perhaps offer that Western man is living longer as some mark of progress.

Again one does well to ask the question.  Are these legitimate marks of man’s progress?  If so, then they are accurate truth.  If not they are evidence that once again a flawed and biased assumption has been bandied about to the degree that it is accepted as truth. 

Assumptions about Intelligence

Look for example at man’s intelligence.  It is not uncommon for people to conclude that today’s man is more intelligent and accomplished than mankind of five, six, or even then thousands of years ago.  It is not uncommon to hear people refer to the Hebrews of 5,000 years ago as primitive goat herders. 

The assumption is that man has greater intelligence than ever before (Darwinian Theory).  But, is that really true?  The only way to test the validity of the theory is to read the writings of the time in the Jewish Scriptures and as well consult such archeological sources as are possible.  Such reveals a far different picture.

The Genesis Account

Do you know anyone who is capable of giving a name to every one of the 280 animals in the Species: Vertebrate, Class: Mammalian Masupialia?  Yet the first man of recorded history did so and more (Genesis 2:19-20)!  One may argue that he was unique but there again one assumption is as valid as the next and really there is no way to know beyond the Biblical text.  Of course there are those who when they find some aspect or another of the Biblical text inconvenient to their truth paradigm spare no intellectual and academic effort to refute the Scriptures.

The Egyptian Account

While the sons of Jacob (Israel) and their families were most certainly in the livestock business, at the outset of the 400 years they were in the Egyptian culture such did not remain so for many.  Archeologically in the vicinity of the Valley of the Kings there are discoveries that suggest it was Jewish artisans who carried on much of the construction in general and as well much of the aesthetic work on the Tombs. 

This discovery is in its infancy.  As more and more is discovered there is a strong possibility that more and more will be discovered that validates the initial discoveries.  However, when one reads of the construction of the Wilderness Tabernacle another picture is present.  Yes, there was the Divine giftedness present in those doing the actual work.  As well, there is a sense of those doing the work having some background in the trades.

The Land of Israel

More and more archeology is validating the narrative of the Scriptures and in those narratives one finds that the Kingdoms of David and of Solomon are rather advanced.  Though they existed some 3,000 year ago, they included written languages (Hebrew), international trade and commerce, systems for taxation, military organizations, judicial systems, and much more.  Bear in mind that this organization was in place less than 400 years after the Egyptian experience.

The Babylonian Experience

The Babylonian Empire was at the leading edge of progress in its day with a road system and a mail system that transited the Empire.  The government was advanced and in need of skilled civil servants to see to the administration of same.  It was not uncommon that such were found in and among the conquered peoples. 

So it was in 605 BCE, when Babylon conquered Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar the ruler over Babylon brought four Hebrew young me to be trained for court duties.  Such were anything but “goat herders” as is evidenced by the rise in power of one man, Daniel.  He was so well trained that when the Persians conquered Babylon he was retained in the royal court.

The Jewish Writings

Should one take the time to consider just when the Books found in the Jewish Bible were written and then consider the vocabulary, the text, the various constructions involved in the writing of the day there is a very legitimate conclusion to be drawn?  Such a study will show that the writers were not uneducated people of the fields butt a cross section of Jewish culture. 

All of these men were men of understanding, education, and skill in reading, writing, culture, and communication.  Such at the very least should begin the process of delegitimizing the notion that is most popular among many that present day man has progressed well beyond his predecessors.

Questionable Assumptions

In today’s culture assisted as one is with technology it is easy to miss the point that those of by gone days conducted the affairs of their lives right on up to those of state without such communication and travel aids as are present today.  The question of how they did so with capacities much lower than today’s man is certainly intriguing or is it?

For the reasons provided, it seems then that the assumption that today’s man had advanced in intellect and mental capacity beyond that of his forbearers must be called into question. More to follow in a subsequent posting.

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*Although it would appear that I take issue with Pastor Keller, may I say that this is a most excellent book that every Christian and Atheist should read.   Christians to bolster their faith, Atheists to challenge theirs.

Honest Inquiry and Cynical Skepticism

Honest Inquiry and Cynical Skepticism

The following quote may be found in a previous post.

"The point is that some things have to be believed in order to be seen. The reverse is also true! Some things have to be doubted in order not to be seen. The argument that God is illogical is only logical to the one who steeps his mind in such skepticism and doubt."

What is most interesting is that those who fail to give an honest look fall into the black hole of cynical ignorance or an ever increasing apathy.  As to cynical ignorance it compounds exponentially in such a mind with the result that such a person basks in the skeptical, positing that it is some kind of intellectual achievement or higher plain of understanding. 

Assumptions

Of course the basis for such ignorance lies in the assumptions that one is prepared to accept and as well what one is prepared to dismiss due to skepticism and doubt.  Of course some skepticism and doubt are healthy in that such is what fosters inquiry.  Often such it title as curiosity.  However when extreme skepticism and unchecked doubt run rampant through the corridors of one’s thought processes and conclusions the outcomes are most dire.

Rampant Skepticism

When rampant skepticism thus become too ingrained in one's basic assumptions then one goes to the extreme.  Such a skeptic in its extreme form then questions all reality.  Such a person asks, "Is the chair upon which I sit real or a creation of my mind/imagination?"

Studying the Bible and Textual Errors

Now to the main point which is this.  If a person could at least acknowledge that the Scripture might be valid and based upon that acknowledgment then make a serious and honest inquiry into those Scriptures, such a person might then discover a whole new world of vistas.  "No" not in a casual reading but studying and reading the Bible for all that is there.

What about the supposed errors in the text.  Please note that no other book is subject to such criticism.  In reality, every day more and more of these are being put to rest as archaeologically, linguistically, and culturally more and more is discovered about the times and cultures in which the Bible is set and the languages in which it is written.

English Text and Errors

When a person chooses to conclude that the Bible is full of errors and therefore not be trusted based upon their assumptions about the English text very simply such a person is incredibly naive or they are not intellectually honest.  Such is likely birthed of a cynical critical attitude rather than honest scholarship and genuine academic pursuit of the truth.

It takes no particular talent to go to the web sites, hosted by skeptics, cynics, and critics and thus bolster one’s negative attitude about the Bible and the God of the Bible.  Problem is many if not most of their supposed problems do not stand up under genuine scholarship.

At best they are "hack" students of the Bible who are loaded down with agenda and erroneous assumptions, and who if they took the trouble to do research, would find that their arguments can be easily disassembled even by those with a smattering of understanding of the previous referenced culture, language, and times of the Bible.

The Bible is Uniquely Treated

The final point is this.  People reserve the Bible for special treatment.  You hear of virtually no one who subjects any of a number of other subjects (e.g. science, psychology, sociology, human anatomy and physiology, and higher mathematics etc.) to the same rigorous scrutiny, negative criticism, extreme skepticism, and pessimistic cynicism.  Yet history is replete with examples of these and other subject failing when subject to serious academic scrutiny.

Honest Inquiry

Again go back to where this started.  While some cynicism and skepticism is necessary to further inquiry, one cannot bring complete cynicism and extreme skepticism to any discussion for there to be honest inquiry. The problem is that little else beyond Christian faith and its Scriptures is subject to the same cynicism and criticism.  As well, notice that such biases result in flawed assumptions which compound the problem and bring a further intellectual downturn. 

However when one seeks genuine reality/truth the outcome is far different.  Consider then that one must at least in some degree be willing to hear the truth to in fact hear the truth.  Such is never more so than in matters which pertain to the following of Jesus Christ.

"Christianity - Is it Egocentric?"

Egocentricity or the notion that the self is the center of all in one’s world is an argument some attempt to make against the validity of Christianity.  The criticism is presented by some to be a logical reason to discount if not abandon Christianity.  In the following few comments you will notice that again and again it is a matter of what one presupposes to be reality.

The Origin of the Standard

The first problem in the argument is in the field of values.  The premise underlying the argument is that egocentricity is wrong.  So that occasions a question.  “Wrong by whose standards?”  If it is some standard based upon one’s own morality, does that not say the individual postulating the argument is egocentric?  Then too, the secularist’s notion of the survival of the fittest is also based upon a very egocentric supposition about the origins of life.  Without any deep examination it seems that the underlying proposition, the assumptions necessary for the argument are in trouble. 

Egocentric Christianity is Impossible

In the ego-centric argument there is another problem.  Does it not seem a bit strange that it is offered at once as a central tenant of Christian belief and also as a reason to abandon it?  The idea being that if it is the ego need construct that makes Christianity function, would it not draw people to the construct, and yet it should be one of the reasons to abandon it.   Upon what presumption can the notion even be proposed?

However here we arrive at another problem with the assumption.  If such is a central tenant of Christian faith, it would be the only exception to the destructive nature of selfishness.  Selfishly egocentric and sociopathic people do not form the kinds of bonds that allow for groups to function.  Therefore the bonding and connection that characterizes true Christianity would not exist and the system would deconstruct into nothing but an historical movement.

Egocentric Christianity is Illogical

Okay assume for a moment that such egocentricity in Christianity is so.  Somehow the logic of the argument is lost as it seems that if one is egocentric and if Christianity is as represented such would only drive one deeper into the belief system.  Such would answer the mantra of the egocentric “What is in it for me?”  It would validate Christianity.  Problem is as previously noted, egocentricity works against the social fabric of a group or a culture.

Limited God View

Another issue in the argument is based in the notion that egocentric Christians pray but because God suffers under some anthropomorphic limitation or another any perceived answer is invalid.  It is speculated that God cannot possibly answer all of the prayers of these egocentric Christians.  The reality is that God is exponentially greater than any one man or group of men can possibly fathom.  Then take it a step further.  Add into the equation that the creation reflects the creator but is never greater than the creator!  Thus again the one who proposes this criticism has elevated himself to a very egocentric position.

To accept a limited view of God is to create a finite god that does not exist.  Then as in other arguments such is an attempt to use the limited god to prove that the infinite God does not exist.  Somehow the logic of the argument suffers under a problem—it is illogical.  It is tantamount to saying little green men do not exist so big white men can’t possibly exist.  The argument is illogical, flawed, and indefensible.

Misplace Egocentricity

However, there is another issue of egocentricity evident here.  How is it that the one who claims that there is no God can do so? 

The Universe:  Has such a person examined every inch of the universe, every one of the thousands upon thousands of solar-systems?  Has he looked into every subatomic particle throughout that universe? 

Dimensions:  Has such a person examined completely and thoroughly the four dimensions of which we know?  What about additional dimensions, the seven more that may exist (theoretical mathematicians/physicists are working on this one)?

Mathematics and Physics:  Has he examined every single mathematical probability and discovered it is far more likely that reality came by chance than by design.  Has such a person examined in intimate detail every truth paradigm and all of the attendant arguments? 

First Causes:  Maybe it is just that he has not shared his work in his discovery of first causes?  Does he know what led up to the “big bang” and scientifically validated his discovery?   Has he unlocked the key as to why evolution is the one and only exception to the multiplicity of systems which are unraveling into chaos and entropy?  Oh, let us not forget time.  Has such a person examined every moment of every second for as long as he postulates there has been time?

If someone makes such a claim without having done all of these investigations and more, has he not set himself up as an authority?  In that is he not demonstrating the very egocentricity that he decries and claims invalidates Christianity?  Therefore, if you accept the processes by which he validates his argument, then if you accept Christianity as invalid based upon egocentricity then he invalids his own argument!   

Lost Logic

Again, the logic of the argument is lost somewhere along the way but then that is not to be of any great surprise for it is those who value truth that require there to be sound logic.  It is the egocentric who claim special truth as in the argument against the veracity of Christianity.  Either tacitly or directly such special truth provides a license for such argument as is necessary and if sound logic is sacrificed for the sake of an argument that ultimately leads to chaos, so be it.

The De-anthropomorphize God

Of course there is another choice and that is to de-anthropomorphize God.  It is then possible to accept the existence and benevolent intervention of an infinite God in the affairs of mankind in general and a man in particular.  That makes some other impossibilities very possible. 

For example a limitless God can answer prayers for parking places and at the same time for miracles.  A limitless God can in fact have a plan for each and every man, woman, boy, and girl without disenfranchising others. 

A limitless God can take what appears to be catastrophic failure and weave it into the life of the victim and turn it to great good for that person and for others.  A limitless God can give victory when all seems lost.  It is possible to understand that such plans as God has for man and mankind are not ego-centric but altruistic.   So too the people who follow that God (e.g. genuine Christians) are also not egocentric but altruistic.

Background

To see the list of subjects to be discussed in this series see blog (Christianity – Is it a Faith Driven by Fear?) in that blog is a reference and in that reference is a list which is the springboard from which this subject has been discussed.