The second week of the Truth Project at South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City was excellent--just like the first. This week's lesson this morning dealt with Philosophy and Ethics.
One of the first biblical references examined in the lesson was 2 Timothy 2:24-26
24And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
And Colossians 2:8
8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
This analogy of captivity is a very apt one. Because when we accept an idea or philosophy, it dictates what we will do and how we will do it. We operate within its boundaries and not beyond. So just like physical captivity, an idea can also hold us captive.
The lesson also examined the philosophy of Carl Sagan, a brilliant astronomer and author of the book/TV series "Cosmos." I've read the book (still have it on my bookshelf) and seen the entire series at least 2-3 times. Sagan was brilliant in his grasp of the immense scope of the universe, with only one critical flaw: he denied the existence of the Creator of the universe.
It struck me as they played a clip from the Cosmos series where he said "The Cosmos is all there is, or ever was, or ever will be," that the cosmos was Sagan's god. It was what he looked to for meaning, it was what he admired and saw as greater than himself. He even alludes to a type of creation act (like when God created man), only in Sagan's theology, human beings come from "star stuff" or the same essence of the stars themselves. Again, when he does so, he sounds amazingly like a Christian who speaks admiringly of his Creator or Savior.
I believe we all have a built-in drive to seek the ultimate truth (i.e. our Creator), but for those who don't know God or refuse to know him, they end up substituting something else for God...but nevertheless look to something greater than themselves to believe in. For Sagan, it was the cosmos. For many others in our world and in America, they look to government as the almighty provider of answers and material blessings. Some, especially in the scientific world, worship the wisdom (reason) of man as their god. But man is always in search of something greater than himself, always in search of a god.
The lesson examined the meaning of the word "philosophy," which, as R.C. Sproul pointed out, is a combination of the Greek phileo meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom, or the love of wisdom. The teacher, Del Tackett, looks to the Webster's 1828 dictionary (he says this one lacks the political correctness of today's dictionaries, and he's right) for a definition of philosophy: "the objects of philosophy are to ascertain facts or truth, and the causes of things or their phenomena; to enlarge our views of God and his works." That dictionary also included a quote from S.S. Smith which said, "True religion and true philosophy must ultimately arrive at the same principle." He's absolutely right. If the religion and the philosophy are both true, they will both reach the same conclusion. If they do NOT reach the same conclusion, then at least one of them is wrong.
The lesson also examined the struggle between "the universals" and "the particulars." Some people seek to understand the universals (the big truths) through examining the particulars (the little, everyday truths), while others seek to understand the particulars by understanding the universals. Tackett pointed out that the world's way is focusing on the particulars to understand the universals, but God's approach is to understand the universals, and then the particulars tend to fall into place.
An illustration of this might be that secularists examine the morality of business, wealth creation, sex education, and so on, and by examining the results or outcomes of certain particulars, they hope to understand which ones are a part of the ultimate truth.
God's way, however, says we are to understand God's universals (that He is creator, that right is what conforms to his character, that wrong is what does not conform to his character, that loving and obeying Him is the only way to real peace and happiness, etc.) and that once we start living God's universals, then all the particulars (how to be a good boss, how to be a good employee, how to be a good parent, how to be a good citizen, etc.) will fall into place.
We examined a number of hollow and deceptive philosophies such as materialism (i.e. matter is the only reality), idealism, empiricism, rationalism, naturalism (true knowledge comes ONLY through scientific study), determinism, relativism, mentalism, mechanism, solipsism, subjectivism, intuitionism, and hedonism.
Out of those, I believe the dominant ones in today's American society are materialism, naturalism, relativism and hedonism.
One of the scholars consulted for the Truth Project was Ravi Zacharias, who told the story of a building created as a monument to postmodernism. It contained columns that served no purpose, stairways that went nowhere, etc. In other words, it was filled with random features that often served no purpose or function--much as the materialist or naturalist says our universe came about through random chance, with no set purpose or function. The story revealed, however, that though the building was filled with purposeless features, one part of the building was NOT created in this fashion: the foundation. For if the foundation had been created functionless and purposeless, then the whole thing would have soon come crashing down, because it wouldn't have rested on anything solid.
This is exactly what in the end comes of these philosophies of man I listed above: they come crashing down. Remember Marxism and the Soviet Union: it came crashing down. And it's only a matter of time before it happens again in places like North Korea (where millions are starving) and Cuba (where the paint is peeling off the walls and their infrastructure is rotting).
The lesson also examined some of the implications of naturalism: no gods or purposive forces, no ultimate foundation for ethics, no free will, no reward for suffering or sacrifice, no life after death, and no ultimate meaning in life.
Hand in hand with this examination of naturalism's implications, we looked at the difference between morality, which deals with what actually is, as opposed to ethics, which deals with what ought to be. An illustration of this is how our current society tries to find the meaning of truth and "morality" through all the polls we're bombarded with. You see, in the world of morality as opposed to ethics, 51% means it's right. God doesn't take a poll to determine what's right, however.
The lesson also brought forth the sad statistic that only 4% of the general population has a biblical worldview. Sadder still is that of Christians who actually claim to be "born again," the figure only rises to 9% with a biblical worldview.
Tackett said that most people's worldview doesn't singularly fit one of those philosophies I mentioned above, but is a mix-match grab bag of elements from each. We tend to adopt the elements of the various philosophies that meet our most immediate needs.
The key to having a biblical worldview, however, is to seek to see the face of God, to try and see His true character, which is the measuring-stick of what is right and true. We do this through studying the Bible, which is the process of renewing the mind, the conscious rejecting of what is false and the adopting of what is true.
The lesson concluded with Tackett saying that if we (Christians) do not believe the truth claims of God ("Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?"), then there will be no light in this fallen world, and the suffering will continue.
Next week's lesson is on "Anthropology: Who is Man?" See you there at 8:57 am next Sunday.
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