Thursday, January 19, 2006
Silly Arguments
So, first I ran across this article...
But I think that may be the perfect set up for a new understanding of the mission of the church in general. Can maturity in Christ be achieved only through the indirect assimilation of knowledge? Faith is deeper than knowledge, but knowledge plays a key role in its development. I think for faith to be genuine we need to have at least some direct knowledge - not to battle the forces of the world, but for our own maturity. How do we foster that in an age that seems to compete against it?
One thing I think of off the top of my head is that we stop seeking "new knowledge" about Christianity for its own sake. Maybe if we concentrate more on undertsanding and using the knowledge that exists as opposed to finding new knowledge we will foster the kind of thirst God intends for us.
Any other ideas?
Related Tags: Christianity, faith, Da Vinci Code, knowledge, maturity
As scholars question the place of nudity in marriage, Islamic clerics are hotly debating exactly what sexual practices are acceptable, writes Brian Whitaker....and I thought it was just silly. It reminded me of the old joke:
A curious religious debate is raging in Egypt. The question is: should you keep your clothes on when having sex?
Q: Why don't Baptists have sex standing up?Than I ran across this post at Reformation Theology and again thought "how silly," at least until I read it. The title of the post is about the Da Vinci Code book and upcoming movie. I have thought the discussion entirely silly - it's a ficticious novel for crying out loud, why are we battling it like it's holy writ. When I read the post, it quoted a speaker on the book that said something quite profound
A: It might lead to dancing.
Books like The Da Vinci Code thrive because we have become a society dependent upon external sources of information. We no longer learn things directly: we learn how to find out the data we need. Part of this is necessary: the body of human knowledge is now so much larger than it was in the past that there can no longer be a true "Renaissance man" who masters all fields of knowledge. While that is true, we have likewise become a people disconnected from history; we no longer are disciplined to learn, to memorize, to remember. And as we have ceased valuing honesty, integrity, accuracy, indeed, all aspects of truth, it is easy to understand how other values, like simple entertainment, have rushed in to fill the void. The result is not only sloppy thinking that cannot see two steps down a logical pathway (and hence identify errors in argumentation), but ignorance of history as well.Now the author uses this as a set up to prepare the Christian to "do battle" with the forces the book and movie have an will unleash in society.
But I think that may be the perfect set up for a new understanding of the mission of the church in general. Can maturity in Christ be achieved only through the indirect assimilation of knowledge? Faith is deeper than knowledge, but knowledge plays a key role in its development. I think for faith to be genuine we need to have at least some direct knowledge - not to battle the forces of the world, but for our own maturity. How do we foster that in an age that seems to compete against it?
One thing I think of off the top of my head is that we stop seeking "new knowledge" about Christianity for its own sake. Maybe if we concentrate more on undertsanding and using the knowledge that exists as opposed to finding new knowledge we will foster the kind of thirst God intends for us.
Any other ideas?
Related Tags: Christianity, faith, Da Vinci Code, knowledge, maturity
