Where Theology Collides with Real Life
I have changed the subtitle of Bierkergaard from "Where philosophy collides with real life" to "Where theology collides with real life." Contact all the major media outlets!
Both philosophy and theology can become esoteric, irrelevant, and impractical.
Lina and I heard another sermon on infant baptism vs. believers baptism where the speaker truly did not succeed in answering the 'So why does this matter?" question. I think it does matter but the speaker dedicated himself for the first third of his sermon to the "How" which really is not as important...and then when he got to the "Why," the sermon devolved into thoughts lacking linkage to the present day realities. I think that the baptism issue does come down to the difference between predestination versus free will and I will leave it at that. No time to get into this now. I know, 'Chicken!"
Retreating to life of the mind without an awareness and application to the world really is a form of idolatry. I should know, my fantasy is to spend all day reading. I know, as far as fantasy's go, this is pretty lame. My fantasy has given me a decent vocabulary and some intellectual development, however there has been a part of this process that is retreat and disengagement from the world and its needs. As the old adage states, "Don't live in a town where scholars rule" complete with a picture of a Roman column crumbling. School counseling fortunately keeps me grounded in reality. Sometimes, much too much of reality in all of its brutal factuality.
However, I like theology over philosophy because as long as I am engaged in residing on the proverbial mountain for the guru-like, it is better to base my musings on "Theo" (God) rather than "Philos" (Wisdom). Too much wisdom is based on the wisdom of man.
When the Gospel came into the Hellenized world, as R.C. Sproul details in his video series, "Ideas Have Consequences" the competing philosophies between the Platonist and the Aristotelian had fought to a stalemate. The inductive versus the deductive battles are still with us....essentially, from what I can piece together, the Idealists (emphasizing the universal) and the Realists (emphasizing the particulars), in a very real sense do not see eye-to-eye...one is looking up to the heavens, the other, to the ground. What gets confusing these days is that we have idealistic people who emphasize extreme pieces of diversity to the point where the puzzle of unity is impossible to construct. So, we provide more stimulus money for them to try and figure it out(money that we don't have, I might add, without our Chinese creditors).
The emphasis on diversity without unity has created a fragmentation of society which is ironically making us less able to understand the "other." It is only when we see our common humanity, our shared fallen natures (which means that the reality of sin must be recognized) and the promise of God's redemptive grace (if we haven't done wrong, why do we need grace?), do we succeed in establishing some sense of order out of the chaos.
The Gospel, through the person of Jesus (the God/Man) brings heaven (the up) and earth (the down) together. The Incarnation of Deity solution...brilliant, only God could have both thought it up, and done it. And, that idea certainly had some of its own brutal factuality to it (i.e. the Cross). The Being (God) became Man, so that we (Man) can become like Him (God).
Both philosophy and theology can become esoteric, irrelevant, and impractical.
Lina and I heard another sermon on infant baptism vs. believers baptism where the speaker truly did not succeed in answering the 'So why does this matter?" question. I think it does matter but the speaker dedicated himself for the first third of his sermon to the "How" which really is not as important...and then when he got to the "Why," the sermon devolved into thoughts lacking linkage to the present day realities. I think that the baptism issue does come down to the difference between predestination versus free will and I will leave it at that. No time to get into this now. I know, 'Chicken!"
Retreating to life of the mind without an awareness and application to the world really is a form of idolatry. I should know, my fantasy is to spend all day reading. I know, as far as fantasy's go, this is pretty lame. My fantasy has given me a decent vocabulary and some intellectual development, however there has been a part of this process that is retreat and disengagement from the world and its needs. As the old adage states, "Don't live in a town where scholars rule" complete with a picture of a Roman column crumbling. School counseling fortunately keeps me grounded in reality. Sometimes, much too much of reality in all of its brutal factuality.
However, I like theology over philosophy because as long as I am engaged in residing on the proverbial mountain for the guru-like, it is better to base my musings on "Theo" (God) rather than "Philos" (Wisdom). Too much wisdom is based on the wisdom of man.
When the Gospel came into the Hellenized world, as R.C. Sproul details in his video series, "Ideas Have Consequences" the competing philosophies between the Platonist and the Aristotelian had fought to a stalemate. The inductive versus the deductive battles are still with us....essentially, from what I can piece together, the Idealists (emphasizing the universal) and the Realists (emphasizing the particulars), in a very real sense do not see eye-to-eye...one is looking up to the heavens, the other, to the ground. What gets confusing these days is that we have idealistic people who emphasize extreme pieces of diversity to the point where the puzzle of unity is impossible to construct. So, we provide more stimulus money for them to try and figure it out(money that we don't have, I might add, without our Chinese creditors).
The emphasis on diversity without unity has created a fragmentation of society which is ironically making us less able to understand the "other." It is only when we see our common humanity, our shared fallen natures (which means that the reality of sin must be recognized) and the promise of God's redemptive grace (if we haven't done wrong, why do we need grace?), do we succeed in establishing some sense of order out of the chaos.
The Gospel, through the person of Jesus (the God/Man) brings heaven (the up) and earth (the down) together. The Incarnation of Deity solution...brilliant, only God could have both thought it up, and done it. And, that idea certainly had some of its own brutal factuality to it (i.e. the Cross). The Being (God) became Man, so that we (Man) can become like Him (God).
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