IrContent

Well, it didn’t take long for the trolls to smell the offerings from IrContent and come by for a food fight. But this is simply not the place for such things. I did not expect trolling on this BLOG because it doesn’t concern non-Christians. IrContent is supposed to be a place of reflection for believers who are concerned about the state of pop-churchianity, not a forum for disgruntled, pugilistic atheists.

They weren’t all that bad, but I want to nip the problem in the bud. Two example responses to “Jesus Didn’t Go To Seminary” will suffice to show what I am talking about: one questioned Jesus’ existence and claimed that Christians do not believe in empirical facts. Another challenged an article I wrote for SoulDevice, and “challenged me” to respond to a question about God’s existence in a world with unhealed people. I deleted this off topic post and he called me a coward if I deleted that post. Oh dear, I’m afraid that my tender ego is so wounded now I may not be able to go on . . .

Yeah, so anyway they’re deleted.

Look, I am all for the free exchange of ideas and believe that BLOGS are a good place to do that. But I will not have mine used as a repository for off-topic rants. I mean, imagine you were in a conversation with some friends about the best place to get pizza and an atheist walked by and yelled, “Hey - you like pizza huh? Well, you can’t even prove Jesus ever existed!!!” That’s both irrelevant and rude. Just as this sort of thing would not be tolerated in a coffee shop or in one’s home, I won’t tolerate it here.

IrContent is a BLOG created by a Christian, for Christians. I have defended this Christianity elsewhere (www.dougbeaumont.org). Hopefully I won’t have to resort to moderating every comment before it posts - but if I do, you will know why.

The other day someone made the comment to me that “Jesus didn’t go to seminary.’ His point, I believe, was that people don’t need to go to school and get a degree to be knowledgeable in religious matters or truth. He stopped there, but could have gone on . . . for the disciples didn’t go to seminary either, nor did the Old Testament prophets - and they wrote the Bible! Well, is this a valid point? Not so much. First, while it is true that Jesus did not go to ‘seminary’ in the modern sense, He certainly did get religious education (Luke 2:46-52) although more often than not He taught them! Further, as God, Jesus was obviously unique among people! True, the disciples were just ‘ordinary people,’ but they were taught by the Master Himself every day for 3 1/2 years. Thus, even if Jesus only taught a couple hours per day it would be the equivalent of 85 seminary courses! Paul was a pharisee who studied under the famous Rabbi Gamaliel. The prophets in Old Testament times were directly taught by God. Barring these methods for today, I’m afraid we must rely on good ole’ education.

I have spoken with several pastors who tell me they would really like to go to seminary (or at least college) someday but are just too busy in their ministry to do so. I don’t get it. Too busy doing ministry to get properly trained for doing ministry? I wonder what would happen if we applied this thinking to other areas of life?

Suppose you needed open heart surgery, or your mother did, or your child. If I came to you and said, ‘Hey, you don’t need a doctor for that - I’ll do it!’ You’d probably, if you had any sense at all, say, ‘No, thanks.’ Suppose I responded by saying, ‘I really feel that I am a gifted surgeon . . . just trust me!’ Hopefully you would stick by your guns. What if I continued to protest, ‘Just because I don’t have a fancy piece of paper that says I’m a surgeon doesn’t mean I can’t operate. I’ve had a lot of experience. In fact, I am so busy with patients that I’ve never had time for med school!”

Or what if you needed legal help - suppose you were being tried commiturder you did not committ and I asked to be your lawyer. ‘God has really put this on my heart . . .’ I might say. And don’t worry about the fact that I have no legal training, I have experience! I’m so busy with clients I don’t have time to go to law school!

That being the case, my question is this: If we wouldn’t trust unlearned, untrained surgeons, lawyers, pilots, architects, mechanics, or anyone else with our temporal, physical life - why do we often trust almost anyone with our eternal, spiritual life?

Many people should not do theology, at least not yet . . .

The reason is that the average person’s education has simply not prepared them for the rigors of theology and the end result of thrusting someone into it too early can be disastrous (how many cults began with a simple Bible study?). But that’s what we do, right? A person gets saved and BAM! - off they go to Bible study. Granted, many end up doing OK - but that is usually accidental (in other words they just happen to end up in a truth teaching study).Worse, some are even allowed to begin preaching immediately because they “have the spirit” or due to their “star status” as a famous ex-_______ (Wiccan, Muslim, Satanist, whatever). Up until recent times this would have been unthinkable. Theology is the most important and sacred study one can enter into - much less teach! (James 3:1 has something to say about this issue as well).

I was recently handed a basic list of resources to guide one through the classic stages of education. It began with grammar and a dictionary (how can you study if you do not know what words mean and how language works?). Then two works on the subject of logic (now that you can read, you need to learn how to think). In classical education this is known as the Trivium.

This is followed by the Quadrivium which is concerned with number (the first level of abstraction from material things in the world). The first concerns number itself (algebra), number in space (geometry), number in time (music), and number in space-time (astronomy).

Then we move on to natural science and physics were we explore the world of the senses. This is followed by moral science (you need to know what things are before you can know how they may be treated). Then metaphysics (the study of abstract principles of being) and then, finally, sacred theology.

Why last? I think there are two main reasons. The first is simply practical: Because sacred theology requires all the rest. There is a reason that Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae - an introductory summary of theology if that can be believed in this day and age - is so completely beyond most people’s grasp - it assumes a prior attainment of high level classical education.

The second is pietistic: because God is the object of this study, and therefore it should not be entered into lightly. My next post will illustrate why this is so important.

It’s funny to me that some people argue against arguing for one’s beliefs when that is exactly what they are doing! While there are objections to doing apologetics, most are self destructive like this one and others are simply confused. I think that for the most part it is due to a lack of critical thinking skills that allow one to consider good arguments instead of only reacting emotionally. This, added to the world’s self-defeating “tolerance” position, is also imbibed by many in the Church. All this combines to make apologetics unattractive to many who would otherwise claim to follow what God commands Christians to do in Scripture.The classic verse promoting apologetics (the defense of the faith) is 1 Peter 3:15, which basically says that believers are to make a defense “for the hope that you have.” The only way to do this effectively is to study the reasons for why we believe what we believe. This will prepare us to ” demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” as Paul said we should (2 Cor. 10:5). Paul practiced what he preached, in fact doing apologetics was his regular activity (Philippians 1:7 ). In fact, he refers to apologetics as his mission in the same passage (v.16). He also made apologetics a requirement for church leadership in Titus 1:9. Jude, an apostle of Jesus, wrote that “although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (v.3). Where did they all get these ideas? from the Master Himself. Jesus was His own apologetic as He stated time and again that we should believe in Him because of the evidence He provided for what He taught (John 2:23; 10:25; 10:38; 14:29). In fact the whole Bible is full of miracles specifically being done by God to confirm what He wants us to believe (Ex. 4:1-8; 1Kgs 18:36-39; Acts 2:22/43; Heb. 2:3-4; 2Cor. 12:12). People rightly refuse to believe something without evidence. Since God created humans as rational beings, we should not be surprised when He expects us to live rationally. As Norman Geisler says, “This does not mean there is no room for faith. But God wants us to take a step of faith in the light of evidence, rather than to leap in the dark.”

Those who oppose these clear biblical teachings and examples may say things like, “The Word of God does not need to be defended!” But which of the world’s writings are the word of God? As soon as someone answers that, they are doing apologetics. (How well they do it might be another story!) Some claim that human reason cannot tell us anything about God – but isn’t that a reasonable statement about God? If not then there is no reason to believe it, and if so then they have contradicted themselves. One of my favorites is, “If someone can talk you into Christianity then someone else can talk you out.” Why is this a problem? Did not Paul himself give a criterion by which Christianity should be accepted or rejected in 1 Corinthians 15? It is only misplaced piety that answers in the negative.

Now none of this is to say that bare apologetics, free from the influence of the Holy Spirit, can bring someone to saving faith. This creates a false dilemma in the minds of many. But it does not have to be “Sprit vs. Logic” – why not both? We must not confuse the fact that the Holy Spirit is required to move one into a position of belief with how He accomplishes this feat. With some people God uses trials, in others it is an emotional experience, in others it is through reason. God can use whatever means He wants. We, however, are commanded to use apologetics in as many or more places as we are told to preach the gospel. How is it then that all churches affirm the latter but so many ignore the former?

“Every choice is a sacrifice.”

This was, for me, the most profound idea in Kreeft’s book. We tend to think of choices as additive, but they are vastly more subtractive – for whatever we choose to do negates all other choices. To do a thing is to not do a million other things. Everything we do will somehow subtract from our lives and our failure to think through those subtractions can cause a lot of stress as we wonder what became of our time. For example, my wife once complained to me that she would have liked to have more time for projects one day but that she had spent the whole day doing her laundry. What choice did she have? “Own less clothing,” I responded. By choosing to own more clothes she not only dedicated money, but time for cleaning them as well as space for storing them which made organization more tiresome. This, and more, was the result of that choice. I do not mean to imply that it was a bad choice – she is famous for her taste in clothes although she spends very little money on them. Rather it is to point out that her choice to add clothing has subtracted more from her life than she might have realized.

The philosophy of simplicity can help us make better choices – choices that increase our time and reward our efforts rather than sap our energy and lessen our effectiveness. Below are just a few examples.

Recharging vs. Charging Ahead

Our responsibilities must not become idols. The world did just fine without us for 10,000 years and it can do without us for a few minutes a day, hours a week, or days a month. We need recharging. To push on without energy is to lessen our quality. Studies have shown that people who work more than 8 hours per day actually achieve less due to lost quality. God can give us time if we are willing to first sacrifice our hold on it. Sometimes we just need to STOP. Many people report that when they are too busy for God they become even busier – God forgive us when we sacrifice time with our ultimate eternal goal to pursue the temporary.

“For pausing is not a sluggish repose. Pausing is also movement. It is the inward movement of the heart. To pause is to deepen oneself in inwardness. But merely going further is to go straight in the direction of superficiality. By that way one does not come to will only one thing. Only if at some time he decisively stopped going further and then again came to a pause, as he went further, only then could he will only one thing.”
- Kierkegaard

Focusing vs. Multitasking

To be excellent requires that you do not spread out your time and talent too far. After some point the more we try to do the less we can get done well. This too is a sacrifice. Mountain climbers often list the single-mindedness of climbing as their reason for doing so – it is pure, unspoiled by competing goals. It allows concentration of energy and resources. In simplicity there is greater power, thus the simple life can achieve greater goals.

Silence of Solitude vs. Noise and Crowds

Without silence simplicity is impossible, and the world is very noisy. Silence is awkward because it is then that we reflect. Solitude focuses on the soul, which produces depth and character if that is allowable. But many are not comfortable alone with their thoughts, for it is here there that we cannot escape them. The deep thinker is happy swallowed up in thought – the shallow person cannot stand to be reminded that they have nothing worthy of it. This is why has TV has replaced books and conversation, and why sound bites have replaced considered argument. While the goal of the world is to always be skimming the surface of a thousand things, simplicity requires time to sink into the depths.

“For at dancing and festive occasions worldly judgment holds that the more musicians, the better. But when we are thinking of divine things, the deeper the stillness the better. When the wanderer comes away from the much-traveled noisy highway into places of quiet, then it seems to him (for stillness is impressive) as if he must examine himself, as if he must speak out what lies hidden in the depths of his soul.” - Kierkegaard

Moderation vs. Extravagance

There are two ways to balance a budget: spend less or make more. Why do we always seem to go after the second? Jesus spoke more about money than heaven and hell. The most parables He gave were about the love of money which is also the root of much evil. It is obvious that Jesus was right. It has been shown that the rich are not more happy than the poor, and more marriages break up over money than sexual sin. People pursue money for either possessions or security, but possessions create burdens of their own. What we own must be secured - which inflicts upon us fear of loss, more complication, more time, more money, etc. The security we seek does not come from money or possessions, in fact these things may rob us of what security we do have because the more we have the more we have to lose. It is not pious to be either poor or wealthy – but in either case we can be unattached and therefore untrapped – trusters, not worriers. Jesus says not to worry about our possessions (Mt. 6:24-34). Do we risk more by trusting the designer of the universe or by trusting our wealth and hoping that He is wrong?

Quality vs. Quantity

Don’t buy expensive, don’t buy cheap. By expensive I mean that in relation to what a thing can be purchased for do not opt for the most expensive, by cheap I mean just the opposite. In college I thought I’d save money by riding a bike to school. I bought a cheapo and ended up spending more time, money, and energy on its upkeep than a good bike would have cost. Most products have a fairly gentle price-to-quality ratio up to a certain point when the price suddenly skyrockets – try to stay just below or just above that point.

Less quantity is usually more quality – when has mass production ever equaled better product? Owning less has many benefits as well. We take better care of what we have when we have less of it. When we own less things we can afford better quality and more useful things. When we own less we appreciate it more (consider the joy of a child playing with one out of a hundred toys vs. the one playing with the only toy he has). Having less also reduces inefficiency and wasted time in upkeep and loss. The more we own the more upkeep is required and the less time we have to enjoy what we have. We are also more responsible with what we own when it is not just a confused jumble of items.

Clutter causes stress because chaos confuses the mind. Be organized with what you own – you should have more space than you need for storage. Having more space means less complexity (so long as you don’t fill it up!). Get rid of everything that is not either: necessary, specifically useful, or at least pleasurable. In this last category strive for an excellent selection, not a large collection.

Conclusion

In the end a philosophy of simplicity will really work itself out naturally. Remember that every choice is a sacrifice. As we get better at recognizing the sacrifices being made we will be better at making the better choice.