Geoff's Miscellany

The Bible contains a great deal of advice based upon observation of the world that would be helpful to know even if you did not accept any of its claims about God. One of the most helpful pieces of the Old Testament is this little gem from Proverbs:

(1) My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, (2) making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; (3) yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, (4) if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, (5) then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:1-5 ESV)

1. If you receive my words The father (or teacher in this case) says that receiving his words is part of gaining wisdom. I am both a teacher and a student. And one of the chief difficulties for students today is actually receiving the words of their teachers. They do not listen, they do not take notes, they do not think about them, and they do not respond well to teacher criticism. But if students would receive the words of their teachers, then wisdom would suddenly be a potential result.

2. If you treasure up my commandments The father then challenges the hearers to memorize what he says (Learn about permanent memory here). In math you memorize proofs, in languages you memorize endings and vocabulary, in science your memorize instructions for lab equipment, for mechanics you memorize vehicle schematics. Barbara Oakley has argued that the major flaw in mathematics education today is a lack of focus on brute memorization. I would argue that this is true in seminary, humanities, philosophy, and local church discipleship programs.

3. If you make your ear attentive This is similar to the first, the idea is that you make yourself listen when your mind veers off. If you’re reading, you force yourself back into focus.

4. If you incline your heart to understanding Here the idea is that you treat the topic as though it interested you, even when it doesn’t. Study after study demonstrates that “grit” or a tolerance for delayed gratification, endurance, deliberate practice, or a growth mindset in the face of difficulty often correlate with cognitive success.

5. If you call our for insight and raise your voice for understanding I think that a lot of people infer without reason that this merely means “pray to God.” But the context is that of learning lessons from human teachers. If you wish for wisdom, ask questions and then test the answers against evidence and experience.

6. If you seek it like silver This is similar to #4 above. Treat wisdom as something that is worth seeking, even when it is difficult. Treat wisdom like an economic transaction even. Be willing to pay for it with less valuable objects and hold on to it rather than lose it through disuse.

7. If you search for it as for hidden treasure Finally, search for it as for hidden treasure. In whatever you study there are hidden insights, flashes of insight, undiscovered connections, more efficient processes, overlooked facts, and so on. It is often said that part of learning more is realizing how much remains unknown. If we know anything, it is that there is more to learn. With knowledge that there is hidden treasure, it is a lot easier to dig everywhere in a field no matter the cost or to sell everything and just buy the field! If we search for wisdom as obsessively as we would search for hidden treasure of whose existence we were certain, I suspect we would become much wiser.

(Pro 2:9-15 ESV) Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; (10) for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; (11) discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, (12) delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, (13) who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, (14) who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, (15) men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

John Gill’s thoughts on what it means of have knowledge of the Son of God or faith in Christ:

…and of the knowledge of the Son of God; which is but another phrase for faith in Christ, for faith is a spiritual knowledge of Christ; it is that grace by which a soul beholds his glory and fulness, approves of him, trusts in him, and appropriates him to itself; and such an approbatory, fiducial, appropriating, practical, and experimental knowledge of Christ, is here intended; and which is imperfect in those that have it, and is not yet in many who will have it; and inasmuch as the Gospel ministry is the means of it, this will be continued until every elect soul partakes of it, and arrives to a greater perfection in it: for it follows…

On Being Radical David Platt, in his book Radical, challenges Christians that if they would do five things over the course of a year, they would find themselves “coming alive like never before (Platt 186).” Here are the five things (185):

1. Pray for the entire world;
2. Read through the entire Word;
3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose;
4. Spend your time in another context;
5. Commit your life to a multiplying community.

At least people who do that list are doing something right? Many genuine Christians never thought about doing some things on that list. Platt’s pastoral concerns are valid in that respect. So what if some of them don’t really make sense? Why care? Well, as a minister to college students and a student returning to college, I find that concern for excellence in studies and in the workplace is at an all-time low. I also find that college age people can have a tendency to be yes-men and yes-women. If you’re a college student who is interested in understanding the Bible and being Jesus’ disciple, watch out. Ten different ministry leaders will probably come ask you to sign up for this or that cause. Many of these causes and ministries are good things. But the question is this: are these the things to which you should dedicate your time at this stage in your life?

As somebody who teaches Bible to college students at my local church, I’ve grown increasingly frustrated by popular misconceptions about Christianity that seem merely to confuse people for the sake of sounding novel. For instance, the claim that Jesus didn’t come to make people good confuses people who do not read theology books for a living.

In a post over at Reknew, Greg Boyd makes the claim (by title and content) that Jesus and by extension the New Testament do not teach ethical behavior. Here are some quotes:

One of the weirdest features of life that I’ve noticed since going back to college is that the tone of several aspects of life has radically changed. For instance, criticism of student work is taken personally far more often than it ever was ten years ago when I first attended college. I’ve also noticed that people are far less likely (this is by observation, so I could be wrong) to admit fault when they receive a bad grade.

A common claim on the internet these days is that raising children in a religious tradition is child abuse.

This same notion comes with a related notion that being religious is a form of brain disorder.

If you do not believe me, look this up. Richard Dawkins has claimed that raising children religiously is worse than pedophilia. Sam Harris says that being religious is worse than rape.

I challenge atheists who actually think this way to stop being lazy and perform their civic duties:

Why Do People Not Go to Church? It is very easy to find church attendance unpleasant.

I have enjoyed going to church services since my early teenage years, but mostly because my bent has always been toward the philosophical and sermons offer (when done well) a great deal of food for thought.

But I still remember being in high school and finding the singing, the hugs, and the other bits unpleasant. Some people feel that being there Sunday morning is a waste of time, some would rather watch sports, do chores, sleep off a hangover, or make money on Sunday.

One of the staples of Baptist piety is that the Lord’s Supper is “only a symbol” or “just a symbol.” So, every time that gospels are quoted saying,

Mark 14:22-24 ESV  And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." (23)  And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.  (24)  And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

I understand why Baptists do that, but I think that they’re mistaken in so doing.

Over at voxpopuli, Vox posted on mood programming music. I would not have chosen most of his choices, but he apparently was in the band psychosonik (I’m pretty sure they made music for the Mortal Kombat films). I shouldn’t expect his musical tastes to be similar to mine or even to standard humans. His categories are:

Best 5 fire-it-up songs

Best 5 philosophy songs

Best 5 get-off-the-canvas songs

Best 5 romance songs

What is faith?

What is Christian faith? I don’t mean “what is ’the Christian faith’?” I mean, when I Christian has faith in Christ, what does ‘faith’ connote? Many Christians carry a meaning of the word faith around in their heads that leaves them with no actual ground to stand on for living the good life hinted at in Deuteronomy 30, the Sermon on the Mount, Micah 6:8, and Romans 12-15.