Geoff's Miscellany

One of the most important philosophers to read for your personal development is Aristotle. Also, read the book of Proverbs. It has hints for becoming charismatic, managing your money, flirting, being happy, and even going to heaven.

In his rhetorical manual, Aristotle observes this (just read the bold to get the main point):

But since rhetoric exists to affect the giving of decisions—the hearers decide between one political speaker and another, and a legal verdict is a decision—the orator must not only try to make the argument of his speech demonstrative and worthy of belief; he must also make his own character look right and put his hearers, who are to decide, into the right frame of mind. Particularly in political oratory, but [25] also in lawsuits, it adds much to an orator’s influence that his own character should look right and that he should be thought to entertain the right feelings towards his hearers; and also that his hearers themselves should be in just the right frame of mind. That the orator’s own character should look right is particularly important in political [30] speaking: that the audience should be in the right frame of mind, in lawsuits. When people are feeling friendly and placable, they think one sort of thing; when they are feeling angry or hostile, they think either something totally [1378a] different or the same thing with a different intensity: when they feel friendly to the man who comes before them for judgement, they regard him as having done little wrong, if any; when they feel hostile, they take the opposite view. Again, if they are eager for, and have good hopes of, a thing that will be pleasant if it happens, they think that it certainly will happen and be good for them: whereas if [5] they are indifferent or annoyed, they do not think so.

W. Rhys Roberts, “RHETORICA,” in The Works of Aristotle, ed. W. D. Ross, trans. W. Rhys Roberts, E. S. Forster, and Ingram Bywater, vol. 11 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1924).

Now, this post could be controversial, but that’s okay.

Three things:

1. God's love for the world (thus for all of humanity) is unconditional and precedes the sending of Jesus (John 3:16). So when people say things like, "God would hate you if it weren't for Jesus' work on the cross," they are literally being ridiculous. Even if they refer to statements concerning God's hatred for people and so-on, John's gospel makes the claim that God's way with humanity is more exactly described by its exposition of Jesus than the Old Testament's exposition of Moses (John 1:1-18).
2. Nevertheless, it is false to say that every form of love God shows to human beings is unconditional. For instance, John 3:16 says that God loves the world in such a way that he sent his only son, so that whosoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life." So, God's love is for the whole world, but the results of said love are conditioned upon ones response to Jesus Christ. One might say, "But, what about universalism? If God saves everybody, then God's love is still unconditional." Though I'm not a universalist, it would still be the case that God's receiving everlasting life as a quality of life now, is conditional upon faith. Indeed, in John 17:1-3, everlasting life is described as living life with a knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ.
3. There are other passages which make it clear that God's love in sending Christ and initiating the redemption of humanity is not the same as God's reciprocal love for believers.
   1. Joh 14:23  Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
   2. Rom 1:7  To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
   3. 1Jn 2:4-6  Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,  (5)  but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:  (6)  whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

In conclusion, God’s love for the world is unconditional. God’s love for his saints is conditioned upon becoming a saint. God’s love perfected in the saint is conditioned upon the keeping of Christ’s commandments.

Though not a main or even the main point of Sunday school last week we discussed 1 John 5:19:

1Jn 5:19 ESV We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

It is not that there are not philosophical issues that run deeper than this particular piece of the Christian faith (why would God allow ’the evil one’ to exist, do miracles really happen, and so-on?). But for those who accept such propositions as true, the argument from evil seems so childish. It sounds like somebody saying, “See, the owner of your apartment complex isn’t real because the manager is doing a bad job.”

Two incidents over the last couple years that are actually insignificant were blown out of all proportion.

1. A famous man who used to be considered the greatest athlete in the world was surgically shaped to look like a skinny woman and spent loads of money and time to do it and people laud him as a hero and champion of the human form.
2. A non-famous woman with a fitness blog lost weight after her pregnancy (presumably via hard work) and challenged other women to care for their bodies and large numbers of people shamed her for challenging other women to exercise and for "endangering her baby" by exercising through her pregnancy.

I think that we live in bizarroworld.

Often, I have heard Proverbs 3:5-7 brought up in discussions about decision making. Before I move any further, have a read:

Pro 3:5-7 ESV Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  (6)  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  (7)  Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

What is the evidence in the text itself? Here is all of Proverbs 3:

A common idea in Christian circles is that young Christians should invest themselves in doing outrageous things for Christ.

I submit that a better idea is contained within Matthew 10:16:

Beware, I am sending you out as sheep amongst wolves, therefore be as cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves.

The passage is not a direct command to all Christians, but rather Jesus’ instructions for a specific mission. But, in the grand scheme of Matthews gospel, it seems directly applicable to Christians today. What does Jesus mean by “be as cunning as serpents”?

There is an idea that has developed in our culture that you and I can define ourselves precisely as we wish to and that so-doing is indeed the only path to happiness and human fulfillment in general. Charles Taylor described this outlook decades ago:

“There is a certain way of being human that is my way. I am called upon to live my life in this way, and not in imitation of anyone else's. But this gives a new importance to being true to myself. If am not, I miss the point of my life, I miss what being human is for me...Not only should I not fit my life to the demands of external conformity; I can't even find the model to live by outside myself. I can find it only within...Being true to myself means being true to my own originality, and that is something only I can articulate and discover. In articulating it, I am also defining myself.” Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity, 29.

You and I are, whoever we happen to be are some combination of the following:

We often associate Jesus' word in Mark 8:35 with martyrdom. The reason for this, in context, is obvious:

Mar 8:34-37 ESV And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (35)  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. (36)  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (37)  For what can a man give in return for his soul?

I will soon become 30.

This song is fitting.

So, the word science is one of the most abused terms in modern discourse.

I have heard the word science being used to refer to:

1. Nature (Look at all the science...when it's actually a mountain or the sky being looked at)
2. Technology (this kind of makes sense but it isn't the same)
3. Mathematics (this baffles me)
4. The views of scientists about anything in particular
5. The process of doing lab work (this is only referred to as science very rarely and when it is done, it is in a sort of idealized sense)
6. The findings of a particular science experiment or meta-analysis (journalists all the time)
7. The lay of a land in a particular field
8. The word "biology" is sometimes used to refer the physical processes in a living being.
9. Moral Positions (Sam Harris)
10. Philosophical Positions (Richard Dawkins)
11. Religious commitments (certain Christian apologists)
12. Political positions  (lots of politicians)
13. Pictures of outer space (every meme on The Facebook)
14. Facts about nature (The ocean is deep, I love science!)
15. Speculation about galactic civilization (not kidding here)
16. Any actual knowledge (people who say, "We can only know things via science...then collapse things they know by other means into science)