Friday, May 19, 2006

My view on philosophy and Christian apology

Today during the CG meeting held in NUS, Yufen passed around several books about Christian apologetics that YA borrowed from the library.. Haha, the title that caught my eye was Christian Ethics: Options and Issues by Norman Geisler. Think YA deliberately chose that book for me.. haha =p

The people that knew me only recently might be surprised that I was interested in philo only after I entered Army. Still distinctly remember the things me, Karwee, James, Tan and the rest discussed on the MINDEF Forum. At that time I didn't knew what Utilitarinism was, or that dualism was called dualism. I didn't know who Bentham was or that he invented the hedonistic calculus.

It was only after entering university, was I able to attach the names to the things we were talking about. It was awfully fascinating to me that we covered ground that great thinkers had trodded before us.

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Now that I am a Christian, most of these issues are now resolved for me. Nonetheless I am very interested to finish my so called "philosophical education". God gave humans a enquiring mind, and it's fascinating what philosphers have come up with over the years.

I used to rely heavily on Christian apology as a new believer to "cement" my faith.. but nowadays I really dislike apologetics as a whole. I think knowing the arguments (and how to argue) about Christianity is something necessary, but very ugly. While it serves as a bridge for non-believers to know about God, it is almost totally irrelevant to daily Christian living. You can do well as a Christian, and live a fruitful life, without having to know a single argument for God.

To steal a few lines from Wittgenstein's Tractucus (and to those who read philosophy I apologise for this atrocity) .. "he who understands me finally recognizes them as senseless, when he has climbed out through them, on them, over them. (He must so to speak throw away the ladder, after he has climbed up on it.) He must transcend these propositions, and then he will see the world aright."

Christian apology is the ladder where you climb to know God, but once you've reached there, you can effectively throw the ladder away.. you'll literally see the world anew. The ladder's only purpose now is to help other non-believers to climb up that ladder, so they can see Christianity as it truly is for themselves..

Christianity not a philosophical school of thought.. it is a all emcompassing (holistic) lifestyle..

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Haix, but I really wish I had a Christian whom I can talk philospophy with.. Don't know anybody who shares the same interest with me..

2 comments:

yeu@nn said...

"I used to rely heavily on Christian apology as a new believer to "cement" my faith.. but nowadays I really dislike apologetics as a whole. I think knowing the arguments (and how to argue) about Christianity is something necessary, but very ugly. While it serves as a bridge for non-believers to know about God, it is almost totally irrelevant to daily Christian living. You can do well as a Christian, and live a fruitful life, without having to know a single argument for God."

Think that's a very insightful reflection that you wrote... hmm... but I don't think knowing the arguments about Christianity can be very ugly, as you said. Neither would "it is almost totally irrelevant to daily Christian living" be true.

Why? Was thinking about what I heard about Ravi Zacharias one time... as he was debating on stage about Jesus... as he shared about Jesus, he started weeping. That story touched me a lot, because this brother in Christ is someone who is very intelligent and is one of the best apologists for the Christian faith. And in a way, I think apologetics, for him, is his love-gift to Christ for saving him.

Ha, writing this, not so much because I'm trying to argue for apologetics per se, but rather, I was thinking more about one of the books that I borrowed from the library.

(And yep, I got that Geisler book specially for you. Haha... hope you like it? :))

That book, "Deliver Us From Evil", by R. Zach, made me want to cry. Why ah? Perhaps it's because of the way that secularism has taken root in many societies the world over - and the consequences that follow. Really tears at your heart when you read it. Personally, apologetics helps me really see and appreciate just how wonderful and beautiful is the wisdom of God, the Father of all truth.

Perhaps, in an earlier time and age, arguing in defense of the faith would have not been necessary. But today, it seems to be the case that the worldviews of secularism and "all faiths lead to the same God" are pushing against and assaulting the church of Christ even as we speak. I guess we'll prefer to have peace as far as possible, but we can't... Like Gibson in "The Patriot", we would rather be at peace, but we have to take a stand and defend our faith, because the enemy is already actively doing his best to discredit and defeat the Christian faith through godless worldviews even today.

So I'm thinking about what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. He wrote, "The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity." (MSG)

So apologetics isn't merely for bringing non-believers to Christ; it's essential for helping ourselves defend ourselves from "warped philosophies" that subtly infiltrates the cultures that you and I live in. It's not only about looking inwards; it's about going on the offensive - to challenge godless worldviews that hold multitudes in captivity.

Ha, but to put my argument into perspective, yes, apologetics isn't the be-all and end-all of Christianity. But I think it's simply one of the ways to do what the Bible tells us to do: to "break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God." (NLT) There are many other ways that point people to God - and to Jesus Christ Himself - e.g. creation, transformed lives, acts of love, etc...

Ha, after writing and thinking about what I've written, I find we've arrived at the same conclusion: "Christianity not a philosophical school of thought.. it is a all emcompassing (holistic) lifestyle.." So, in conclusion: AMEN TO THAT, BROTHER! :D

Flince said...

Hey man.

What I meant about when I said that apology was "ugly", is that although it's something necessary for people to know God, it is otherwise unessential for daily Christian life.

Yeah, I really wish we lived in a world where we could just live our Christian lives in peace.

I think with regards to defence of our faith, there are a lot more questions than answers we can provide. But I think the way we live our lives is by far the more powerful argument than any words can ever be..

Thanks for sharing bro.