InDepth

The Wise Ask for Wisdom

michael_zilles@pfm.org (David R. Sincerbox) — Mon, 20 May 2013 05:33:00 +0000

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Cultivating Wisdom (3)

The practicality of wisdom

A person once asked G. K. Chesterton, the late 19^th and early 20^th century writer, philosopher, and Christian apologist this question: “Sir, if you were marooned on a deserted island and you could only have one book, what would it be? Would it be the Bible? Would it be the collected works of Shakespeare?” Chesterton answered, “Neither. I would want a manual on boatbuilding.”

Knowing and Doing

michael_zilles@pfm.org (T. M. Moore) — Mon, 13 May 2013 05:05:00 +0000

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Knowing: What, How, and Why? (9)

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” John 13:17

Knowledge and life

We should not take for granted either the idea of knowing something or the various ways we arrive at that knowledge.

Increasingly, certain members of the secular scientific community want to insist that their discipline alone can provide reliable, usable knowledge. This view, which is referred to as “scientism”, is not shared by all scientists, at least, not openly. Many non-scientists, however, are willing to accept that claim, so they look or appeal to science – material or social – to shape and validate their policies or claims. Yesterday I saw a commercial on TV for an outdoor cooker, which closed with the narrator saying that “4 out of 5” outdoor chefs preferred the features of this product. This is an appeal to social science to validate a claim about the superiority of this product.

Gut Feeling

michael_zilles@pfm.org (T. M. Moore) — Mon, 06 May 2013 05:10:00 +0000

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Knowing: What, How, and Why? (8)

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Acts 10:34, 35

Ways of knowing

We have been considering the various ways people come to know what they know. Because human beings are so dependent on knowledge, we need to hone the skills whereby we acquire, analyze, sort, store, and use the knowledge we require. I have been arguing that there are many ways to gain the information we need, among them, the methods of science.

Wisdom Gained through Trials

michael_zilles@pfm.org (David R. Sincerbox) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 05:26:00 +0000

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Cultivating Wisdom (2)

An inadequate view of suffering

Philip Yancey, in Where is God When it Hurts?, quotes Helmut Thielicke, a German minister who survived Nazism and World War II, as answering the question, “What [did] he [see] as the greatest weakness among American Christians?” in this manner: he replied, “They have an inadequate view of suffering”.

We have a tendency in America to avoid pain at all costs. Advertisers capitalize (literally) on this, bombarding us with images of instantaneous remedies for pain. When a child is rejected by her friends, we are instructed, via ads, to comfort her with soup. When we feel lonely, we are told to join the beautiful people at the bar and chug-a-lug a few beers. When we have a slight headache, we are to rush to the medicine cabinet as soon as possible and swallow—our choice—various brightly packaged analgesics. We are told quite disingenuously that more hospitals prefer one pain reliever over another when in reality the hospitals who recommend this product receive hefty discounts from the drug’s manufacturer.

''Wise as Serpents''

kmoreland@wilberforce.org (David R. Sincerbox) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 05:00:32 +0000

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Cultivating Wisdom (1)

The nature of learning
Contemporary American dialogue in almost all disciplines seems characterized by rancor, bitter ad hominem attacks, and acrimonious, ideologically driven arguments. We hear a plethora of opinions but not much in the way of wisdom.

Art as a Way of Knowing

michael_zilles@pfm.org (T. M. Moore) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:29:00 +0000

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Knowing: What, How, and Why? (7)

My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre. Psalm 49:3, 4

Not by science alone

We’ve been considering various ways that we come to know the things we know. We must not overlook or minimize the role of authorities, experience, reason, and imagination in helping us come to know the world and our place in it. While we actually know quite a bit, very little of what we know has been acquired by strict application of the scientific method. This does not invalidate the scientific method as a way of knowing. Rather, I am making the claim that there are other ways of knowing that are equally valid and therefore should be given at least as much attention – in raising children and in making our own way in the world – as the method of science.

Sabbath: What We Have Learned

michael_zilles@pfm.org (David R. Sincerbox) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 05:42:00 +0000

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The rest of God (10)

George Herbert on rest
The great 17^th Century Anglican priest and poet George Herbert pictured God pouring into man the gifts of beauty, wisdom, honor, and pleasure, but not pouring into man the gifts of rest and satisfaction. Herbert’s reasoning went that if God did pour into man these last two, men would only remember the gifts of God to the exclusion of remembering God Himself. Expressing this poetically, Herbert depicts God stating:

He would adore My gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature.…
God decided it would be better for us to be rich,
yet weary and hungry:
If goodness leade him not, yet weariness
May tosse him to My breast.

Knowing and Imagination

kmoreland@wilberforce.org (T. M. Moore) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 05:51:04 +0000

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The importance of knowing how we know (6)

And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” Genesis 11:6

Reason gives rise to imagination
Knowing is an ongoing process in human beings. It begins at birth and continues as long as we pursue it according to all the available means. Once the various aspects of knowing begin to interact – authorities, experience, and reason – knowing and learning become a way of life. People are always using things they have learned in the past, and they are always embarking on various quests for more knowledge, to enhance their experience and enrich their lives.

The Healing of a Man’s Withered Hand on the Sabbath

michael_zilles@pfm.org (David R. Sincerbox) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 05:52:00 +0000

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Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11
The rest of God (9)

A few months ago I spied a pastor I knew at a local coffee shop who took Sabbath seriously and sat down to talk with him. In the course of our conversation, he expressed dismay that his wife had signed him up to be a volunteer in a medical and dental mission that would serve the poor the next Sunday afternoon. I shared with him my insights I’d gained from my study of these passages, and his dismay turned to joy.

A mistaken attempt to keep the Sabbath pure
This group of Pharisees that is criticizing Jesus for his activities on the Sabbath in the above passages is attempting to keep the Sabbath atmosphere pure, but instead they are actually polluting it. In the last installment in this series, we discussed the fact that Pharisaic thought was not monolithic, although we can get that mistaken impression from the gospels. This particular group of Pharisees that became increasingly antagonistic to Jesus consisted of a hard core Pharisaic school that was politically aligned with the Sadducees, the Herodians, and the Romans. The Pharisaic movement was quite broad and Jesus was very sympathetic to the best of Pharisaic thought, using their own argumentative processes as He encountered this hard core group. Jesus always went back to the spirit of the Law and also showed that in the diverse views of the Halakhah, the Oral Law, certain spiritually sensitive rabbis of the past were also aware of the true spirit of the Law.

Knowing and Reason (5)

kmoreland@wilberforce.org (T. M. Moore) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 05:26:36 +0000

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Knowing: What, How, and Why? (5)

I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under the heaven. Ecclesiastes 1:13

Soaking up knowledge
Human beings are information sponges. We seem to have an insatiable desire to know things, or, at least, to have acquaintance with a wide range of information and experiences. Whether our sources are respected authorities – writers, teachers, parents, knowledgeable others – or our own experience of the world, we are continuously seeking and absorbing new information.

InDepth

The Wise Ask for Wisdom

Cultivating Wisdom (3)

Knowing and Doing

Knowing: What, How, and Why? (9)

Gut Feeling

Knowing: What, How, and Why? (8)

Wisdom Gained through Trials

Cultivating Wisdom (2)

''Wise as Serpents''

Cultivating Wisdom (1)

Art as a Way of Knowing

Knowing: What, How, and Why? (7)

Sabbath: What We Have Learned

The rest of God (10)

Knowing and Imagination

The importance of knowing how we know (6)

The Healing of a Man’s Withered Hand on the Sabbath

Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11The rest of God (9)

Knowing and Reason (5)

Knowing: What, How, and Why? (5)

Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11
The rest of God (9)