part 1 was about why i am writing a blog. the next question ought to be this: why should you care for what i have to say? if that reflects your thoughts, then i agree with the questioning. time is important and no one ought to spend it reading or doing things that don't matter-when they could be using it in another, more profitable way (what is profitable? yet another great topic!). so, my responsibility in these first two posts is to explain why you should come back to read again. what do a feeble 22 year-old's musings have to do with life, goodness, truth, reality, and the rest of the world? but if what i say matters (you think we ought to have a criteria for that one!?), then it ought to be at least thought about. i'm not anything special-not a genius or a scholar. i simply love to think hard about life and ask the right questions. here is why i think you should care...
1) because in a sense, we are all ignorant. no one, not the greatest minds nor the most successful men are so wise to think that they have nothing to learn from even the smallest child. i have much to learn from any who read this blog-educated or uneducated, young or old. in turn, you have something to learn from me. we are all capable of self-deception and faulty reasoning, so we ought not ignore what others have to say simply because they are of a lower "status".
2) because everyone has questions. you and i are alike in that we are both alive and forced to make sense out of his world. where are the answers? i seek to ask the right questions and to point to what i believe are the correct answers to life's greatest questions:
- who am i? how do i relate to God, the world, and to fellow man?
- why are we here? do we have purpose? is it all for nothing? what's worth living and dying for?
- what happens after death?
- is there morality and how do we know? how should we live? how can we have true happiness?
- what's true?
these questions are inescapable, and how you answer then determines who you are and how you live.
3) because everyone experiences suffering. hopefully this isn't news to anyone. how do we explain evil? are belief in God and evil-when held simultaneously-incompatible? why would God allow evil? how could God be omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent, yet allow evil?
4) because everyone is, whether you know it or not, in a search for true answers. we can have an answer, but how do we know it's true?
5) because everyone must trust in something. we cannot live one day without trusting in things. when we drive, we trust in the driver on the other side of the road to obey the rules of the road and stay on his side. at restaurants, we trust cooks to prepare good food, rather than poisoning us. we trust chairs when we sit-that they are able to hold us. but we don't just trust in little things like airplanes, chairs, drivers and cooks. we ultimately put our trust in something or someone to give us true answers to life's big questions. therefore, what we trust matters immensely! if am to ride an airplane i must be justified in trusting that airplane ot bring me safely to my destination. among others, i must have good reason (justification or warrant) in believing that the pilot is sober, well-educated, well-trained and well-rested; that the plane has been fueled, and all systems are properly functioning. if i don't have good reason to believe those things, then i will not ride the plane. if trusting a plane takes such work, then how are we approaching life's questions (if at all)? what are we trusting in for the answers to questions that are much bigger than airplanes?
6) because deep down everyone desires true happiness, joy, goodness, beauty, truth, flourishing, etc. but we cannot attain these unless we can define them and know how to get them. for without defining our end, we pursue wrong ends. and if we never know how to get to the right end, then our means are accompanied by mere good intention and we fail to reach the truly happy end. is happiness a feeling or a state? is it a knowledge or a status? is it a fulfillment of a desire or a performing of a function? how can we be happy if we don't know what it is? the apostle peter, david hume, hillary clinton, barack obama, and all others who have walked this earth wanted the same thing: true happiness. what isn't the same for us all is the definition and the road map. obama has different ideas and beliefs on how to get there. what ought we do with this difference?
all six categories and more will be addressed in one way or another in this blog. i invite you to come, listen, think, and ask. but not so that we can be intelligent for the sake of being intelligent. but so that you may learn, understand and live well.
note: hopefully, you are at least on the road to becoming someone who "thinks hard" and asks the right questions. i can't do it for you.
wesley a chambers
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
what's the point? part 1
the title hopefully expresses what you're thinking right now. what's the point of another blog, right? i would like to share why i am attempting to make a minuscule contribution to this big world through blogging.
1) there is a sense in which we humans find relief, joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment when we simply express things-regardless of who beholds it. it is as if we are accomplishing something that we are meant to for. it is not my desire to write so that i will change people, the world, or whatever cliche might suffice. i simply want to write things because they are worth writing as an end to themselves. some things in life-indeed, many things-are worth saying or writing simply because they ought to be said or written. it is not of my concern to know who, if anyone, reads my words. i find joy in having a voice and in sayings things for their own sake. would i love to see change and do i hope my words ignite change for the better? yes, but i will not treat this blog as a means to my own or another persons end, but as an end in and of itself; put simply, i write because i believe that what i have to say my words are worth writing. that which is good, true, or beautiful is worth expressing for its own sake. it seems that the apostle paul understood this. he proclaimed the gospel as an end in itself, spoken because it true; it is the absolute best news anyone could hear. he did not tell it for his own end. when he went to nero, he probably knew that it would take a miracle of God to bring the emperor to repentance. but he did it anyway because it's not primarily about who will or won't belief, but about proclaiming truth; proclaiming it for its own sake, that is virtuous. when we use it for another end we can often lose its purpose and its value.
2) i am blogging because i believe in the things i am saying. if Jesus is who He is said to be and if the Bible is true then who we are, what we belief, how we live and think, and what we do matters and is of the utmost importance. if Jesus is God then we can't just go on living as if He isn't;the implications are huge. so, i would be a wicked fool so say i believed, yet did nothing. this blog is a "something" i hope will have impact but exists simply because this stuff is true. your view of God, man, the world and how you relate to each matters and must be pondered. socrates' maxim, "the unexamined life is not worth living" rings true here. we are responsible for how we lived. we can't say, "it isn't my fault, i didn't know that X" when were so distracted from life that we refused to investigate what is real and true; we are to seek, but most are to busy and distracted by games, parties, or work and are stuck in a comfortable bubble that shelters them from real living. we are culpable for our ignorance. i also write so that we won't be ignorant any longer. if what i believe is true, then we are for something; and i care far too much to be silent.
3) i will be bringing up thoughts and topics that are seldom heard within the modern evangelical church context. they must be said and i will do my best to define and display their importance with clarity.
4) i am writing a blog to increase my capacity to express thoughts clearly.
5) i am writing a blog because i love teaching through speaking and writing. yet, i am for the first time in 2 years without a direct platform to teach and express what i am learning and how i am growing. so, this is my platform. an artist experiences emptiness when he cannot "do" art; it is what he loves. i am writing because, in a sense, it helps me stay sane! i can express even when no one will listen.
1) there is a sense in which we humans find relief, joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment when we simply express things-regardless of who beholds it. it is as if we are accomplishing something that we are meant to for. it is not my desire to write so that i will change people, the world, or whatever cliche might suffice. i simply want to write things because they are worth writing as an end to themselves. some things in life-indeed, many things-are worth saying or writing simply because they ought to be said or written. it is not of my concern to know who, if anyone, reads my words. i find joy in having a voice and in sayings things for their own sake. would i love to see change and do i hope my words ignite change for the better? yes, but i will not treat this blog as a means to my own or another persons end, but as an end in and of itself; put simply, i write because i believe that what i have to say my words are worth writing. that which is good, true, or beautiful is worth expressing for its own sake. it seems that the apostle paul understood this. he proclaimed the gospel as an end in itself, spoken because it true; it is the absolute best news anyone could hear. he did not tell it for his own end. when he went to nero, he probably knew that it would take a miracle of God to bring the emperor to repentance. but he did it anyway because it's not primarily about who will or won't belief, but about proclaiming truth; proclaiming it for its own sake, that is virtuous. when we use it for another end we can often lose its purpose and its value.
2) i am blogging because i believe in the things i am saying. if Jesus is who He is said to be and if the Bible is true then who we are, what we belief, how we live and think, and what we do matters and is of the utmost importance. if Jesus is God then we can't just go on living as if He isn't;the implications are huge. so, i would be a wicked fool so say i believed, yet did nothing. this blog is a "something" i hope will have impact but exists simply because this stuff is true. your view of God, man, the world and how you relate to each matters and must be pondered. socrates' maxim, "the unexamined life is not worth living" rings true here. we are responsible for how we lived. we can't say, "it isn't my fault, i didn't know that X" when were so distracted from life that we refused to investigate what is real and true; we are to seek, but most are to busy and distracted by games, parties, or work and are stuck in a comfortable bubble that shelters them from real living. we are culpable for our ignorance. i also write so that we won't be ignorant any longer. if what i believe is true, then we are for something; and i care far too much to be silent.
3) i will be bringing up thoughts and topics that are seldom heard within the modern evangelical church context. they must be said and i will do my best to define and display their importance with clarity.
4) i am writing a blog to increase my capacity to express thoughts clearly.
5) i am writing a blog because i love teaching through speaking and writing. yet, i am for the first time in 2 years without a direct platform to teach and express what i am learning and how i am growing. so, this is my platform. an artist experiences emptiness when he cannot "do" art; it is what he loves. i am writing because, in a sense, it helps me stay sane! i can express even when no one will listen.
be blessed as you continue living and loving, striving and struggling in and for the only Kingdom that matters: christus rex...
what's the point? part 2 coming soon --> why should you care?
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