{"id":6154,"date":"2020-07-14T08:52:16","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T16:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=6154"},"modified":"2020-07-14T08:55:50","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T16:55:50","slug":"christianity-for-modern-pagans-vanity-of-human-reason-of-dogmatism-and-of-the-philosophers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2020\/07\/14\/christianity-for-modern-pagans-vanity-of-human-reason-of-dogmatism-and-of-the-philosophers","title":{"rendered":"Christianity For Modern Pagans: Vanity of Human Reason, of Dogmatism, and of the Philosophers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through an anno\u00adtat\u00aded trans\u00adla\u00adtion of Pascal\u2019s Pensees called Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty For Mod\u00adern Pagans<\/a>, I\u2019ll post the thoughts I\u2019m email\u00ading the stu\u00addents here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). They are all tagged sum\u00admer-read\u00ading-project-2020<\/a>. The read\u00ading sched\u00adule is online<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week we\u2019re talk\u00ading about chap\u00adters 7\u20139, the van\u00adi\u00adty of human rea\u00adson, of dog\u00adma\u00adtism, and of the philoso\u00adphers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing that stood out most to me is the skep\u00adti\u00adcism that Pas\u00adcal applies to rea\u00adson. Recall that he is one of the great\u00adest sci\u00aden\u00adtists in his\u00adto\u00adry and that his pio\u00adneer\u00ading work laid the foun\u00adda\u00adtion for many fields of study. He knows well what rea\u00adson can achieve, and as a result he also real\u00adizes its lim\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026demon\u00adstra\u00adtion is not the only instru\u00adment for con\u00advinc\u00ading us. How few things can be demon\u00adstrat\u00aded! Proofs only con\u00advince the mind; habit pro\u00advides the strongest proofs and those that are most believed\u2026. We must resort to habit once the mind has seen where the truth lies, in order to steep and stain our\u00adselves in that belief\u2026, for it is too much trou\u00adble to have the proofs always present before us\u2026. When we believe only by the strength of our con\u00advic\u00adtion and the automa\u00adton is inclined to believe the oppo\u00adsite, that is not enough. We must there\u00adfore make both parts of us believe: the mind by rea\u00adsons, which need to be seen only once in a life\u00adtime, and the automa\u00adton by habit.<\/p>Pas\u00adcal, Pensee 821 (pages 99\u2013100)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is bril\u00adliant, although the trans\u00adla\u00adtion feels clum\u00adsy to me. Kreeft\u2019s com\u00admen\u00adtary on this is help\u00adful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026once rea\u00adson has con\u00advinced us to believe, we require the aid of good habits to over\u00adcome bad habit\u00adu\u00adal ten\u00adden\u00adcies in the oppo\u00adsite direc\u00adtion. There\u00adfore we must act as if we believed, go to church and so forth, thus habit\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading the automa\u00adton to obey what rea\u00adson has dis\u00adcov\u00adered to be true. Habit is not an hon\u00adest sub\u00adsti\u00adtute for rea\u00adson, but it is an hon\u00adest and need\u00aded ser\u00advant to rea\u00adson. If we try to fight against irra\u00adtional\u00adi\u00adty with rea\u00adson alone, we will lose. We need crud\u00ader weapons too.<\/p>Kreeft\u2019s com\u00admen\u00adtary on Pensee 821, page 100<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is one rea\u00adson that Chris\u00adt\u00adian com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty is often so instru\u00admen\u00adtal in some\u00adone\u2019s con\u00adver\u00adsion. Rea\u00adson, like a map, can guide peo\u00adple to Christ but only if they actu\u00adal\u00adly fol\u00adlow the direc\u00adtions. Oth\u00ader parts of their self must be engaged for the jour\u00adney to take place, and these parts are most com\u00admon\u00adly called forth through rela\u00adtion\u00adships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also occurs to me that this may be a good way to explain why Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty has such a coun\u00adter\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal per\u00adspec\u00adtive on sex. Sex engages the whole per\u00adson and can either do so in a way that rein\u00adforces the gospel mes\u00adsage or in a way that under\u00admines it (see Eph\u00adesians 5:31\u201332 and 1 Cor 6:12\u201320). Paul lays this out in Romans 1:18\u201327<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18<\/sup>The wrath of God is being revealed from heav\u00aden against all the god\u00adless\u00adness and wicked\u00adness of peo\u00adple, who sup\u00adpress the truth by their wicked\u00adness, 19<\/sup>since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20<\/sup>For since the cre\u00adation of the world God\u2019s invis\u00adi\u00adble qualities\u2014his eter\u00adnal pow\u00ader and divine nature\u2014have been clear\u00adly seen, being under\u00adstood from what has been made, so that peo\u00adple are with\u00adout excuse.<\/p>

21<\/sup>For although they knew God, they nei\u00adther glo\u00adri\u00adfied him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their think\u00ading became futile and their fool\u00adish hearts were dark\u00adened. 22<\/sup>Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23<\/sup>and exchanged the glo\u00adry of the immor\u00adtal God for images made to look like a mor\u00adtal human being and birds and ani\u00admals and rep\u00adtiles.<\/p>

24<\/sup>There\u00adfore God gave them over in the sin\u00adful desires of their hearts to sex\u00adu\u00adal impu\u00adri\u00adty for the degrad\u00ading of their bod\u00adies with one anoth\u00ader. 25<\/sup>They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and wor\u00adshiped and served cre\u00adat\u00aded things rather than the Creator\u2014who is for\u00adev\u00ader praised. Amen.<\/p>

26<\/sup>Because of this, God gave them over to shame\u00adful lusts. Even their women exchanged nat\u00adur\u00adal sex\u00adu\u00adal rela\u00adtions for unnat\u00adur\u00adal ones. 27<\/sup>In the same way the men also aban\u00addoned nat\u00adur\u00adal rela\u00adtions with women and were inflamed with lust for one anoth\u00ader. Men com\u00admit\u00adted shame\u00adful acts with oth\u00ader men, and received in them\u00adselves the due penal\u00adty for their error.<\/p>Romans 1:18\u201327 (NIV)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When peo\u00adple reject the knowl\u00adedge of God, they must build lives to rein\u00adforce that rejec\u00adtion of God. Paul says they do it using idols and sex, and he adds that they suf\u00adfer for it. Of course they do. They are liv\u00ading based on a false con\u00adcep\u00adtion of human nature, which makes it inevitable that there will be need\u00adless pain. Paula recent\u00adly had a plate shat\u00adter in the microwave. We had both assumed it was microwave-safe, but because we were wrong the shat\u00adter\u00ading was inevitable. The cause of the dam\u00adage was the inter\u00adac\u00adtion of invis\u00adi\u00adble things (the microwaves and the mol\u00ade\u00adc\u00adu\u00adlar struc\u00adture of the plate), but the result\u00ading dam\u00adage was eas\u00adi\u00adly observed. Sad\u00adly, our cul\u00adture (and many lives with\u00adin it) are shat\u00adter\u00ading and the rea\u00adsons are invis\u00adi\u00adble to many peo\u00adple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oth\u00ader thoughts from these chap\u00adters that stood out to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To rea\u00adson is to rely on rea\u00adson, and to rely on rea\u00adson is an act of faith, not of rea\u00adson. There\u00adfore rea\u00adson pre\u00adsup\u00adpos\u00ades faith\u2026 Indeed, how could rea\u00adson itself be val\u00adi\u00addat\u00aded? There are only three pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties: (1) by some\u00adthing sub\u00adra\u00adtional, like ani\u00admal instinct (which is obvi\u00adous\u00adly absurd: How can the infe\u00adri\u00ador val\u00adi\u00addate the supe\u00adri\u00ador?); or (2) by some\u00adthing ratio\u00adnal, by a piece of rea\u00adson\u00ading (which is also absurd: How can the part jus\u00adti\u00adfy the whole? All rea\u00adson is on tri\u00adal; how dare the one piece of rea\u00adson\u00ading you use to jus\u00adti\u00adfy all rea\u00adson\u00ading be exempt from tri\u00adal?); or (3) by some\u00adthing super\u00adra\u00adtional, by faith in God (which is the only pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty left).<\/p>Kreeft\u2019s com\u00admen\u00adtary on Pensee 131, pages 110\u2013111<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

FWIW, I think Kreeft\u2019s inclu\u00adsion of God in the third point is valid but it\u2019s real\u00adly some\u00adthing he should argue for. I think many skep\u00adtics would counter that some\u00adthing like the pla\u00adton\u00adic laws of log\u00adic could stand in for God in option 3, which is true but does\u00adn\u2019t get them as far away from God as they think. Hav\u00ading read oth\u00ader things by Kreeft, I believe he has had this argu\u00adment before and is mere\u00adly announc\u00ading check\u00admate when it is still not obvi\u00adous to his oppo\u00adnent that the game is over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can think skep\u00adti\u00adcism, but you can\u2019t live it.<\/p>Kreeft\u2019s com\u00admen\u00adtary on Pensee 131, page 111<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Philoso\u00adphers and the\u00adolo\u00adgians do not prac\u00adtice what they preach any bet\u00adter than the rest of us\u2013less, if they preach bet\u00adter than the rest of us.<\/p>Kreeft\u2019s com\u00admen\u00adtary on Pensee 142, page 117<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

why Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty has such a coun\u00adter\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal per\u00adspec\u00adtive on sex<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"In which Pascal helps me explain why Christianity has such a countercultural perspective on sex.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[124,140,283,163,282,137],"class_list":["post-6154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources-reviews","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-culture","tag-pascal","tag-sex","tag-summer-reading-project-2020","tag-thinking-clearly"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1Bg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6154"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6164,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6154\/revisions\/6164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}