Culture of Questions

"I know the question of 'ends' cannot safely be mentioned in the polity itself, because that would imply that some 'lifestyles' are better than others. We do not want that sort of sentiment around. Virtue cannot be a viable option, for that would mean that some things are vices. Still, as an act of rebellion, it is good to wonder about things that we are not supposed to think about."

Fr. James Schall's thoughts from On The Unseriousness of Human Affairs bring up an important facet of life which is easy to pass over: asking questions. In the hustle and bustle of each day, finding the time to sit back and contemplate life isn't easy. And, to be honest, contemplation sounds both heady and boring to most of us. Between our lack of time and the apparent lack of practicality, our culture doesn't encourage asking questions.

Or, perhaps we should say our culture does not encourage asking the right questions. When you think about it, there are all sorts of questions that we regularly ask. Who will win the next game? Is the stock market up or down this morning? Did you hear about the latest gaff from that celebrity? What is the best way to do ____? How will the President respond to this crisis? What are the polls saying about that hot button topic?

The list could continue. When we look at our questions though, how many do you see directed towards "ends?" That is, how many are focused on the purpose or reason for things? As Fr. Schall says further on:

"Those things that flow into us and those things that flow out of us belong to one world. We are not complete if we do not reflect on the highest things, or even on our own things. Nor are we complete if we do not seek to relate all things to one end, not just to any end, but to the truth of things."

Thinking about "ends" involves seeing how things fit into the truth about the world around us. While everything is unique, they are also specific parts of a whole - the whole of reality. Schall emphasizes that seeing this whole requires contemplation - specific focus on each of these facets and how they relate to and are part of the whole. Of course, in order to do this, we must know what the whole is, or at least have the framework from which to hang the other facets we encounter.

Francis Schaeffer communicated similar thoughts when he indited the Church for seeing "things in bits and pieces instead of totals." Schaeffer's concern was that focusing on the differentiation of subject matter prevented us from seeing how all of reality works together. Viewing the world as a series of compartments makes it easy to forget that these facets are part of a whole. Until we understand and know the whole, we will not be able to make sense of the facets.

This idea of knowing the whole implies that there is an absolute truth to the world - truth that applies to everyone all the time. This is why Schall regretted that questions of ends could not safely be asked in our culture- if they were to be accurately answered, we would find that some people were living life wrong because they were pursuing wrong ends. Still, he encourages us that, counter-cultural as it might be, these questions about ends are worth asking. After all, there are some things which are important enough for us to contradict the culture.

In the end, Schall and Schaeffer remind us that questions about ends are important because they require us to see reality as a whole - and in the process realize that Truth is something we see, not something we create.

In light of their thoughts, there are several questions we should ask ourselves: Do we agree that these questions ought to be asked? If so, does our personal culture and the culture we add to those around us support and encourage asking these questions? How do we encourage this kind of culture?

Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and answers. I'd be interested to hear your perspective!

It's Not Enough To Be Right...

For those of you who were not aware, I just completed a major undertaking. I finished reading Les Miserables. The work was worth it! If you haven't read it, you're in for a treat once you get there. Since I just wrapped it up, I thought I'd share one of the ideas which jumped out at me from the book.

"It's not enough to be right. You have to be right for the right reasons." Dr. Bauman hammered this key idea into us at Summit's Semester program. Arriving at the right conclusion for the wrong reasons leaves you with a weak foundation that ultimately will not support you. Victor Hugo pictured this in the character Javert.

To understand Hugo's picture though, we need to get to know Javert a bit. For Javert, right and wrong were determined by the state. If one was on the side of the state, then they were in the right and those opposed to it were in the wrong. To quote Hugo's description: "On the one hand he would say, 'A public official cannot be deceived; a magistrate is never wrong!' And on the other, "They are irremediably lost; no good can come of them.'"

Over the course of the book though, Javert's life intersects several times with Jean Valjean, the ex-convict whose life was turned around by his encounter with Bishop Myriel. Witnessing Valjean's changed life, including an act of mercy extended to Javert himself, leads to Javert to to rethink his view on the world. In the end, Javert's world is rocked:

"His ultimate anguish was the loss of all certainty. He felt uprooted. The code was no longer anything but a stump in his hand. He was dealing with scruples of an unknown species. Within him there was a revelation of feeling entirely distinct from the declarations of the law, his only standard hitherto...An entire new world appeared to his soul...a mysterious justice according to God going counter to justice according to men. In the darkness he could see the fearful rising of an unknown moral sun; he was horrified and blinded by it. An owl compelled to an eagle's gaze."

Javert had, generally speaking, arrived at the right view of the world. The government is designed to enforce God's rule. To the degree that it does, rebellion against it is rebellion against God. However, Javert's foundation was the assumption that the government is infallible and therefore the standard for right and wrong. Discredit that assumption, make God the foundation, and nothing makes sense anymore for Javert. "He felt uprooted...An owl compelled to an eagle's gaze."

There are two lessons here for us. First, why you believe what you believe is just as important as what you believe. We shouldn't be content to settle for what seems to be the right answer - our goal should be to know why it is the right answer. Second, we should remember where absolute truth resides - in God. As hard as we work to understand "why", we will inevitably go astray, or find places where we have gone astray in the past, or find that we don't understand "why" as much as we should. The fact is, these discoveries can be unsettling. Suddenly realizing that the house you had worked hard to build was built with cards can be deeply disturbing. Remembering that God is the source of truth can help us to realize that what we are experiencing is not the world falling apart, but us realigning with the world as God created it.

I've found myself in Javert's shoes before and it's a pretty safe guess that I'll be back in them before long. Odds are, you're in a similar boat. Let's learn from Javert's experience and realize that even after doing our due diligence in studying out why we believe something, we could be wrong. Unlike Javert, finding out that we were wrong should not destroy us. Instead, we can turn to God as the source of all Truth for the answers we need and build again on a solid foundation.

Have you had an "owl compelled to an eagle's gaze" experience before? If so, what have you learned from it - whether a change in your thinking or lessons for how to work with similar experiences in the future?

Good Community is Annoying Community

The purpose of community is annoyance. That is, we need our community to annoy us. Put practically, if your community is not annoying you, you're not getting all you could out of it.

This idea was presented by my Pastor during last Sunday's evening worship service. We were considering how God often uses other people to change us into Christ's image. As a member of a large family, I can attest to the truth of this statement! This being the case, you should expect the members of your community to be annoying at times. If we are not being annoyed, then we are not growing into Christ's image. Unless of course you are Jesus' mirror image, but if you are think that, you're probably not there yet.

So, how annoying is your community? If you are never annoyed by them, odds are you are not really interacting with them enough. Consider some of these thoughts on being in a community and start jumping in a little more. It's not easy and will hurt some, but it's one of the ways that we can open ourselves to God's sanctifying process.

How has your community annoyed your recently? What has this taught you about yourself and helped you grow in Christ's image?

The Head of the Trail

Well, I’m taking the plunge here and beginning a blog. It has been on my to do list for a while, but the time to get an initial post out never quite materialized (until now). As we start this path (assuming you’ll travel a little with me) it would probably be helpful if I explain to you where we’re headed.

As you may have guessed from the title of the blog, the posts you will read will be primarily theological in nature. The title is a reference to Dr. Michael Bauman’s book “Pilgrim Theology.” In this book, Dr. Bauman encourages the reader to avoid resting in their current knowledge of God, and instead continue exploring deeper into what the Bible says about Him. In this sense, theology is much like a journey into God’s revelation of who He is. Whether you like it or not, because you are human this is a journey you are already on. The question is whether you will pursue the trail in earnest, or merely play at being a pilgrim. Dr. Charles Ryrie puts it this way:

“Theology is for everyone. Indeed, everyone needs to be a theologian. In reality, everyone is a theologian — of one sort or another. And therein lies the problem. There is nothing wrong with being an amateur theologian or a professional theologian, but there is everything wrong with being an ignorant or sloppy theologian.”

Hopefully this blog will serve as a log book of sorts for my journey. Sometimes the entries will be clear and the thoughts well defined. Other times, they will contain questions for which I have yet to find the answers. In either case though, I hope that these musings will serve to encourage you to press on your pilgrimage and not give up, even when the trail is rough. Who knows, they may even shed some light on your way! Conversely, I’m looking forward to hearing from you, and getting your insight into the Truth as we go!

What are we waiting for? Let’s hit the trail!