Philosophy Good or Bad?

[Guest jckduboise]

thank you for your insight and response.

[Rober H]

My philosophy on excercise is to train in an eclectic manner. Use "shock and awe" training methods. Low reps and high resistance for a while and then switch to lower resistance and higher reps. Sometimes I do both in the same workout.

I didn't get this philosophy from the Word of God. Am I wrong?

My credo is "I am may be stupid but at least I am ugly and no one can take that away from me". That is the way I look at it. I could be wrong. After all, I was wrong once before so it's possible it could happen again.

[Rober H]

Webster's 1828 dictionary

philosophy

PHILOS'OPHY, n. L. philosophia; Gr. love, to love, and wisdom.

1. Literally, the love of wisdom. But in modern acceptation, philosophy is a general term denoting an explanation of the reasons of things; or an investigation of the causes of all phenomena both of mind and of matter. When applied to any particular department of knowledge, it denotes the collection of general laws or principles under which all the subordinate phenomena or facts relating to that subject, are comprehended. Thus, that branch of philosophy which treats of God, &c. is called theology; that which treats of nature, is called physics or natural philosophy; that which treats of man is called logic and ethics, or moral philosophy; that which treats of the mind is called intellectual or mental philosophy, or metaphysics.

The objects of philosophy are to ascertain facts or truth, and the causes of things or their phenomena; to enlarge our views of God and his works, and to render our knowledge of both practically useful and subservient to human happiness.

True religion and true philosophy must ultimately arrive at the same principle.

2. Hypothesis or system on which natural effects are explained.

We shall in vain interpret their words by the notions of our philosophy and the doctrines in our schools.

3. Reasoning; argumentation.

4. Course of sciences read in the schools.

God's Word is Truth

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

[Guest jckduboise]

Webster's 1828 dictionary

philosophy

PHILOS'OPHY, n. L. philosophia; Gr. love, to love, and wisdom.

1. Literally, the love of wisdom. But in modern acceptation, philosophy is a general term denoting an explanation of the reasons of things; or an investigation of the causes of all phenomena both of mind and of matter. When applied to any particular department of knowledge, it denotes the collection of general laws or principles under which all the subordinate phenomena or facts relating to that subject, are comprehended. Thus, that branch of philosophy which treats of God, &c. is called theology; that which treats of nature, is called physics or natural philosophy; that which treats of man is called logic and ethics, or moral philosophy; that which treats of the mind is called intellectual or mental philosophy, or metaphysics.

The objects of philosophy are to ascertain facts or truth, and the causes of things or their phenomena; to enlarge our views of God and his works, and to render our knowledge of both practically useful and subservient to human happiness.

True religion and true philosophy must ultimately arrive at the same principle.

2. Hypothesis or system on which natural effects are explained.

We shall in vain interpret their words by the notions of our philosophy and the doctrines in our schools.

3. Reasoning; argumentation.

4. Course of sciences read in the schools.

God's Word is Truth

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

So, the definition of the word is quite wordy. I see that there is a different term used regarding philosophy of God being called Theology. Okay that makes sense.

I personally have the philosophy that philosophy is a lot of garbage spilling out of the mouth to appear to others as if we are WISE....wisdom comes from the love and word of God, philosophy of man probably comes mostly from the love that man has for himself. But then I could be wrong and I am sure that many will point to my words and say that I am.

I guess I spent too many years in places where "philosophy" was used in order to justify actions.

I personally will stick with what Paul said to Laodicea in Col 2:1-10

In Him

[Kabowd]

Philosophy is extremely important. Why?

1. For one, every university operates under certain philosophies (and in secular universities, most often these philosophies are in opposition to Christianity). Yet, more and more people are going to college, sending their children to college, and graduating with professional degrees. Teachers, lawyers, artists, film makers, journalists, business administrators, etc.....these are people who come out of the university, eager to engage the world and help shape our culture. But if they don't have a solid foundation (a Christian worldview), if they have no understanding of the secular philosophies they are being taught, they will simply absorb them and adopt them as their own. Christianity then becomes an add-on to their profession, instead of being a fully orbed worldview. This is why we see Christian political leaders, Christian lawyers, Christian teachers, Christian artists, Christian musicians, etc....who don't seem to reflect Christ in many of their professional decisions. They received training for their careers, but kept their Christianity in a seperate compartment. Or even worse, they abandon their Christianity altogether. I've read some statistics that upwards of 3/4 of teenagers abandon their faith once they head off to college. Why is this being accepted? If an army lost 75% of it's soldiers it would be considered defeated. Yet this is what is happening with the minds of countless believers as they head off to college. We aren't prepared, and we don't have solid, Christian thinkers giving us biblical, intellectual tools to be able to combat the world's philosophies. Contrast that to generations ago, when preparing the mind was seen as being of utmost importance. In fact, it was intellectual Christians who believed that developing a person's mind was just as important as training them for ministry...it was these believers who started our major universities such as Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

2. Evangelism isn't just about saving souls, it's also about saving minds. Post-modernism, humanism, hedonism, materialism, pragmatism, these are philosophies that have not only infiltrated our secular culture, but are increasingly being accepted into our churches. This is because believers have been less concerned about engaging a person's intellect and have over-emphasized the "heart". Our society is increasingly intellectual, and yet believers often neglect this part of the person and increasingly become anti-intellectual. We have to maintain believers who are both spiritually mature and intellectually mature, so they can rise up in the midst of our culture and show that Christianity is an intellectually viable option as opposed to any other secular philosophy out there.

3. Philosophical thinking is part of the human intellect designed by God. Part of being created in the image of God involves the fact that we are capable of using logic and reason to process things. There is no other part of creation that is as intellectually advanced as we are. God Himself is rational, knowledgeable, wise and reasonable. Language and communication are expressions of the intellect. The fact that God became "the Word" in flesh shows His desire for relationship and that His wisdom was incarnate (in the person of Jesus Christ). Not only that, but God has always engaged humans intellectually. In Isaiah 1:18, He even invites us to come and "reason" with Him. While other "gods" and religions (such as Eastern religions) focus on abandoning the mind, or have leaders who are irrational and imposible to understand, we have a God who wants us to love Him with all of our hearts and minds. He doesn't ask us to lay aside reason in order to do so.

4. As believers, we are commanded to use our minds to glorify God. This is going to involve thinking logically, philosophically and intellectually because this is part of God's design. 2 Timothy 2:15, 1 Timothy 4:15-16, 1 Peter 3:15...these are just a few verses where we are taught that diligent study of God's Word as well as understanding how to defend it are important.

5. Scripture does show evidence that there is much to be learned extra-biblically. While the Bible is our authority and everything should be weighed against it, this does not mean we cannot gain wisdom and knowledge from other sources. The Bible verifies this A few examples would be: in Proverbs 6:6, Solomon refers to the ants (nature) as a source of wisdom if they are studied and considered (note that this would involve logic and the intellect), also there are references in Scripture where the wisdom of other cultures is recognized (the Phoenicians in Zechariah 9:2, the Edomites in Jeremiah 49:7, Egypt in Isaiah 19:11-13, and human wisdom in Job 28:1-11), another example is Paul quoting pagan philosophers in Acts 17:28, and quoting a secular Greek poet in Titus 1:12.

6. If that weren't enough, Jesus Himself is a great example of someone who was well-studied and highly intellectual. Besides spending the majority of His life "growing in knowledge and wisdom", He used laws of logic in order to debate His opponents arguments and refute them. In fact, a prime example of his debating skills and wisdom is found in Matthew 22 when the Sadducees tried to trap Him with the question about a woman who had been married seven times. Jesus had apparently studied Sadducean theology and philosophy, and knowing that they did not accept the ressurection, He carefully chose His words for His response. The quote He chose was one of most importance to the Sadducees: "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob". J.P. Moreland explains that he was confused by this verse and was curious as to why Christ didn't use another verses like Daniel 12:2 to affirm the ressurrection. But after further study, he learned that the Sadducees did not accept the full authority of the prophets, including Daniel. This only confirms that Christ gave us an ingenius example of how to thoughtfully (and intellectually) respond to those who oppose us. As Moreland points out, Jesus did these things here: 1) showed His familiarity with His opponent's point of view; 2) appealed to common ground (using a text He knew they would accept) instead of quoting a biblical text that He accepted but they rejected (ex. Daniel 12:2); and 3) He used the laws of logic to dissect His opponent's argument and refute it powerfully.

Interestingly, the event aboved occurs in the very same chapter where Christ proclaims, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (vs. 37). Pretty cool that He had just displayed what this should look like

[Guest Jesse R. Bassett]

Philosophy is just questioning the unknown.

Where's the harm in that?

[Kabowd]

Philosophy is just questioning the unknown.

Where's the harm in that?

According to who? Just curious...have you read anything else in this topic?

[apothanein kerdos]

My philosophy on excercise is to train in an eclectic manner. Use "shock and awe" training methods. Low reps and high resistance for a while and then switch to lower resistance and higher reps. Sometimes I do both in the same workout.

I didn't get this philosophy from the Word of God. Am I wrong? noidea.gif

You are taking care of your body which is a temple to God. In order to do exercise you have to admit that your body is important and worth taking care of. This places an inherent value upon it in which God has called us to do (i.e. our bodies are His temple). So yes, your exercise philosophy does fall in tune with scripture.

I personally have the philosophy that philosophy is a lot of garbage spilling out of the mouth to appear to others as if we are WISE....wisdom comes from the love and word of God, philosophy of man probably comes mostly from the love that man has for himself. But then I could be wrong and I am sure that many will point to my words and say that I am.

I guess I spent too many years in places where "philosophy" was used in order to justify actions.

I personally will stick with what Paul said to Laodicea in Col 2:1-10

I think you need to be careful in lumping in all philosophies. For instance, it is my major (along with history), will be my master's, and eventually will be my doctorate. I have studied the worldly philosophies and also the Christian one. When I talk to someone, Christian or non-Chrisitan, with a philosophy that competes with Christianity, I try and show them the error in their philosophy and how Christianity's way of viewing the world is the only correct one. It also goes back to the only way to see the world this way is not simply by acknowledging it intellctually (though this is part of it) but by having Christ in your life. This, to me, doesn't qualify as being garbage .

You are correct that worldly philosophies (which is not all philosophy) is man's attempt to uplift man...even in philosophies that put him down (such as ecocentrism). This is because man is attempting to rationalize being autonomous from God. Kant tried to argue that morals are developed from within man, Baudrillard tried to argue man is free from morality because it's not natural. Every philosophy away from God is simply man's attempt to justify his existence without God.

It is okay to follow what Paul said so long as you do not end up condemning all philosophers in the process. Remember, Paul himself was a philosopher, and in the modern age Christian philosophers are the ones who are fighting for Christianity and trying to win over people at the academic level. We are not critical of someone who witnesses to the homeless by reaching them on their level, so we should not be critical of someone who reaches the self-declared "intellectuals" on their level either.

Philosophy is just questioning the unknown.

Where's the harm in that?

noidea.gif

No, Philosophy is not questioning the unknown. It is a study and a love for knowledge, that is what the original Greek term means. The definition you bring forth is a modern construct from post-modern beliefs. Philosophy use to work in absolutes until Post-Modernism came about...now philosophy is considered subjective. It has always, however, been considered absolute. Christianity is the only one that can justify it's claim to absoluteness though.

[thechild]

we are expected to be clear-headed and rational thinkers. much of the study of philosophy focuses on logic. i love to do those logic problems in the game books.

and as far as the word of god being the truth, it is all truth, but it is not all of the truth. in fact, it says all the books in the world could not contain all the could be written. think about it.

[Rober H]

we are expected to be clear-headed and rational thinkers. much of the study of philosophy focuses on logic. i love to do those logic problems in the game books.

and as far as the word of god being the truth, it is all truth, but it is not all of the truth. in fact, it says all the books in the world could not contain all the could be written. think about it.

The bible contains all the truth pertaining to faith and practice God has deemed fit for us to have. Think about that.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Every heretick wants to believe that he or she has "special knowledge" that isn't in the bible. We have to be careful we don't fall into that category.

Next thing you know we will be giving "our spin" to everything in written in the bible instead of reading it for what it says.