How do you know?

How do you know? Terry Dashner (www.ffcba.com) If you and I are trying to decide whether a public building is built well, it will matter a great deal whether we are viewing it as architects, builders, artisans, or safety inspectors. Are you familiar with the term "Cognitive Styles?" Quoting from Dr. Stackhouse's book, Humble Apologetics Defending the Faith Today (Oxford Press, 2002) it says, "When we seek to engage our neighbor on a matter of faith, it is crucial to make sure that we are thinking together in the same mode, not just about the same subject matter. If we look together at the same question but in quite different cognitive styles, it is unlikely we will come to the same conclusion." That's right. Not everyone thinks alike. As a matter of fact, there is a long trail of cognitive styles in the West from the eighteenth century (Enlightenment period) to the current day post-modernism. The Enlightenment period came about from the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. Another name for it is the "Age of Reasoning." Dr. Stackhouse says, "First, when it came to matters of epistemology--that is, the philosophy of knowledge--the Enlightenment put its confidence in reason and experience. Rationalists might follow Rene Descartes's lead and emphasize the former; empiricists might follow John Locke instead and emphasize the latter. But both sorts believed that the surest route to knowledge of the world lay in the appropriate use of what the senses said, what people felt within, and what disciplined reflection made of it all." Then again, there is another cognitive style that came about not long after the Enlightenment had made its inroads into Western culture. Romanticism looked to intuition and feeling. According to scholars who study this period, truth was reality to be felt and absorbed, not data to be retrieved and analyzed. Whereas the Enlightenment period had been keen on scientific experiments--objective facts--Romanticism was passionately subjective. Although both movements agreed that truth was discoverable, they disagreed on the best way to discover it. In simple, Romantics "embraced" things and discovered truth. Rationalists discovered truth by taking things apart. How do you discover truth? "As the nineteenth century progressed, new currents developed that both carried forward previous elements and added new ones" says Stackhouse. The Enlightenment had hoped to devise universal laws that governed all things past, present, and future. But in the nineteenth century a number of influential thinkers began to see that, while such universal laws might still be discoverable, what they described were processes that could be understood properly only over time--and sometimes very long periods of time indeed. So, in order to truly discern something, one needed to look beyond its surface and present moment to understand the reality. One could find truth if one knew where and how to look for it. Today all three modes--Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Process--continue to excel in the intellectual culture of modern times; however, none of them dominate or corner the way we seek truth. Although I've given you a short history lesson on Western intellectualism, I have something more to say. God is truth. His truth became incarnate--took on flesh and blood--in the person of Jesus Christ. Not only did Jesus manifest the truth of the Father, by the help of the Holy Spirit we have the ability to recognize truth and receive it. Why is truth important? Who would want to live and die for a lie? If I'm convinced I'm walking in truth, I'll lay down my life for it if necessary; however if I know the cause that I am living for is based on deception, I will be reluctant to promote it, not to mention dying for it." Jesus said that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Whereas others might believe that Jesus is a way, a truth, or an alternative life, for me, Jesus has become "The...!" Keep the faith. Stay the course. Jesus is coming soon...He said He would. And He wouldn't lie to us, honestly. Pastor T.