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.