drinking-the-hemlock-or-drinking-the-blood

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8).

Drinking the Hemlock or Drinking the Blood That “philosophy” means “love of wisdom” makes it sound simple, even noble, but this belies a complexity which defies a simple definition. Philosophy considers the nature, meaning, and purpose of existence. Those who make such an enquiry into life, or a part of it, might come to a systematized set of conclusions which they think explains how people interact with, or should respond to, their experience of existence. So defined, philosophy might be applied to practically any field of investigation. Indeed, the “PhD,” or doctoral degree, conferred on academic specialists in almost any discipline begins with an abbreviation for “philosophy.” Yet, most people seem to get through life without thinking very deeply about why, or how, they live. Indeed, they might even be averse to philosophy. It is too abstract and abstruse. Furthermore, they might fear that the struggle to understand existence will uncover something they do not want to know about its meaninglessness. However, perhaps most people are just too busy dealing with the practicalities of daily living to be distracted by such contemplations. In a sense, the Bible itself is eminently a philosophy in that it is about the nature, meaning, and purpose of life and how to live it. Yet, a basic difference between philosophy, as it is usually conceived, and the Bible is that, while philosophy is a development of the human mind, the Bible is a revelation of the divine mind. Philosophy is reasoned out and discovered by the human mind. It is an attempt from the bottom up to figure out existence. The Bible, on the other hand, eliminates this process. Instead, it simply reveals the answers to the basic questions about life. Thus, people need not ask why they live or how they should live. The Bible tells them that, and more. It reveals to them that they live because God created them, and that He created them for the purpose of glorifying Him and living with Him forever, and that they should live as He tells them in the Bible to live. This might be too simplistic or unsatisfactory for most people, but, in thousands of years of human experience, philosophers, from Socrates to Sartre, have done no better. One after another, all the varieties of human philosophy have come and gone in an endless train of futility. Their very displacement of one another says more about them than they themselves do. That philosophy falls flat in failure is no surprise. By definition, it cannot answer Job’s great question: “If a man dies, will he live again?” (14:14). That the answer lies beyond human experience puts it beyond philos ophy. Yet, if one cannot know if there is a God or existence after death or, if so, what kind it will be and whether it is affected by earthly life, how can he know why he lives or how to live? Philosophy is a vain pursuit because it cannot answer these questions. Answers to the ultimate questions must be revealed by God, not found by humanity. Three thousand years ago, Solomon said he tried through every avenue the world offered, whether by women, wine, riches, intellectual pursuits, or physical pleasures and achievements, to discover what would bring meaning, purpose, and happiness to life. In the end, he declared, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!” (1:2). He had discovered that, as Jeremiah said, “a man’s way is not in himself” (10:23), but that, as he himself said, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). So, his ultimate conclusion to everything was: “… Fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil” (Eccl. 12:13,14). In Socrates, hemlock is drunk unto death; in Christ, blood unto eternal life (Jn. 6:54).

EricTopTen.com (CC BY 2.0 DEED, Attribution 2.0 Generic) Nathan Hughes Hamilton “Death of Socrates,” 1787 by Jacques-Louis David - French, 1748-1825 (CC BY 2.0 DEED, Attribution 2.0 Generic)

Drinking the Hemlock or Drinking the Blood That “philosophy” means “love of wisdom” makes it sound simple, even noble, but this belies a complexity which defies a simple definition. Philosophy considers the nature, meaning, and purpose of existence. Those who make such an enquiry into life, or a part of it, might come to a systematized set of conclusions which they think explains how people interact with, or should respond to, their experience of existence. So defined, philosophy might be applied to practically any field of investigation. Indeed, the “PhD,” or doctoral degree, conferred on academic specialists in almost any discipline begins with an abbreviation for “philosophy.” Yet, most people seem to get through life without thinking very deeply about why, or how, they live. Indeed, they might even be averse to philosophy. It is too abstract and abstruse. Furthermore, they might fear that the struggle to understand existence will uncover something they do not want to know about its meaninglessness. However, perhaps most people are just too busy dealing with the practicalities of daily living to be distracted by such contemplations. In a sense, the Bible itself is eminently a philosophy in that it is about the nature, meaning, and purpose of life and how to live it. Yet, a basic difference between philosophy, as it is usually conceived, and the Bible is that, while philosophy is a development of the human mind, the Bible is a revelation of the divine mind. Philosophy is reasoned out and discovered by the human mind. It is an attempt from the bottom up to figure out existence. The Bible, on the other hand, eliminates this process. Instead, it simply reveals the answers to the basic questions about life. Thus, people need not ask why they live or how they should live. The Bible tells them that, and more. It reveals to them that they live because God created them, and that He created them for the purpose of glorifying Him and living with Him forever, and that they should live as He tells them in the Bible to live. This might be too simplistic or unsatisfactory for most people, but, in thousands of years of human experience, philosophers, from Socrates to Sartre, have done no better. One after another, all the varieties of human philosophy have come and gone in an endless train of futility. Their very displacement of one another says more about them than they themselves do. That philosophy falls flat in failure is no surprise. By definition, it cannot answer Job’s great question: “If a man dies, will he live again?” (14:14). That the answer lies beyond human experience puts it beyond philosophy. Yet, if one cannot know if there is a God or existence after death or, if so, what kind it will be and whether it is affected by earthly life, how can he know why he lives or how to live? Philosophy is a vain pursuit because it cannot answer these questions. Answers to the ultimate questions must be revealed by God, not found by humanity. Three thousand years ago, Solomon said he tried through every avenue the world offered, whether by women, wine, riches, intellectual pursuits, or physical pleasures and achievements, to discover what would bring meaning, purpose, and happiness to life. In the end, he declared, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!” (1:2). He had discovered that, as Jeremiah said, “a man’s way is not in himself” (10:23), but that, as he himself said, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). So, his ultimate conclusion to everything was: “… Fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil” (Eccl. 12:13,14). In Socrates, hemlock is drunk unto death; in Christ, blood unto eternal life (Jn. 6:54).

EricTopTen.com (CC BY 2.0 DEED, Attribution 2.0 Generic) Nathan Hughes Hamilton “Death of Socrates,” 1787 by Jacques-Louis David - French, 1748-1825 (CC BY 2.0 DEED, Attribution 2.0 Generic)