I know, I know...I can hear you yelling at me, "Where have you been?" Well, for all of last week I attended the "Acton University" in downtown Grand Rapids for the "study of religion and liberty." It was a wonderful week of high octane learning. In truth, after all the classes were over, my brain temporarily shut down for three days. I felt like watching some old Sponge Bob episodes just so I wouldn't lose some of my precious irrationality that Acton successfully stripped away. (I didn't watch Sponge Bob, but maybe...The Walking Dead). I still am in process of downloading all the information my tiny brain has absorbed in one short week. And to help with that I am going to take the next month or so of Wednesdays and call them "AI" blogs. "AI" stands for Acton Insights. I think the information I learned is vital for all of us to consider as we engage people around us. And I also was encouraged by the directors of Acton University to spread what we learned, not just selfishly keep it to ourselves. If we are going to change the landscape of our culture it must start with us. So here I go... Today's insight will be small since this is an introductory post, but it is profound. Dr. Samuel Gregg spoke the first night on "Truth, Reason, and the Quest for Equality." I will share my notes and extrapolations: He began his lecture stating that the Universities of our country were originally founded to be places that searched for truth. Harvard's motto of "Veritas" spoke to this pursuit. Truth was assumed to be the property of God and it was found through reason. So in short, by studying both General Revelation (God's Book of the World) and Special Revelation (God's Book of his Word, 'Logos') man was on a search for knowing God. But that is not the case anymore. Dr. Gregg argued that the search for God has been replaced with "Sentimental Humanitarianism." Two big words, which mean one thing: We now just want to make people feel better, mostly about themselves. The problem he says with this, is that "truth" often is an enemy to Sentimental Humanitarianism. So instead of reason and rational argument, public discourse has taken on three troubling positions: (1) Most Debates are Centered on Feeling: When emotions under gird argument two groups will usually win: the person who cries and the person who feels offended. It was at this point in the lecture he threw out his most brilliant gem of thought, "We must always remember, there is nothing virtuous about being offended!" Wow, boy do people need to hear this. Proverbs 12:16 agrees with this, "A fool's displeasure is known at once, but whoever ignores an insult is sensible." Therein lies the problem, public debate is rarely sensible anymore. (2) Sentimental Humanitarianism Necessitates Naivety: Just because a person can cry doesn't mean they are good or right. Our society, however, has been conditioned to believe differently. We are told by the societal elites (these are the people who think they care about others more than you do) to look past motive and reality, and assume always the best of intentions. So when it comes to ISIS, what does Sentimental Humanitarianism want us to believe about their blatant display of evil? We must project some social trouble that made them that way. Maybe they couldn't find a good job so the only option left was slitting throats? Who can blame them? Everyone is intrinsically good...right? (3) Refusal to take Reason Seriously: If truth takes you to a conclusion that might make someone feel bad, there must be something wrong with the truth? If raising children with no father and a mom who ships their kids off to daycare produces less mature and well adjusted children, the research must be faulty because "Single moms wont like it." Try telling the world that Government subsidies lead to dependence which leads to apathy. Oh boy, that will not play well on TV. So instead of direct truth, we need soft-sell narratives, culturally shared stories and celebrities to suppress the truth while shouting down those cold-hearted rationalists. This was how the Acton experience started off for me. It is just a nibble, so I hope you will join me on Wednesdays to eat some more? Remember, just because you cry, or feel offended, doesn't mean you are right.
3 Comments
Jared
6/24/2015 12:15:33 am
Welcome back! The nibble tasted good! Give us the cake!
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chris
6/24/2015 03:06:59 am
You shall HAVE YOUR CAKE! And like it!
Reply
Your Loving MOM!
6/25/2015 12:04:39 am
That is GREAT stuff!
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