Sunday, October 28, 2007

Christian epistuh--WHAT? part three

I know epistemology ain't a regular, every-day word, but it says exactly what I need to say about Christianity in this train of thought. More on that a little later.

epistemology = a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/epistemology

Consider also the following scripture reference, and I hope this all comes together for you like it came together for me sitting in that classroom thirty-two months ago:

1Jo 2:16 (http://www.crosswalk.com/)
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. NASB

Everything wrong in the hearts and minds of men is a result of the fall. Let's be more specific:
  • What we desire related to our bodies -- lust of the flesh
  • What we view (symbolism in images) -- lust of the eyes
  • What we do with our intellect -- the boastful pride of life

We are triune beings, a composite of body, heart, and mind. Semantic baggage we will have to sort through in some other post is the piece of us some call heart, some call soul, some call psyche, and some call spirit. I am using the term heart purposely to enable the inclusion of the word imagination separated from the intellect.

Humans are corrupted in all three parts of our being. Our bodies and every decision we make motivated by providing the body security, comfort and pleasure is affected by the lust of the flesh. Our imagination that allows us to conceptualize abstractly and see meanings behind the material world is corrupted by the lust of the eyes. (The Cadillac coat-of arms carries a complex set of connotations wholly different from the Volkswagen V over W inside a circle, while both are just an identifying mark on a vehicle. We understand the connotations and connect with them emotionally by a look at the symbol. ) All that we are able to build materially, not just skyscrapers and bridges, but our institutions and social order are corrupted by and are themselves a source of the pride of life.

Sociologists cannot agree on whether or not Conflict Theory (control of resources), Symbolic-interactionism (power of symbols) or Structural-functionalism (social order as a function of institutions) is the unifying theme for society because all three exist together. I submit each of these organizing matrices can be identified in society because each is a function of one of the three parts of humans. Conflict Theory deals with issues of resources and wealth because we have physical bodies; Symbolic-interactionism deals with issues springing from our heart and its imaginations; and Structural-functionalism deals with our mental acuity and various applications of the same. We are triune beings and we have established a world system that reflects ourselves. (for evidence of this rooted in the US see previous post discussion of capitalism, religion, and republicanism)

All of what we have done is corrupted by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. All that is in the world, is from the world.

Part four will examine the consequence of what I suggest here on the historical diversification of Christianity into sects, our modern day debates about how we interpret Scripture, and thus how we think about God, the Father. Ultimately as mere humans what we believe about the origin, nature, and methods of Christianity is limited by our worldly, corrupted human knowledge of Christianity.

Questioning more experienced bloggers: What does it mean and/or do when I create a label for a post?

11 comments:

Jimazing said...

I'm enjoying the lesson. Looking forward to where you are leading us...

Re: Label. Each blogging system uses its own nomenclature and it can even change from theme to theme in my experience. All that to say, "I don't know what you mean by "label". I would recommend an experiment, i.e. set one and see what happens to the post. Maybe it is like a category or something.

ded said...

Hey Jim,

I had already tried the experiment and cannot tell that anything happened except at the bottom of a blog post, in small type are the labels I set.

I thought category. Does that mena tha people who search for my label will end up at my post?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, category is the way to think of it. It will possibly show up in search engines, then, if people search for that word or phrase.

You're on the right track.

Given55 said...

Your postings are compelling & thought provoking. These are reasons that we need to seeking the personal relationship with God. Like Enoch, if we build on that relationship, outside of human limitations, we will see the true God. I have built my relationship with God on these to verses.

Proverbs 3:32
for the LORD detests a perverse man but takes the upright into his confidence.


Jeremiah 33:3
3 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

He does take us into His confidence & brakes down the lies of the organized church.

Anonymous said...

I also am enjoying reading your thoughts. I think it is interesting that the "lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life" is the three-pronged temptation that Satan used on both Eve in the Garden of Eden and our Lord during His temptation in the wilderness.

I look forward to reading your subsequent posts on this.

ded said...

given55,

Thanks for reading the blog and commenting. I appreciate it.

Visited your blog briefly today between classes. I look ofrward to reading more carefully.

Gordon, thanks to you as well for reading and commenting. Very insightful comment it was! 8^) I hadn't looked at the temptation of Eve, but you are so right! I am going to start the next part tonight, but it may not be posted until tomorrow night

ded said...

Well, I'm not getting that post up tonight after all, Gordon. I started the fourth installment and after an hour or so of work, I accidentally erased the whole thing. I hit the CTRL button thinking it was the shift key and whatever letter I hit next emptied the screen. It is just as well. I don't think I was doing a very good job explaining the next part.

Anonymous said...

Just thought I would jump in and tell you I'm enjoying this. I'm following you in my RSS reader.

Keep it up!

ded said...

Hey Ben! Thanks for following along with me. How does this feed thing work? Do you automatically get my initial post, which invariably has errors in it that I have to go back and edit?

Alan Knox said...

ded,

You can add a list of your labels to your sidebar by adding a widget to your blog. If that doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try to give better directions.

-Alan

ded said...

Alan, great to see you over here. I have been following your Revelations series with interest. You are one prolific writer! and good, too.

I thought widgets were something like trolls, so your remark has left me with brain-fidgets for some clue.

Should I do what you suggest? Would a widget improve the experience of readers visiting the blog?

I'll start sniffing around the blog program for widget commands.