Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.

• Philippians 1:21-26

Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

• 1 Timothy 4:11-16

“The French philosopher Edgar Morin was born in Paris, the son of Jewish immigrants from Greece. His positive view of the progress of Western civilization is tempered by what he perceives as the negative effects of technical and scientific advances. Progress may create wealth but also seems to bring with it a breakdown of responsibility and global awareness. Morin developed what became known as ‘complex thought’ and coined the term ‘politics of civilization.’  His six-volume Method (1977-2004) is a compendium of his thoughts and ideas, offering a broad insight into the nature of human enguiry.”

• Sam Atkinson (senior editor), The Philosophy Book, Big Ideas Simply Explained

Note: In the Scriptures above, the Apostle Paul speaks to the Philippians about himself remaining so that the church’s progress can continue in the right direction.  And then he speaks of progress with Timothy and the things Timothy can do to keep progress in the church going in the right direction.

Edgar Morin (1921-present) is a French philosopher and sociologist.  Due partly to his theories, he has made contributions to a wide variety of fields from media studies to politics to ecology to systems biology.

The point that impressed me among all his accomplishments was the concept that as we progress with greater technology, the side effects could have an adverse effect on that progress.

C.S. Lewis wrote about progress in The Case for Christianity.  “But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you’ve taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.”

He also wrote in Mere Christianity, “There is nothing progressive about being pigheaded and refusing to admit a mistake.”

Maybe some of our progress was a mistake.  I have heard of people experimenting with teenagers and young adults, those who have spent the majority of their lives with a cellphone.  The experiment is to lock them in a room without their cellphone in a room full of other people their age who also do not have a cellphone.  The results are mixed, but the general conclusion is that it is not a pretty sight.  The young people are frightened, but some start conversations.  Regardless of whether they try to hide or they try to interact, they are uncomfortable with the situation.

As an introvert, I would have been uncomfortable with the situation just because there were too many people I did not know, but once I had overcome that barrier, I could find someone with at least something that we have in common.  Now, dancing?  Forget it.  My wife said that I had three left feet: the usual two left feet to be constantly out of step and the third to step on my dance partner’s feet.

My wife would have loved the experiment.  She would come away with everyone’s name (including odd spelling if any), everyone’s birthday, and other interesting things about each person in the room.

I wrote yesterday about how I needed to get out more, but I could spread the Gospel without doing that.  Some things in progress are indeed progressive.

The political party that calls themselves the progressives are not progressive at all.  They have taken many Marxist ideas and sugar coated them.  The word progressive is all marketing.  They are, for the most part regressive, bringing back failed communist ideas.  And before you argue against this point, look at the communist countries around the world.  China is officially the People’s Republic of China, but the only ones who enjoy the benefits of a “republic” are the communist party members.  The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has nothing democratic about it.  We informally call it North Korea.  Adding the words democratic and republic do not mean there is either a government where you freely elect representative to represent your interests or you freely and directly vote for your interest.

The progressives will not admit this slight of hand, but digging into their tactics and their policies, it becomes more evident.  They exist because few people do that kind of digging.

Climate Change, which used to be Global Warming, is supposedly based on the progress of the industrial revolution.  Whether they have proven anything or not, it points toward what Edgar Morin was saying.  Sure, our cars can get us from point A to Point B faster than the horse and buggy, but there is pollution resulting from the making and operating of the automobile.  The fallacy in the modern electric cars is that the batteries for the electric cars create more pollution (production from rare earth metals) than is ever resolved by removing the fossil fuel.  And there could be no benefit at all if the electricity for recharging the batteries is not a renewable source.

And the worst part of this type of “science” is that it becomes highly politicized.  Whoever is paying the politicians controls the narrative.  At last that I heard, in the European Union, saying anything negative about the Climate Change agenda was illegal.  Thus, C.S. Lewis’s concept of the most progressive man is the one who sees that the direction is wrong and turns around becomes impossible without fines or imprisonment.  Politicians do not have to be right.  They say what can be sold as being right.

I live outside the city of Pittsburgh, PA.  It is the Steel City, but the last that I heard, one small specialty steel manufacturer is the only steel made in the city limits.  I have visited that site.  Outside the city limits, there are a few bits and pieces of U.S. Steel remaining, but they are merging with other steel producers to prevent a total collapse.

Yet, fifty years ago, or maybe 60 years, the smog was so thick you could not see more than a short distance.  The politicians brag about how they cleaned up the city, but this was at the cost of thousands of jobs leaving the area.  The city is now still trying to reinvent themselves.  The high-tech computer boom showed change, but then the bubble burst.  Yet, the high-tech world seems to be the future, but with a slower potential growth.

So, from my own experience, I can agree with this concept of Morin’s philosophy.  His idea of complex thought might show the direction as to whether this progress is really progress at all or that the side effects are worse than the benefits.  And that kind of thought is extremely complex and may involve side effects that we are not equipped to analyze until the “progress” is instituted.

But one method of analysis is often ignored in the modern world of fast results, prayer.  God can provide some of those unfathomable answers, but do we go to Him in prayer?  And if we do, do we wait for His answer?

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.