Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
    or the strong boast of their strength
    or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
    that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
    justice and righteousness on earth,
    for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.

• Jeremiah 9:23-24

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

• John 17:3

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.

• 1 John 2:3

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

• 1 John 4:7-8

“ ‘The more … interactions we ascertain, the more we know the object in question.’ – John Dewey”

• Bryan Magee, The Story of Philosophy

“Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”

• C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

John Dewey (1859-1952) was an American philosopher, psychology, and education reformer.  He championed education by doing.  His views of Pragmatism molded his belief that education is not a preparation for life, but education was life itself.

Thus, his quote above points to that concept.  The more interactions that we have with the object that we are trying to learn help us learn that object better.  While Dewey remodeled the entirety of our education system, improving it in many ways, President Eisenhower blamed Dewey for going too far toward the experiential side of the learning scale, putting the education system behind other countries.

But why do we praise John Dewey in one respect and ignore him when it comes to Christianity?  Why are there so many divides in our church denominations?  Why do some people call something a sin, others do not call it a sin, and others ask “We have never heard of the term.  What is sin?”

But then, who is Jesus?  Why did Jesus come to earth?

Or even more oblivious, “How can we do as Dewey suggests and interact with God, who is spirit, invisible, unknowable?”

We have God’s Word.  But most Christians do not read it.  Then the next largest group have read it once and never opened the Bible since.  In a powerful, albeit cussing involved, song by Jelly Roll a couple of years back, he mentions the Bible that is collecting dust.

And we seem good with that.

People!  People who call yourselves Christians!

We live a very short while with our spouse on earth.  Even 50 years is not worth an eyeblink when compared to eternity with Jesus, but we are not taking an effort to learn who Jesus is?

How is that possible?

Obviously, we think that Dewey’s learning by doing works great for schools, but we get a free pass when it comes to the biggest part of all eternity.

But I do not think so.  The more I know about Jesus, the better prepared I am for that eternity.

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.