Postby Technomancer » Sat Jun 28, 2003 7:15 pm
I had hoped to have this written and up on the board earlier, but my computer has just given me a sharp lesson in the value of saving one's work. These are my reconstituted (and no doubt debateable) thoughts on the mattter arranged as best as I can manage right now.
What these quotes (and others, esp. from the Wisdom books) tell us is that in us there is a "seed of reason". This has been called "Natural Law", or "Logos" by some, and forms an early and important part of how we approach other systems of thought. I am no theologian, so forgive me if I make some small errors in my explanation: Basically, as human beings we are created in the image of God, in that we are moral beings capable of making choices. This is something that is common to all of us, no matter our religion. Indeed, the universality of certain human values, and their role in other belief systems indicates a certain "memory" if you will of our natural state of grace before the fall.
Unfortunately, because of the fall, our nature is imperfect and we can neither fully follow this natural inclination to do good, nor ever come to the Truth through purely human faculties. For this we need divine revelation, which is our salvation through Christ. However, there are those who cannot accept Christ's revelation through a matter of circumstance. They can however, accept and pursue this imperfectly perceived natural law (or not). In the Gospels we are told "..as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me." (Mt 25:40). So they still serve God's plan. As for their fate, we teach that it is up to God, although one likes to think that He is merciful in such matters
Thos who hear and reject God's Word are another matter. There are those who reject it without full knowledge. This may be though poor instruction, a string of bad examples, or though "invincible ignorance". They have not understood what they have heard, and so these should be lumped with those whom I have discussed in the previous paragraph. There are those, however who do reject God's Word with full knowledge. These people are lost unless they repent and accept it (or so the Catholic Church teaches)
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.
Neil Postman
(The End of Education)
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge
Isaac Aasimov