Bruce.Leiter
Member
- Oct 12, 2024
- 493
- 144
We sang a contemporary song in church recently, the chorus of which says, "Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one. God of glory, majesty; praise forever the King of Kings!" It got me thinking about how we look at the Bible.
I think we need to watch out for the temptations of pragmatism and rationalism. Pragmatism is a philosophy with which people judge life according to their experience. What works is good, while what doesn't work is bad.
Rationalism involves relying on our reason to determine what is or isn't the truth and approaches the Bible with a reasoned set of beliefs that it imposes on the Scriptures. It usually rejects miracles, for example, as not fitting its rational approach. Apparently, Thomas Jefferson created his own Bible by taking out all of the miracles.
A pragmatist would probably question the above song and say that he has never seen God and therefore he doesn't exist, while rationalism balks at thinking that God is "three in one."
Neither philosophy is biblical. On the other hand, God does use people's experiences and reasoning, when they are in tune with the Bible's teachings. Similarly, we need to find out the assumptions and principles of the Bible and interpret it based on those ideas, instead of relying on our own reasoning and experience without God.
What do you think? What evidence have you seen of both philosophies in the world around you?
I think we need to watch out for the temptations of pragmatism and rationalism. Pragmatism is a philosophy with which people judge life according to their experience. What works is good, while what doesn't work is bad.
Rationalism involves relying on our reason to determine what is or isn't the truth and approaches the Bible with a reasoned set of beliefs that it imposes on the Scriptures. It usually rejects miracles, for example, as not fitting its rational approach. Apparently, Thomas Jefferson created his own Bible by taking out all of the miracles.
A pragmatist would probably question the above song and say that he has never seen God and therefore he doesn't exist, while rationalism balks at thinking that God is "three in one."
Neither philosophy is biblical. On the other hand, God does use people's experiences and reasoning, when they are in tune with the Bible's teachings. Similarly, we need to find out the assumptions and principles of the Bible and interpret it based on those ideas, instead of relying on our own reasoning and experience without God.
What do you think? What evidence have you seen of both philosophies in the world around you?
