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The Return of Reason

Friday, April 12th, 2013 | Author:

“But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
 And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.”  Daniel 4:34  NASB

Returned – Nebuchadnezzar experienced a degradation of life that we can only imagine in some sort of science-fiction movie.  He became like an animal in the field.  After God’s chastisement, he made a statement that reveals just how typical the reality of his experience really is.  “My reason returned,” says the king.  But we should not think of this as the return of rationality.  The words are not Greek.  They are Aramaic (mandei yetuv).  We are familiar with the verb in Hebrew (shuv), meaning “to turn around, to return.”  But what is it that returns to Nebuchadnezzar?  It is manda, not reasoning ability but rather knowledge and understanding.  The word is derived from yada’, “to know.”  In fact, the ancient Mandaeans who were Aramaic Gnostics got their name from this word.  So it is not about the ability to think logically.  It is about understanding the true foundation of life.  Nebuchadnezzar’s understanding of the sovereignty of God returned to him and he saw how the world really is.  That’s why the result of this return is his declaration of praise!  “I blessed the Most High,” says Nebuchadnezzar, because when he understood, he knew who God is – the Sovereign of the Universe.

It took animal existence for Nebuchadnezzar to come to his senses.  It appears to me that most of the world’s population is still waiting for that day.  Most of the world’s population are grass-eaters.  They just don’t know it because their “reason” has not returned.  They don’t understand that there is only One True God – YHWH – melech ha’olam.  They are still mindlessly chewing like cattle, consuming the earth without acknowledging its Creator.  It’s pretty much what Paul said in Romans 1.  Failure to acknowledge sovereignty results in darkened minds.  The fact is that very few return to reason in spite of the fact that most claim to be thinkers.

Nebuchadnezzar’s insight is important for each of us.  He had to become an animal in order to understand what it means to be human.  So do we.  We might not spend seven years in the field, but we can easily spend a lifetime chewing.  To be human is to be able to praise the Creator and to praise the Creator requires manda – yada’.  Don’t be fooled by thinking.  Thinking is not the sign of being human.  Submission to the King is the sign of being human.  Choose your Sovereign today.  Start by praising His benevolence and grace.  Your mind will improve.

Topical Index:  mind, reason, manda, yada’, return, shuv, Daniel 4:34

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The Asylum (2)

Wednesday, November 07th, 2012 | Author:

What say we say then?  Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase?  Romans 6:1  NASB

Increase – “Obviously, that standpoint is congenial to the notion that sin does not affect or pollute the deepest being of a man.  It only impinges on the periphery of our living.  Sin does not break down the harmony of life.  Man retains his intrinsic power to resist and to restore.”[1]

We noted Berkouwer’s insight that insane hubris accompanies deliberate sin.  But perhaps we need to pay closer attention to the resulting deranged evaluation of the power of human reason.  Does sin still allow someone to retain the intrinsic power to resist and restore?  Once we set a course toward removing the obligation of hesed, are we immune from the debilitating power of the yetzer ha’ra?  Can we bring ourselves back into grace at a moment’s notice?

There is a very deep paradigm issue at stake here.  In the Greek world, the place of reason is supreme.  With reason in full control, men are always capable of determining the true course of action regardless of their present circumstances.  Armed with rational investigation, men can examine the evidence and correct course.  Reason always provides a way out of the box.  This is the fundamental assumption of the Greek mind.

But try this approach with radical Jihadists and see who dies first.  Try this approach with the generational culture of entitlement and see who emerges from the pack.  Try this approach with fascism or totalitarian governments.  Try it with the mob outside your door.  The Greek supremacy of reason works very well on paper but the history of Mankind is much closer to Genghis Kahn than Aristotle.  The world is ruled by evil, not reason, and its only hope is redemption, not intelligence.  To believe that sin has no destructive effect on the core of the person is to stare the devil in the face and call him “Friend.”  Every addict knows.  Every sinner should.

Paul’s rhetorical question demands the exclamation, “Are you crazy!  Of course not!”  Yet many continue on the path of “freedom.”  They do not assess the true strength of the yetzer ha’ra and its power to corrupt the justifications of our actions.  We are really at war; a battlefield within our very person.  We are victim and enemy, perpetrator and casualty.  And the sooner we confront the stern warnings concerning the treacherous position of our existence, the more quickly we will run for the cover of obedience.  In His camp is security and safety.  Outside His camp is tohu va-vohu, the wasteland of discontent.  But the camp is ordered.  Those who take no comfort in ordered living will long for the wasteland – and they will find.

Topical Index:  increase, pleonazo, sin, Berkouwer, reason, Romans 6:1


[1] G. C. Berkouwer, Sin, p. 240.

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A Little Extra

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012 | Author:

that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  Colossians 1:9  NASB

Knowledge – One of the Greek words for knowledge is gnosis.  There was an ancient sect called the Gnostics.  They believed in secret knowledge.  Both of these words, gnosis and Gnostic have made their way into English.  They now mean mystical religious beliefs.  In fact, there are still secret knowledge religions around today – religions that are based entirely on the concept that knowledge is power.  But the Bible does not teach that knowledge is power.  The Bible teaches that wisdom is power and knowledge is the means to gain wisdom.  Wisdom does not come from Man’s reason but from God’s revelation.  That doesn’t mean that we abandon reason and opt for “the Spirit told me.”  God uses the rational capacity given to men to bring about understanding and action.  But reason is not the final arbiter of truth.  It does a man no good at all to be filled with knowledge if it does not lead him to wisdom, spiritual understanding and action.  All the degrees on the wall can’t make a man into the character of Christ – and those degrees can’t rid a man of his guilt either.  I know.

The word in this verse has a little Greek prefix added to it.  Here it is epignosis.  This tiny word epi adds intensity.  It makes the idea stronger.  Paul is not saying that he prays for the believer to be filled with knowledge.  He is saying that he prays for the believer to be stuffed full.  He prays that this knowledge will overflow.  He prays that the dam of your mind will break under all that you learn of God.  He wants you to be completely saturated so that every fiber of your being is drenched with God’s wisdom and understanding.  That’s how you will know what God has in mind for you.

How will you experience this extra knowledge?  Well, if you’re part of the first century rabbinic worldview, you discover all the extra that God has in mind by doing what He says.  That’s right, understanding follows obedience.  To know the will of the Father is to first do what He asks right now.  Greek education offers information so that you can pass the exam at the end of the course.  God asks for obedience so that you can stay in the class today.  Greek thinking focuses on the goal, the end of the information.  Hebrew focuses on the path, the next step in the right direction.

So what kind of knowledge are you seeking?  God’s will is right in front of your face, in that next tiny, tiny thing that you need to do.  It’s much easier to always look over the horizon at the final objective.  “Over the horizon” vision means we don’t have to pay attention to those tiny obstacles at our feet.  But then we usually trip, don’t we?

Topical Index:  knowledge, epignosis, Colossians 1:9, reason

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Do You Think Too Much?

Saturday, December 03rd, 2011 | Author:

But, see, this I did find: God made men plain, but they have engaged in too much reasoning.  Ecclesiastes 7:29  NJPS

Too much reasoning – In our culture, this statement must seem nearly absurd.  We laud reasoning.  We extol intellect.  In fact, our culture believes that the solution of every problem begins in the mind.  Knowledge is power, right?  From politics to psychology, what matters most is understanding the issue and making clear, rational decisions based on that understanding.  When we read a verse like this one, we are apt to conclude that religion is irrational or at best, deliberately ignorant.  Religion is a crutch for the feeble-minded; those who haven’t the courage or the capacity for really serious examination of the facts.  We walk away from belief because it seems to appeal to the simple-minded and emotionally dependent.  We want the facts, the hard facts and compelling arguments to go with them.  Too often it seems that religious people spurn reason.

 

Is that what Qohelet means?  Is it really true that in order to believe you must put your intellect on the shelf?  If we examine his logic, we may conclude otherwise.

The translation above is from the New Jewish Publication Society Tanakh.  If you read this verse in the NASB, it is completely different.  “ . . . God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”  In the NASB translation, the issue is not cognitive, it is moral.  The NASB translation suggests that men are born with a right relationship with God but they pursue “devices,” that is, those schemes and implements that lead them astray.  But a quick look at the NJPS version tells us something important:  this verse is difficult to translate.  We must be on the lookout for presuppositions.  The Hebrew phrase is hishvonot rabim.  It is used in 2 Chronicles 26:15 for engines or machines of war.  That is the only other verse using hishvonot.  Here in Ecclesiastes, Qohelet seems to be speaking about counting (see verse 27) so the context probably dictates that we translate this word as “calculations” or “plans.”  Of course, in this verse, these are evil plans since they twist what God originally designed to be straight.  If Qohelet is reflecting on the history of human beings, it is clear that Man was created in perfect harmony with God and that Man bent the relationship by following his own plans rather than God’s design.  In either case, whether we follow Chronicles or the context of Ecclesiastes, this word doesn’t seem to be about reason but rather about schemes that lead toward destruction.  The Teacher is not telling us that we think too much.  He is telling us that reason without the boundaries of revelation leads us over a cliff.  He is telling us that reason alone cannot get us out of our dilemmas.  We can’t think our way out of the box.  The wisest man still ends up in the grave right next to the fool.

There is a strain within Christendom that is anti-intellectual.  It proclaims the priority of “only believe” and shuns debate, inquiry and exploration.  This is either lazy religion or spiritual fear.  If my desire for religious security requires me to shut my eyes to evidence and argument, then I haven’t encountered the God of the prophets or the Lord of King David.  Heschel reminds us that the Bible is a book of confrontation.  These words challenge us to live and to think differently, to engage the world equipped for combat, to ask questions, even of the Almighty.  Yes, it’s true that worshipping Reason leads to epistemological suicide, but shunning reasonable inquiry is just as dangerous.  Open your mind.  Search.  Ask.  Study.  It’s OK.  God can handle it.

Topical Index:  reason, calculations, machines, Ecclesiastes 7:29, hishvonot rabim

 

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Paradigm Perplexities (1)

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011 | Author:

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD.  “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”  Isaiah 1:18  NASB

Reason – Certainly you’ve heard this verse more than a few times.  Does it mean that God wants to have a sit-down rational debate with you?  Does it mean that God is trying to convince you to adopt His point of view?  Do you really think you can go toe-to-toe with God?  Or is He inviting you to put aside your emotions and think logically about heaven and hell?  The translation of the Hebrew yakah as “reason” is unfortunate because in our Western thinking, “reason” is about clear thinking, rational argument and persuasion.  But yakah is first and foremost about moral standing, not about correct thinking.  It means “to reprove, to judge, to convict” as well as “to argue” or “to convince.”  How does the sense of this verse shift if we translated it with one of these English choices instead of “to reason”?  If we look at the rest of the verse, we see that “reason” doesn’t quite fit the context because the very next thought is about our sins, not about our faulty logic.  God is calling us to repent, not to engage in formal debate.  He isn’t lecturing about apologetics.  He is pointing toward the confessional.

God reproves sin.  He points out that we are guilty and miserable, lost and hurting.  That’s the gist of His “argument.”  He doesn’t have to convince us that we are a mess.  He only has to reveal a sliver of His holiness and we are undone.  Just a little vision on the road to Damascus and we are blinded.  Just a touch from His hand and we are struck dumb.  No, I don’t think God is handing out tickets to the next televised debate.  “Reasoning” with God turns out to be remorse, regret and repentance.  Just ask Job.

The point of an encounter with God is restoration, not recitation.  Frankly, God doesn’t care much about your theological position or your proficiency with the arguments.  He isn’t giving you an academic exam.  He is inviting you to take a moral inventory.  He knows what you will find.  That’s why the objective of this encounter isn’t a logical proof.  The objective of this encounter is the removal of guilt.  “Though your sins are as scarlet.”  That’s the conclusion of “reasoning” with God.  Perhaps we would have captured the idiom with a translation like, “Come now, let us examine together.”

When we encounter verses that seem to endorse our penchant for logical argument and cognitive expertise, we should recognize the warning signs.  The Bible isn’t part of our “head knowledge” worldview.  It is saturated with how we live in the world of moral adjustments.  It comes to us as God’s indictment of our way of life.  Its primary concern is the heart.  Its secondary concern is the hands.  Eventually it gets around to what we think, but it certainly doesn’t start there.  The Bible recognizes that sin and the power of the yetzer ha’ra cloud our ability to understand clearly, so it begins with practical obedience, not with theoretical elocution.  Now that you have this clearly “in mind,” are you ready to come and “reason” with Him?

Topical Index:  reason, yakah, reprove, judge, convict, guilt, Isaiah 1:18

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The Painful Truth

Monday, September 12th, 2011 | Author:

For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases suffering.  Ecclesiastes 1:18  ISR

Much grief – Well, it’s certainly not what we expected!  The general consensus of our culture is that knowledge and wisdom lead to power and power leads to control and control leads to a prosperous life.  If this weren’t the case, why would we push so many children into a university system that produces conforming adults?  Why would we think that spending more money on educational fixes will make social problems disappear?  No, everything about our view of wisdom and knowledge leads us to the opposite conclusion.  The Bible seems to endorse “ignorance is bliss” while our society portrays increased knowledge as the elixir of the gods.

Just so we can feel the full force of this biblical point of view, we should recognize that the Hebrew expression is the combination of raba (great, much) and ka’as (grief).  Actually ka’as has a wider umbrella than just grief.  It really is about anger, vexation and provocation.  Knowledge and wisdom make us angry?  Provoke us?  Cause us to be annoyed or disturbed?  How is that possible?

In order to understand this verse from its own worldview, we must set aside the Greek idolization of reason and rationality.  In the Greek world, man is set apart from all other creatures by his rational ability.  He can reason his way out of the box.  Rational solutions to problems come about because Man acquires insight and understanding.  In other words, reason reigns supreme.

But the Semitic world doesn’t operate like this.  Man cannot reason his way out of the box because the box is far more complicated than Man’s reason can handle.  God alone understands the structure of the cosmos.  It is not simply the arrangement of atoms.  Everything has spiritual purpose.  Everything is divinely connected.  Unless and until we know all those purposes and connections, wisdom and knowledge only lead us to one end:  we are inadequate.  The more we learn, the more we know we don’t know.  And finally, the greater our knowledge, the more we are faced with the impossible gap between us and a holy God.  Not only do we discover the hubris that accompanies the myth of the supremacy of reason, we also discover that we are our own enemy and that God holds us accountable for our lack of humility.  To know is to be confronted with our insufficiency.  And that is grief.

This means the desire to pursue God will be accompanied by pain because our rationalism will be dismantled.  The Bible is not a peaceful book.  It is a book of radical confrontation, demands and the destruction of pride and arrogance.  It hurts to read Scripture.  To study God’s word is to suffer.  God calls us to be burned.  That’s what happens to a sacrifice.  If you haven’t discovered this, then you’re standing too far away from the Fire.

Topical Index: grief, ka’as, reason, knowledge, wisdom, Ecclesiastes 1:18

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Harmony Of The Soul

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 | Author:

A wise man fears, and departs from evil; but the fool rages, and is confident. Proverbs 14:16

Wise Man – Here’s a little self-assessment test.  It will help you determine if your view of life is biblically-based or a part of the dominant culture of the West.  It’s about your perception of wisdom.

Do you think that wisdom results in an inner harmony?  Do you believe that the proper application of reason will bring you inner peace?  Do you find that emotions (either positive or negative) upset the balance of your life?

The classical Greek view of wisdom includes two poles.  The first is ataraxia.  This pole is mental stability or peace of mind.  According to the Greeks, happiness is a state of mind; a state where external circumstances no longer cause me mental distress; where I am above it all in unperturbed harmony.  According to the Greeks, one of the goals of the wise man is to avoid emotional disruptions if possible and, when avoidance is impossible, reduce them to rational deliberation.  This latter process is the other pole of the Greek view of wisdom – apatheia – indifference to whatever disturbs mental harmony.  On the one pole, the Greeks did all they could to avoid nasty emotions.  On the other pole, they did all they could to become independent, self-sufficient and detached.  The wise man was immune and unaffected by life’s turmoil and tragedies.  Reason controls everything.  If you have a problem or you’re upset, the answer will be found in reasoning about the situation in order to remove the disturbing influences.

How much of your thinking about life’s upsets is really based in the Greek model?

What does the Bible have to say about this?  The wise man is hakam.  Actually, the word is an adjective, not a noun.  It conveys the idea of skill and experience.  A person described by hakam is an able leader, an interpreter of dreams, one who knows the law, one who learns, who heeds rebuke and who controls his tongue.  Oh, did you notice there is no mention of intellectual capacity?  And there is not even a hint at detachment from life’s emotional roller-coaster.  In fact, one who has skills and experience is probably someone who has lived through a lot of ups and downs.  The biblical view of wisdom is not about inner harmony or peace of mind.  It is about full engagement in living.  The wise man knows how to step into the world.  He knows what to pursue and what to fear (notice the word is not avoid).  He knows when to let go and when to leave.  The wise man exhibits the character of God – engaged, prudent, understanding and discerning.

Does wisdom result in inner harmony?  Probably not.  The wise man knows when his skills and experience are needed in the midst of conflict.  He is a peace-maker, not a peace-taker.  Does he avoid emotions?  Only if he is not merciful, long-suffering and compassionate.  Does he attempt to resolve upsetting circumstances with the right application of reason?  Didn’t we just read about “My ways are not your ways?”  What is ahav (love) if it is not benevolence toward another at cost to myself?  Is that reasonable?

The exam is over.  How did you do?

Topical Index:  wise man, hakam, ataraxia, apatheia, emotions, reason, Proverbs 14:16

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Inherent Ignorance

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 | Author:

I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10:23

Not In Himself – You think it’s a way out.  It seems to offer relief.  It looks like the solution.  It feels right.  But Jeremiah is there to remind us that the way of escape is not in us (lo la’adam).  Here’s the problem.  Our own minds deceive us.  The bottom line on the Bible’s view of human spiritual intelligence is this:  I can’t be trusted.

Before you stop reading because this is just too dark, remember that the Bible is the best reality show you will ever see.  It hides nothing from us.  It tells us exactly what we need to know.  And when it comes to finding our direction in life, it tells us that there is a way which seems right to us but the end is death.  We need to know this.  There is no point in pretending it isn’t true or claiming that we are the exception to the rule.  We need to know that we can’t get out of the box through our own thinking.

If you ever find yourself stuck, if you see the same failures of moral courage coming back over and over, if you devise plans to fight the destructive elements in your life but they never work, then you are ready for Jeremiah.  Here’s the headline:  You can’t get out on your own!  Human intelligence and willpower are just check-out signs at the registration desk of Hotel California (go listen to the Eagles).  “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

Now what do we do?  The Bible tells me that I am not ready for freedom until I come to the point where I stop trying to get myself out.  As long as I keep thinking that I will find a way, I am lost.  I have to come to a brick wall dead end.

It’s not easy to get there.  You would think that the frustration and failure of trying to find our own plans of escape from internal corruption and guilt would quickly drive us to cry, “What must I do to be rescued?”  But more often than not, it doesn’t.  Human beings relentlessly return to the same vomit.  The problem is not our failures.  It is our wiring.  We just don’t want to admit to ourselves that we can’t do it.  We don’t want to tell God that we are a DNA disaster.  We want God to help us manage our own way out.  We don’t want to say, “Wretched man that I am.”  We don’t want to agree with Jeremiah.  We want a reasonable solution.  Why?  Because the alternative seems so pathetic.  If I can’t check out of the Hotel because there is something wrong with my cognitive processes, then there is absolutely nothing I can do for myself.  That’s exactly the biblical perspective.  Sometimes it takes a lifetime to finally see the bricks.  Sometimes it happens in a startling moment of revelation.  When it occurs, we are left with but one choice.  We must rely on God’s word to direct us, not on anything that we think up along the way.  My asphalt jungle is an asylum maze.  I must follow God’s way if I want to ever be sane again.

Topical Index:  Reason

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