Living Stones – Monday, February 5, 2018
Philosophers
1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (NIV 1984)
In 1974, American Evangelist Tom Skinner wrote a book titled “If Christ is the Answer What are the Questions? In that volume, Skinner identifies several of the burning questions of that time – culturally, socially, technologically (the 70s seem like such a long time ago) and then sought to explain to a generation how Christ was the answer appropriate to the questions they posed.
Every generation seeks to address, from its perspective, the age-old questions and then tries to pose some questions of its own.
Paul’s questions here were timely because the Greeks of his day were seeking after wisdom and were steeped in the study of philosophy and in the examination of the latest ideas. “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.” Acts 17:21
Paul’s questions are also timeless because he asked, “Where is the philosopher of this age?” so that in any age we can confront this question about how people are seeking to work out who they are and what life is really all about.
Every generation is looking for answers to these questions in various places, especially in religion and mysticism, science and technology, and in the philosophies of the time.
We who work in church ministry today recognise that we are also seeking to reach a generation of young people who, with or without recognizing it, have deep philosophical questions and have access to a set of answers that often do not include Christ.
In answering his own questions Paul said that “Jews request a [religious] sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;” 1 Corinthians 1:22. In this generation, there was an abundance of so-called signs and wisdom and philosophies and little place for the crucified Christ.
Of course, the idea of philosophers seems so old-fashioned, today we have no time for philosophers, people like Aristotle, Plato and others with strange sounding names. But Paul reminded us to ask about the “philosophers of this age.” And, often without realising it, they are many. The challenge in this generation is that the philosophers who drive the agenda, who are telling our young people who they are and what is the purpose of their lives, and how they should live are not always obvious to us or even to them.
In a digital age where streaming information is available from multiple sources in multiple formats at the same time, philosophy gets dispensed often without the receiver recognising it, and without the guardians of the gates noticing it. So that our news anchors, talk show hosts, reality TV stars, celebrity singers, athletes, and others like them are the only ones shaping the philosophy of the age.
This role of our entertainers and celebrities is not a new one; the challenge today is that most times we do not know what others are listening to. Consuming entertainment, and other content, changed when Sony invented the Walkman. The Walkman revolution, in part, led to today’s wearables. As a result, we have little clue about what is being consumed by the person next to us, even our children.
Let’s use the example of adultery to try and make the point. Adultery, (called around the world by various names, blow – in Guyana, horn – in Trinidad) – carrying on a relationship with someone who is married or in a relationship with another, has always been a source of material for entertainers. Singers have been crooning about such illicit and/or illegal relationships for as long as anyone could remember. Here are a few: “Me and Mrs Jones … we have a thing going on …” and then there was “If loving you is wrong I don’t want to be right” and then there was “Stealing love on the side” and then there was “Secret Lovers that’s what we are” and so on.
It was always amusing to me that people would go to a party with their fiancé or spouse or someone with whom they have a committed relationship and rush to the dance floor to one of these songs about unfaithfulness. But, anyway, one of the leading entertainers and philosophers of my time, Jamaican Tanya Stephens, also has a song about unfaithfulness – a big hit “It’s a Pity”
Tanya sings “It’s a pity, you already have a wife, And me done have a man inna mi life.Rude boy, it is a pity.” Well, up to that point Tanya is just like the others before her, just our Caribbean Reggae/Dancehall version for a different generation. But Tanya is not just a singer, Tanya is a philosopher, and so she goes on, “Who knows? Maybe one day the world will be evolved enough / We’ll share you in a civilized manner between the two of us / But until then I woulda love see you again / Me know we have fi play it by the stupid rules of sin”
Tanya like many before her is pushing back on the answers to some age-old questions and peddling a philosophy about a progressiveness or evolution that will get us to a place where “do wah yuh want” will be firmly entrenched and the restrictions of the rules of sin, which she calls stupid, would be done away with.
Philosophers like Tanya try to ignore the consequences of sin, the consequences for the individuals, and children, and homes and families, and society that result from the unfaithfulness that they celebrate and the freedom to enjoy.
Think about these things:
- Who is your favourite entertainer, or media personality?
- Think back to some of their statements and see if you have taken on any of their philosophical views of the world and life?
- Have you ever thought about how your views about many of today’s issues were shaped?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would be more aware of the way our views are being shaped by others every day and seek to keep the scriptures as our plumb line.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex