Earlier this year I decided that I would try to learn
Hebrew. It was something that I thought would be fun and would be beneficial in
my ministry. The problem was that I didn’t have any time available to learn
Hebrew. I was hoping for an easy formula… a CD I could listen to in my sleep, a
chart I could memorize, and then presto I could ditch my New Living Translation
and go straight to the original text! Maybe they would even ask me to take a
look at the Dead Sea Scrolls to make sure there were no mistakes. It didn’t
quite work out like that…
The truth is that we all love formula’s… Just look at the bestseller section in any bookstore, you’ll find books like…
How
to Win Friends and Influence People
The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People
Four
Simple Steps to becoming an Overnight Billionaire
The
Secret to Owning Your Own Tropical Island
It is a part of our culture. We are America the Practical. Pragmatism isn’t just something we value; it is also America’s most important philosophical tradition.
Pragmatism is a philosophy of truth based on the usefulness of thoughts and ideas. As a philosophy, pragmatism originated toward the end of the nineteenth century. It worked well with the American spirit of individualism and free enterprise. Philosophers Charles Sanders Pierce, William James, and John Dewey taught us that the consequences of ideas are more concrete than the ideas themselves. In other words, the only criteria for truth is what works in practice or what works is true. By “working” pragmatists mean that which is useful and beneficial to individuals or to society.
Which explains why most of our culture is dealing only with the “how” questions of life: How do I get paid? How do I afford a nicer house? How do I get a better job? How do I get that girl to like me?
But there are deeper questions that pragmatism does not answer: Is success measured only by money and power? Are the rich always happier than the poor? What if what works in the practical word doesn’t tell the whole truth?
It is essential that we deal also with the “why” questions rather than simply the “how” questions because it is the “why” questions determine whether the “how” questions are even important.
You would think that one of the best places to come to deal with the “why” questions would be the church… but unfortunately that is not always the case. As Christians we can get just as caught up in the “how” questions as everyone else.
For most of my life the Christian answers have tended to be pragmatic, “how” answers. I would go to church wondering, “Why do I exist?” “What is the meaning of life?” and the church would respond, “Here’s how to have a great marriage.” OR “Here are six steps on how to raise perfect children”
These are not bad messages, however, it is important for all of us to stop and ask the “why” questions from time to time. Why am I coming to church? Why do I give to missionaries? Why am I trying to serve Christ?
Is it only because those things benefit me? Make me feel important or good? Give me status within my community?
For William James, a philosopher of pragmatism, belief in God is good not because it is a requirement from the nature of God, but because it benefits the believer - intellectually satisfying and so on. Prayer is a good thing, not because God is actually listening, but because of the soothing psychological effect on the person praying.
In other words, God does not exist unless I find, by believing in Him, something that benefits me.
Because of the grip Pragmatic thinking has on Christianity there is an assumption then, that if faith doesn’t work, no one will want it. If faith doesn’t work… it isn’t true. Faith that does not work is Dead.
We often live as if Christianity is true, not because it is TRUE, but because it “works” for us.
We start treating God… not as a Father, but as a product. We begin to believe that we have to “sell” Jesus to reach our culture. And the best way to “sell” Jesus is to make people believe that the product works. If you come and believe like we do, your life will become shiny and happy and perfect.
Which seems to be a good formula… until you read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
More to come…
What a great post! Looking forward to hearing 'more'...
Posted by: Chilly Chilton | July 28, 2008 at 01:20 AM