Moral Prudence and the Pursuit Thereof

In Chapter 15 of the article ”Of the Morals of the Catholic Church,” Augustine defines prudence as being “love making a right distinction between what helps it toward God and what hinders it.” [link]  For Augustine, love is the impetus for prudence, which is certainly a truth.  Due to the fact that God loved us first, we love, and therefore we want to make correct moral decisions based on our love for God and what He has done for us.  However, because of the compelling nature of the Holy Spirit and the Lordship of Christ over our lives, one has to postulate whether there are not some other driving forces behind the pursuit of prudence in the Christian life.  Fear is a good example.  A correct understanding of the God of the Bible is that he is infinite in Holiness, being the source of all that is good and holy.  If through lack of prudence we do things that are offensive to God, there is no way that He can be pleased with our actions.  This ties in to the idea of “grieving the Holy Spirit,” which I will discuss at a latter time.  Also, as Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 12:13:  “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”  Prudence is certainly part and parcel of the keeping of the Lord’s commandments.

In personal terms, I have been somewhat under conviction lately about the things that I let myself watch, listen to, and partake of, especially while in the company of others.  This seems to be a big issue in modern culture, because much of what is considered commonplace, especially in the area of humor, is obscene in nature.  The situation is even more difficult for me, in that I find myself in the target market of many of the worst of these comedies: the young adult male.  Recently I have found myself watching movies and trying to make allowances for the inappropriate material.  “I wish they wouldn’t put that in there,” I think to myself, or I say out loud to let others know that I don’t approve.  “This movie would be great if it weren’t for the language” is another popular one.  Oftentimes the material other than the obscenity is truly funny in an innocent way, but does that make it right to sit and watch as actors take the name of the Lord in vain, pervert words, and make light of subjects that should not be mentioned in public?  God forbid that my entertainment and personal pleasure is grievous to the Holy Spirit.

I am also realizing more and more that no matter where I am in life, I have the potential to make an impression upon those around me.  I can either do the easy thing and try to blend in with the culture that allows things like this to go by because it’s the norm, or I can try to be prudent about what I allow myself to watch, listen, and do.

Certainly all truth is God’s truth, and knowing about the culture and the times in which you live is crucial, but there has to be a place where I draw the line.

Here’s a good starting point:

Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Recovering Reading

I’ve noticed that the amount of books that I have read in the past year has diminished in proportion to the amount of time it takes me to get to work.  Since I have an hour commute these days, it easily takes two hours out of every day.  After Katie and I move to west nashville, I will have a bit more time to read, and there are quite a number of books on the list to attend to:

1) Augustine – Confessions – I meant to read this months ago on a trip to the beach with a few friends, but never did.  Actually, I read a few “chapters” but didn’t get too far.  It is now at the top of the reading list, if you don’t count the marriage prep. books.

2) Christian Views of War: Four Perspectives – I don’t have the book with me at the moment, but it should be an interesting, quite relevant book.  I hope to blog about this and spark some discussion, because in these days we need to know where we stand when it comes to the issue of war.

3) Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) – A book that is slowly making its way around some of my peers.  The emergent church is a hot topic in religious circles right now, thus it has to be addressed in some form or another.

4) Is There a Meaning in this Text?: The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge – Kevin J. Vanhoozer – A lenthy, scholarly book that I requested last Christmas.  I have been meaning to read it for a long time now.

There are many, many others, but these are for starters.  They should provide grounds for some interesting debate.

The Successor to Postmodernity is Neomodernity

It seems to me that many of the Christian elite are attempting to prove society for what it appears to them to be, that is, a postmodern society full of nonsensical anti-truths.  In my observations, I seem to think that society at present truly is not so, at least not in the most radical sense of postmodernity.

Today, one would be hard pressed to find universities with professors who are completely dedicated to postmodern theory.  Postmodernism simply is not making the waves that it once made in the 1970s.  Its time in the spotlight is almost over, and many now see it as mere triviality, a funny laugh in the face of traditional methods.  Also, experimentation with postmodernism in the arts can only last for so long, because, well, it’s boring and it doesn’t make sense.  Nobody really wants to read a book that has no statement, watch a movie that has no resolution, or listen to music that does not appeal to natural senses.

In the stead of postmodernism, a sort of neomodernity fueled by agnosticism seems to be rising.  You also may call it apathy, if you will.  An undeniable fact is that modern society is full of information, and this fact rings true more so now than it ever has in the past.  Information is at the fingertips of anyone within reach of a computer.  A few key presses, and you are magically shown tutorials about how to do practically everything imaginable.  Also, television programs such as Discovery Channel’s “How It’s Made” are removing the sense of awe at the world around us.  Human beings understand how things work in much greater detail than ever before, and this leads to a basic sense of confidence in science, intelligence, technology, progress, and the future.

It takes a bold person to be an atheist.  Atheists are those who are, quite frankly, shooting their gun before aiming.  “Aha!” they say, “We have proven that their is no God!”  If they were honest, they would admit that their observations are incomplete.  If an atheist believes in science as the savior of mankind, that mankind can explain its existence through simple trial and error methods, then the atheist believes (on faith) that evidence will eventually arise that God does not, in fact, exist.

Most people are aware, however, that a cohesive, flawless, sensical scientific explanation of human existence simply is not available.  A great majority of these people do not believe in religion for the same reason that they are not atheists, because it requires the (quite critical) element of faith.  There are only two options remaining for those who do not leap out on faith:  despair or assumption.  Taken to its logical end, postmodernity ends in despair; yet this trend does not completely resonate throughout society.  Certainly there are those who lose their will to live, but they are few and far between.  Humans generally want to be alive.  Thus, there arises a group that will not reject logic, but will rather cling to it earnestly in the hope that eventually there will be an answer.  These are the neomodern agnostics.

Just what is a neomodern agnostic?  A person who rejects all notions of faith, relying solely on the observable, hoping for the eventual verification of broad scientific theory.  These are people who say, “We do not know, and at least for the present we cannot know, but eventually we might know.”  In predictable fashion, the “pendulum of world change” is swinging back toward much more Modernist tenets.  As a result, Feminists, Homosexual Advocates, Marxists, and Neo-hippies are much more bold in their advocacy, because they actually have a framework to set their worldview in.

An example for clarity’s sake:  Here we have Jane, a neo-modern, agnostic feminist.  She does not believe in God, because it requires too much faith on things that we do not (and in her eyes can not) know at present.  She is not an outright atheist however, because there is not enough evidence (yet) to disprove God.  She believes in the logic of science, and she has enough education to know that new discoveries about human beings and the universe are being made at rates which have never been precedented.  She is a hopeful person, hoping that humanity will eventually make amazing and alarming discoveries about the world she lives in that will further disprove the existence of a Higher Power.  She trusts in the knowledge of the scientists who are making these advancements.  Thus, she moves on about her life advocating for a cause that seems to her to be altruistic, relieving those who she deems to be oppressed (women) from a patriarchal, absurdly faith-based worldview.  Based on the limited amount of non-faith based information that she has, this is what she does to “make the world a better place,” and this gives her a reason for existence.

Postmodernism did indeed cast its ever-changing shadow over intelligentsia for some time, but its reign is slowly coming to an end.  Meet the new (and old) American idol:  Scientific Progress.

As followers of Christ, we should realize that agnostic activists are at least honest, yet they limit themselves to the amount of information that they know through observation.  We should pray that God would soften their hearts and open their eyes to the Truth of His word.

Welcome to The Last Line

The idea behind this new blog is that we, as representatives of Christ, are the last line of defense for the world. It is our responsibility to take a strong stand, to testify to the power of God and to the good news that Christ has paid our sin debt, to protect and defend morality in all aspects of life, and to appeal to the only true God for intercession on the world’s behalf.

I hope to assemble Godly people to submit news articles, scholarly papers, theses, or simple truths here, and in so doing create a community that will encourage like-minded people to follow hard after God and His truth.