‘Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:12-14)
My daughter is taking introductory philosophy at college, and for her, it feels like a full frontal attack on everything she ever believed in from a very kind and grandfatherly looking man – – I told her, “Strap your mind in, and get ready to let the games of argument and persuasion to begin!”
She explained to me last night at dinner how in her class they were learning about some famous guy with a girl’s name. “Rene’ Descartes?” I asked. “Yep, that’s it.” He thinks therefore he is. Smart guy, I guess. My daughter went on to say how her professor, who fancies himself as being a man of sheer brilliance, proceeded to lambaste most of Christendom because they are so divided, so confused, and oh so wrong. During our dinner-time discussion she made this statement:
“I am so confused because he had 40 years to think about these things and it is the first time I heard this stuff. How am I to defend my faith? I wish you were with me, dad.”
She went on to say how he is claiming the higher ground of agnosticism: He doesn’t really believe there is a God as Christians describe him, nor does he buy into strict materialism. So, being the man of sophistication and nuance that he is, he is choosing to remain non-committal. Mighty courageous of him, don’t you think? It is always best to never stand for anything because you can always be above everyone else who does…and of course, you are never wrong when you never claim you are sure of something. It is the modern position most sophisticated people take. Their arrogant indifference keeps them detached and superior in everything; especially in politics, religion and whether or not to implement capital punishment for homicidal maniacs that were raised in bad families.
The issue I have with how the humanities are taught in most of our schools of higher learning is how professors have no qualms with attacking students who are not prepared for the battle. It reminds me of the time I played tackle football with Junior Highers as Youth Pastor. I had a helper that was a fully grown 25-year-old man tackling and knocking 12-year-old kids to the ground not caring if he was hurting them or not; he was simply displaying his dominance. That is exactly what this professor was doing to my daughter – – instead of teaching he was dominating. This same thing happened to me 32 years ago when I took a religion class in college and the teacher’s whole aim was to destroy everything I believed. Here I was, an impressionable 18-year-old facing a 50-year-old liberal teacher that scoffed at my belief in a male God named Jesus.
This is nothing more than sheer exploitation: Taking advantage of people who are woefully unprepared for battle. And modern society sees this attack and wrecking-ball approach of most professors as necessary in order to help students become well reasoning adults. Destroy all religious superstition by name calling and creating straw men of parents and pastors.
That isn’t courage, nor is it education. It is instilling materialist propaganda on vulnerable minds.
Gone are the days of learning rhetoric, logic, scientific method and other tools to help expand the mind. Now higher education is training the student to walk lock step with a liberal agenda. That isn’t thinking, it is dominating. Some people call it fascist. (But I won’t use that term because people believe that it is only reserved for slinging at conservatives and bible believers these days.)
Faith is mocked, mystery is patronized and compared to a child’s safety blanket for the infantile Christian mind, and life is really all about what political party you are going to vote for. Conservative bad, Progressive good. I thought Progressives were for accepting all forms of diversity? Nope, if truth be told, they are scared of the idea of an all-powerful God because that means there is someone that has the sole power to judge…and that is what they don’t like!
I can’t wait for the class when my daughter will learn about Friedrich Nietzsche and his coining of the atheist’s favorite philosophical phrase “God is Dead.” It is argued that Nietzsche was one of the most brilliant materialists ever to live. Too bad the teachers will never explain to their students how this poor atheist man died. His weak, little diseased body was falling apart in an insane asylum while he was deathly scared of God. Oh well, fat chance they will ever learn about that. These days it is cool to be the men and women who teach in tweed jackets, and yet are not courageous enough to stand on anything. It is cool to remain aloof and above. And by golly, if you want to pass this class, you better join them in their unbelief.
Sadly for most of them, faith demands you to believe even when there is doubt, and it expects you to be “all-in” in that belief. Without it, you are on your own as you meet your maker. Good luck with that. And this thought doesn’t really give this sophisticated, nuanced, intellectual, broken-down evolved animal called man much hope at all. But I do like their tweed jackets!.
