PROMPTINGS: Logic Chopping

One of the things I appreciate about my philosophy education at dear old Texas A&M University was being taught the ability to draw important distinctions about things. We were taught to take every bit of our experience as human beings and give it a name, describe how it works, and fit it within a larger system of belief. The true test of the philosopher, we were taught, was the ability to defend your system of belief against critique. And so, we built our “philosophies” to be water-tight – able to withstand evidence brought against it, able to interpret new evidence in light of it. John Dewey, the great American philosopher referred to this as one’s “web of belief.”

It’s been of some interest to me as I’ve met so many people from so many different backgrounds how some of the same principles we were taught at the A&M philosophy department have found themselves deeply implanted in how we treat our faith life. We grow up in a church or were saved in a particular church and that church teaches us much about the faith. As we experience new things in the Spirit we assimilate those new experiences into what we’ve already been taught. And when the experience is too different from what we’re accustomed to, we resemble the honeymooners coming home from their vacation jumping on top of their suitcases trying to make all the stuff “fit” inside as we try to zip up our “faith suitcase” nice and tight.

There’s something about our little “faith suitcase” that makes us feel comfortable. It gives us identity. We know who WE are in contrast to THEM. It allows us to interpret them. It allows us to feel some measure of control over them. If only THEY were more like US, using the same language we use, seeing the world in the same way, behaving like us, worshipping like us, dressing like us, etc…. wouldn’t the world be a better place?

But that wasn’t Jesus’s point of view.

The apostles had a contest once about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Presumably, they discussed and argued and picked each other apart over who had the most knowledge, who had the best relationship with their Master, who “got it” and who didn’t.

Jesus sensed their arguing among themselves. I imagine even that he was a little perturbed that yet again, his disciples had missed the point completely. And he told them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35).

To Jesus, it was obvious that the path to salvation had nothing to do with how well we were able to “tithe mint and cumin”**, or how knowledgeable we were of our “system” of belief, or even how many sophisticated spiritual words and phrases we could fit into a sentence. To Jesus, the Master and Teacher, the WAY of LIFE was radical servanthood.

You can spend your entire life trying to figure out “who’s in” and “who’s out”. You can begin living like Jesus today.







**Mt 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."