Philosophy is a Trap
Last night I went to the campus of Calvin College to hear an address by William Lane Craig on the subject of Apologetics. I had high hopes for this because Apologetics (giving a defense of the faith) has always been a point of interest to me. What I heard made my skin crawl.
Dr. Craig is a very learned man. What he talked about, however, was not Apologetics but rather Philosophy and how great it is. One of his primary points, in fact, was that to really be an Apologist you need to get a doctorate! He actually said, "Get a doctorate." When asked to clarify this in terms of people who really had no reason at all to get a doctorate, he said "Then just get the terminal degree in that field.". I was thrown for a loop by this. He went on to say that the way to really influence culture was through the universities, and that the only way to influence the universities was for all the Christians to get doctorates and to learn all about philosophy and logic. This is ridiculous. The Bible plainly teaches that the best way for Christians to influence culture is to live Christocentric lives and to raise God-fearing families. Learning and education is all well and good, but the Bible puts it in its proper place when it says, "Hath not God made foolish the wisdom (philosophia in Greek) of this world?".
Dr. Craig made only a passing reference to living a Christian life. In fact, he spent about 80 of his 90 minutes expounding the glories of Philosophy and how we need to be into Analytic Philosophy as opposed to Continental Philosophy, dropping names left and right (Kant! Paley! Hume! Butler! blablabla!). The guy quoted maybe two scripture verses the whole time, and one of those was quoted back to me after I asked him how any of this academic stuff was relevant to, say, a new Christian in the Sudan who has no access to anything resembling a doctorate. How is that guy supposed to defend his faith? Or how are we supposed to defend our faith with philosophy and logic when we get asked questions like, "Hey, why don't you ever swear? Why do you work so hard? So why don't you come to the meetings on Sunday?". That is where Apologetics really comes into play. It's not some super-complicated theory of thought, it's being ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15).
Perhaps the most disturbing quote of the night from Dr. Craig was when he said, "God knows all truth". God knows all truth, Dr. Craig? The Bible says that God is truth. The distinction between these two statements is subtle but powerful, and it's more than just different words for the same thing. It's a good example of how thinking, reasoning, and philosophizing can become a god. Dr. Craig was insisting all night long that nothing was beyond our ability to know and prove through logic! Logic is our primary tool to discovering truth in this life, according to him. Well Dr. Craig, the truth is that our pathetic ability to use logic amounts to pure drivel in relation to God, and the only way we can know the truth in this life is to study his revealed will in Scripture while praying that our eyes be opened to it.
Dr. Craig is a very learned man. What he talked about, however, was not Apologetics but rather Philosophy and how great it is. One of his primary points, in fact, was that to really be an Apologist you need to get a doctorate! He actually said, "Get a doctorate." When asked to clarify this in terms of people who really had no reason at all to get a doctorate, he said "Then just get the terminal degree in that field.". I was thrown for a loop by this. He went on to say that the way to really influence culture was through the universities, and that the only way to influence the universities was for all the Christians to get doctorates and to learn all about philosophy and logic. This is ridiculous. The Bible plainly teaches that the best way for Christians to influence culture is to live Christocentric lives and to raise God-fearing families. Learning and education is all well and good, but the Bible puts it in its proper place when it says, "Hath not God made foolish the wisdom (philosophia in Greek) of this world?".
Dr. Craig made only a passing reference to living a Christian life. In fact, he spent about 80 of his 90 minutes expounding the glories of Philosophy and how we need to be into Analytic Philosophy as opposed to Continental Philosophy, dropping names left and right (Kant! Paley! Hume! Butler! blablabla!). The guy quoted maybe two scripture verses the whole time, and one of those was quoted back to me after I asked him how any of this academic stuff was relevant to, say, a new Christian in the Sudan who has no access to anything resembling a doctorate. How is that guy supposed to defend his faith? Or how are we supposed to defend our faith with philosophy and logic when we get asked questions like, "Hey, why don't you ever swear? Why do you work so hard? So why don't you come to the meetings on Sunday?". That is where Apologetics really comes into play. It's not some super-complicated theory of thought, it's being ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15).
Perhaps the most disturbing quote of the night from Dr. Craig was when he said, "God knows all truth". God knows all truth, Dr. Craig? The Bible says that God is truth. The distinction between these two statements is subtle but powerful, and it's more than just different words for the same thing. It's a good example of how thinking, reasoning, and philosophizing can become a god. Dr. Craig was insisting all night long that nothing was beyond our ability to know and prove through logic! Logic is our primary tool to discovering truth in this life, according to him. Well Dr. Craig, the truth is that our pathetic ability to use logic amounts to pure drivel in relation to God, and the only way we can know the truth in this life is to study his revealed will in Scripture while praying that our eyes be opened to it.
