Religion: Suckered into Forgetting Humility
Photo: Man giving finger by Vitabello (CC0) Pixabay.
One of the key precepts of many religions is that of the humility
required to learn that which is not normally part of the human experience. That
elusive topic is, of course, spirit.
The spiritual realm is not like anything in the physical realm.
There is no space. There is no time as we know it—no persistence. There is no
energy or mass.
Too many of today’s religious, however, are not humble to Truth
and to God. What remains particularly sad is that too many are unwilling to
explore new territory in the spiritual realm and new ideas about it. They are
comfortable sitting just inside the entrance of religion, a long way from
spirituality—a long way from heaven.
This type of malady is not confined to religion, though. It is a
common human condition found in science, culture, ethnicity, politics and more.
Take the “climate change” debate, for instance. I offer online a
course at Udemy.com called the Critical
Thinking Academy.
Initially, it had two main modules—an introduction and a critical analysis of
the “climate change” topic.
In recent weeks, I have been finalizing the course’s module on
logical fallacies. While uploading the materials for this module, I noticed
that one of my former students was extremely dissatisfied with the course. But
what he said provided me with not only a perfect example of logical fallacies
in action, but also a lack of humility on the part of that former student. The
following has been added to the course description without naming names, but to
help prospective students understand how the course can benefit them:
EXAMPLE OF CRITICAL THINKING:
One of the reviews for this course [Critical Thinking Academy at Udemy.com] provides us with a perfect example of logical fallacies in use to argue against taking the course. Let’s examine this student’s comments to see how they stack up when put under the examination of critical thinking.
The student remarked, “It is a pretense to position critical
thinking fundamentals to deliver conspiracy theories and climate change denial.
I would suggest people google the instructor prior to taking the course.”
Pretense?
No, there is no “false show,” here. This course and the discussions in it truly
do analyze the arguments on the topics of climate change to achieve a more
reasoned critical thinking. The second module (“Logical Fallacies”) adds to
this by providing an in-depth look at how critical thinking can become derailed
by fallacies like the ones used in the comment. Sadly, some use such attack
fallacies to get people not to look at opposing facts. Critical Thinking is all
about examining all sides of an issue, rather than ignoring them. Critical
Thinking demands that we question everything, including our own beliefs.
The former student said, “…deliver conspiracy theories…”
But what is a conspiracy? One of your free
books provides evidence from numerous reputable sources that
prove that conspiracies are, as the title says, “Dirt Ordinary.” This is no
fantasy, or kooky topic. In fact, there are at least 489 new conspiracies
starting every second, on average, every day, all year long and every year.
Theories are called by scientists, “hypotheses,” and are used to explore the
possible causes of observed, factual phenomena. A conspiracy is defined merely
as a conversation between 2 or more people for the purpose of doing something
unethical or illegal. Criminal selfishness is to the individual what conspiracy
is to the group.
The use of the term, “denial,” is a
pejorative, ad hominem
attack, one of the logical fallacies about which you will learn more in the
course.
The former student recommended that, “…people google the instructor prior
to taking the course.” Knowledge is always a good thing, and I
strongly concur with the former student’s recommendation, but with one very
potent caveat: Don’t let anything you find out about any instructor dissuade
you from investigating a topic more deeply. Facts are facts, no matter who says
them. Judge the facts, not the personalities. Those who put on blinders will
miss unique opportunities for discovery. Every viewpoint has value—even yours.
Derailing Spiritual Studies
[image error]Woman of many colors signifying a diversity of viewpoints. Only humility can lead us to Truth.
Photo: Ivanovgood (CC0) Pixabay.
Eighteenth century Christian apologist, William Paley (1743–1805) feared that his peers would fall all too frequently into the trap of “contempt prior to investigation.” I discuss this attitude of unsupported dismissiveness in my book, The Bible’s Hidden Wisdom: God’s Reason for Noah’s Flood. To the biblical literalist, they already “know” truth, but don’t realize the error of their ways. Their “truth” is their interpretation of the Bible—not the Bible itself. There are thousands (perhaps even millions) of biblical interpretations. Most of them are wrong in one fashion or another—most of them, or all of them.
The following excerpt from my book drives home this point:
“The old saying about not being able to teach an old dog new
tricks comes from this phenomenon. The older people get, the more likely they
are to develop the idea that they’ve learned all they need in life. They
frequently feel that no one can teach them, because they’ve experienced things
that younger people would not understand.
“But not all older people are this way. Some develop a lifetime
attitude open to learning. They are constantly emptying their cup so that it
may be filled again.
“The first rule in a search for answers is to maintain the
openness to receive the answers once found. The art of interpretation requires
that your cup must first be empty” (The Bible’s Hidden Wisdom, chapter
6, p.108).
I use the Eastern metaphor of “empty cup,” of course, to
symbolize the required humility before learning or discovering anything.
The Know-it-All Attitude
[image error]Man shushing. “Be quiet!” is the attitude of those who think they already know everything. But no one knows all that God knows. Until we have such omniscience, we need to hold humility, for that is one of the 4 key traits of God.
Photo: Vitabello (CC0) Pixabay.
Many of today’s church leaders are so confident of their own
knowledge and interpretation, they think they know all they need in order to
teach others their religion. Confidence is a good thing. But confidence without
humility descends into arrogance. But aren’t these two concepts in
opposition—confidence and humility?
The answer to this important question involves some discussion.
We need to understand the definitions of our words and to refine those
definitions and how the attitudes they describe are used.
Confidence in self and self’s knowledge is counterproductive. So
is humility to the interpretations of man. Instead, we need to be confident in
God’s ability to help us reach greater knowledge and humble to the fact that we
may never know it all. See the difference? The former is misguided confidence
and humility; the latter puts self, last, and God’s perfect knowledge, first.
When I first published The Bible’s Hidden Wisdom, I
attempted to discuss it in several groups on LinkedIn—a popular,
business-related website. I joined one group of biblical literalists and was
promptly ejected. The leader of that group sent me a gruff email, letting me
know in no uncertain terms that I had it all wrong and that there is no such
thing as wisdom hidden in the Bible. He let me know that the Bible was written
to be understood easily.
So, I was left to wonder about his notion of following Christ,
who said that we should love others—even our enemies. I wanted to join his
group to share what I had learned and perhaps to learn from their viewpoints. Was
it a loving move to block all discussion? Somehow, I don’t think so. His
actions seemed to tell me that he felt he already knew he was right and that he
could not teach me anything. His action seemed to have no love, generosity or
humility.
Today, Christians who evangelize seem compelled to tell anyone with whom they disagree that they are wrong, even if we believe in Christ and God, but have different views about those entities. Ego is thick with them. They reek with the stench of self and self-righteousness. I’m all too familiar with that attitude. I’ve been there and all too frequently revisit that dark territory.
But sometimes I will push the buttons of others to provoke their
own egos, getting them to become more critically aware of the monster hiding
inside.
Science, scientists, logic and the erudite Age of Reason have
corrupted the spiritual efforts of man with a new breed of evil—this modern
brand of self-righteousness. It is an attitude that is as old as humanity, but
it has taken on a new cloak—a more pleasing shroud of darkness.
Part of good critical thinking includes the humility to consider
that everything we know about a topic is entirely wrong. At first glance, such
an idea seems entirely painful. Giving up our precious knowledge seems
impossible. But when we get past the initial discomfort, the idea of being free
of all past knowledge is quite liberating. We can always put back simple things
that still seem to work, like “2+2 = 4,” “God is Love,” and similar. The
humility to view the world with fresh eyes allows us to see things we would
otherwise easily miss.
Everyone has their current place on the road to Truth. Some have
stopped for awhile, perhaps even thinking that they have arrived. Perhaps
something will help knock them from their complacency and their lack of
humility. I continue to pray for more humility and wisdom so that I can
continue to learn.
