A Journey to Search for Truth!

Author’s Note

"Most people, including ourselves, live in a world of relative ignorance. We are even comfortable with that ignorance because it is all we know. When we first start facing truth, the process may be frightening, and many people run back to their old lives. But if you continue to seek truth, you will eventually be able to handle it better. In fact, you want more! It's true that many people around you now may think you are weird or even a danger to society, but you don't care. Once you've tasted the truth, you won't ever want to go back to being ignorant.”

Socrates

Reflections

I have a new blog called, The Slippery Concept of Extreme Diakrisis.

You might ask, what does diakrisis mean? Diakrisis is a Greek noun that occurs three times in the New Testament (Romans 14.1, 1 Corinthians 12:10, and Hebrews 5:14) and means distinction, explanation, discerning, or differentiation between good and bad.

In this new blog we will be using discernment recognizing the slippery nature of using this tool of diakrisis in our search for truth. What do I mean by the word discernment? Discernment is the ability to decide between truth and error and the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth.

I will share with you, my new journey trying to discover what the ultimate truth is through this form of discernment. This journey will not be for the “faint-hearted.” Over the next few weeks, we will be on a journey to discover what truth is when we are thinking about what the meaning of life is all about, therefore we will be concentrating on philosophical, moral and religion truths.

I will be focusing on subject matter not from a fundamentalist Christian view, but predominantly from a historical perspective, wherever that might lead, exploring the deep meaning of our existence. I will look at the meaning of life through a historical lens, trying to determine the truth that can be gleaned through honest and thoughtful investigation, listening to

all the voices, non-Christian and Christian alike. We will be exploring and investigating extreme DIAKRISIS!

What we call “truth” can be found in many kinds of intellectual inquiry, such as, but not limited to mathematical truths, philosophical truths, moral truths, religious truths, scientific truths, and physical truth. Many thinkers from antiquity to now have wrestled with questions such as why we are here, where are we going, and what happens when we die. In all cases they are searching for absolute truth.

Religion has played a central role in these philosophical pursuits. Before we begin this journey, we need to realize there are many different human concepts of God. The key models developed over the years can be described as atheism, agnosticism, deism, theism, monotheism, polytheism, henotheism, pantheism, and panentheism. I will define each of these terms below.

An atheist believes that no god exists. There were few atheists in the ancient world. In today’s world atheism appears to be on the rise and is associated with naturalism or secular humanism. The essential belief is that physical nature is the only reality. Because nature is self- explanatory, the only knowledge that counts as knowledge comes from science.

An agnostic believes we cannot know whether a god exists, and it is impossible to know for certain. Thomas Huxley, a friend of Charles Darwin, gave the modern world this term. He associated agnosticism with evolutionary science and believed as a scientist we cannot know or prove that a God exists.

A deist believes the knowledge of God is based on the application of his reason on the designs/laws found throughout Nature and the Universe. The designs presuppose a Designer. Deism is therefore a natural religion, spiritual philosophy and is not a "revealed" religion. God created matter and energy. God also established the laws of nature, the same laws of nature that scientists can discover. Once the world was established, the God of deism withdrew and no longer intervenes in the world. Deists were very influential in Great Britain, France, Germany, and colonial America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Deism became a religious position associated with reason and the Enlightenment. The pyramid pictured on the obverse of the U.S. dollar bill depicts the all-seeing eye of the deistic God. Mozart’s Zauberflöte (Magic Flute) is dedicated to deism.

A theist belief can be clarified by contrasting theism with those of deism, polytheism, and pantheism. In contrast to deists, theists believe God acts in the world. In contrast to polytheists, theists believe there is only one divine reality. In contrast to pantheists, theists believe God is personal and God loves the world as one person would love another.

A monotheist believes there is one God that created the universe and is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Monotheism characterizes the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and elements of the belief are discernible in numerous other religions.

A polytheist believes in many gods. He believes these gods are spirits inhabiting and directing the forces of nature. In biblical times, the Greek and Roman gods were associated with natural forces.

A henotheist believes his god is superior. Henotheism is polytheism with an emphasis on loyalty to only one of the gods, or in the superiority of one’s own god over the gods of foreigners.

A pantheist believes everything is part of an all-encompassing, immanent God. All forms of reality may then be considered either modes of that Being, or identical with it. Some hold that pantheism is a non-religious philosophical position. To them, pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical, implying a denial of the personality and transcendence of God. Ideas resembling pantheism existed in South and East Asian religions before the 18th century such as Sikhism, Hinduism, Sanamahism, Confucianism, and Taoism.

A panentheist believes the universe conceived of is God and, conversely, there is no God but the combined substance, forces, and laws that are manifested in the existing universe. The doctrine of panentheism asserts that God includes the universe as a part though not the whole of his being. Examples of panentheism or panentheistic tendencies include Western mysticism and Hindu bhakti.

Wow, I think you will agree, the human mind is remarkable in its ability to develop so many different, competing concepts of God. No wonder the world is so chaotic! Humankind cannot come up with a unified concept of why we are here at this moment in time, on this small planet, located in this vast universe.

Well, we will not let this deter us! I would like to invite you to join me on this journey! We will explore the ideas about our existence from many different angles. Hopefully, this journey will be eye-opening, allowing each of us to use our God-given reason to determine why we are here and make sense of the meaning of life! I welcome you to join the blog. This blog can be found on my website, www.barryhaney.com.

Thank you. Have a great day!

Barry

Silent Prayer

Creator God, help us use the reason you gave us to discover the truth.

Music

Imagine - Pentatonix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLiWFUDJ95I

Barry