The Truth: Easy To See, Hard To Look At
Dean Barnett, posting for Hugh Hewitt over at his blog, once again drives home the point: they (the Islamic fascists) hate us for who we are, not what we do. Despite academia and the MSM's best efforts to find the "complex truth" underlying this hate, he points to an example of Michael Ledeen being called "simplistic" in his views re: the Middle East by that great sage of our time, Alan Colmes. He then makes the great point that the Truth itself is that simple, but it's "easy to see, (but) hard to look at".
Read the whole post, which I agree with wholeheartedly. But here's what got me thinking: that aphorism about the truth applies on so many levels, and most importantly, to the level of theology. How often do we attempt to twist our ethical and moral rules to fit some preconceived notion or desire, when the truth (as attested by, for example, Scripture) is written plainly, unambiguously, and for all to see? Social/moral issues such as homosexuality, divorce, promiscuity, etc., (and, yes, even abortion) fit into this category perfectly.
Now, I'm only applying this rule to self-professed Christians (and possibly Jews, in some cases), who claim to believe that the Bible is indeed God's word. The number of people who fit into that category, and yet still contort themselves into all sorts of embarrassing positions to justify their own desires (to be contorted into embarrassing positions, in many cases!), surprise me. I even have family members that fit into this mold on some issues. Scripture is very clear on many current, topical issues, (i.e., it's "easy to see"), but because we cannot bring ourselves to accept this truth, as it would be "inconvenient" or "unfair", we refuse to "look at it". You know the routine -- "Oh, that only applies to the culture, at that time" or "That's not what he really means by that!" (I'm reminded here of Monty Python's Life Of Brian -- the scene in which one distant onlooker to the Sermon on the Mount mis-hears it as "Blessed are the cheese makers", to which another, "enlightened" onlooker says in a perfectly snooty tone, "Well, obviously, this is not meant to be taken literally. It refers to any manufacturers of dairy products."
I think the maxim "easy to see, hard to look at" might be a corollary to Occam's Razor.
Read the whole post, which I agree with wholeheartedly. But here's what got me thinking: that aphorism about the truth applies on so many levels, and most importantly, to the level of theology. How often do we attempt to twist our ethical and moral rules to fit some preconceived notion or desire, when the truth (as attested by, for example, Scripture) is written plainly, unambiguously, and for all to see? Social/moral issues such as homosexuality, divorce, promiscuity, etc., (and, yes, even abortion) fit into this category perfectly.
Now, I'm only applying this rule to self-professed Christians (and possibly Jews, in some cases), who claim to believe that the Bible is indeed God's word. The number of people who fit into that category, and yet still contort themselves into all sorts of embarrassing positions to justify their own desires (to be contorted into embarrassing positions, in many cases!), surprise me. I even have family members that fit into this mold on some issues. Scripture is very clear on many current, topical issues, (i.e., it's "easy to see"), but because we cannot bring ourselves to accept this truth, as it would be "inconvenient" or "unfair", we refuse to "look at it". You know the routine -- "Oh, that only applies to the culture, at that time" or "That's not what he really means by that!" (I'm reminded here of Monty Python's Life Of Brian -- the scene in which one distant onlooker to the Sermon on the Mount mis-hears it as "Blessed are the cheese makers", to which another, "enlightened" onlooker says in a perfectly snooty tone, "Well, obviously, this is not meant to be taken literally. It refers to any manufacturers of dairy products."
I think the maxim "easy to see, hard to look at" might be a corollary to Occam's Razor.
Labels: Christianity, Islamofascism, politics
posted by Benjamin at 1:44 PM
2 Comments:
Good idea to limit the discussion as you did. But there's still the problem of where to draw the line about what the Bible is "clear" about. But I agree. There are certain things that are clear. And yet people of the Book (even the fundy Moslems, who are reading the wrong book) contort themselves to do what they want.
I readily agree that some parts are just about as clear as mud. But on those issues I mentioned specifically, I don't think there's any ambiguity, despite attempts to prove the contrary.
With regard to the Koran, however, I'm not so convinced that they're really contorting much. "Slay the infidel wherever you see him" seems fairly unambiguous to me. Then again, I'm no muslim theologian. Maybe they have something like Dispensationalism working for them.
Post a Comment
<< Home