stuckinstuff

Sometimes It Just Makes Sense

My circumstances this weekend have allotted me some spare time for reading and watching videos on my computer.  My content intake included the fifth DVD in the series Planet Earth, “The Future,” which addresses questions of conservation and sustainability of our planet.  Of course I also made time for Wendell Berry, reading “Feminism, the Body, and the Machine” and “Solving for Pattern,” both in The Art of the Commonplace.  Both Planet Earth and Wendell Berry reminded me of an epistemological commitment I have: sometimes we know something is true simply because it makes sense.

A couple of weekends ago a friend doubted the usefulness “it just makes sense” for gaining knowledge.  He likes evidence.  I do too.  But “it just makes sense” is a form of evidence, I contend.  It’s an epistemological tool that smart people (I reveal my bias and pride all at once) use.  Yet is is not a tool for the lazy.  Believing in something that “just makes sense” takes a lot of work.  Here’s why.

When we say that something “just makes sense” what we are actually saying is something closer to this, “As I take in this new information, all that I know to be true and expect to be validated affirms that I ought to believe in this new information.  On that basis of knowledge and expectation, I’m going to believe this new information because it just makes sense.”

Now I hear, for example, a lot of both sides of the environmental debate.  As a Christian, many of my peers are skeptics of our environmental problems.  They feel like the science does not support things like global warming.  I’m suspicious that they get their information mostly from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.  As a Christian who dislikes Rush Limbaugh, I’ve tried to get my information about the environmental debate from the likes of Planet Earth or World Resources Institute or books or magazines.  I say all this to make a point.  “Sense” is directly proportional to the quality of the knowledge and expectation that invokes it.

Thus “it just makes sense” is an epistemological tool that works for the hard working knowledge-seeker and fails miserably for the lazy knowledge-wanter.  Knowledge-seekers work hard to develop their discernment.  They take in a lot of information from a lot of sources and check and double check that information.  And so they are able to develop a sense of what seems true.  Knowledge-wanters let another person do their work for them.  Knowledge-wanters usually rely on one (or very few) sources for their information, and thus dull their discernment.

Look, what’s my point here?  Don’t be lazy!  Don’t just consume because so-and-so says to consume.  Look around a bit more.  Find out if other people think that consuming is not helpful.  Don’t just write off environmental concerns because so-and-so says it’s bunk.  Find out if there is genuine reason to be concerned about the environment.  Work hard.  Pretty soon things might start to “just make sense.”

StuckInStuff Tip #2 - Let The Last Words Be, “Let Go”

A conversation came up last night at church during a Justice Committee meeting, and I thought it would be worth mentioning on Stuck In Stuff.  Here’s the point: Sometimes you cannot justify yourself.  Sometimes you have to let go of the last word, stop trying to explain your point, and move on.  That’s a life skill that will revolutionize your relationships.  It’s the skill of being able to be intimate with people who do not know and understand you completely.

The idea of being close to someone who does not understand you completely is debilitating for many people.  It is utterly frightening.  As an example, for some people who have strong political opinions, they feel compelled to painstakingly explain why they hold a particular viewpoint.  When their friend responds, “I just don’t see it that way.  I don’t understand why you would think that way,” they feel a compulsion to attempt to explain again.  They exhaust every metaphor known to man.  They try every angle.  And when their friend still does not agree with them, they pause briefly and then attempt to explain themselves again and again and again.  People like this have a hard time with relationships.

In our consumer culture I believe that stuff plays into this problem.  Many people use stuff much the same way that people attempt to justify themselves.  More stuff often functions the same way as needing to get in the last word.

Scientists Being Scientists

A friend forwarded a link to the upcoming documentary Expelled hosted by Ben Stein.  Take ten minutes to watch the extended trailer found in the Playground section of the movie's website.

I'll wait until after I see it to give my thoughts on the movie.  My thoughts on scientists who believe confidently that believing in God is foolish are that such scientists are themselves dishonest.  The atheist scientist is not, I am convinced, sure that all the evidence points clearly to the conclusion that there is no God.  Instead, the atheist scientist is self-delusional, controlled by pride or cowardice or some other diminishing vice.  There is plenty of good scientific evidence to support belief in God.  There certainly is an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence that should produce skepticism in the atheist hypothesis.  I simply think it is intellectually disingenuous to be a confident atheist.  There's no good evidence for such a belief.

I'm reminded of a quote from a book I've just finished (and will likely review soon), People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck.  He is speaking about a developing a "scientific study of evil" but his observations apply in any situation.  "Fortunately, in our culture, scientists love to argue with one another.  I shudder to think of a time and place in which there is a 'scientific' gospel of the nature of good and evil that is not subject to debate.  I use 'scientific' in quotes in this regard because debate is the cornerstone of genuine science, and a science without debate and exuberant skepticism is not a science at all."

The False Dichotomy of Gospel Preaching and Social Justice

In this brief post I’d like to suggest that some evangelical Christians have created a false dichotomy, pitting “preaching the gospel” against “social justice.”  Some evangelical Christians believe that activism, advocacy, and justice work is an add on to preaching the Good News of salvation.  Verbally proclaiming the gospel in sermon and witness takes priority over acting justly toward those with whom we share the Good News.  Here is a quote from the president of a Christian college who argues for this dichotomy,

St. Francis famously exhorted, ‘Preach the gospel at all times.  Use words if necessary.’  We know what this aphorism was designed to stress: the importance of the ‘adorning’ role of our deeds (Titus 2:10).  But were we to press the saying literally, it would be false.  The gospel is inherently a verbal thing.  It requires verbal expression.  Social action can never take its place.
    At [Christian College] we are striving to keep in mind it is this proclaimed gospel that is ‘the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes’ (Rom. 1:16), not our social action.  We view justice and compassion ministries as buttressing our gospel witness, not replacing it.

In our culture academic and public intellectuals have been attacking the efficacy of language to convey truth claims for some time.  It is appropriate that the president of a Christian college would react against that trend.  Christianity makes truth claims using language.  The Good News is Christianity’s most precious truth claim.  And Christians rightly should defend its validity.  But should Christians contrast verbal proclamation with physical charity?  The Good News “requires verbal expression,” yes.  But does it not require actions of justice and compassion?

Christians are familiar with John the Baptist, who while in prison wondered about Jesus’ ministry.  The Gospel of Matthew says,

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

It is impossible to imagine Jesus only verbally proclaiming the gospel.  It would be as if our Lord’s Prayer went simply, “Thy will be done” and neglected to add “on earth as it is in heaven.”  But that was not how the Prayer was prayed by Jesus.  He said, “Thy Kingdom come.  Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Jesus began his ministry by going to “Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God, is at hand; repent and believe in the  gospel.’”  Can you imagine a verbal-only kingdom?  A kingdom with only benevolent words and no charitable deeds?  Or can you imagine a verbal-only law?  A legal code without enforcement?

Yes, the gospel requires verbal proclamation.  Inherent also in the gospel are acts of justice and compassion.  Such charity does not buttress the gospel.  Justice and compassion do not “support” or “defend” the truth claims of the gospel.  Acts of justice and compassion are part of the truth claims of the gospel.  As surely as the gospel proclamation is incomplete without verbal expression, so too is the gospel deficient without actions of justice and compassion.

Consumed - PBS Marketplace Special

The PBS show Marketplace is running a special series, Consumed.  The program asks the question, "Is our consumer culture sustainable."

I caught a good part of the first episode on my way to and from The Home Depot.  Ironic, yes.  Yet I was purchasing energy efficient light bulbs for our garage.

One thing I'll be looking for as I listen through this series is any commentary on the effects of consumer culture on non-environmental matters.  That is not the focus of Consumed.  And so I will not blame them if they avoid discussing issues like unfair labor and the unsatisfactory nature of materialism (though they did touch on the latter indirectly some).

Let me know your thoughts.

Why Do You Give To Those In Need?

A conversation I had some weeks ago prompts me to ask, Why do you give to those in need?  Feel free to just comment on this post without reading the whole (long-winded) context of my question.  Be as short or long as you’d like.  I’m interested to know what motivates you to be philanthropic.

Step 1 Put Stuff In Its Place by Living Right

StuckInStuff.com is kind of a personal blog.  My own life engendered it.  I’ve got a lot of stuff and intuit that too much stuff is bad.  And also I believe quite strongly that some stuff is good.  Stuff can be bad and stuff can be good.  I think some other people feel the same.  But how do we sort this out?

Living thoughtfully and joyfully.  That’s the best answer I’ve come up with yet.  Living thoughtfully and joyfully is the best way to confront the dilemma of stuff.  When we focus our attention on living thoughtfully and joyfully, taking into consideration also the thinking and joy of others, we orient our lives in a way that subjugates stuff to more important things.

Okay that helps a lot.  How do we live thoughtfully and joyfully?  Yikes.  Those are big questions.  And they ought to take a lifetime and more (I happen believe in eternal life) to figure out.  We can make some progress right away, though.

A Truth About Truth

This is about them and us and you and me.  Plurals and singulars.  Differences and similarities.  It’s about how everything works.  Either together or alone.  I think together.

One of the discomforts of our times is that community is in but individuality is not out.  Pop-postmodernism waxes eloquent the virtue of communities even as it preaches the liberty of relativism for the individual.  Consumerism encourages herd behavior so that a person can express a unique persona.  Political tolerance makes us all the same in order to appreciate our individual differences.  The prevailing modern worldviews idolize them and us and deify you and me.  I can appreciate them, but in a narcissistic way.  This doesn’t work.

Consumerism 101 - Christopher Lasch Essay

This quick and interesting read, The Culture of Consumerism, by Christopher Lasch covers the rise of consumerism in post-war America.  The essay is a good introduction to consumerism, and perhaps a springboard to more thinking and reading on the subject.