Beware of pragmatism and rationalism!

[BruceLeiter]

We sang a contemporary song in church recently, the chorus of which says, "Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one. God of glory, majesty; praise forever the King of Kings!" It got me thinking about how we look at the Bible.

I think we need to watch out for the temptations of pragmatism and rationalism. Pragmatism is a philosophy with which people judge life according to their experience. What works is good, while what doesn't work is bad.

Rationalism involves relying on our reason to determine what is or isn't the truth and approaches the Bible with a reasoned set of beliefs that it imposes on the Scriptures. It usually rejects miracles, for example, as not fitting its rational approach. Apparently, Thomas Jefferson created his own Bible by taking out all of the miracles.

A pragmatist would probably question the above song and say that he has never seen God and therefore he doesn't exist, while rationalism balks at thinking that God is "three in one."

Neither philosophy is biblical. On the other hand, God does use people's experiences and reasoning, when they are in tune with the Bible's teachings. Similarly, we need to find out the assumptions and principles of the Bible and interpret it based on those ideas, instead of relying on our own reasoning and experience without God.

What do you think? What evidence have you seen of both philosophies in the world around you?

 

[jswauto]

It's so rampant, where does one even start?

How about Christianity? One area you wouldn't think of: Bible commentary.

You ever notice, you're going through a simple commentary you're reading, just to catch any details you might of missed, and the whole commentary is showing some symbolic or allegorical representation of something you thought was a very simple literal situation.

Almost like the commentator rationalizes something more plausibly believable using figurative or symbolic replacement theology.

 

[BruceLeiter]

It's so rampant, where does one even start?

How about Christianity? One area you wouldn't think of: Bible commentary.

You ever notice, you're going through a simple commentary you're reading, just to catch any details you might of missed, and the whole commentary is showing some symbolic or allegorical representation of something you thought was a very simple literal situation.

Almost like the commentator rationalizes something more plausibly believable using figurative or symbolic replacement theology.

Yes, @jswauto, human pride often gets in the way of true beliefs, because people want their reasoning and experience always to be true and right instead of being willing to be taught how we can improve our thinking and feeling. That's why God commands us through James,

Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Jas 4:9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

 

[Frankj]

FWIW, Pragmatism is essentially a 'what works is what's real and the value of it is the results of it' philosophy, it isn't related to anything other than checking a proposal against the real world to measure its results against its intention.

When someone says something like "Do what you did, get what you got" that would be a pragmatic expression, the consequences of your actions being the measure of their real value, leading to either their continuation or trying something else instead.

It has no relation to religion within its nature anymore than your work procedures do if you are not doing religious work.

 

[BruceLeiter]

FWIW, Pragmatism is essentially a 'what works is what's real and the value of it is the results of it' philosophy, it isn't related to anything other than checking a proposal against the real world to measure its results against its intention.

When someone says something like "Do what you did, get what you got" that would be a pragmatic expression, the consequences of your actions being the measure of their real value, leading to either their continuation or trying something else instead.

It has no relation to religion within its nature anymore than your work procedures do if you are not doing religious work.

@Frankj, I believe that all of life is religious in the sense that we rely on ourselves, other people, some false god, or the true God of the Bible for meaning in life. My father was a secular pragmatist who didn't go to church, because he relied on his own ability to experience life and learn from it.

My mom, who was a Christian, would say to him, "You should discipline the boys."

He would respond, "Oh, they'll figure it out." He was a thorough-going pragmatist.

However, at the age of 77, he accepted Jesus as his Savior a year before he died! Was I ever thankful!