Is Christianity Arrogant? -Part 1<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
by <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Israel Wayne

A few months ago I was in a conversation with a well-known Christian leader who shared with me that he struggles with the concept of people going to hell. "As I get older," he confided to me, "I am leaning more toward universalism (the belief that everyone goes to heaven regarding of their beliefs or actions). I just can't envision a loving God sending people to a dark, eternal punishment simply because they don't believe exactly the way we do." This view is shared by many Christians today.

Certainly, God knows those that are His (2 Tim. 2:19). Jesus Himself said that we shouldn't go around pulling up weeds because we might be pulling up plants unknowingly (Matt. 13:28-30). We should allow the harvesters to do that at the end of the age. That Christian leader is certainly correct that God alone will judge all the earth, and He will not condemn the innocent (Gen. 18:25).

However, I think a bigger issue that looms behind the question of who makes it to heaven and who doesn't. It is an Epistemological question of what can be ultimately known and claimed by finite human beings.

There seems to be an argument that goes something like this:

Premise A: Claiming to know something absolutely is arrogant.
Premise B: Christians claim to know some things absolutely.
Conclusion: Christians are arrogant.
There is no formal fallacy in the argument, but at least one of the premises is false. Can you identify it? I hope you guessed correctly: "A".
How Did This Idea Develop?After the 18th century era of The "Enlightenment", with its abandonment of the Supernatural concept in favor of Rationalism (we can know everything through reason), the Modernist era (a generic term given to the time period from approximately 1859 when Darwin's "Origin of Species" was published, until about the 1950s) adopted a view of reality that said we can know science, mathematics and the Empirical world (what we can experience with our natural senses), but anything in the Metaphysical world (the non-physical world), we cannot claim to know as a "fact." The German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, who is famous for his dictum "God is dead," is credited with making the shift in popular discourse from talking about morals to talking about "values." We hear this term a lot in political circles today: "Values Voters," or "I'm for traditional values," etc. The reason this shift occurred is because some philosophers did not like idea of morals because morals or morality implies a "Moral Law-Giver," and if such a being exists, we are accountable to Him. Therefore, public discussion shifted from discussing morals (which have an absolute point of reference) to "values" which simply means, "Something that I hold dear," or "Something I believe." There is a big difference between the two.

The "Fact/Value Dichotomy" then emerged and can be pictured this way: Imagine a two story house. The bottom floor is called: "FACT." (The Physical World)The top floor is called: "VALUES." (The Metaphysical World)People compartmentalize their lives into these two levels, going from one to the other, but always having to separate them. They enjoy their values, which are important, but personal and private.

If Matter Is All There Is, Morality Can't Exist
The more honest philosophers, however, have admitted that if the bottom floor is universally true, and to quote Carl Sagan, "The Cosmos is all there is, was, or ever will be," then there really is no point in holding to a concept of values at all because the TOP FLOOR DOESN'T REALLY EXIST!!! We just imagine it to, because we desire for it to exist. In other words, there is no real metaphysical reality.

That is why B.F. Skinner wrote his book, Beyond Freedom and Dignity. He was attempting to convince people that they are biological machines, predetermined by their DNA and environment to do, think and feel, everything. (A strange thing to prove if they don't truly have free minds!)The Biblical Christian, on the other hand, categorically denies this false dichotomy. We assert that we live on one combined floor and that both the Physical and the Metaphysical (non-physical world of thoughts, emotions, spirituality, etc.) are both knowable because God made them both and has revealed them both to us. In other words, Truth (all Truth, both Physical and Metaphysical) can be known.

Therefore, we can speak authoritatively not only about the physical world, but the spiritual, or metaphysical world as well. While not all Metaphysical concepts are absolute (values are not), some are and can be known. As Christians, we have a true revelation of the laws and truths of both the seen and unseen world.

Copyright 2007, by Israel Wayne. All Rights Reserved.

Israel Wayne was home educated and currently serves as Marketing Director for the national publication Home School Digest, and the site editor for www.ChristianWorldview.net. He is the author of the book, Homeschooling From A Biblical Worldview, published by Wisdomfs Gate. Israel and his wife Brook (also a homeschool graduate) have five young children. Write to: Wisdom's Gate, P.O. Box 374, Covert, MI 49043. 1-800-343-1943 or www.WisdomsGate.org