Philosophy is nothing but common sense in a dress suit.
A Christian Philosophy
Quote: Philosophy is nothing but common sense in a dress suit.
Scripture: For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:6
Philosophy: Many of us avoid the term philosophy. We think it is for the intellectuals. I disagree, and I hope you will see why. Philosophy is the inquiry into the comprehensive principals of reality. It is the study of the nature and the source of human values. Some philosophers attempt to dismiss the human values part, but this is precisely why it is important to Christians. Some would deny that there is any one framework of human values. They argue that values are subjective anyway. For the Christian, though, it is essential that we embrace a system of values in our understanding of truth and reality.
God’s Word: The Bible actually demands that we become philosophers. Why is that? Well, the word philosophy actually means “lovers of wisdom”. It is a composition of two Greek words “philos” which means love, and “Sophia” which means wisdom. Since the Bible desires that we be lovers of wisdom we should be better philosophers. Consider just this admonition from Proverbs, “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom” (4:7).
Worldview: “A worldview is a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true, or entirely false), which we hold (consciously or unconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic make-up of the world.” The Universe Next Door, James W. Sire. From this quote we can see that our worldview is composed of a number of basic presuppositions, more or less consistent with each other, more or less consciously held, and more or less true. Our worldview is the lens through which we view the world. Some of our worldviews are never questioned, nor shared with our friends and only surface when someone challenges us on one of them. When a worldview becomes conscious, that is we actually think about it, and accept it, then it becomes part of our philosophy. Many Christians hold worldviews that are not consistent with God’s revelation. That is not wise!
A Christian philosophy: The more our worldview embraces God’s revelation the more it will be a Christian philosophy. As Christians we must be steeped in God’s Word and therefore able to discern whether an opinion, feeling, notion, view, idea, belief, judgment, sentiment, persuasion, or impression is consistent with the Bible.
Scripture: “For though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
