(Originally written June 30, 2006 in Book 2)
It has been awhile since I paid tribute to the man who got me interested in philosophy. It was Bertrand Russell's inexcusable attack upon God, Christianity and the beliefs that sustain me that drove me to philosophy. His folly, passed as wisdom, was the spark that ignited this fire that burns ever hotter in me. Russell was the catalyst that set me on the path to the second greatest thing that drives me. Well, that is a little lofty, and not quite true. Now I will examine myself for the values that guide me. This will answer the question that should plague every human being - Who Am I?
Who is Chris Linehan?
It is befitting my ethics and value system that I am named 'Christopher', which means 'Steadfast in Christ. That is my aim, my goal, my creed, my life. I can spout nonsense until the day I die and not have failed wholly if I live to the meaning of my name. All my philosophy can be proved wrong because I am inherently flawed. I am fallible and incapable of discerning what is truth in all matters (which is my quest for knowledge). For truth is difficult to come by and requires an ever growing and tireless ambition, but Truth is all around me. Truth is inside me, embedded for the war that rages always from the Fall until the Second Coming of Christ and the final unification of God and man. This is the Truth.
Jesus Christ, the son of God, came to earth, fully human yet paradoxically fully God. He was born of the virgin Mary, walked the earth in ministry to the wicked and self-proclaimed righteous. His ministry was seemingly cut short by the cross, but his death was a step in his glorious plan of redemption for the fallen, which is us. His atoning death was a vitally important step in the redemption of man. His ministry culminated when He rose again. His earthly ministry, atoning death, and conquering of the grave and death itself paved the way for all of us who came after Him. This gave us the chance at salvation if we only believe. And, I believe. After rising from the dead he rejoined his Father and the Holy Spirit in paradise, waiting to return in glory and defeat Satan once and for all. Upon his second coming all the saints of every age will join in his triumph and dwell with him forever in the New Heaven. This is Truth and Truth comes easily to us because it was hard fought by a God who needed nothing, but gave everything, that you and I and all men and women could be reconciled to this ever-loving God.
Above all else I am dedicated, motivated and sustained by God.
1. God is my highest value.
After a dedication to God as my highest value and aspiration, what defines me? Where do my loyalties fall next?
They fall in the category of relationships. First, there is the relationship with Truth, which is a personal relationship with God, who is Triune. Second only to the relationships with my creator, redeemer and sustainer is the relationships to whom He has blessed me with; my family and my friends. As with values as a whole, this too is hierarchical.
The most important relationship I have is between my fiancee and I. [As an aside on 1/20/2016, I encourage you to reread paragraph 2, especially where I state 'I am inherently flawed'. Then you will understand this paragraph a bit more like I do.] This is the ordained way of love that God has prescribed. Above all other men and women, I love______
After ______, my immediate family falls close behind. Then, my distant family (which now includes my wife-to-be's family). After that are my brothers and sisters in Christ, who are my family as well.
Values thus far,
1. God, and my relationship with Him
2. Fiancee/Wife, and my relationship with her
2b. My parents, brothers and sisters & those relationships
2c. My extended family (including my fiancee's family)
2d. My family in Christ
After the relationships to my family, first to _______, my beloved wife, then to my immediate family, then to my extended family, then to my family through Christ (of whom include most of the preceding categories) I have a loyalty to my fellow humans. They are all equals as they are all lost. The only difference between them and my family in Christ is that they are welcome in that family and have explicitly or implicitly rejected that welcome. They are all potential brothers and sisters in Christ. My loyalty to them comes with a responsibility to them. I must continue to welcome, invite, educate and love them in hopes of acquiring a new brother or sister in Christ. These are individuals, not incorporated collectives.
Thus, Values are:
1. God, and my relationship with them: a relationship with Truth.
2. ______ [1/20/16: I badly want to address _______ as either 'she who shall not be named' or lady Voldemort] and my relationship with her
2b. My immediate family and my relationship with them.
2c. My extended family and my relationships with them.
2d. My brothers and sisters in Christ and my relationship with them.
3. All individual humans and my responsibility to them and potential relationships with them.
The responsibility and duty I have because of the value of every individual human being that inherently lies in them in spite of their fallenness requires that I acquire tools. These tools are found in the Quest for Knowledge. There are many paths on this quest: medicine, history, sciences, humanities, art, must, mathematics, etc. But all these paths are bound as a single street towards a single goal. They are interconnected by the avenue that either I have chosen or which has chosen me, which is philosophy. But as any rose called something else is a rose, all paths, when traveled straight and narrow, lead to Truth, which is a relationship with God.
Values again:
1. God, and my relationship with Him
2. Lady V, and my relationship with her
2b. My immediate family and my relationship with them
2c. My extended family and my relationship with them
2d. My brothers and sisters in Christ and my relationship with them
3. All individual men and women in the entire world and the responsibility I have to each and every one of them and the potential relationship I have with them that is capable of growing into 2d.
4. The Quest for Knowledge (only as a means to move 3 to 2d).
The Quest for Knowledge can never be used as an end in and of itself because that will only produce a temporary easing of the lust that is curiosity. It can never be used as a means to further selfish ambition, lest it become a tool of self-servitude. I vow to try not to erect an altar to myself as many learned individuals do. If I gain all knowledge but do not fulfill the responsibilities inextricably connected to the relationships I have than I am unfit to worship. Since I am flawed anyway I will never gain all knowledge and therefore should not be worshipped. Rarely does man worship man, but often does man idolize himself. THis is not the Quest for Knowledge - This is perversion of good.
The Quest for Knowledge leads us to conclusions. They create new loyalties and values that are both universal and subjective. Universal ones include nature and living organisms other than man. These both are God's creations and we are called to rule over them. It is our duty to be stewards of this earth and all who inhabit it. But subjective values, like Political Parties, nations, causes, art, music, passions and interests can be valuable subjectively. A person can choose art over music or music over art depending on whether they are audio or visual in inclination. But these are my values and they should be objective and universal (while the persons in the aforementioned hierarchy are subjective).
1. God and one's relationship to Him (Universal)
2. One's wife/husband and relationship to them
2b. One's immediate family and one's relationship to them
2c. One's extended family and one's relationship to them
2d. The body of Christ, which are your brothers and sisters in Christ.
3. Every individual in the world and one's responsibility to them and potential relationship with them.
4. One's Quest for Knowledge, whatever field it may be gives one the skills and tools necessary for fulfilling the responsibility to number 3.
5. To the world as a collective. This includes living organisms and the inanimate universe. The environment is important to all values (Save 1) and therefore is necessary to values as means to furthering (the existence/increase of categories 2-3).
Any other values can be attributed subjectively according to one's background, genetics, passions, interests, and likes, etc. But they cannot contradict the universal ones (aforementioned 5). Otherwise, they will further[add weight to, it's incredibly poor handwriting so I could just be guessing, but at the same time I'm getting fairly angry at Lady V and all of her detractors... sort of the self vs the other and the other's other self vs. the self sort of thing, but, I don't want to interrupt riveting self-taught, self-righteous, self-aggrandizing thought of a self-declared prodigy at 22 ] self-serving ambitions as a means to idolizing one's self. Idolizing one's self is disrespecting the valuable relationships in all the universals. Contradicting the universal values is not valuing something else. It is posturing one's self as the Truth. It is breaking the first commandment.
Noticing that I have excluded one's self from the universal values and subjective values is probably the first thing on your mind. I have omitted one's own self intentionally, not because one's self is not valuable, but because it is included in every category. God has no need for us, but loves us regardless. In order to embrace these ethics (the universal) one must first embrace God and create a relationship with Him. One cannot have any values or ethics if one does not exit. One's own value requires existence and existence implies value.
One finds one's own value in its utmost and highest form; in one's relationship with the creating, redeeming, Triune God. Next one finds one's own value in one's relationship to one's family. Families come in all shapes and sizes. The most important familial relationship is to one's spouse, which is a wife for a man or a husband to a woman. These relationships were put into place by God, so by finding one's own value in one's spouse is indirectly finding one's own value in God.
Not all men and women have spouses for a variety of reasons. One still finds one's own value in their blood relatives. God is a relational God; man is created in the image of God; therefore, man is relational. The closest relations are blood relatives and these extend far or not.
After family ties by blood there are family ties by the blood of Christ. These are extremely valuable because their value comes directly from their relationships with God and one's relationship to God and their relationship between the two brothers and sisters in Christ. This includes the Universal Church and particular churches. A quick note - if one's familial ties are ties to people who are not related through Christ, this category is higher than blood relations and even the relationship between spouses. Believers ought to marry believers, but do not divorce an unbeliever. Work ever harder to welcome them as a brother or sister in Christ. One should also work harder to invite blood relatives into the family of Christ, not because those individuals are universally more valuable than other nonbelievers, but because they are subjectively more valuable because of history and closeness.
All individuals are important and inherently valuable because all are made in the image of God. This makes all individuals inherently valuable. As Christ's family we are to continue His ministry in welcoming the world into reconciliation with Truth and God.
God performs the act of reconciliation but requires us (for our own sake, not his) to guide them in their path to God. We are merely trail guides on the path of reconciliation, which Christ blazed nearly 2,000 years ago,
I wonder to to fulfill our duty as trail guides, must we understand and know the trail? We do this on our own Quest for Knowledge. There are many different trails, but all lead to God if they are followed straight and narrow.
Each path is straight and narrow, but requires different types of knowledge to navigate. In order to guide along any part of the path one must know it fully. If a guide is lost then all are lost. A traveler can be lost and yet safe, if his or her guide knows the path. Philosophy is a path that is sort of the starting point of all paths to truth. It is no more nobler or great than any other path. The philosophical guides are measured as good guides as all guides are measured - on the effectiveness, and more importantly, their effort as a guide to Truth, which is God. Philosophers are merely guides of different paths at the same time. The Quest for Knowledge for philosophers is broader and requires more patience, but can equip them to be more versatile guides.
Regardless of the path, all paths lead to a great divide, which is the separation of man and God. This divide is bridged by the reconciliatory work of Christ. While there are many paths to Christ, it is only through Christ that one reaches Truth and God.
The Quest for Knowledge is an exploration of the physical and natural world; an introspection of self, a virtual compilation and assimilation of ideas, emotions and facts. It looks to the past, the present and the future and works with one aim - Truth, which is only reached in a relationship with God, through the bridge that is Christ.
The Quest gives us explicit and implicit knowledge, which guides us to the Scriptures that explicitly and implicitly formulate these values placed here as the universals, including the value of all God's creation. This is where we find explicit knowledge that demands placing value in nature and living organisms. Implicitly, without the revelation of the Scriptural account of the creation which places humans as stewards of the earth, we can know that these are important and valuable.
The path of one's subjective quest for knowledge is chosen because of genetic predispositions, environmental, socioeconomic and otherwise indeterminable circumstances. Our personalities are guides to which path to choose and then are further molded by that path, the experiences upon that path, and the guides who direct, educate and lead us on our quest, for better or for worse. THese personalities, histories, and subjective circumstances help determine what subjective values we place under the five universal natures.
In the five universal values and the few or many subjective values and the inherent value of ourselves we find in all other values form a comprehensive, coherent and cohesive ethical standard. If any subjective value clashes with a universal value than the subjective value is flawed. If one's own self is given value without relation to another value then it is idolatry and a scourge.
The standard and measure of all values is one's adherence to the duties in that relationship. All relationships are social by nature and this social factor is derived from the social nature of God, which is found in all men because they are created in the image of God. These relationships to individuals are all means to the ultimate purpose of value - finding pure, unadulterated, eternal joy in one's own maker, redeemer, and Truth. The ultimate purpose is to be close to God and the standard by which we measure our values is the God-like quality of them. If our values (universal or subjective) are God-like in nature and quality, the values are good and correct. If they are not God-like, then they are incorrect and evil. There are no amoral values.
The five universal values:
1) God, and one's relationship to him
2) Family and one's relationship to them
3) The individuals who make up the word and one's responsibility and potential relationship to them
4) One's subjective Quest for Knowledge
5) The natural world and one's responsibility and interaction with it are all.
when valued appropriately and acted upon are God-Like because they are derived from God Himself.
Obviously a relationship with God is derived from God. All familial relationships are derived from God by one way or the other. Spousal relationships were implemented y God, which gave rise to immediate familial relationships, which gave rise to extended familial relationships, and to be in a family with brothers and sisters in Christ are required to have a relationship with God in order to be in the family of God. Besides familial relationships, our relationships, actual or potential with ever ever individual in the world comes from two Biblical mandates and truths: 1) All men are created in the image of God and 2) The Great Commission. These obviously come from God if they com from the Bible. In addition to the relationship with them we have a duty via the Great Commission to help them to join the family of God.
We use what is at our disposal to facilitate the Great Commission, which we get on our subjective Quests for Knowledge. Knowledge is the means to accomplish the purpose of our Great Commission. We Quest to fulfill our duty to God, which is fulfilled through man. Lastly, our duty to nature is explicitly spelled out through Genesis. This is derived from God's word, which is obviously derived from God.
Thus, all five universal values meet the criteria of values. Values must be good, which means they are God-like in nature and quality. Values that are not God like are incorrect and evil and not values at all. They are forms of idolatry and contradict the first and highest value: God an one's relationship to Him. Any value that contradicts a universal value destroys cohesiveness and must be cast out.
Thus, in order for something to be a subjective value it must be good, which means God-Like. It must not contradict any universal value. If it is found not to contradict and to be God-like by measuring it up to the standard which God Himself. If it comes from God, either directly or indirectly, it will produce pure, unadulterated joy. This joy is eternal and while it can be muddled, it can never be completely stamped out. This leads us to know the purpose of values and ethics - to draw closer to God. This is only accomplished via Christ, which is reached via the Quest! (Circular?)
Yes but the alpha and omega is, was, and will be. Value is in all creation through God. We find that value through our relationship to God (directly & indirectly). It's always there and always has been there via God. But, we discover it only when we enter into a relationship with Him. (Circular?)
No, a salt shaker has salt in it, but we only discover it when we enter into a relationship with it, directly or indirectly. Directly we shake the salt. Indirectly, we eat the food with salt on it and know through inference there exists a salt shaker, even if we cannot see it. So it is with God.
God is the salt shaker. Value is the salt. Sometimes we see the salt (value) poured out through God in our own relationship with him. Sometimes we taste the salt (value) in other relationships, with who we (might be a hammer?) We can't see the shaker (God), but we can experience the salt (value). It isn't circular. It is what it is: 5 universal values - all stemming from God and countless subjective values stemming from God, working to form a diverse set of ethics with common characteristics, universally aimed at one ultimate purpose- chosen-ness to God and measured by God Himself!
Now I simply ask. How did this come from a reevaluation of Bertrand Russell??? Wow! I'm going to go fix some crabcakes and come back and open The History of Western Philosophy as I planned nearly two hours ago.
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