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Faith, Truth, Science, and Philosphy

The Medium is the Message: Part II

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I have described McCluhan’s ideas with a view to providing an interesting vantage point from which to view the progress of biblical revelation.  

Jews, Christians, and Muslims share a high regard for God’s revelation to Moses at Sinai. The giver of the Torah (the Law) identified himself by relation and action: by relation as the God of Abraham, and by action as the one who rescued his people from bondage in Egypt, according to his promise.

The Torah then was the “claim of grace, upon the people of grace”. It was the heart of that covenant, by which God would call out Israel as his own people, chosen from among all the families of the earth. The Ten Commandments are a summary of God’s covenant claim, written on tablets of stone by the very finger of God. But what really happened while the people waited day after day for Moses as he received the words of God? The writer of Exodus recounts how they profaned themselves in idol-worshipping revelry. And as Moses descended from Sinai, he caught them in the act. -an act that has been compared to committing adultery on one’s wedding night. In his outrage  smashed the tablets, signifying the faithlessness of the covenant people in breaking the law. In doing so, they were not just breaking God’s laws, but breaking his heart, something that the prophets charged them with doing, over and over again.

Toward the end of their time in the promised land, Jeremiah prophesies:

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when I will make a new covenant

with the people of Israel

and with the people of Judah.

32It will not be like the covenant

I made with their ancestors

when I took them by the hand

to lead them out of Egypt,

because they broke my covenant,

though I was a husband tod them,e ”

declares the Lord.

33“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel

after that time,” declares the Lord.

“I will put my law in their minds

and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

34No longer will they teach their neighbor,

or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest,”

declares the Lord.

“For I will forgive their wickedness

and will remember their sins no more.”

Now let us consider this from McCluhan’s viewpoint.  The medium on which the law was written was tablets of stone. But what was the real message? The holiness of God, brought into intimate binding relationship with a chosen people elicited the opposite response of what was intended. The Way of God(Torah) is ever praised by Israel’s psalmists as just and righteous, reasonable, gracious, illuminating, ‘sweeter than honey, more precious than gold’. What could be more tragic than the fact that people stray compulsively from that glorious standard? Wasn’t the message clear? Human hearts turn toward rebellion, idolatry, and wickedness; having a law doesn’t change people, it just exposes the fact of how desperately people are in need of change.

When something is said to be written in stone, it suggests an unchangable and enduring standard. But in the scripture, ‘written in stone’ means brittle and breakable in the face of human weakness. (Rom 8:2) A stony heart means unyielding, unfeeling resistance to God. But the prophet is announcing a change in the medium. Jeremiah is saying that a new, or renewed covenant will succeed the one that Israel broke, and the initiative will once again be God’s. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts”. Only a new medium for the Torah can be the bearer of a new covenant that will not be broken.

The features of this new covenant are universal knowledge and responsiveness to God’s ways and the forgiveness of their sins. Elsewhere Ezekiel says,

And I will give you ia new heart, and ia new spirit I will put within you. iAnd I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 36:26 God would promise to put his own Spirit within his people- he himself would implant in them a new set of new desires to please him with the result that they would walk in his ways. He would do this to vindicate his own honour and reputation.

How was the law inscribed in the human heart? The subduing of sin by the perfect obedience of the man Jesus Christ was done within sin-prone human flesh! By doing this, the righteous requirement of the law (written upon stone) was fulfilled for all human flesh that lives in covenant relationship with  the ‘Representative Man’ (Rom 8:3,4) 

Barth says that the Spirit of God writes the with living fire upon the tablets of the human heart. in the renewed covenant, the very will and personal effectual presence of the Son of God now resides inside the human heart. As a result, new longings grow from within the renewed man or woman.

It means that under temptation to violate God’s desires, one would now feel inner compunction rather than social pressure to conform to accepted social standards. The law written on human hearts means that new desires for faithfulness, goodness, and righteousness take root and opportunities to enrich others are met with joy.

There is a delight in pleasing God. There is perseverance in doing good. 

“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 

McChluan says that every new medium that humankind adopts brings a change and that change is the real message.  Further, every extension in capability comes at the cost of amputation of something it displaces.  What gets displaced in the writing of the law on the heart? Morality based on social pressure to conform to societal expectations and social approval and the self-gratification that moral accomplishment may bring are must be shed. As such, the message of God’s law re-engraved on the human heart cannot be message that sits in a book but a flame that purifies and our hearts and sets them on fire.

The Radical Disciple

Non-Conformity: Pluralism, Materialism, Relativism, Narcissism

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You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

 

My church history professor once remarked that it is always the sector of the Christian church that most earnestly strives to engage the culture,  that runs the greatest risk of conforming to it.  For fear of conformity, others groups throughout history have sought to live a Christian life apart from the culture of the day, and therefore away from the pull of society’s values.  John Stott tells us that escapism and conformism are both forbidden to us.  He then identifies four challenges to our “being in the world but not of it.” For each of these, I have gathered some online readings that I have found to be of interest. (I am still adding to the list but we begin with these)

I hope that you can pick a topic that seems relevant to you and read about it.  Consider what stance a radical, faithful adherence to Jesus’ teaching would require in that area, and  prepare to discuss it in class.

Pluralism

Every belief system “has its own independent validity and an equal right to our respect. ” pg 19 RD

Harvard Pluralism Project       Global Centre For Pluralism 

Agree or disagree?

a) There are people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.

b) This diversity is good

c) All backgrounds, worldviews, and values are equally deserving of our respect.

d) Dominance of one view necessarily leads to the suppression of other views

e) Suppression of a culture or belief leads inevitably to the suppression of the people who espouse it.

Is there a difference between religious pluralism and cultural pluralism?

Consider the mixing of Jews, Christians, and Muslims  11th century in Spain,  various Christian denominations in the 18th century in America , Islamic groups in the Arab world,  and the mass immigration to Europe in the past decade.

How have Chinese suffered or benefited from multiculturalism in Canada?

How are material prosperity, status, and pluralism related to each other in countries that are on the rise?  What was the outcome of pluralism in Israel during the united kingdom under Solomon?              1 Kings 11 

‘I told you so.’  Deut 17:14

How did Paul relate the gospel to the multi-cultural-multi-religious world of the Roman Empire?

What is the vision of heavenly worship in the New Jerusalem?

The Good of Religious Pluralism -Peter Berger

Relativism

Relativism is the idea that views are relative to differences in perception and consideration. There is no universal, objective truth according to relativism; rather each point of view has its own truth.[1]

Tell the story of my patient, the world traveller from PEI 

Materialism

“A tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values”
Consider the wilderness temptation of Jesus.  Luke 4
“The tendency of the world is to see things in terms of an indeterminate grey; but the duty of the Christian is to see things in terms of black and white.”  G.K. Chesterton
“The Christian must be consumed by the conviction of the infinite beauty of holiness and the infinite damnability of sin.” Carlyle
What did the tempter want to take from Jesus in exchange for what he offered?

The Millennial Minimalists

 

Narcissism

“a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy that begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts”.  DSM IV

The Narcissism Epidemic 

Summary of Narcissism Epidemic 

Birth Cohort Increases in Narcissistic Personality Traits Among American College Students, 1982–2009

A Sociocultural Approach to Narcissism: The Case of Modern China 

 

 

Which one of these is the greatest threat to your discipleship?   What is Christ calling you to do about that ?

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.   1 Pet 2:9 

 

Sunday School Classes & Discussion

The Radical Disciple

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“Jesus is Lord.” While many of us would wholeheartedly confess this, all of us need to be mindful of Jesus’ admonishment: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” We will examine eight aspects of Christian discipleship that are commonly neglected, according to John Stott’s personal faith journey and extensive ministry to the evangelical world. We will learn through study of Scripture, personal reflections during the week, and sharing and encouragement from one another. Let us pray that the Lord will use this Sunday School series to transform our lives.

Schedule

Oct 1

Introduction: What is a radical disciple?

Oct 8 (Thanksgiving)

Nonconformity

Oct 15

Christlikeness

Oct 22

Maturity  (moved one week earlier to this date)

Oct 29

500th Anniversary of the Reformation

Nov 5

Creation Care

Nov 12

Simplicity, part 1

Nov 19

Simplicity, part 2

Nov 26

Balance

Dec 3

Dependence

Dec 10

Death

Dec 17

Sharing: Following Jesus as Lord

References / Recommended Reading

  • John Stott, The Radical Disciple – some neglected aspects of our calling. (Downers Grove: InverVarsity Press, 2010).  Preface & Chapter 1

How to make the most of the sessions?

  • Read each chapter before the class.

  • Have a partner for sharing and prayer.

  • Use the preparation questions provided by the facilitators. Keep a simple journal on your reflections, and share with the class if you are comfortable.

How God Speaks

The Medium is the Message

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The Medium is the Message: Part 1

A story comes to us from the old Soviet Union.

Those where the days when productivity was low and the ruble was worthless- which gave rise to the saying, “Ve pretend to vork and zhey pretend to pay us.”

So here is the story: At the gate to a construction site, workers are inspected for items of value they might be removing.  One man comes out each night with a wheelbarrow full of dirt, and each night the dirt is carefully sifted for pilferage: nothing.

Wheelbarrow

The guard is certain something is getting stolen. He demands,“ I know you are stealing somesing. I von’t arrest you if you tell me vot you are smuggling.” The worker admitted,“Veelbarrows comrade, Ve are stealing veelbarrows.”

I love this story because it reminds me of one of the most important truths about communication: The means by which something is said often has more impact than the content that is conveyed. This fertile thought is the basis for so much that has been discovered about media and communications. Pause for a moment and think about the difference between your boss coming by your desk to chat with you and being called into his office for a ‘chat’.

The implications of this thought was expounded to the world by Univeristy of Toronto’s Professor Marshall McLuhan. He has been called the greatest media theorist of the past century, the high priest of pop culture.

McLuhan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImaH51F4HBw

In 1962 he predicted: “The next medium, whatever it is — it may be the extension of consciousness — will include television as its content, not as its environment, and will transform television into an art form. A computer as a research and communication instrument could enhance retrieval, (make obsolete) mass library organization, retrieve the individual’s encyclopedic function and flip it into a private line to speedily tailored data of a saleable kind.” — The Gutenberg Galaxy.

His astoundingly prescient predictions anticipated the revolutionary power of such things we now know as –the personal computer , Google, Wikipedia, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and several generations of multimedia and World Wide Web technologies. Knowing that the communications media would shrink the world, he coined the phrase ‘the global village’

He also packaged his most important ideas into very catchy phrases, none more famous than ‘The medium is the message’. What does he mean by a medium? Narrowly, it refers to anything that changes the way we interact, often a technical innovation or way of communicating ideas but broadly, though it could mean almost anything.

For McLuhan, a medium can be thought of as an extension of the human body. Wheels extend our legs, allowing us to travel further and faster than ever before. A hammer is the extension of one’s arm allowing one to multiply and concentrate force.

What then is a message? – It’s the punch, the impact- how our lives change as a result

For example in the1950-70’s a car was not about four wheels attached to an engine. Rather, a car is the cluster of benefits that travel makes possible: independence and availability. To have the car meant that you can take someone on a date; it opened up a social world of friends. That’s the message of having a car.

Much of the social impact of a teen having a car in the 50’s has been replaced by having a smart phone in this decade. It’s impact on life is that it creates the possibility of being in constant contact with others and with an endless variety of amusements. Texting and tweeting keep us aware of how others are reacting to us, moment by moment and to events in our world.

But every extension of the body’s capabilities is simultaneously an amputation. The use of the automobile has meant that we use our legs a lot less and that has had huge implications on the health and the pace of life for most living in industrialized countries. Texting has resulted in fewer of face to face interactions and forced our thoughts to fit shorter and simpler messages.

Media have the effect of imperceptibly reshaping of our lives and our minds; it becomes the water in which we swim- we take for granted the way they totally dominate how we live and function. What we gain when society embraces a new technology is obvious early on; what is lost is obvious to most people only in retrospect. By the time most of us realize what it has cost to adopt a new innovation, we find ourselves unable to live without the new benefits that it has provided.

A feature of great ideas is that it becomes obvious once it is stated. 

‘The medium is the message’ is a truth about how technologies, especially communications technology affect us. If you accept this description of how media affects culture, then you understand that any change in the dominant medium results in a change in the message- therefore, a change a change in our world. It is then easy to understand how each breakthrough in communication from writing, to the printing press, to radio and telephone and the cybertechnologies have defined new eras in world culture. It really does change our expectations of each other and the ways in which we think. After that, there’s no going back.

Reflections on the Gospel according to John

How did John know? How do we?

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There is no discounting the importance of John the Baptist’s testimony concerning Jesus. But how did he know that Jesus was the One?  How do any of us know? My Western naturalistic upbringing teaches me to withhold trust in anything that cannot be verified by others.  But we are not alone; the ancients set the bar of credibility fairly high as well- if for no other reason than the fact that Galilee, that seething hotbed of insurrection produced a number of ‘messiah’s’ that led movements to overthrow Roman rule.  Being wrong about following someone could get you and your friends crucified.  It was brutal.

The writer of this gospel said that ‘ I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God.” (Jn 1:29-32)

Barclay tells us that the dove was a sacred bird in Palestine, neither hunted nor eaten.  “The Rabbis said that the Spirit of God moved and fluttered like a dove over the ancient chaos breathing order and beauty into it. The picture of the dove was one which the Jews knew and loved.”

No, this is not proof, but it is positive identification.  Because people of Jesus day didn’t need to be convinced that Messiah was coming- they needed to be able to recognize him when he came.  It can be compared to sending my brother to pick up my friend at the bus station and telling him, “You’ll know my friend because he will have his pet cockatiel with him- a rather rare identifier, wouldn’t you say? 

But how can we be sure that God spoke to John? In this case, the word and the sign form a self-authenticating pair.  If the John heard only a figment of his imagination,  no man would appear to have the Spirit alight on him. On the other hand, Jesus, the bestower of the Spirit is identified from among many people by reference to and an unusual sign that John could not have conjured.  Much faith is based on this sort of revelation. It does not qualify for proof, for proof refers to evidence of the kind that is repeatable and yields the same result to whomever performs the experiment. But it is a basis for a reasonable belief.

If prophecy X is true, then fulfillment Y will happen.          (Y being an unlikely occurrence.)Y occurs.                             Thus, the credibility of X is supported.

How do we know that John was an authentic prophet?  1) His message of repentance was in line with the prophets before him.                                                                           2) The popularity of a man with an unpopular message suggests spiritual empowerment and anointing.  Remember that baptism was for Gentiles wanting to cleanse themselves in preparation for admission to covenant Judaism. For a Jew to receive baptism would be make the humbling admission that one was an outsider, seeking to enter the covenant God had with Abraham.  This would raise questions about who John thinks he is and why he has the right to do this.(1:24)                                                                                                         3) He is willing to transfer his status and following to the one he has called, the Lamb of God. Furthermore, he says in effect that he is not worthy to be this man’s slave. ( Jn 1:27. To tie and untie sandals was the lowliest of the low. To middle-easterners, shoes were dirty and feet were the most despised part of the body.)

If you want to know who Jesus is, make yourself like John.

 

 

 

 

 

Reflections on the Gospel according to John

What Qualifies for Truth?

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Dear Janice,

Forgive me for the length of time you had to wait for my response to your very reasonable questions. I wanted to honour the query by taking the time to answer it thoughtfully, and I thought it best to enter the discussion through your last question, “Why can’t the truth come as a set of ideas?”

For the most part, I have thought of truth as something that matches reality.  The Cambridge  Dictionary of Philosophy calls this the correspondence theory of truth. More formally stated, truth is the property of statements or propositions that correspond to reality.

Now I am a product of the Western modernist tradition so my tendency is to assume that the truth can and should be stated as a set of ideas. That assumption rests on a more fundamental conviction that ultimate reality is something like the natural world, which can be approached through testing, and detached reasoning. If so, then I can apprehend the truth concerning stars or electron states, hamster ovulation or neural networks apart from my personal involvement with them and without any expectation that my identity would be affected by my discoveries.

But what if nature is not the ultimate reality? What if the fine-tuned universe took its form not under the chaotic whims of chance, but the elegant and purposeful crafting of a Personality?  That would imply that the most natural way to ultimate Reality lies in the realm of revealed knowledge, through person-to person-relationships in history. Let me illustrate.

Suppose I am new to Toronto; I want to visit the Royal Ontario Museum and I ask you for help at the Bus Terminal. You could do one of three things. First, you could give me directions to St. Patrick station and tell me to ride the University line north to Museum. But because I am terrible with a sequence of verbal direction to places I’ve never been, you give me your trusty TTC map so I can picture where I’m going. Both the directions and the map are objectively  truthful in the sense that they correspond to a reality.  If I could follow either one faithfully, I’ll get there.  But suppose that I’m still confused and you realize that I’m going to the ROM by personal invitation from a grad student who happened to be one of your tutors in anthropology. ( When I was in Chicago, I  was actually invited for a personal guided tour of the Oriental Institute.) You find this to be a remarkable coincidence and it being a sunny day, you offer to walk with me to my destination and say hello to your teacher.

This last offer, though it takes the most effort on your part,  is the best for me because I can’t possibly misinterpret your directions and you would personally introduce me.

This is the force of Jesus’ claim,  ” I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No man comes to the Father but through me.”  Through his life, he demonstrated the pattern of loving submission to God, that we are to emulate – the Way. Through his words and deeds, we have an absolutely faithful and dynamic picture of the Father’s attitudes and intentions-the truth.  Then by putting ourselves in his hands he puts something of his own life and spirit within us that allows us to follow him as he walks us to his Father’s side-the Life.

Everyone who has ever come to God has been given access through him, whether one realizes it or not. (Jn 1:4, 8:56-58)

So that is how I have come to understand that the
Truth is not just a set of ideas.  If ultimate reality is really the Creator and not the creation, then Truth is a person and can only be represented by a person who can bring us into intimate union with the Creator.

Now what is the implication for those who seek to know the Truth.  Now truth about anything, propositional truth, is just information, most of which has no immediate bearing on our lives.  Now I believe that the existentialists are right in saying  that life cannot be thought, it can only be lived. Information can be understood, even enjoyed, but Truth has to be lived by choosing – by authentic commitment.  A woman who knows several men who would make good husbands but can’t decide on which one, has by default chosen singleness.

It is for this reason, that the call to relationship comes embedded within the revelation of Truth as a person.