Socrates, as wise and brilliant as ever, nevetheless followed all the other religions of the world, save one, where, in sum, they ALL believe in works righteousness. And yes, I indeed HAVE read the Qu'ran twice, the Bhagavad Gita, the Buddhist canon, the Tao de Ching, Analects of Confucious, the Book of Mormon (which is closet Hinduism - "as we are now, God once was") even Black Elk Speak on Native American spirituality, which did differ among tribes, and the Norse Hamavall.
It is, everyone of them, works righteousness.
Except Jesus and the faith He inspired, which says in Ephesians 2 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." And Socrates did miss the fact that even our very good actions are often tainted by self righteouness. The Bible is explicit that we are ALL of us, even the relatively good ones, still "dead in our trespasses and sin." And for a stone cold dead man, you don't give him CPR or tell him to "do better." In fact, he has no motivation to do better, particularly if he can just appear better, or fake it (aka Phariseeism). Rather, we need a new life imparted to us, by a God who loves us and died for us. Pretty simple, but an offense to many, because it tells us all, in our pride, that no, you in fact cannot do it. The answer? Ask Christ into your life, to live His life in us through His power. It does take humility though, which many refuse the offer of God for that reason.
As one PhD friend of mine, a Christian said, "If Christianity is a crutch, thank you, I'll take TWO please."
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Please stay safe. Telling the truth these days has become a huge liability. Glad there are still some out there willing to do the right thing, and you are one of those people.
Thanks for the reminder in your post. I used to begin the academic year of many of my classes here in Japan with a sketch of Plato's Allegory of the Cave without telling them what it is. Then I had them sit in groups and discuss how well it fits modern Japan. They were genuinely surprised to hear it was from 2300 years or so ago.
I used it on the first or second day of those classes as a kind of rorsach test, to get them to think about what they knew about themselves and the world. But I also ended the year with the same allegory, give them an opportunity to look into the mirror and speculate as to how much they had changed during the course of the year.
Socrates, as wise and brilliant as ever, nevetheless followed all the other religions of the world, save one, where, in sum, they ALL believe in works righteousness. And yes, I indeed HAVE read the Qu'ran twice, the Bhagavad Gita, the Buddhist canon, the Tao de Ching, Analects of Confucious, the Book of Mormon (which is closet Hinduism - "as we are now, God once was") even Black Elk Speak on Native American spirituality, which did differ among tribes, and the Norse Hamavall.
It is, everyone of them, works righteousness.
Except Jesus and the faith He inspired, which says in Ephesians 2 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." And Socrates did miss the fact that even our very good actions are often tainted by self righteouness. The Bible is explicit that we are ALL of us, even the relatively good ones, still "dead in our trespasses and sin." And for a stone cold dead man, you don't give him CPR or tell him to "do better." In fact, he has no motivation to do better, particularly if he can just appear better, or fake it (aka Phariseeism). Rather, we need a new life imparted to us, by a God who loves us and died for us. Pretty simple, but an offense to many, because it tells us all, in our pride, that no, you in fact cannot do it. The answer? Ask Christ into your life, to live His life in us through His power. It does take humility though, which many refuse the offer of God for that reason.
As one PhD friend of mine, a Christian said, "If Christianity is a crutch, thank you, I'll take TWO please."
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Socrates realized that.
Please stay safe. Telling the truth these days has become a huge liability. Glad there are still some out there willing to do the right thing, and you are one of those people.
Hi Outraged.
Thanks for the reminder in your post. I used to begin the academic year of many of my classes here in Japan with a sketch of Plato's Allegory of the Cave without telling them what it is. Then I had them sit in groups and discuss how well it fits modern Japan. They were genuinely surprised to hear it was from 2300 years or so ago.
I used it on the first or second day of those classes as a kind of rorsach test, to get them to think about what they knew about themselves and the world. But I also ended the year with the same allegory, give them an opportunity to look into the mirror and speculate as to how much they had changed during the course of the year.
Good times.
Cheers.
Just trees and plants are my religion. The rest is the work of men.