Monthly Archives: December 2011

2011: Looking Back (Part 1)

To look forward, I think it’s important to look back. In our culture, I think we tend to uphold the “new” over the “old” when this should not always be the case. The past can either be nostalgic, apathetic, or painful and the future can either be hopeful, apathetic, or painful. How you look at either one will depend on your past and what you expect or wish of the future. Though more importantly, it will depend on how you view the world and the events that occur in it. Let’s just take something simple like the 2012 doomsday prediction. If you love the present and the past then you will resent the future because you know that these things will be taken away from you. However, if you hate the past then you may be completely apathetic about the future because everything has been taken away from you anyway. On the other hand, if you think 2012 is a new era, then you will be excited for what is to come. For others, the future is not so certain but the past is certain, which makes it easier to hold onto.

By the title, you may think I prefer to look at the past but that is not exactly true. For the Christian, I think the past, present, and future are all things that we can appreciate in different ways as a complete whole. The past began with God’s creation, it continues in the present by God’s conservation, and the future is grounded in the purpose that God has had for creation from eternity past. From that perspective, I do not need to be so concerned with the nature of my feelings toward events in my life if they do not go the way as I’d wish them to go for I already have a treasure that lasts for eternity – namely, God Himself. Those who cling to anything other than God will be far more affected by the nature of the past or the future than a Christian would because any good that they have here can and will be destroyed eventually, including their own bodies.

It’s possible to have the mindset that “life is short so we got to make the most of it” but that’s quite meaningless in the end as you could equally not make the most of it and not be any better off. I’m not attacking any particular “atheistic” worldview here, but it sure seems that any person without Christ is experientially void of any true hope. The best you can do is appreciate things for the moments that they exist while failing to understand the One who gave you such goods to begin with. If your dad offered you something that he had built personally, would it make sense to love the object more than your father? Since the object is an expression of his love and goodness, I think it would be degrading. The same applies here. Furthermore, with the uncertainty of the future and the relative good/bad of the past and present, what would we say to someone who has had nothing but misery or hopelessness? Make the most of it? That makes no sense. The problem is, people cling to the wrong things as their highest good when only God can fill that position. In Him you can find rest, hope, and salvation for all people regardless of their past, present or future. What other worldview can supply this?

Aiming for Simplicity

I want to aim for simplicity but in another sense, I do not want it to come at the sacrifice of substance. Simplicity for the sake of simplicity is not a virtue if it lacks any support in reality. Similarly, complexity for complexity is not a virtue if it fails to communicate ideas to the general public. Not every idea can be so simply expressed as there are often times other ideas that need a defense prior to an actual understanding of that idea. This logical succession of thought cannot be presented as a soundbite but no matter how difficult it may be, it should not come at the expense of desiring or aiming to educate others. Philosophers can get caught up in the most impractical issues while forgetting the most practical issues that face our culture today. However, not everything must be humanly practical in order to be intellectually appreciated but nor should everything be impractical such that it has no human application. A good thinker will use his resources to not only think about the most fundamental aspects of reality that apply to all of humanity but also have the sophistication necessary for defending it against the most precise objections.

A fine balance must be had here. If I were to analogize this, it could be comparable to an Apple computer. The system is deceptively simple in appearance but remains appealing and operable in accord to the goals that you wish to achieve. However, internally it is much more complex and that complexity is itself what grounds its simplicity. In this way, I think we can provide a simple presentation of ideas for the general public while keeping the complexity to ourselves unless an individual requests more information. In doing so, the average person will posses truth in a manner that they can understand and if desired, they can learn more upon request. To accomplish this balance, I do not want to sacrifice writing on complex topics entirely but I cannot keep it hidden from all readers. Hence, I think it would be appropriate to thereby add the tags [C] for Complex and [S] for Simple prior to the article’s title to allow readers to choose what is appropriate to their level of understanding and/or interest.

Unfortunately, it will be difficult to perfect this balance as not everyone will appreciate the length of my posts while others will not appreciate the simplicity of my content. Nevertheless, this is a shortcoming that I will need to live with as I cannot possibly please everyone. My central focus is not on satisifying every specific hobby, topic, and interest of every group but to emphasize the application of truth in the ethical, social, and political aspects of our being regardless of whether it is politically correct or not. To accomplish this as simply and clearly as possible, it’s important to avoid unnecessary words. In other words, we should not substitute words like “ball” with “a spherical bouncy concrete object of a particular hunk of matter” unless we are investigating the nature of such things. We should be clear, concise, and to the point while organizing our thoughts in a logical manner in a way that focuses on the essential issue at hand.  To be sure, I’ll fail to accomplish this as I have in the past but I will continue to strive to be as simple as I can.

Simplicity is the virtue of any good design that functions to focus on content. This took a bit of work but I finally perfected what I have envisioned Walking Christian to be. Special thanks to Isaac, Alfredo, Justin, and David for their support and suggestions.

Christmas Gifts

The greatest gift is the one that lasts forever: Christ. The best gifts are the ones that He has given us: Family, friends, animals, and material goods. This Christmas, I not only have failed miserably, I have seen my need for Christ more clearly. This Christmas, I received what I did not deserve: a $15 C28 gift card, a sweater, $20, and an enjoyable time with my family and friends. I’m quite grateful for these things, but I could have been just as grateful without them. For you see, I have God’s gift and that’s all I ever needed and it is all that I continue to ever need. What did you get that you could not already have in Christ?

In the beginning…

I created this blog to pursue goodness, happiness, and ultimately truth through all that I think, say, or do. For the Christian, this pursuit is a daily walk and not simply a daily talk. We too often focus on theological and/or philosophical matters or practical matters at the expensive of the other. There’s a real need to incorporate the two and this is what this blog is about. It’s an attempt to live out the Christian life through my mind, heart, soul and strength. Not only does it encompass my entire being, it also applies to external things like relationships, economics, politics, entertainment, music, work, and whatever else I do with my time. However, not everything I say or do will be perfect, true, or interesting, but I will continue to strive for what is good:

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God’s glory. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

 Scroll to top