Post by Mark on Feb 24, 2009 16:12:34 GMT -5
The TOTAL TRUTH Solution
for a Fr\ac/tur\ed America
Big Picture Answers for America's Big Problems -
Rebuilding on America's Original Worldview
by Leonard Ransil
Introduction
The Blind Men and the Elephant
by John Godfrey Saxe (1816 - 1887)
It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined,
who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind),
that each by observation, might satisfy his mind.
The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall,
against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the elephant, is nothing but a wall!"
The second feeling of the tusk, cried: "Ho! what have we here,
so very round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear,
this wonder of an elephant, is very like a spear!"
The third approached the animal, and, happening to take,
the squirming trunk within his hands, "I see," quoth he,
the elephant is very like a snake!"
The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain," quoth he;
"Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree."
The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; "E'en the blindest man
can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant, is very like a fan!"
The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope,
than, seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope,
"I see," quothe he, "the elephant is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan, disputed loud and long,
each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!
So, oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween,
tread on in utter ignorance, of what each other mean,
and prate about the elephant, not one of them has seen! (emphasis added)
The writer of this clever poem saw the underlying reason for “theologic wars”: “Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!” Being blind, the six men were unable to see the total truth - the Big Picture - of what the whole elephant actually looked like so they were doomed to disagree because of their erroneous conclusions based on partial evidence. Their limitation kept them from seeing what was obvious to anyone with the gift of sight. We have a modern version of these “theologic wars” which has been dubbed “the culture war.” It is a battle between differing belief systems or Worldviews.
America’s True Roots
Fortunately for us, America was originally colonized by people with the same basic belief system, a Christian Worldview, within which there were various denominational differences over relatively peripheral issues. Their commonly held Christian Worldview fostered a public agreement of virtuous behavior standards based on the Ten Commandments. This, in turn, provided a culture of domestic order and peace among the colonists which was in stark contrast to the many centuries of almost continuous bloodshed that Europe experienced. The only exception, until now, was the bitter Civil War fought over state’s rights and slavery - both contesting the fundamental right of human freedom. Ironically, the institution of slavery was first legislatively defeated in England's parliament, thanks to the Christian convictions of William Wilberforce and his supporters. Their Christian worldview, based on the Genesis account, told them that all human beings were of one race because they descended from Adam and Eve. They peacefully challenged and eventually reversed Britain's culture of immorality and slavery and, thus, effectively ended the inhumane slave trade in both the world-wide British Empire and in America.
Because public law and morals were based on Christian principles that protected personal rights, there was not the plethora of conflicting and contradictory worldviews which cause so much social division, turmoil and even animosity in America today. Ironically, we have such diversity precisely because the Christian colonists increasingly understood that freedom of religious expression was a God-given right that allowed each person to respond to, or reject, the God of the Bible according to one’s own conscience. Our Founders' Christian Worldview caused them to form a Constitutional Republic based on Biblical principles - rather than a theocracy or civil dictatorship or democracy.
America is living proof that, when correctly applied, true Christianity has been and is the world’s major liberating and civilizing influence.
Worldview War
We are now engaged in a “culture war” because some people who hold hostile worldviews are seeking to replace America’s Christian foundation from within and from without. As with disease, some worldviews are more virulent, tenacious and destructive than others. Some, biased against America’s Christian heritage, hold to a worldview that seeks to convert or eliminate by force, all “infidels” who do not accept their strict moral code. Others who are more liberal minded, applaud a diversity of thought including amorality and multiculturalism. They blindly believe that all worldviews and cultures are equally valid and worthwhile. Somehow, they miss the fact that Islamofascists want their head on a platter.
Simple logic and history definitively demonstrate that worldviews with contradictory premises and goals can’t all be true at the same time in the same way. Clearly, the biggest fault line today exists between theistic worldviews that insist there is a realm beyond the natural and the secularistic worldview which vehemently denies that. Which, if either, view is accurate? How can we know for sure? What is the best worldview on which to base a government? These are not simply pie-in-the-sky questions. Our Founders seriously pondered and debated these because they knew from history that core ideas dictate behavior and forge mankind’s future and, consequently, matter greatly.
Which Worldview Works?
Objectively, the Christian worldview of men like William Penn, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln produced the far better fruit of religious, civil and material freedom for mankind than did the materialistic worldview of atheists like Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot which produced religious, political and economic slavery. The latter are collectively responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people in peacetime, not to mention wartime. Yes, ideas have consequences!
But astoundingly, not all Americans agree that these dictators were evil men who committed evil atrocities. Because of an irrational belief in contradictory worldviews, some would justify these crimes against humanity as merely pruning the tree of evolution of “inferiors.” To them, it is a pragmatic means to a valued end. Others deny that the holocaust ever happened. Still others believe that anarchy and terrorism are justifiable means to a political end, despite any cost in human suffering and death. Again, worldviews greatly matter because they generate ideas which produce policies which produce actions which produce consequences, good or bad, for individuals and for societies.
Theism versus Secularism
Contained in a theistic worldview is the immutable law of reaping whatever is sown, unless a higher law or power intervenes. In an evolutionary-based, accidental, fatalistic, materialistic, non-theistic view of ultimate reality, man is pitted against man in a survival-of-the-fittest power struggle to subjectively decide, at any given point in time, who shall do what, how, when and why. This is the inevitable result of the unprovable belief that nothing and no one exists beyond what our senses tell us.
Secularists believe that man himself decides if truth and goodness exist and, if so, what it is. Meaning and purpose and values change with the decades depending on who rules with tongue or sword. And, still worse, each is left to discover, after death, if he guessed right. How tragic it would be if he guessed wrong. According to the Christian worldview, eternal regret and suffering await those who reject the loving outreach of a benevolent God. Is a risky, blind guess your only option?
What is Your Choice?
So that is the heart of the conflict between these two worldviews. Secularists deny even the possibility that there is a Supernatural Ultimate Originator, Designer and Authority - the God of the Bible - who by definition legitimately declares what is true, lasting, and real. Their insistence on accepting only physical evidence for what is true or real forces them into an untenable position as they attempt to prove the non-existence of an immaterial God. Put simply, one can’t prove the existence of immateriality by the material. Josh McDowell, borrowing the principle from C.S. Lewis, put the question to a testy high-schooler: "Even if you would be smart enough to know half of all there is to know, is it possible that God exists in the other half?" Of course it is. But to be absolutely certain, one would have to be God!
Materialists cling to the tangible world and define that as their total reality, unwilling to allow for even the possibility of unseen parts of a greater whole, the total truth. Theists believe that only an Intelligent Designer who created the elephant (and everything else) can accurately define its essence and declare its purpose. Man’s sight, limited by time and space, cannot factually determine if there is a larger overview of ultimate reality beyond his own senses, let alone what its purpose might be.
That is why the discussion and understanding of our origins is the key to understanding the present and the future and the meaning and purpose of all reality - which includes you! For if a Supreme Being exists, the consequences of ignoring or denying that existence, according to Christianity at least, are catastrophic. Is it wise to risk that, since you can’t scientifically prove otherwise? Also, is it wise to spread unprovable assumptions that could potentially ruin other people’s futures as well, possibly for eternity? Can you come to know definitively what is the Total Truth? That is what this on-line book is dedicated to helping you discover! It is a journey worth taking and could give you never-ending benefits. Welcome aboard!
for a Fr\ac/tur\ed America
Big Picture Answers for America's Big Problems -
Rebuilding on America's Original Worldview
by Leonard Ransil
Introduction
The Blind Men and the Elephant
by John Godfrey Saxe (1816 - 1887)
It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined,
who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind),
that each by observation, might satisfy his mind.
The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall,
against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the elephant, is nothing but a wall!"
The second feeling of the tusk, cried: "Ho! what have we here,
so very round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear,
this wonder of an elephant, is very like a spear!"
The third approached the animal, and, happening to take,
the squirming trunk within his hands, "I see," quoth he,
the elephant is very like a snake!"
The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain," quoth he;
"Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree."
The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; "E'en the blindest man
can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant, is very like a fan!"
The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope,
than, seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope,
"I see," quothe he, "the elephant is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan, disputed loud and long,
each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!
So, oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween,
tread on in utter ignorance, of what each other mean,
and prate about the elephant, not one of them has seen! (emphasis added)
The writer of this clever poem saw the underlying reason for “theologic wars”: “Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!” Being blind, the six men were unable to see the total truth - the Big Picture - of what the whole elephant actually looked like so they were doomed to disagree because of their erroneous conclusions based on partial evidence. Their limitation kept them from seeing what was obvious to anyone with the gift of sight. We have a modern version of these “theologic wars” which has been dubbed “the culture war.” It is a battle between differing belief systems or Worldviews.
America’s True Roots
Fortunately for us, America was originally colonized by people with the same basic belief system, a Christian Worldview, within which there were various denominational differences over relatively peripheral issues. Their commonly held Christian Worldview fostered a public agreement of virtuous behavior standards based on the Ten Commandments. This, in turn, provided a culture of domestic order and peace among the colonists which was in stark contrast to the many centuries of almost continuous bloodshed that Europe experienced. The only exception, until now, was the bitter Civil War fought over state’s rights and slavery - both contesting the fundamental right of human freedom. Ironically, the institution of slavery was first legislatively defeated in England's parliament, thanks to the Christian convictions of William Wilberforce and his supporters. Their Christian worldview, based on the Genesis account, told them that all human beings were of one race because they descended from Adam and Eve. They peacefully challenged and eventually reversed Britain's culture of immorality and slavery and, thus, effectively ended the inhumane slave trade in both the world-wide British Empire and in America.
Because public law and morals were based on Christian principles that protected personal rights, there was not the plethora of conflicting and contradictory worldviews which cause so much social division, turmoil and even animosity in America today. Ironically, we have such diversity precisely because the Christian colonists increasingly understood that freedom of religious expression was a God-given right that allowed each person to respond to, or reject, the God of the Bible according to one’s own conscience. Our Founders' Christian Worldview caused them to form a Constitutional Republic based on Biblical principles - rather than a theocracy or civil dictatorship or democracy.
America is living proof that, when correctly applied, true Christianity has been and is the world’s major liberating and civilizing influence.
Worldview War
We are now engaged in a “culture war” because some people who hold hostile worldviews are seeking to replace America’s Christian foundation from within and from without. As with disease, some worldviews are more virulent, tenacious and destructive than others. Some, biased against America’s Christian heritage, hold to a worldview that seeks to convert or eliminate by force, all “infidels” who do not accept their strict moral code. Others who are more liberal minded, applaud a diversity of thought including amorality and multiculturalism. They blindly believe that all worldviews and cultures are equally valid and worthwhile. Somehow, they miss the fact that Islamofascists want their head on a platter.
Simple logic and history definitively demonstrate that worldviews with contradictory premises and goals can’t all be true at the same time in the same way. Clearly, the biggest fault line today exists between theistic worldviews that insist there is a realm beyond the natural and the secularistic worldview which vehemently denies that. Which, if either, view is accurate? How can we know for sure? What is the best worldview on which to base a government? These are not simply pie-in-the-sky questions. Our Founders seriously pondered and debated these because they knew from history that core ideas dictate behavior and forge mankind’s future and, consequently, matter greatly.
Which Worldview Works?
Objectively, the Christian worldview of men like William Penn, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln produced the far better fruit of religious, civil and material freedom for mankind than did the materialistic worldview of atheists like Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot which produced religious, political and economic slavery. The latter are collectively responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people in peacetime, not to mention wartime. Yes, ideas have consequences!
But astoundingly, not all Americans agree that these dictators were evil men who committed evil atrocities. Because of an irrational belief in contradictory worldviews, some would justify these crimes against humanity as merely pruning the tree of evolution of “inferiors.” To them, it is a pragmatic means to a valued end. Others deny that the holocaust ever happened. Still others believe that anarchy and terrorism are justifiable means to a political end, despite any cost in human suffering and death. Again, worldviews greatly matter because they generate ideas which produce policies which produce actions which produce consequences, good or bad, for individuals and for societies.
Theism versus Secularism
Contained in a theistic worldview is the immutable law of reaping whatever is sown, unless a higher law or power intervenes. In an evolutionary-based, accidental, fatalistic, materialistic, non-theistic view of ultimate reality, man is pitted against man in a survival-of-the-fittest power struggle to subjectively decide, at any given point in time, who shall do what, how, when and why. This is the inevitable result of the unprovable belief that nothing and no one exists beyond what our senses tell us.
Secularists believe that man himself decides if truth and goodness exist and, if so, what it is. Meaning and purpose and values change with the decades depending on who rules with tongue or sword. And, still worse, each is left to discover, after death, if he guessed right. How tragic it would be if he guessed wrong. According to the Christian worldview, eternal regret and suffering await those who reject the loving outreach of a benevolent God. Is a risky, blind guess your only option?
What is Your Choice?
So that is the heart of the conflict between these two worldviews. Secularists deny even the possibility that there is a Supernatural Ultimate Originator, Designer and Authority - the God of the Bible - who by definition legitimately declares what is true, lasting, and real. Their insistence on accepting only physical evidence for what is true or real forces them into an untenable position as they attempt to prove the non-existence of an immaterial God. Put simply, one can’t prove the existence of immateriality by the material. Josh McDowell, borrowing the principle from C.S. Lewis, put the question to a testy high-schooler: "Even if you would be smart enough to know half of all there is to know, is it possible that God exists in the other half?" Of course it is. But to be absolutely certain, one would have to be God!
Materialists cling to the tangible world and define that as their total reality, unwilling to allow for even the possibility of unseen parts of a greater whole, the total truth. Theists believe that only an Intelligent Designer who created the elephant (and everything else) can accurately define its essence and declare its purpose. Man’s sight, limited by time and space, cannot factually determine if there is a larger overview of ultimate reality beyond his own senses, let alone what its purpose might be.
That is why the discussion and understanding of our origins is the key to understanding the present and the future and the meaning and purpose of all reality - which includes you! For if a Supreme Being exists, the consequences of ignoring or denying that existence, according to Christianity at least, are catastrophic. Is it wise to risk that, since you can’t scientifically prove otherwise? Also, is it wise to spread unprovable assumptions that could potentially ruin other people’s futures as well, possibly for eternity? Can you come to know definitively what is the Total Truth? That is what this on-line book is dedicated to helping you discover! It is a journey worth taking and could give you never-ending benefits. Welcome aboard!