Jerald Finney
Copyright © November 13, 2018
Every one of us is a child[i] to one degree or another. Not a one of us is completely mature. For one to advance toward maturity, he must be taught not what to think but how to think. For purposes of this essay, child means, “an immature or irresponsible person” or “a person who has little or no knowledge, understanding, or wisdom in a particular area.” A graduate school professor can still be an immature child. No child—whether liberal, conservative, religious, infant who has just begun to think cognitively, very old—is excluded from the analysis; everyone is included. Keep in mind that everyone is religious; and that every person who can know or apprehend by some minimal level of understanding has a philosophy,[ii] every philosophy has a theology,[iii] and every theology has a deity.[iv]
Many of us have heard advertisements read or enacted by children (both young and old). In one often played radio advertisement a young child reads, performs, and enacts an advertisement which has the purposes of appeal to the emotions and solicitation of gifts for an organization which feeds starving children. Listeners know that the child, like the Hollywood actor who wants to teach others about politics and politicians, has little experience, knowledge, and understanding concerning anything he is saying. Nonetheless, emotional appeal alone is enough to bring in a lot of dollars from many who never examine the philosophy, theology, and deity of those who sponsor the advertisement and use a child to present it. They never look into the percentage of gifts that actually go to feed poor children, the salaries of the employees and officers of the organization that is managing the gifts, the ultimate results of giving through the organization or person responsible for the ad. They do not investigate whether or not the gifts to the cause may ultimately do much more harm than good. They do not investigate the truth of the allegations in the ad. They do not look at alternatives to solving the alleged problem.
Many children are college graduates, some with “doctors” degrees who have been brainwashed as opposed to educated. True education teaches people how to think not what to think; how to examine the veracity of alleged facts, principles, and theories. True education trains the mind to search for truth with an open mind; to examine different allegations, conclusions, facts, philosophies, theologies, and deities. True education starts with particular facts and truths, not with the conclusion.
College graduates have, for the most part and no matter their field of study, been indoctrinated into a liberal mindset which is guided by postmodernism.[v] They believe what they are told. They do not analyze beyond the very limited framework built by their authorities. They do not question their authorities. They do not realize that their authorities start with an answer and then select facts which support, when taken out of context, that answer. They do not open their minds to other points of view, experiences, or claims. Their minds spontaneously concoct solutions and conclusions. Should their attempt to solve a problem or problems from their philosophical basis fail, they formulate and apply another ideology. The result is always failure to advance and backwards progress with ever more serious consequences.
Some children are very religious. Some are born again Christians. The common ground of most such children is that they have not critically analyzed the validity and/or the deeper teachings of their philosophy, theology, and deity; they have gone no further than the fundamentals and acceptance of their authority. Of course, if they are truly “born again” they are a new creature, a regenerated spiritual being; but even though born again, most remain spiritual babes since they never study, analyze, and meditate on the Word of God.[vi] They generally accept what they are told by their professors, religious leaders, and experts. Their attitude is “Our teacher told us this so it must be true, right, and good.” They do not examine their ultimate authority, the Word of God. Most do believe that God has given them a Word that they can depend upon; in inerrant and infallible preserved Word.
Most “Christians” are spiritual[vii] babies. Most will not endure sound doctrine[viii] much less examine such doctrine. Those who are called to be teachers usually are children who avoid venturing beyond anything that is not a simple fundamental of the faith for fear of offending some member of the church; some never mention such important fundamentals as sin and hell for fear of offending some baby Christian or lost person. Definitely, fewer such leaders go on to or even know the deeper doctrines of Scripture such as church, governments, and the relationship of church and state. For example, even more dedicated church members sometimes find teaching on the institution the Lord loved and gave himself for, a doctrine which consumes the major part of the New Testament, boring and unacceptable.
As a result of infantile status, people are “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness.”
Endnotes
[i] For purposes of this essay, child means, “an immature or irresponsible person” or “a person who has little or no knowledge, understanding, or wisdom in a particular area.” Child can also mean “a son or a daughter.”
[ii] For purposes of this essay, philosophy means, “the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.”
[iii] For purposes of this essay, theology means, “religious beliefs and theory.”
[iv] For purposes of this essay, theology means, “Any person or thing exalted or deified and honored as one’s ultimate authority.” The laws and ordinances of a deity direct the individuals under his control; those who give or pledge their allegiance to him. When one’s deity does not control the society or civil government in which that individual lives, he will, actively or passively, work for ordination of his deity over all areas of government—individual, family, civil, and religious.
[v] Postmodernism teaches that everything is relative. My reality is just as valid as your reality. My reality says that I am god or Ronald McDonald is god; you have no right to say that your God or god is the only God or god or superior to my god. My reality says that sodomy is an acceptable lifestyle and you have no right to say that sodomy is wrong or that sodomy is a sin. Every man’s reality is just as acceptable as that of every other person. Truth is relative to the postmodernist. Everyone’s truth is as valid as that of everyone else. How does the postmodernist view the truth of one who says that there is only one truth? The postmodernist claims to be tolerant and the only thing that he will not tolerate is the intolerable meaning that which says that there is only one truth. Where does this relegate God the Son of the Bible and the founder of Christianity. Jesus said, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). The answer is obvious.
[vi] 1 Peter 2.2.
[vii] For more understanding of “spiritual” see, e.g., What is a Spiritual entity? (https://jeraldfinney.com/2017/12/08/what-is-a-spiritual-entity/).
[viii] See, e.g., Hebrews 5.11-6.2; 1 Corinthians 3.1-3; Acts 20.26-38.
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