What is Christian Philosophy and for what purpose does it serve?

[dms1972]

I was talking about the ideas the OP's friend was espousing. That before creation angels where married to the church, but then divorced?

If in the resurrection Jesus says people neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels (Matthew 22:30) then what i take from that is that angels are not the sort of creatures that get married either to each other, or to humans.

 

[Agra man]

Paul revealed that true Christianity (not religion) destroyed philosophy.
To call it "Christian philosophy?" Would be like teaching a course called "virtuous bisexuality."

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? ​

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" 1 Cor 1:20​

Philosophy is man's attempt to seek solutions from a perspective that God has nothing to do with our lives. "The God," that is. False gods always crossover into a philosophical bent as to make the false seem plausible to the naive.

Some have tried to modify that stand since Christianity became a major force in many peoples lives, but it still looks dumb to those who have found found doctrinal thinking.

That does not mean a Christian does not study what philosophers taught to know what it covers if they are so inclined to do so. But as far as it being an answer for life? Its designed for the unbeliever who is so inclined to think along those lines....

Christians if they desire to should learn how certain philosophical precepts work as to be able to hold a conversation when needed.

"I think. Therefore I am" .... a believer in Jesus Christ."

I think as far as for the sake of study or looking at things from a different perspective it is fine, but to try to make it truth though well at the very least it has to align with scripture even if not perfectly.

This was the issue I was having with my friend it seems he evn is getting lost in the feeling of being spiritually connected but he is kind of floating into the sky at this point and so yeah I was wanting to find out more about this philosophy thing that made him be like this.

It seems though that Philosophy or Chrisitan phi;osophy has different camps of acceptence I suppose I should have expected that.

 

[Agra man]

Sigh, the thing is that the Bible does have wisdom literature, Job, Ecc, Proverbs, and for those of us with a larger canon, Wisdom and Sirach.

In the Christian tradition, which very few outside of the Catholic, Orthodox or Coptic faiths are aware of are the sayings of the Desert Fathers. These are stories which contain wisdom and philosophy of the Christian life. For example,


At some time, St. Anthony the Great thought to himself “I wonder with whose spiritual achievements my spiritual life can be compared with”. God, however, in order to humble this thought revealed to him in a dream that superior to him was a shoe-maker who had a store in the back streets of Alexandria.

Once it was daybreak, the saint took his staff and headed off to the city. He wanted to meet in person this famed shoe-maker and see his virtues. With great difficulty he discovered his store, sat down at the counter and began asking about his life.

The man was simple and didn’t even occur to him who this elderly monk was that had come so unexpectedly into his store querying him. The man, while continuing to work and without taking his eyes off the shoes he was working on replied gently;

“Elder, I don’t know if I have ever done anything good. Every morning after waking up, I pray and then I start work. First, I think to myself how every person in this city, from the smallest to the greatest will be saved, and only I will be condemned due to my countless transgressions. And in the evening when I go to sleep I have the same thoughts.

The Elder rose with wonder and embraced and kissed him and said emotively:

“You, my brother, like a good merchant, have gained the priceless pearl without toil. I have grown old in the desert, sweated and toiled but have not reached your level of humility.”

I like that. I write a lot of Christian poems and parables that apply to the believer the nature and spirit of God sometimes even just writing a parable or poem off a random verse in scripture. Would this be considered Christian Philosophy or is it more of just writing in general

 

[Agra man]

I was talking about the ideas the OP's friend was espousing. That before creation angels where married to the church, but then divorced?

If in the resurrection Jesus says people neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels (Matthew 22:30) then what i take from that is that angels are not the sort of creatures that get married either to each other, or to humans.

Yeah he mentioned how he added to an already established thing but I couldn't get him to show me this (established) thing in the scriptures.

I won't deny that I have encountered and experienced God in ways that I honestly don't know how to apply to scripture some things about him just shows that his heart and his person is one of vast and deep wonder and mystery

But at the same we have to be standing on firm ground or we will lift off into the clouds. He seems interested in the spiritual aspect only but I made it clear to him that I am after the truth and only the truth I won't accept anything less than that so when he started saying this stuff and all I did was try to get some kind of evidence from him I understood his true colors.

 

[GenemZ]

I think as far as for the sake of study or looking at things from a different perspective it is fine, but to try to make it truth though well at the very least it has to align with scripture even if not perfectly.

This was the issue I was having with my friend it seems he evn is getting lost in the feeling of being spiritually connected but he is kind of floating into the sky at this point and so yeah I was wanting to find out more about this philosophy thing that made him be like this.

It seems though that Philosophy or Chrisitan phi;osophy has different camps of acceptence I suppose I should have expected that.

Some will confuse mysticism for spirituality. Mysticism is an oxymoron of sorts. Can we call it "detached emotionalism?" It can be seen as an entertaining and mysterious form of self absorption. A lifestyle of sublimation. Detachment insulates one from others up to a point.

On the other hand.. Christian spirituality (by grace) surprises the one walking in it to find himself discovering truth that he thought he could never know, nor understand. At some point he comes to realize that God is real by the way he is being lead into discovering more and more truth concerning God's Word.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

Mysticism is an oxymoron of sorts. Can we call it "detached emotionalism?" It can be seen as an entertaining and mysterious form of self absorption. A lifestyle of sublimation.

That would be your own eccentric definition.

 

[Agra man]

Some will confuse mysticism for spirituality. Mysticism is an oxymoron of sorts. Can we call it "detached emotionalism?" It can be seen as an entertaining and mysterious form of self absorption. A lifestyle of sublimation. Detachment insulates one from others up to a point.

On the other hand.. Christian spirituality (by grace) surprises the one walking in it to find himself discovering truth that he thought he could never know, nor understand. At some point he comes to realize that God is real by the way he is being lead into discovering more and more truth concerning God's Word.

Wow! that makes perfect sense. Sometimes he says things in an emotionally way in his posts describing things that sound beautiful sometimes but they kind remind me of spirituallity and what you described is him exactly.


Then you go on to describe me I have even been changed as if I was born again for the second time somehow

 

[Agra man]

Some will confuse mysticism for spirituality. Mysticism is an oxymoron of sorts. Can we call it "detached emotionalism?" It can be seen as an entertaining and mysterious form of self absorption. A lifestyle of sublimation. Detachment insulates one from others up to a point.

On the other hand.. Christian spirituality (by grace) surprises the one walking in it to find himself discovering truth that he thought he could never know, nor understand. At some point he comes to realize that God is real by the way he is being lead into discovering more and more truth concerning God's Word.

Actually to be honest the way you described it so accurately do you perhaps walk in the gift of prophecy or recieve words of knowledge or would you just consider it coincidence"?

 

[GenemZ]

Actually to be honest the way you described it so accurately do you perhaps walk in the gift of prophecy or recieve words of knowledge or would you just consider it coincidence"?

Interesting... I have come to believe that God protects the privacy of the hearers if the one speaking is truly being led of the Spirit. Unless someone let the one speaking know? He will have no idea for whom the message is personally for..

I learned that principle from my pastor.

When we have our privacy protected, we have freedom.

grace and peace .................

 

[Agra man]

Interesting... I have come to believe that God protects the privacy of the hearers if the one speaking is truly being led of the Spirit. Unless someone let the one speaking know? He will have no idea for whom the message is personally for..

I learned that principle from my pastor.

When we have our privacy protected, we have freedom.

grace and peace .................

Well I think God helped me by using you. You see I thought at first this person was after the deeper truths like me lets just say God has brought me to a whole other level I never knew before with him I hoped that he was also the same as I at first saw a lot of things he said that made me think maybe we were both truly after the truth

But when he said all these things after all this time I have been wondering and asking God what this stuff he was into was I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

And what you described was like God explaining it to me and then how you described what I am going through it is like he was showing the comparison so I suppose in a way it is good that things went down the way they did because that type of company is best to keep a distance from.

 

[dms1972]

I think as far as for the sake of study or looking at things from a different perspective it is fine, but to try to make it truth though well at the very least it has to align with scripture even if not perfectly.

This was the issue I was having with my friend it seems he evn is getting lost in the feeling of being spiritually connected but he is kind of floating into the sky at this point and so yeah I was wanting to find out more about this philosophy thing that made him be like this.

It seems though that Philosophy or Chrisitan phi;osophy has different camps of acceptence I suppose I should have expected that.

I think if one engages in such speculation. one also needs to submit to a source or authority outside oneself by which ones ideas can be corrected when necessary.

 

[dms1972]

Yeah he mentioned how he added to an already established thing but I couldn't get him to show me this (established) thing in the scriptures.

I won't deny that I have encountered and experienced God in ways that I honestly don't know how to apply to scripture some things about him just shows that his heart and his person is one of vast and deep wonder and mystery

But at the same we have to be standing on firm ground or we will lift off into the clouds. He seems interested in the spiritual aspect only but I made it clear to him that I am after the truth and only the truth I won't accept anything less than that so when he started saying this stuff and all I did was try to get some kind of evidence from him I understood his true colors.

The verse in Matthew 22:30 would seem to contradict his idea, so it doesn't seem to be the "established thing". He may not be aware of that verse.

At a guess he might be taking the verse in Genesis about the "sons of God married the daughters of men" Genesis 6, as his point of departure. But Matthew 22:30 seems to me to set some boundaries on the interpretation of that.

Heres is some info I found about the various interpretations of Genesis 6

Genesis 6:1 Commentaries: Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,

The Nephilim - The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men in Genesis 6

Who are the Nephilim, the sons of God and the daughters of men in Genesis 6. In this video, Dr. Brant Pitre gives three interpretations that attempt to explain who these mysteries figures could be.

catholicproductions.com

 

[Agra man]

The verse in Matthew 22:30 would seem to contradict his idea, so I doesn't seem to be the "established thing". He may not be aware of that verse.

At a guess he might be taking the verse in Genesis about the "sons of God married the daughters of men" Genesis 6, as his point of departure. But Matthew 22:30 seems to me to set some boundaries on the interpretation of that.

Heres is some info I found about the various interpretations of Genesis 6

Genesis 6:1 Commentaries: Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,

The Nephilim - The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men in Genesis 6

Who are the Nephilim, the sons of God and the daughters of men in Genesis 6. In this video, Dr. Brant Pitre gives three interpretations that attempt to explain who these mysteries figures could be.

catholicproductions.com

I don't know for sure if this is what he meant as he said it was before creation but that would be about the only thing I can think of.

To be honest he might be on drugs, he once sent me a video of those trippy visual things with really wierd sounds and said listen to it while meditating on God and connect to the spirit.

I found this strange I mean I use medicinal weed fir my anxiety depression and most of all my insomina but I don't enjoy feeling out of my mind or tripping out.

I will admit that I have connected to God in a very interesting way a couple of times with this stuff but but it isn't the way and I am wondering if he is on this type of trip because one minute he is sane and speaking about God and having a sound mind then suddenly all this bizzar stuff

 

[GenemZ]

Well I think God helped me by using you. You see I thought at first this person was after the deeper truths like me lets just say God has brought me to a whole other level I never knew before with him I hoped that he was also the same as I at first saw a lot of things he said that made me think maybe we were both truly after the truth

But when he said all these things after all this time I have been wondering and asking God what this stuff he was into was I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

And what you described was like God explaining it to me and then how you described what I am going through it is like he was showing the comparison so I suppose in a way it is good that things went down the way they did because that type of company is best to keep a distance from.

God through Paul keeps on telling us....

​

"For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." ​

​

​

Philippians 2:13​

​

.........​

 

[GenemZ]

The verse in Matthew 22:30 would seem to contradict his idea, so I doesn't seem to be the "established thing". He may not be aware of that verse.

At a guess he might be taking the verse in Genesis about the "sons of God married the daughters of men" Genesis 6, as his point of departure. But Matthew 22:30 seems to me to set some boundaries on the interpretation of that.

Heres is some info I found about the various interpretations of Genesis 6

Genesis 6:1 Commentaries: Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,

The Nephilim - The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men in Genesis 6

Who are the Nephilim, the sons of God and the daughters of men in Genesis 6. In this video, Dr. Brant Pitre gives three interpretations that attempt to explain who these mysteries figures could be.

catholicproductions.com

We need to be careful...

Not all of the angels are God's angels. Jesus said specifically that His angels are not given in marriage.

It can be shown that fallen angels are the root cause for drag queens. And, its why we see "goddesses" in pagan religions.

For God only granted the grace to be celibate to faithful angels. "His angels."

 

[Stephen3141]

Hello I am agra man I came across this site and saw that it had this section on Christian Philosophy. To be honest I have heard of it but never really got into what it is so I am niave in this area. And a friend of mine well we got intoan argument because he was saying some really odd things calling it philosophy things about mother earth using the mind to sync to the spirit even going so far as to explain how mother earth has some kind of life energy that using the mind with the spirit creates an aura of protection and just odd stuff he said there was a marriage with the angels and the church before creation and that divorce was in heaven with us and them

I love talking with him about the things of God we have a blast but the things he was saying here well he didn't take to well to me warning him about all this stuff even though there was absolutely no evidence of what he said what so ever he just saw it as truth and saw me as being petty and attacking him.

I tried first before even confronting him to understand what he meant about it being philosophy he said it is basically adding to an already established thing. Ok for studying and research looking at things from a different perspective maybe I can be on board with that but to say it as fact though well I wasn't having that.

But I wondered if perhaps the argument could have gone different if I had understood what Christian Philosophy is so what is it exactly what the reason to study it and what purpose does it serve?

Consider these things...

What is Christian Driving?
What is Christian Eating?
What is Christian Art?
What is Christian Writing?
What is Christian Barbecue?
...

I would say that these things, are the way a person with a Christian Worldview, thinks about these topics.

Philosophy, historically, has a number of different disciplines:

-- Ontology. what exists, and how we perceive that these things exist
-- Epistemology what truth is, and how we demonstrate that something is true
-- Formal Logic. formal methods of reasoning that work
-- Moral Theory. how we think about what we consider to be right and wrong.

The "Christian" form of Philosophy, is the Christian ways of thinking about these topics.

Note that "philosophy" means in the Ancient Greek, the love of wisdom. But the METHOD of discovering and discussing wisdom, historically, is through thinking/reasoning. So, philosophy is applying reason/logic, to try to explore all these different topics.

The anti-intellectual Christian groups often assert that applying reason/logic to any of these areas, falls into the category of "vain philosophy". But, we have the Apostle Paul, who wrote 60% of the New Testament, and most of the theology in the New Testament, using logic all over the place. If we assert that all thinking, is "vain philosophy", then we are denying the divine inspiration of much of Paul's writing in the New Testament.

Orthodox Christianity has always embraced the goodness of the intellect/mind/logic, as far as it can reach. Not all topics can be explored by reason/logic.

The Protestant Reformers in the 1400's often had a negative view of reason/logic (Luther and Calvin did). Unfortunately, this lead many Christians to avoid philosophy, and rigorously applying the mind to reason about all sorts of topics. However, the ancient Jews understood that when humans were "made in the image of God", a lot of this revolves around our intellectual abilities, and our ability to reason about all sorts of topics.

I hope that this helps.

 

[GenemZ]

Consider these things...

What is Christian Driving?
What is Christian Eating?
What is Christian Art?
What is Christian Writing?
What is Christian Barbecue?
...

I would say that these things, are the way a person with a Christian Worldview, thinks about these topics.

Philosophy, historically, has a number of different disciplines:

-- Ontology. what exists, and how we perceive that these things exist
-- Epistemology what truth is, and how we demonstrate that something is true
-- Formal Logic. formal methods of reasoning that work
-- Moral Theory. how we think about what we consider to be right and wrong.

The "Christian" form of Philosophy, is the Christian ways of thinking about these topics.

Note that "philosophy" means in the Ancient Greek, the love of wisdom. But the METHOD of discovering and discussing wisdom, historically, is through thinking/reasoning. So, philosophy is applying reason/logic, to try to explore all these different topics.

The anti-intellectual Christian groups often deny that applying reason/logic to any of these areas, falls into the category of "vain philosophy". But, we have the Apostle Paul, who wrote 60% of the New Testament, and most of the theology in the New Testament, using logic all over the place. If we assert that all thinking, is "vain philosophy", then we are denying the divine inspiration of much of Paul's writing in the New Testament.

Orthodox Christianity has always embraced the goodness of the intellect/mind/logic, as far as it can reach. Not all topics can be explored by reason/logic.

The Protestant Reformers in the 1400's often had a negative view of reason/logic (Luther and Calvin did). Unfortunately, this lead many Christians to avoid philosophy, and rigorously applying the mind to reason about all sorts of topics. However, the ancient Jews understood that when humans were "made in the image of God", a lot of this revolves around our intellectual abilities, and our ability to reason about all sorts of topics.

I hope that this helps.

We need to be careful not to confuse illogical Christians for Christianity being illogical.

The Logos of John 1:1 is derived from the same root word that we find for the word logic.

Paul was highly logical, yes. In the Greek it reveals that he was a genius. But he was never philosophical. He was dogmatic in the Spirit by means of actually knowing truth. Philosophy tends to be too speculative and theoretical.


grace and peace ..................

 

[Jasper10]

The purpose of Christian philosophy is to bring individuals to an end of themselves which enables them to see the hopeless state they are in so that by God's grace they are able to genuinely turn back to him.

Full logic philosophy does that.

Half logic philosophy doesn't

We are presently bombarded with a failed atheistic half logic philosophy and corresponding science that serves the purpose of keeping individuals from God.

 

[Jasper10]

God does not provide definitive proof of his existence or non existence.

Hebrews 11:6 says what it says. (Without faith it is impossible to please God).

Therefore, it is only possible to HOPE that God exists or doesn't exist.

So for any of you out there who are waiting for definite proof (and are sold on failed modern day half logic atheistic philosophy and science) until you do come to God then you will be waiting an awful long time ....forever...an eternity....... literally.

 

[Miles]

An understanding of philosophy can be useful for communicating ideas. A shorthand for expressing concepts that might otherwise take more time to articulate or comprehend. It can also function as a tool for recognizing patterns of persuasion and potential cognitive blind-spots.

In terms of the faith, much of Christian philosophy is laid out in scripture but it also works on multiple levels. Inspiring us to ponder the nature of God, the teachings of Christ, and how to put our faith into practice.