Page 23 - Personal Spiritual Life Syllabus w videos

The Bible declares that our reasoning skills are not to be relied upon. The reason is that our mind and
heart are tainted by sin. The Bible says in Psalm 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not
lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your
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paths.

3. Pragmatism - truth is what is useful in the long-term. John Dewey, one of the great
th
pragmatists of the 19 century, said something is "made true" when it is verified. The
pragmatist beliefs are not true until they have been made true by verification. They
believe propositions become true over the long term through proving their utility in a
person's specific situation. Pragmatist ethics is broadly humanistic because it sees no
ultimate test of morality beyond what matters for us as humans. Good values are those
for which we have good reasons.

William James said, “Something is true only insofar as it works.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
was a pragmatist.

Christian Example: “We had a rock concert at our church. We had strobe lights, and it was really wild
and loud! The purpose of the concert was to attract the lost to our church so we could present the
Gospel to them. A whole lot of kids came! We had over 50 decisions for Christ. See, it must be a good
thing to do, because look at the results we got!”

The Bible clearly tells that the sowing to the flesh will not reap good results. Gal 6:7-8: Do not be
deceived: God cannot be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return. 8The one who sows to
the flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to the Spirit, from the Spirit will
reap eternal life. Results are not the criteria for evaluating God’s blessings; following God’s standards
are much more important to God.

4. Hedonism - pleasure is the most important pursuit of mankind. The first basic idea
behind hedonistic thought is that all actions can be measured on the basis of how much
pleasure and how little pain they produce. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to
maximize this total (pleasure minus pain).

Another way of looking at this philosophy is the idea that all action should be directed
toward achieving the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.

The quantitative approach: The value of a pleasure is to be its intensity multiplied by its
duration - so it was not just the number of pleasures, but their intensity and how long
they lasted that must be taken into account.

The qualitative approach: Higher quality pleasure is better than lower quality pleasure. So seek the
greater, higher quality pleasure, even if you have fewer of them.

Christian Example: “We’re in the middle of a building project at our church. We decided to go with the
blue padded pews over the wooden ones because, even though they were double the cost, they will be a
lot more comfortable to sit on. Over the long run, comfortable pews will attract more people to our
church. I think we made the right decision.”

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