Christianity is not a Philosophy
Job 11:7-8 poses important questions that even long ago men knew the answers to, but we seem to have gotten dumber over the ages. "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?" Man cannot "discover" God, "define" Him or reason his way to Him. God has revealed Himself, from the beginning, and given us the means to know Him. The Bible is a divine revelation, a message sent from heaven to earth, and authenticated. Philosophy is nothing more than the meanderings of men who do not accept God's revelation. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9).
No history is more full of contradiction, confusion, frustration and the darkness of ignorance than that of philosophy. No human being has ever been saved through philosophy. Philosophy comes from reprobate minds (Rom. 1:28), ill-equipped to reason their way to God. God states that mankind knew Him in the beginning but turned away, and "professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (Rom. 1:21). R. A. Torrey said, "they became foolosophers." People always speak admiringly, almost reverently of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, forgetting that they were ungodly men who did not enter the kingdom of God, so what good did their philosophy do them, or anyone else? What use is it to learn to reason like them when they rejected divine revelation and exalted vainly their own powers and processes of reasoning? Men consider them wise, but God says their thoughts are vain (1 Cor. 3:20).
"The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God" 1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us, "neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." Not philosophically discerned. God's Spirit works to convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of coming judgment (Jn 16:8). Men want to know nothing of these things, and so they remain dwellers and gropers in darkness.
"The carnal mind is at enmity with God," Romans 8:7 points out. Man's thoughts are vanity according to Psalm 94:11. How would a mind like that discover God or truth through reasoning? To attempt it is an exercise in futility, not to be admired but pitied.
1 Corinthians 1:18-21 bluntly states that "The world by wisdom knew not God." We might say that the experiment has been tried and has failed many times. Give up! If you want to know God, believe His revelation of Himself. Christianity is not a philosophy, but the revelation of our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to this earth, "God manifest in the flesh," died on the cross in payment for our sins, and was raised from the dead three days later, and now is exalted in Heaven but soon will come to subdue and rule the earth. Philosophize that!
God's creation shows His existence, His glory (Psalm 19:1-6), His eternal power and Godhead (Romans 1:20), His greatness and majesty (Psalm 8:1-4) and His sublime wisdom and mercy (Psalm 136:1-9). His Son Jesus Christ revealed the Father, has made Him known (John 1:18). "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). And the Bible, God's Word, is a detailed revelation of all that God has to say to us. In the 66 books of Scripture all is explained and the knowledge of God is offered to man.
Who would leave these wonderful revelations and turn to man's dark and confused thoughts in search of truth? One Christian recently tweeted that on the side of the temple of Apollo, Greek worshipers could read aphorisms like, "know thyself," and suggested, "good advice." Yet another symptom of the self-centeredness and shallowness of our times, including among many who profess to be Christians. So, is the Bible bankrupt and outdated and now we have to turn to the sayings of unbelieving and lost philosophers? "Know thyself"??? How about "know God," "know God's Word," and "repent and believe the gospel." You will not find those "aphorisms" around pagan temples or in any books on philosophy!
Hear what the Apostle Paul had to say in Philippians 3:8, "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung..."
Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote, "What fools, to not see that man is wreckage. What fools not to comprehend that Plato and Aristotle are but the rubbish of Adam, and that Athens is but the degeneration of the Garden of Eden". (Romans, vol. I, p. 247)
