Why has Samsung come out with a new smartphone? The answer is simple. Samsung has found a way to create value from new advances in material science and the science of physics. A few hundred years ago, philosophers threw the baby out with the bathwater. Huh?
Modern Philosophy
For almost 2,000 years, philosophy was science that made scientific studies holistic. Back then, scientific studies were not just limited to studying nature to control it or make use of it. Instead, from about 300 B.C. until 1500 A.D., science valued and included morality and beauty. These abstract aspects of nature were all categorized under the heading of the “Arts” and were given equal standing with tangible science.
But in the late 1500s, Francis Bacon threw the “baby” out. He said that intangible things such as “the good,” beauty, and morality had nothing to do with science. This was the beginning of “Modern Philosophy.” That’s when the Humanities (arts) and the Sciences parted ways. Today, most college graduates receive their degree as a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science.
Kill it and Cut it Open
This modern science believes that if you find some new creature, no matter how lovely, kill it, cut it open, and see what’s inside. In our modern world, we assume that every scientific endeavor will provide us with value; we just have to learn how to extract it. We believe that value extraction is the purpose of science. But this is not how God works.
I agree with some theologians who believe that the nature of God continually overflows out of Him, and some flow into His creation. When we look at the night sky, we see material things such as stars, the moon, and planets. Yet we also see and understand intangible characteristics. There is beauty and wonder and magnificence in the heavens – and on earth.
Overflowing
God’s Word tells us that His mercies are new every morning. God’s Word tells us that on us, for us, and through us to others, He pours out Himself until He overflows. We’ve probably all read the 23rd Psalm:
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
Psalm 23:5
And we remember that what is in our hearts, either good or evil, will flow out of our mouths. (Luke 6:45) Also, no doubt, we are familiar with Jesus’ statement that with whatever measure we use to give, that measure will be used to pour back to us, but what is poured back is more; it is “pressed down, shaken together, running over. (Luke 6:38)
The nature of God is to overflow anyone or anything He touches, and He has placed this nature in us. Jesus said that out of us, rivers of living water flow. That living water is the Holy Spirit. He is in us, and he overflows out of us and onto and into others!
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
John 7:37-39
Good News
So, let’s not hold back anything from God. Let’s not be concerned that what God has given may run out. Here’s the good news. Throughout eternity, the nature of God has been flowing out of Him and into all that was, and is, and ever will be. Don’t worry. “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
Image by Michael Kauer from Pixabay
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