From: ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (andrew.j.whitman)
Subject: Re: What do you do when your child thinks Metallica is cool?
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 15:18:08 GMT

In article <nestabro.721874832@nova> nestabro@nova.gmi.edu (Noel Estabrook) writes:
 
>Philosophy will NEVER bring someone to Christ.

Maybe not directly, but it can sure play an important role.  It was
tremendously important in my own conversion.

Believe me, Noel, before I was a Christian I had *plenty* of conversations 
with people who quoted Scriptures to me, and they wre *not* pleasant
occasions for either the quoters or for me.  A typical conversation
went something like this:

Me:  I don't believe in God.
Quoter:  The Psalms say that those who don't believe in God are fools.
Me:  Get the #@*&&# out of my dorm room.

End of conversation.

During this time I was reading a bunch of Existentialist philosophy,
specifically Jean Paul Sartre's novels and plays and Albert Camus' novels.
And it wasn't until I encountered a Christian in my dorm who had 
*read* this stuff and who actually knew what it was saying that 
I had even a smidgen of respect for Christianity and Christians.  
There followed a year of intense discussions and arguments at 3:00 a.m. 
in dorm rooms.  Christians argued with me, point for point.  And
they dragged me reluctantly to campus fellowship meetings, where
I would call out "Touchdown!" whenever people raised their hands to
worship the Lord.  

Maybe I was a particularly obstinate and obnoxious case (I can believe
that).  And looking back on it, I can clearly see the hand of God
working in the situation.  But I also see a bunch of Christians who
were willing to spend *enormous* amounts of their time and energy in
meeting me where I was at.  

The point is that non-Christians have objections to Christianity.  Some
of them may be little more than an excuse to retain control over a 
self-centered life.  But some of them are legitimate, soul-searching
questions that Christians should think about and attempt to resolve
in their own minds.  And the place where those questions are asked
is in the realm of Philosophy.   

You seem to feel that Christianity and Philosophy are polar opposites.
My own view is that Christianity is more than a philosophy, but it's 
*also* the only philosophy that hangs together consistently.  That 
shouldn't be too surprising because, like you, I happen to believe that 
it's the Truth, and it's true in a way that no other belief system or 
world view is true.  It tells me who God is, who I am, what God has done 
for me, and what I need to do to restore a broken relationship that has 
adversely affected every area of my life.  But that doesn't negate the 
fact that philosophy can also contain truth, and that valid insights can 
be gained by studying what others have said and written when they
have attempted to understand who they are, and who or what God is,
and how we come to know about these things.  

You asked in an earlier post what possible value could be found in
studying someone like Friedrich Nietzsche, a philosopher who rejected
God and attacked Christianity.  Probably not much.  About the only
thing I can think of is that it might help you understand who I
was twenty years ago, and how you might lead me to Christ.  Is that
kind of study worth your time and effort?  I don't know.  I can't
answer that one for you.  But I can honestly say that I'm tremendously
grateful for Christians who *did* make it a priority.   Who knows
what would have happened if they hadn't done that?  But I'm guessing
that Christians would still be labelling me as a fool, and I'd still 
be tossing them out of my house.  

>--
>Noel Estabrook			 |	Your religion is what you
>nestabro@nova.gmi.edu         --|--     do after the sermon is over.
>Instructional Design & Tech.    |     
>Michigan State University       |               Romans 12:2

Andy Whitman
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio
att!cblpn!ajw  or
ajw@cblpn.att.com
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian