{"id":10229,"date":"2016-11-10T21:35:24","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T05:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=10229"},"modified":"2016-11-10T21:35:24","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T05:35:24","slug":"i-believe-in-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/i-believe-in-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"I Believe in TRUTH!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/the-truth-is-like-a-lion.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10233 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/the-truth-is-like-a-lion-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"the-truth-is-like-a-lion\" width=\"405\" height=\"228\" \/><\/a>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I believe that there is truth, absolute truth. \u00a0Reading, <em>Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, <\/em>by Yuval Noah Harari is a love\/hate relationship with scholarship and the gross error of manipulating the idea of absolute truth.\u00a0 The title implies the word \u201cbrief\u201d and Harari claims to go back 13.5 billion years to the beginning.\u00a0 Even some of the scholarly editorials that I read about this book, disagreed with some of his broad stroke approach to humankind.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Harari, as much as I did not want to, lured me in with a <em>few<\/em> choice nuggets (with emphasis on <em>few<\/em>).\u00a0 One nugget was, \u201c\u2026despite the astonishing things that humans are capable of doing, we remain unsure of our goals and we seem to be discontented as ever.\u00a0 We have advanced from canoes to galleys to steamships to space shuttles \u2013 but nobody knows where we\u2019re going.\u00a0 We are more powerful than ever before, but have very little idea what to do with all that power.\u00a0 Worse still, humans seem to be more irresponsible that ever.\u00a0 Self-made gods with only the laws of physics to keep us company, we are accountable to no one.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/giraffe_thumb.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10232\" src=\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/giraffe_thumb-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"A reticulated giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata and an endangered Rothschild giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi, at the Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure.\" width=\"202\" height=\"202\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I agree with Harari on the degradation and discontentedness of humanity that can be prevalent, but I do not believe that it is the masterplan of the creator God that I embrace.\u00a0 If one embraces evolution and the course of natural selection then hopelessness would be the prevailing wind that would drive you.\u00a0 When speaking of giraffes, Harari said the, \u201c\u2026beauty of Darwin\u2019s theory is that it does not need to assume an intelligent designer to explain how giraffes ended up with long necks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following the line of thought that Darwin\u2019s theory \u201cdoes not need to assume an intelligent designer\u201d, then the outcome would naturally be a flawed, hopeless world.\u00a0 This is where my monotheistic view of my Creator God and the redemption of His only Son, Jesus, kicked in.\u00a0 I cannot embrace a fatalistic Creator nor creation.\u00a0 <sup>\u201c<\/sup>Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.\u201d Ephesians 1:4 (NLT)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Harari premises his work with the following statements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cAbout 13.5 billion years ago, matter, energy, time and space came into being in what is known as the Big Bang.<\/li>\n<li>Three important revolutions shaped the course of history: the Cognitive Revolution kick-started history about 70,000 years ago.\u00a0 The Agricultural Revolution sped it up about 12,000 years ago.\u00a0 The Scientific Revolution, which got under way only 500 years ago, may well end history and start something completely different.<\/li>\n<li>This book tells the story of how these three revolutions have affected humans and their fellow organisms.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/sapiens.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10234 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/sapiens-300x166.jpg\" alt=\"sapiens\" width=\"509\" height=\"282\" \/><\/a><a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The book is a dance between attempting to understand humans, organisms, and organizations.\u00a0 It seems to embrace a fairy tale or science fiction movie than a scholarly work grounded in undeniable and proven truths.\u00a0 Harari seems to embrace \u201cthe Fall\u201d more than the \u201cRedeemer\u201d who came into the world to be the propitiation and appeasement of our mess.<\/p>\n<p>Harari\u2019s \u201ccheap shot\u201d at our Declaration of Independence seems to run as a common theme throughout the book with many of the subjects that he addresses.\u00a0 He likens the Declaration of Independence to Hammurabi\u2019s Code.\u00a0 \u201cThe Americans would, of course, say that they are right, and that Hammurabi is wrong\u2026In fact, they are both wrong.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Harari uses the analogy of Peugeot automaker to insight his concept that an organization or tangible object can be in existence a \u201cfigment of our collective imagination\u201d.<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a>\u00a0 It would seem that Harari do.es not believe in the existence of anything for any long period of time.\u00a0 Every \u201cseason\u201d and \u201cthing\u201d have their existence; but it is short lived in Harari\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n<p>Couple Harari\u2019s \u201cfigment of collective imagination\u201d with the myth of Christianity and you have utter chaos for all <em>sapiens<\/em>.\u00a0 I went over the edge when Harari stated, \u201cAny large-scale human cooperation \u2013 whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city or an archaic tribe \u2013 is rooted in common myths that exist only in people\u2019s collective imagination.\u00a0 Churches are rooted in common religious myths.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At what point does Harari cross over the line with his educated imaginations?\u00a0 Is it sacrilegious? Who gives him the right to purport what is proper guidelines for sexuality, truth, and the dignity of the human race?\u00a0 What allows Harari to play \u201cgod\u201d and prophecy that \u201cMother nature dos not mind if men are sexually attracted to one another.\u00a0 It\u2019s only human mothers and fathers steeped in particular cultures who make a scene if their son has a fling with the boy next door.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last, I did not embrace or enjoy the majority of this book.\u00a0 It was not because of my narrow mindset of God that I came to that conclusion.\u00a0 It was more from the perspective that I would rather have something that is \u201ctruth\u201d than believe that everything is a figment of collective imaginations and myths.\u00a0 I was finished with Harari when he said that, \u201cReligion can thus be defined as <em>a system of human norms and values that is founded on a belief in a superhuman order.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn7\" name=\"_ftnref7\"><strong>[7]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I believe in a totally different \u201cbrief history of mankind\u201d than Harari.\u00a0 I embrace an eternal God that consummates in eternal truths that are settled and sure.\u00a0 I believe that humans will inherit eternal life in one of two places based upon their acceptance or denial of this God! \u00a0That is the TRUTH!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Yuval Noah Harari, <em>Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, <\/em>(New York:\u00a0 HarperCollins Publisher, 2015), 415-416.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Ibid., 3.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Ibid., 108<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Ibid., 29.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> Ibid., 27.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> Ibid., 146.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref7\" name=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a> Ibid., 210.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Introduction I believe that there is truth, absolute truth. \u00a0Reading, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari is a love\/hate relationship with scholarship and the gross error of manipulating the idea of absolute truth.\u00a0 The title implies the word \u201cbrief\u201d and Harari claims to go back 13.5 billion years to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[760],"class_list":["post-10229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-harari","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}