Thinking as a Christian Philosopher

I think one of the most interesting things I’ve found as I continue on my path as a Christian Philosopher is how it can shape thinking about everything.

Faith in Christ permeates every aspect of my being.

I just experienced it as I was walking across campus. I stared out over the hills and looked at the trees. There is one that is dead, and has fallen to the ground. Sitting as it was, on a grassy hill at night, with only faint light to set the scene, it was tragically beautiful. I continued in this mindset, observing the beauties around me as I walked back.

It is impossible for me to survey such beauty of nature without reflecting on the beautifier behind it all. Even the idea of light seemed glorious to me. I thought about how the light rays spread out from each light along the path, imagining lines tracing the light into the distance, an infinite path for some, and it was beautiful. I saw a hill that had the paths traced by water flowing down it darkened by shadow in the pale light. It was beautiful. I heard the thousand thousand crickets, the song they sing echoing through the night. It was beautiful. Above all, there was the cross on top of the chapel, the highest point on campus. It all came together. The rays of light streaming around it, the crickets singing to it, and the water flowing from it.

The world God has created is nothing short of unfathomably beautiful.

Being a philosopher has some very interesting effects on thinking. As I observed all this beauty, I was also thinking about qualia related to the mind, dualism vs. physicalism, the warrant of Christian belief, etc. It is striking to contrast these things going through my head, for despite the seemingly vast gap between, say, observing the beauty of light and thinking about pressuppositionalism, there is one tie that binds: Christ.

It is also interesting to me to see how this has changed my thoughts on life. There is eternity to ponder. The current life serves as a framework from which to ponder this eternity. The present life is vastly important, but the smaller things seem to matter much less. Some things that seem like “big deals” seem to fade into smaller things. God calls in all things to ponder Him. We are to love Him with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul. It is this that brings all things again into perspective–for the Christian, there is but one filter through which to see all things: the filter of faith in Christ. That is why a Christian can take all things in stride. We can walk in faith. Accusations against such faith do nothing to our soul.

Again, in all things, there is one tie that binds: Christ.