Tuesday, August
28, 2018
The Philosopher, Socrates,
was given a choice by the rulers of Greece to either leave and spend his remaining
days in exile, or shut up, and never again criticize authority; he chose final
silence – suicide!
It is difficult at best, and
highly presumptuous at worst, to disagree with one so revered in thinking as this
wise man, but, opting for staying close to Scripture rather than Socrates,
I would say that the “unexamined life” is not possible. God keeps his eye on every bit of His
creation!
But, Socrates was not talking
about self-examination, as we are urged in Scripture to constantly do considering
God’s prior claim on our lives. The philosopher
was referring to political examination; he was concerned about the freedom to
decide for himself whether he approved of the way he was governed. Considering how much resemblance our culture
bears to ancient Greek views on individual freedom, it is not surprising that
we would revere this individualist.
And how much we would
misapply this one famous saying to glorify man’s sovereignty, and in so-doing, diminish
God’s.
There is a thin line here
between being anti-liberty and theologically-faithful, and I
don’t mean to blur that line in semantics.
God is the author of genuine freedom; man either acts with fidelity to
that fact, or becomes his own God.
You can be loyal to only one
God. That isn’t a religious statement,
it’s a matter of simple logic. You
cannot leave and remain at the same time. Nor can you be tall and short, skinny and
overweight. You cannot be alive and
dead simultaneously; considering this, how can you be divided (with integrity) and
still be devoted?
We do not get to decide on
what life is worth living. God is the
author, not only of freedom, but of life itself. What He has given, man can only recognize and
celebrate. The created clay jar must bow
to the potter’s hands!
For Socrates, opting-out of
his God-given life proclaimed God could not use him as a silent witness, or
that God could not somehow alter the circumstances. But even putting that charge aside, what amount
of hubris, or foolish un-thinking does it take to proclaim God has been wrong
to allow suffering and injustice in life, and thereby justify ending that life?
Socrates was right to hold forth
the human right, even the compelling duty for a citizen to criticize an unjust government;
he was so wrong in the shape of his protest.
No matter how noble the protest, one can scarcely sanction murder by one’s
own hand.
For You Today
Your life includes violations,
some bigger, some smaller. Some violations
are your choice, others are when fellow humans cross the line. We should examine what we do and be humble
about the outcome. That is what God-directed
virtue demands.
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