Angela Wilson's Archive

Hume and The Fall

6 Commentsby   |  10.05.13  |  Student Posts

I believe that David Hume’s ideas represent the fall of man. The first of his views that I believe fall into this category is his belief that humans only have knowledge of things that we directly experience. As Christians, we all have experienced events in our lives that we truly know God provided for us even though we don’t directly see his physical hand reach down from raven and help us. Because this experience is subjective, Hume would argue that it wasn’t real. The second of his ideas that represent the fall of man is his moral sense theory. He was a sentimentalist, meaning he thought no one knew the true mending of morality and people just acted as they pleased. He thought that our actions were ultimately driven by our passions. This completely goes against all of God’s teaching concerning morality. Morality is specifically addressed in a multitude of scriptures in the bible. The Ten Commandments explain God’s view of morality. Jesus and Paul both have teachings about morality throughout the New Testament. Hume’s idea of morality is the complete opposite of all morality teachings from the bible, therefore I would equate that with the fall. Sent from my iPhone

Plato’s Allegory and Redemption

7 Commentsby   |  09.06.13  |  Student Posts

In Plato’s Allegory, the slaves live in a cave their entire life and that reality is all they know. They are unable to recognize the images around them are actually distortions. It is not until someone is taken out of the cave that they can see the real world and fully experience life. As soon as the slave is freed, the first thing he wants to do is return back to the cave to tell his friends of the new world he has discovered. But sadly they are unable to comprehend what their friend so desperately wants them to experience.

I believe this can be compared to the redemption section of the theological timeline. As we live in a fallen world, we are also living in a cave. Before we know the love of Christ and the freedom that a life committed to Him has to offer, we are first slaves to sin. Our life in sin is the only reality we know, completely unaware of the amazing life we can experience once we are free from the chains sin puts us in. During our time in the cave, we are unaware that our life is not the full capacity we could experience; just as the slaves are unaware their world is made of distortions. Hearing the good news is like stepping out of the cave. From that point on, we are now free to live a life in Christ. In both instances, once the slave is freed and their life is changed forever. Just as the slave goes back to the cave to tell his friends of his new life, we also tell our friends of Christ’s redemption because it is something everyone should experience. Often times as we share Christ’s love and sacrifice to those we care about, they cannot understand the extent of it until they have experienced it personally. This once again is parallel to the allegory of the cave because the slaves that are still in captivity are also unable to understand the full extent of freedom.

Angela Wilson's Comment Archive

  1. Angela Wilson on Romanticism and The Fall
    7:25 pm, 10.07.13

    I love that you equated romanticism with the fall. Romanticism does indeed place a lot of emphasis passions and the irrational actions and thoughts we have as humans. I would agree this is related to the fall. God calls us to not give into our flesh, just as you said, and to have self control. great insight!

  2. Angela Wilson on Kant Can't
    7:16 pm, 10.07.13

    This is a very unique perspective! I’m glad you shared your reasoning why you thought he couldn’t be categorized. I do like you idea that his thoughts regarding organized religion could be categorized as restoration. There are a lot of churches these days that really turn people away from God because of all the political aspects and not making the main focus on worshiping God. The direction some of the churches in our society have been going are definitely in need of restoration.

  3. Angela Wilson on Rousseau and Creation
    7:09 pm, 10.07.13

    You have some great ideas Haley! I like that you placed Rousseau in creation rather that recreation because his ideas not only are equated to that section, but also set up the basis for the fall. That thought didn’t even occur to me until I read this. Great post!

  4. Angela Wilson on Aristotle and the Human Appetite
    8:37 pm, 09.09.13

    I liked that you compared our sinful nature to the idea of Aristotle’s appetite. We so often leave the love of God in search for immediate gratification, even though he is the one that can give us true happiness and meaning

  5. Angela Wilson on Thales-The Fall
    8:26 pm, 09.09.13

    I agree with Thales being considered in the fall. Our world is definitely driven by concrete, scientific explanations even though we as Christians can see that so many things could not have just happened by chance

  6. Angela Wilson on Plato (Redemption)
    8:22 pm, 09.09.13

    Plato’s Allegory made me think of redemption as well! It’s interesting to me how many parallels you can find in redemption through Jesus and being set free from the cave