According to Wikipedia,
Philosophy is the study of the general and fundamental problems such as those connected with reality. Existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument.
Did you notice that there was no reference to the divine in that explanation? This absence is important to those of us seeking explanation and understanding as to why this culture and every other Israelitish nation's culture is in this present state of angry and badly divided confusion regarding any moral, spiritual, and ethical values practiced within them. This is creating major problems in these nations. This is because moral, spiritual, and ethical values impact significantly upon establishing, understanding, obeying, and adjudicating conduct of a citizenry when those laws are broken. Thus, uncertainty prevails in those nations.
Right in the definition of philosophy, it states that it is the study of fundamental problems. On March 2, an article appeared on the opinion page of the New York Times, authored by Justin P. McBrayer, who identified himself as a philosopher. His article was titled, "Why Our Children Don't Think There Are Moral Facts." Remember that, especially the word "facts." Our children do not believe there are moral facts. His article began with this question: "What would you say if you found out that our public schools were teaching children that it is not true that it is wrong to kill people for fun or cheat on tests?" Would you be surprised? Mr. McBrayer was, and he says that it is commonly occurring.
He began researching at his Second Grade child's school during an open house for parents. He then continued his research in other avenues. In the school, facts are defined as something that can be tested and proven. An opinion is what someone thinks, feels, or believes. He found that the overwhelming majority of college freshmen arrive in their classrooms (at university) viewing moral claims as mere opinions that are not true or are true only relative to a culture, and thus, what is true in one family regarding a moral value may be mere opinion in the university.
The summary in Mr. McBrayer's article is that all claims—every single claim—is either a fact or an opinion, and that all—I repeat this—all value claims are not facts. The punch-line conclusion to this approach is that there are no moral facts, and if there are no moral facts, there are no moral truths. This is being taught, beginning in elementary school. Do you wonder why the future is so hazy? And thus, philosophy is telling us and teaching our vulnerable children, right from the beginning in elementary school, that there are no moral absolutes.
This condition exists because the existence of the divine Author—the author of Truth, whom we claim as God; hear that word? We claim as God—cannot be proved by their criteria. Therefore, His existence is merely an opinion held by some. So much for the so-called rational and reasoned thinking, which they place right within the definition of philosophy when they believe in creation without a Creator—how good is that?—or a Designer. According to them, everything came into being without design from nothing. Everything happened randomly.
It is no wonder then that those grasping the monstrosity of this lie that there is no life-giving Creator, then there also is no Satan who has been able to deceive the entire world, and all the other lies are much more easily accepted once that one twisted threshold is crossed.
The term "philosophy" is used only once in the entire Bible and it is used in that one place by the apostle Paul in relation to demons and the tradition of men:
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Why am I spending so much time on philosophy? Because it becomes clear from what history teaches us that when one believes God and therefore believes also in the existence of Satan (and the role the Bible clearly shows Satan has worked so diligently doing) that he has chosen to accomplish his massive end-time deception largely through philosophers.
Satan used them by applying a simple, well-known principle of leadership, and that principle is that sheep follow their leader. Jesus spoke of this principle:
John 10:3-5 "To him [the shepherd] the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
(Next week, I'm going to expound on this a little bit.) There are unconverted people who to this day follow the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. They lived thousands of years ago, and people are still following their teachers. That's their shepherd.
Those philosophers of course were joined by others, and these philosophers all were not godly disciples of the great Creator, but the enemy of everything truly righteous and pure.
Ephesians 2:1-2 make it clear that as ruler of this world, it is Satan's spirit that pervades the cosmos. He has the powers from the Creator God to infuse human leadership apart from the Creator God with intelligence and other gifts to create charisma that others will give themselves over to following. People love to follow leaders who seemingly have powers and abilities others are not gifted with.
Consider the admiration given to politicians, entertainers in movies or in singing or in instrumental playing or in athletics, and yet their character may be virtually totally despicable and their truly worthwhile contributions to the culture are negligible.
Listen to this question: Who are those in this world's system who are the most influential in terms of shaping the course and direction of its life? As a general body, it is the professional teachers. This is why Satan has focused his attention on two areas: the universities, first and foremost, and secondarily religion. These are the most influential teachers in the world.
Why has he done that? Because that is where leadership is trained and prepared from the foundation of godless concepts. At the very top of the heap in the world, as influential teachers from which other leaders get their concepts they use as a guide to a culture, are the philosophers. They are right on top of being the most influential in the world.
From this, you ought to be able to understand that a truly God-fearing teacher who also obeys God as a way of life can never receive the title of philosopher from this world.
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