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Philosophy - Part 22 - Orthodoxy and Heresy - by P.K.Odendaal - September 2012
This piece is also known as the forces of man, in contrast to my previous article on the forces of God - see part 8. The forces of man are orthodoxy, heresy, rationalism, empiricism, induction, determinism and materialism.
I will try to define them as well I can.
Rationalism - the explanation of things in terms of our reason or our worldview.
Empiricism - the explanation of things in terms of our experimentation results, without an accepted theory. It is the notion that similar experiments will yield similar results, even if we do not know what the reason for that is.
Induction - the explanation of things in terms of their outcome in previous similar circumstances and conditions and extrapolating them into unknown areas. If we say one plus one is two, then we can safely assume that two plus two is four.
Determinism - the explanation of things in terms of widely held axioms. If we travel twice the speed it will only take half the time. Every similar cause has a similar effect, and every cause has an effect. Everything which happens, has a reason for happening due to some previous cause. Nothing 'just' happens.
Materialism - no, it's not the love of money, it is the notion that only concrete or material things exist in reality, and that consciousness, thought and spiritual manifestations do not exist.
Orthodoxy - it is the notion that conventional wisdom is right.
Heresy - it is the opposite of orthodoxy.
These seven forces drive our daily lives, our thoughts, our attitudes, our discussions, our conflicts, our notions, our strategies, our plans and our aspirations. They are not really forces, but then ... what is a force in any case? A force is just as haphazardly and subjectively defined as I have defined the individual items above. There is no one agreed definition of any of them - and that makes them so interesting. Just the fact that they are not properly defined made them the subject of philosophy for over two centuries. Once anyone of these forces became more clearly defined, the philosophy about its existence suddenly disappeared - and that is why something like existentialism is not talked about anymore - we found out what it was and that it was unattainable and fatalistic.
Just to write about these seven forces will take some people seven books, so how will I ever succeed in giving them their rightful place in this articles? I will try to crystallise the main aspects, have new insights and expose new truths - which is called heresy. Even then it will only be a typical philosophical article - saying a lot and meaning little - and more importantly, missing the point - which is called orthodoxy.
For rationalism, we may hypothesize a rational man making rational decisions. Decisions we all would make in similar circumstances, if we only consult our brains or our friends, or apply our minds. We all know what this is, or ought to be, and we also know it is a pipe dream - there is no rational man, as people take decisions based on their irrational emotions. But, still there is such a process of rational thought. People, like myself, who have been trained in Mathematics and Science solve problems by proceeding along a path of rational thought, using axioms or proven theories, to arrive at solutions. So in this respect there is a model of rational thought processes, and many of these are used in other disciplines quite successfully.
However, the field of rational thought processes are very limited, due to our limited knowledge of the fundamentals, derivatives and abstractions of these. If only rational thought is used to solve problems or explain our lives, we find that they are limited. In the field of social interaction it is even more useless. There are people who are ruled by the minds, and others by their hearts, and no one of these groups are quite sure how and why they are ruled.
That is the dilemma of rationalism. We know and understand too little to apply it as a life philosophy. As soon as we delve deeper into it, it disappoints us and leaves us in the cold, having transformed itself, unbeknownst to us, into another philosophy like materialism, empiricism or induction.
Materialism (and its sleeping partners, Determinism) is the notion that all things are material, that nothing can exist which is not material, and that things that are not material are all figments of the mind. That all things are subject to the law of cause and effect and free will plays no part in this. Material is known to disappear as such at the speed of light. So there cannot be any talk of a meta physical world, consciousness, the soul, spirituality, telepathy, the afterlife or emotion. This is in fact a closed and bounded loop, no matter what its size, as it excludes from our world the major part. It prevents us from investigating anything further, because experiments and phenomena in the meta-physical world are presently not repeatable, as conditions in that world cannot be rigorously repeated.
It is much like some scientists operate. They are prepared to know anything about a very small field, but ignores the mysteries and challenges out there where they cannot speak with authority or measure with accuracy - like a man in his own house, ignoring the world outside. He knows exactly what is in his house and how it works, but who cares?
The example I wish to use, is the one used by G.K.Chesterton in his book 'Orthodoxy', written about one hundred years ago and still as valid as it was when it was written - I cannot say it better :
It is amusing to notice that many of the moderns, whether sceptics or mystics, have taken as their sign a certain eastern symbol, which is the very symbol of the ultimate nullity. When they wish to represent eternity, they represent it by a serpent with his tail in his mouth (∞). There is a startling sarcasm in the image of that very unsatisfactory meal. The eternity of the material fatalists, the eastern pessimists, the supercilious theosophists and higher scientists of today is, indeed, very well presented by a serpent eating his tail, a degraded animal who destroys even himself.
Spiritual doctrines do not actually limit the mind as do materialistic denials. Even if I believe in immortality I need not think about it. But if I disbelieve in immortality I must not think about it. For instance, when materialism leads men to complete fatalism (as it generally does), it is quite idle to pretend that it is in any sense a liberating force. It is absurd to say that you are especially advancing freedom when you only use free thought to destroy free will. The determinists come to bind, not to loosen. They may well call their law the 'chain' of causation. It is the worst chain that ever fettered a human being. You may use the language of liberty, if you like, about materialistic teaching, but it is obvious that this is just as inapplicable to it as a whole, as the same language when applied to a man locked up in a madhouse. You may say, if you like, that the man is free to think himself a poached egg. But it is surely a much more massive and important fact that if he is a poached egg, he is not free to eat, sleep drink, walk or smoke a cigarette. Similarly you may say, if you like, that the bold determinist speculator is free to disbelieve in the reality of the will. But it is a much more massive and important fact that he is not free to raise, to curse, to thank, to justify, to urge, to punish, to resist temptation, to incite mobs, to make New year resolutions, to pardon sinners, to rebuke tyrants, or even to say 'thank you' for the mustard.
As we have taken the circle as a symbol of reason and madness, we may very well take the cross as the symbol at once of mystery, and of health. Buddhism is centripetal, but Christianity is centrifugal: it breaks out. For the circle is perfect and infinite in its nature, but it is fixed for ever in its size; it can never be larger or smaller. But the cross, though it has at its heart a collision and a contradiction, can extend its four arms for ever without altering its shape. Because it has a paradox in its centre, it can grow without changing. The circle returns upon itself and is bound. The cross opens its arms to the four winds; it is a signpost for free travellers.
I have written a whole article on Induction and will not repeat it here. You can read it here :
Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism, and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, over the notion of innate ideas or traditions; empiricists may argue however that traditions (or customs) arise due to relations of previous sense experiences.
Empiricism in the philosophy of science emphasizes evidence, especially as discovered in experiments. It is a fundamental part of the scientific method that all hypotheses and theories must be tested against observations of the natural world rather than resting solely on a priori reasoning, intuition, or revelation.
In which of these do I believe? In none of them of course. We cannot live a life of fulfillment, happiness, meaning, expectation, excitement, confusion, doubt and fantasy, if we do not believe in all the above forces and balance them in our lives.


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The JKC BMW-sponsored Ballymoney RFC 1st XV entertained Lurgan at Kilraughts Road and in a vital league game the Toon men ran out comfortable 23-9 winners.
It was perfect conditions for what was again an important league game as Ballymoney looked to maintain their unbeaten league run.
It was the home side that started the stronger and early inroads into the Lurgan half resulted in outhalf Andy Young converting two penalties to give the home side a 6-0 lead.
However some ill-discipline let Lurgan back into the game as their full back struck over two long range penalties to draw level. On 20 minutes Lurgan took the lead after Captain John McFertridge received a yellow card for a tip tackle which looked to be a harsh decision. However 6-9 behind Ballymoney were still dominating the scrum and lineout.
McFetridge returned to the pitch and made an immediate impact. The forwards set up the maul from the lineout and drove for the line and Peter Irvine touched down to score the opening try.
The conversion went wide but Ballymoney had now regained the lead 11-9 and that is how the score remained until half time.
Ballymoney knew they had the chance to really close the game out if they could get the first score of the half and that is what they did.
Again the maul from the lineout took Ballymoney right to the try line and then good forward play resulted in a try for Michael Allen. Again the conversion went wide but Ballymoney now had a 7 point gap to lead 16-9.
Lurgan were starting to get frustrated as any attempt to get out of their half was repelled by Ballymoney. The pressure was rewarded again through the forwards when prop Matthew Blair was held up over the line.
Ballymoney applied the pressure at the scrum but were stopped just short of the line, but again some tight play resulted in Blair getting his try as he barged over from a few yards out. The conversion was added this time by Young to put the game out of Lurgan reach at 23-9.
With the chance now there for a Bonus Point try Ballymoney pushed hard in the last 10 minutes but the try didn't come and the final whistle blew for a well-deserved 23-9 win.
Speaking afterwards coach Johnny Hanna said: "We had a few changes today with Adam Pollock coming in at open side, Gary Pattison on the wing and Garvin Bellingham come up the bench.
"The changes didn't seem to effect the flow of the game and we looked the stronger and fitter team as the game went on. Again it showed today how much we have improved since the beginning of the season.
"However it wasn't a perfect performance as we should have really pushed on and got the bonus point.
"We also never really got the ball through our back line today to stretch Lurgan but we can work on this again at training. The defence was super today and Lurgan have been scoring a lot of tries in the league and to keep them out was very good.
"We have another very tricky game next week as we travel to Newry who are always a very difficult team to beat at home."
Team: P.Irvine, K.McAneaney, A. Brown, J. Bleakly, N. Mullholland, M.Allen, A.Pollock, J.McFetridge, M.Steele, A.Young, J.Cleland, C.Watson, N.Steele, G.Pattison, N.Nevin, M.Blair, G.Bellingham
Man of the match: Neil Mullholland

subset: commoncrawl


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God wants us to do more than intellectually agree with the words of Scripture: He wants us to live in light of them.
Francis Chan, Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up (Colorado Springs: David Cook, 2011), 124.
God wants us to do more than intellectually agree with the words of Scripture: He wants us to live in light of them.
Francis Chan, Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up (Colorado Springs: David Cook, 2011), 124.
The one concept, the central idea I kept meeting in Scripture, was that God is holy.
Without the power of the Holy Spirit, we not only wouldn't understand God's Word, we wouldn't even have it.
"The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed." – Augustine
While reading through the Old Testament, I couldn't help but get a feeling of "not yet." This sense of anticipation was building in me as I read through the Bible. It was subtle at first, like in Gen 3:15 but it became more and more obvious (like in Ezekiel 36:25-27) and then the Old Testament ends with the words from Malachi 4:5-6: "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." We see that the Old Testament ends as a cliffhanger!
I feel as though, although great, the Old Testament is an incomplete work.
But then when I started reading the New Testament I noticed dozens of references to the Old. Obviously, all the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled are found in the Old Testament. When Jesus establishes Communion as the sign of the New Covenant, it gains deeper significance against the context of the Jewish celebration of Passover. John the Baptist's words in John 1:29 only make sense when the reader understands the Jewish sacrificial system and the requirements for the forgiveness of sins. I would even go so far as to say that NONE of Paul's letters can be fully appreciated without an understanding of the Old Testament. The book of Hebrews refers repeatedly to the Old Testament priesthood and law. It becomes abundantly clear that the New Testament only makes sense if you properly understand the Old Testament.
(On an interesting side note: in Rev 22:20 we see that the New Testament also ends as a cliffhanger!)
I could go on and on but my point is simple… I feel as though, although great, the New Testament is an incomplete work.
What I'm getting at is this: you gotta have both the Old and New. The Old sets the context for the New; the New fulfills the Old. The more I study the Old Testament and the Jewish practices of Jesus' day, the more I grow to appreciate the New. They point to one another and together they ultimately point the reader to God.
God sets the example in two ways in this scripture. First of all, our God is a forgiving God who does not bear a grudge but instead forgives us for our sins. Secondly, God showed us how to love one another by putting skin on and dying for us on the cross. So with Gods ability to lead by example in mind, let's look at Matt 5:33-37:
"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by Heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."
This is a passage from Jesus Sermon on the Mount. Here we have Jesus telling us that anything we say we will do should be done. For example, if I tell my mother I'll call her on Saturday, there isn't any need for me to say, "Mother, I swear by the hair on my head that I shall call you before the sun sets on Saturday." Just the fact that I said I would call should be more than sufficient.
God would never ask more of us that He could give, which is why I like to think of the Bible as a promise. I know I can take God at His Word. I know that if God says He loves me, there isn't any need to swear by anything. His word alone can be trusted. As we go through more scriptures, look for two things: look for a challenge, and look for a promise. You'll see what I mean.
One of the greatest challenges of being a Christian is not worrying. I get so caught up with work and my career, social engagements, my lack of a dating life, the list goes on and on. Eventually I get so concerned with all these side things that I forget that my primary focus should be on my walk with Christ; everything else is secondary, whether I can remember that or not. I feel like the disciples when Jesus feeds five thousand: They were so worried about the problem of feeding the crowds that they lost sight of the solution: Jesus Christ, who had the power to feed the crowd easily! (Just a neat little fact: this is the only miracle that is in all four gospels.) The bottom line is this: if we remain intently focused on Jesus, He will provide for us. He tells us this in Matt. 6:33
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
Ah yes, sweet relief. If I seek after His kingdom and His righteousness (challenge), then everything will be given to me as well (promise)! Yes! But wait a minute…what does seeking His kingdom and His righteousness mean? Do I need to find something? One of the things I've noticed and grown to appreciate about reading scripture is that its not about finding answers; its more about seeking a deeper understanding. When I get into the Word, I usually walk away with more questions than answers. So how do we seek His kingdom and His righteousness? Well if you look back at Exodus 20:1-7 you'll see the first three commandments.
And God spoke all these words:
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
(1) You shall have no other gods before me.
(2) You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (There's a challenge and a promise if I've ever seen one!)
(3) You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
What I'd like to point out is that these are the first three commandments, and they're all about your relationship with God. The next seven commandments are about your relationships with others. We are called to love God from the inside out. We must first focus on loving Him, and then we will have the ability to love one another. Deuteronomy 6:5 tells us how much we are supposed to love God:
"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."
So we have to love God from deep within us until we have no strength left, and then, just when you think you're all out of love, we are supposed to love more. But this leads me to another question: How do I love God? What are signs of my love for God? Am I supposed to write 'I heart God' on my notebook? Well Jesus answers that question in John 14:21.
"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
Wow, so one of the signs of my love for Jesus is obedience to His commands? That's a monumental challenge, but it also comes with a monumental promise. If I love God and develop an obedient attitude, He will love me and Jesus will love me and show himself to me. You want Jesus to show Himself to you? Well that's easy, just obey His commands. But now I'm left wondering how to obey His commands. Well I've got the Ten Commandments as a good start, but it takes more than that. Lets look to Joshua 1:8 for some guidance.
"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."
God's Word always amazes me. Here I'm told to meditate on God's word. I can't just read it and then brain-dump it. I need to chew on it. I need to look for deeper meaning than what can be easily seen by skimming through. But look at the promise that God gives us here. He tells us that we will be prosperous and successful. So the key to success isn't thinking and growing rich, it's thinking and growing in the word of God. There's a difference between understand something and meditating on it. For example, if you look at the Pharisees, it's clear that they understood what the scripture meant at face value. 'Do not murder' means that you don't murder. Simple, right? Wrong! Jesus has a deeper understanding into what the Law really means. If you look at Matthew 5:21-22 you'll see Jesus telling us what God really intended for us:
"You have heard that is was said to the people long ago, Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment."
So it's not about simply obeying the commands so that you can check off a list of accomplishments. Its about obeying these commands from the inside out. Psalm 119:9,11 paint an excellent picture of this:
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I have hidden your word in my heart,
That I might not sin against you.
Here David tells God that he has hidden Gods commandments in his heart. He had meditated on it, he has searched it for the deeper meaning, and he has realized that Gods word is key to living a Godly lifestyle. It seems so simple, but it's a challenge.
So let's review. First and foremost, you can trust God. He will always live up to His end of the deal. The real question is, 'can we be faithful to Him?' Next we learn that we need to focus on Him. If we look intently at God, all the problems of the world seem so much smaller in comparison. We learn that if we're going to love God, we need to know how to follow Him. And finally, the key to loving and following God is getting into His word. So I encourage everyone to dig deep into the truth. If we listen carefully, we will hear what God has to say to us. And that, my friends, is the key to success!


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I'm going to prefix this week's bizarre epistle with a quick note that in no way am I seeking anyone's sympathy. I am – for my sins in a former life – broadly speaking a teacher which means that, yes, I've just had a very long, 'sort of' holiday. The return to work is rough but I'm sure most of you would take that for a few weeks of glorious nothing.
Going back has left me punch drunk, instinct or habit – I'm not sure which – the only thing keeping me on my feet. As I push along the dust stained corridors – the acrid undertones of almost fresh paint scratching at my sinuses; the suffocating heat of so, so many bodies jammed and jostling together; the ever-rising crescendo of voices buzz-sawing at my brain – I float away until I hang transcendent above the breathless crawl of early morning. The drugs must be kicking in.
I'm unsure at this stage how many Paracetamol I've taken in the last twenty fours, or how many cups of industrial strength coffee have passed my lips since waking, but the re-entry turbulence is definitely settling down. The rising nausea and blanket headache of this endless fresher's flu is surely abating.
I've spent most of the last week like this. Rising for the early morning commute my body is awake long before my brain so I autopilot through the chore of ablutions and breakfast. Arriving at my car as if by accident I slip the stereo on, here it comes again:
I've been setting my alarm ten minutes earlier each day so the roads are a little emptier now. The world ebbs and flows around my metallic bubble, surreal clarity and waking dreams drift back and forth. A murder of crows rest in a field, dancing silhouettes against a grey background of early morning mist. A lone Pony has been housed on an extended verge a bucket of water left for it's needs. As we skid past it eye's follows each car, defiant and unmoved, a soldier boy:
And so we come to this month's Quiff. An accompaniment to my daily journey to a job that I hate. To a job that I love. I hate the paperwork, the half-finished jobs, the students' seeming sense of entitlement, and the empty look in my colleagues eyes that I know they see in mine. It comes from being undervalued, from feeling unappreciated. Not by the students but by the establishment, by the powers that be, by the invisible forces that govern us, by a series of cliches that seem real in the twilight of a dimly lit staff room.
I know, I'm ranting, so a couple of examples:
Last year at my place of work every teaching assistant was made redundant. They were then offered their jobs back but at minimum wage, whatever their previous salary. You could say this was due to labour market forces. You could say this was dumb. You could certainly say this isn't a great way to make people feel appreciated. This year all the assistants are new.
I work in Further Education and my employer has faced cuts of 11% in their budget in the last four years. We are still seeing the same amount of students but now have approximately a million and a half less per annum with which to provide our future generation with a first class, twenty first century education.
Yet I love my job. I think it's possible that I'm a control freak. I'm pretty certain I enjoy being the centre of attention. Bad habits in everyday life but less so in teaching. I love the time I spend in the classroom doing what I believe they pay me to do: talking to teenagers about computers, and what they probably don't pay me to do: talking to teenagers about life, history, politics, computer games, music, books, the best flavours of crisps and science-fiction movies.
Every time I step into the classroom I enter a rarified space of curiosity and confusion, of boredom and impatience, of dreams still – just about – being dreamt. I look into sleepy eyes and inform the class that this morning we are astronauts:
If you enjoyed these tunes, this month's Skewed Quiff will be to your tastes. Personally, it's one of my favourite so far. Check it out here.


text: Find Events Event Views Navigation View As List Month Day Day Of Search Near Events for January 10, 2018 Day Navigation « Previous Day Next Day » 6:00 am Deep Waters – Year 1 January 10, 2018 @ 6:00 am - 7:30 am|Recurring Event (See all)An event every week that begins at 6:00am on Wednesday, repeating until April 18, 2018 Room 201 This class for men will be focusing on studying C.S. Lewis' classic on the Christian faith and life titled, "Mere Christianity." Copies can be purchased through Amazon. In addition, we will focus upon one of John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership each week. Find out more » 12:00 pm Lunch and Learn January 10, 2018 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm|Recurring Event (See all)An event every week that begins at 12:00pm on Wednesday, repeating until February 14, 2018 Youth At Lunch'n Learn, we explore what it means to "Go make disciples of all nations" as parents, grandparents, neighbors and friends. A soup lunch will be provided for a free-will offering. To register, please contact Pastor Steve at firstname.lastname@example.com or 763-647-0271. Find out more » 5:00 pm Wednesday Night Dinner January 10, 2018 @ 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm Youth Menu: Walking tacos, veggies and Rice Krispie bars Find out more » Day Navigation « Previous Day Next Day » + Export Events