Sacred Cows and burgers

“Sacred cows make the best hamburger” Mark Twain

“Christian Faith and Reason are Mutually exclusive.” This was the first premise that I saw refuted using clearly defined critical thinking. My friend Ed Bowen took Comparative and Contrastive thinking and refuted the premise that Reason excluded the Christian Faith and vice-versa. It gave names to how I already thought and also called me out on my dominant way of thinking.

I’m a naturally combative Contrastive thinker.  I’ll test the validity of someone’s beliefs and assertions by first seeking to find a weak spot that can be falsified. I’m considered and self-nominate as an open minded person only because I am unconditionally willing to embrace any new idea that can be proven to be reasonably sound, through repeated stress testing, even if that means a full 180 degree conversion to how I used to think or what I once held sacred. The downside for anyone trying to get me to embrace a new idea is that they must endure an intense battering of their idea.

 

I think one of the great gifts of being a high school drop-out is that formal education and the educational tools that follow in its wake came into my life at a comparatively late date. So as a 41 year old discovering the names Comparative and Contrastive Thinking, for the well worn tools within my intellectual toolkit, I relish the subtle nuances that are held within such delicate and delicious identities. It’s as if two old comfortable work colleagues unexpectedly decided to formally introduce themselves and their lineage.

In the next 4 weeks Ed will explain how these two darling thinking tools use Coherent Consistency; Corresponding Consistency, Compatible Consistency and Comprehensive Consistency in evaluating ideas.

The reason for the Mark Twain quote (that came to me via White Collar) at the start is that accepting Reason and it’s rather tawdry bedfellow Apologetics as a interwoven part of my Christian faith has sent a well loved sacred cow to the butcher. While I feel a lingering sense of nostalgic loyalty for the beast, I’m finding my intellect’s saliva-gland unusually stimulated by the idea of the new type of burger being prepared for lunch!

So my poorly used teachers of Apologetics finally have a new convert. I'm willing to accept their right to be part of the discussion on what constitutes a compelling world view or spiritual idea.

What sacred cows have you sent to the butcher lately?