3 Comments

1. Chuck Colson makes this comment

   2010-07-01 15:05:56

   Bill, I really appreciate your comment on the piece I did as a 2-Minute Warning on hubris. Of course there’s a balance here; there’s a balance between prudence (which tends toward humility) and courage (which tends toward perseverance). The problem is that today we don’t even think in prudential terms. It’s one of the classic virtues we’ve simply lost, abandoned, because we’ve been so conditioned by political and scientific promises that they’re going to solve every problem. It’s the illusion of the age we live in. I don’t think, for example, that this oil spill in the Gulf, bad as it is, should stop us drilling. I think we should simply be more cautious about it, just as you wouldn’t ground all airplanes because of an accident. I wish I had you around to caution me when I did these things. I assume people would not think I meant drastic action to turn the clock back; I certainly don’t. A conservative looks at history and realizes that there is an inevitable progression of events. The question is do we see them in prudential terms, do we understand that we are to learn form the wisdom of those who have gone before us and remember that there is a God who is all-powerful and will not be mocked. I’ll try to make this clearer in the future. A good and thoughtful point you made. I appreciate it.

2. Jesse Read makes this comment

   2010-06-24 15:53:10

   Bill, I think we crossed the line in the Garden of Eden. That consequence cannot be overturned except by God Himself. Even if everyone wanted to go back, the world is in such a state that it simply cannot---we cannot time travel. (Think of the film "The Village"). I hate to say it (because I'm no Bible-thumper), but according to Biblical teaching the world is doomed. Period. But doomed to be re-made into something unimaginably better. Man moves forward by nature. We are constantly growing and building, but it's our attitude and intention that are judged. One cannot judge oneself fairly, and hence, there are no solutions to the problem Chuck's addressing. Unless the entire world suddenly bowed the knee to Christ and decided to live as we were made from this day forward.... But yea, let's be realistic here. It will happen someday, but on God's terms. And I just learned last night from a friend of mine studying neurology, that Galileo and Copernicus had their own issues back in the day...in a culture we cannot get our 21st Century darling minds into. They weren't "persecuted" for their science, they actually picked some political battles on purpose....and we'd do well to remember that science as we know it only advanced from the Dark Ages because of the Church. No Church, no science, and no technological advancements that we enjoy today. Sorry, can't remember where I was going with all that.

3. Bill Liebler makes this comment

   2010-06-23 22:07:19

   interesting piece and I certainly think you have some good points about prudence and humility versus arrogance and hubris. But at the same time - would this same commentary apply when the Space Shuttle blew up or the first commercial airliner crashed or the Hindenburg exploded or the first atomic weapon was used or when man set out on sailing vessels and went beyond the horizon or ... You don't recommend at what point man stops researching and stretching our intellectual capabilities - a God granted blessing to man alone. Should man simply use those elements of nature that are readily available - fire wood and water - or should man continue to push the envelope our knowledge in order to make the world inhabitable by billions of people? We have gone from 70% of the world growing their own food and doing basic bartering with those close to us for other resources to a situation where in the US 2% of the population provides food for the vast majority of Ameicans and exports that food to millions of others. By 2050 70% of the world's population will live in cities - should we stop that because it is hubris to think man is supposed to live that way and return to farms and villages? I wish you offered some insight or some recommendations other than - use this as a chance to witness - never a bad message, but certainly a limited one if you introduce the concept of hubris (a word a very small percentage of the population even knows I would guess) to intellectually curious friends and especially those with no faith who will ask - OK so we have to stop arrogantly going where no man has gone before then where should we have stopped - penicillin, CAT scans, xray, planes, bullets, bombs - and what should we not pursue - don't figure out the genome because we don't wan to play God. So stop all medicine and revert to herbs only? Stop all travel except on foot and horseback and donkey carts? Kill all forms of modern communication because hubris can be spread too quickly via TV and the Internet- Where do we stop? So - interesting topic, but for once really disappointed in the message. I do agree that hubris is what brought Nixon down, it is what propped up Clinton, it is what allowed Bush to sell his agenda, and it is what consumes the current residents of 1600 Penn Ave and the Congress. Hubris is a not a good trait, but to put it in the context of creating pre-defined limitations on man's ability to learn, grow, understand and mentally and technologically evolve is something that I don't think as a Christian I want to sell. Reminds me of practices in which Galileo was excommunicated (if he was - I think he was) and Copernicus was ridiculed - earth is the center of the universe, etc. At what point do you draw the line. Bil lLiebler