My latest work and book number four, Killosophy, is now published. This one deviated from my original trilogy of poetry books (Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality, Venus in Arms, and Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile) in that it consists of 2 different parts, "Killing Knowledge" and "Loving Wisdom".
"Killing Knowledge" is a book of aphorisms which stretch across countless subjects, ranging from apologetics to love, war and conflicts, relationships and humility, art and music, religion/spirituality and politics, humor and light-heartedness, etc. It is my aim for all to come out from the read with even more wisdom, wonder, and perspective. And while some may find it intellectually challenging, or maybe even frustrating, others may find it a fun and clever read.
"Loving Wisdom" is a book of poems, previously unreleased, which all reflect a very different yet witty and fun universe. This part is focused on imagination, creativity, rhythm, and wordplay as opposed to the rather firm convictions of "Killing
Knowledge".
Also, what I enjoy about the book is that the titles "Killing Knowledge" and "Loving Wisdom" may seem to be some sort of reverse psychology after reading the tone and the nature of the 2 different parts. However, I will leave that for the reader to decide, as in, which part impacted one more or less and in what ways.
I appreciate a book intended to be judged by its cover. The insincere readers are often weeded out while the sincere readers remain curious. Due to my alter-ego, TheKillosopher, I have been well-associated with the word and metaphorical concept of "killosophy". "Killosophers" challenge and question; they have humble convictions and a passion for the truth. It is not the rejection of philosophy ("love of wisdom"), but rather its passion. As "killosophy" is strengthened by the humility of not being a know-it-all, God is left to be one's teacher, the one who leads a man into all truth. I believe that God is, in his sovereign, omniscient wisdom and knowledge, the true "Killosopher":
"Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become 'fools' so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As it is written, 'He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.'" ~1 Corinthians 3:18-19
While of course, it is in no man's authority to make that judgment, being "the big one", the one where we discern who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell, we must rely on God's omniscience, his infinite wisdom to at least remotely grasp some sensible apologetics for this inevitable question. If we believe that God is indeed a good God, then we must also believe that he possesses a perfect and holy judgment parallel to that goodness.
Now first of all, I want to note that oftentimes, leaning on our own understanding is ultimately what keeps us worrying and despairing. One is commanded not to lean on his own understanding for such reasons as these (Proverbs 3:5); yet it is ironic that many tend to do this for some faux sense of security, especially for the skeptic who doubts the goodness of God thus fallaciously doubting the overall existence of God.
God abhors sin because it brought and still brings suffering to all men and women, including tiny infants in large hospital beds who have never done a thing wrong in their short periods on earth. His anti-sinful nature is a direct reflection of his perfect holiness; his perfect holiness is a direct reflection of his omniscient judgment; and his omniscient judgment is a friend rather than an enemy of faithful men and all who trust in him: if you hate the suffering of the innocent, then, as God does, you must also hate sin, the origin of that suffering.
But to answer the initial question, one might safely assert that God knows the mental and spiritual capacity for each individual and what truths each individual is capable of understanding during the time that he or she lives on earth. I do not think that God has a universal age limit where he must judge whether someone will go to Heaven or Hell. Instead, he takes everything into account for each individual: brain capacity, spiritual awareness, genetic bias, opportunities to understand the truth of having faith in Christ before death, and the extent of cultural influence in conflict with one's God-given conscience. Furthermore we can take into account the idea that God also takes into account, as another tool in his omniscient judgments, his all-knowing foreknowledge regarding who each individual would have become if he had lived a longer or mentally stable life. One might never know that a baby who has passed away could have been saved from a long life of misery or pain or confusion or unfairness or anger, hence receiving what, in reality, seems like a quick, simple flight to Heaven.
God judges men from the inside out; men judge men from the outside in. Perhaps to God, an extreme mental patient is doing quite well in going a month without murder, for he fought his chemical imbalance and succeeded; oppositely, perhaps the healthy, able and stable man who has never murdered in his life yet went a lifetime consciously, willingly never loving anyone but himself may then be subject to harsher judgment than the extreme mental patient. It might be so that God will stand for the weak and question the strong.
Thank God that he knows these details for each individual whether the circumstances are healthy, sick, young, old, wise, foolish, pressured, or excluded and personality-wise, genetic-wise, and culture-wise. Although there may be no way for us to discern them by mere mortal perception, God always knows his babies and his psychopaths. It is okay, ultimately, therefore we can release such worries and instead rely on faith in his good and everlasting knowledge, grace, love, and mercy - which is where Christ comes in. With the One, there is no circumstance or burden which he cannot cover and one cannot sequentially bear. The case of where infants, children, and the mentally ill, who cannot comprehend and therefore accept the love of Christ,
go after death is yet another one of the countless reasons Christ died
for mankind. Above all human reasoning, it is not by our own works, but by his works, that we are saved. Therefore, in short, it is safe to say that the grace of Christ, like it covers any sinful yet conscious adult, also covers the innocent infant and the mentally-impaired psychopath.
As already mentioned, it is inevitable that those who speak out will often be accused of heresy by various individuals, groups, or denominations who interpret even non-essentials of doctrine differently. In his autobiography Unfinished Work, vocalist Kevin Max wrote, "Christians sometimes think that every believer thinks as they do without taking the time to understand the individual and what makes them tick." Yet unless those unjustly accused of heresy embrace religious legalism before faith in Christ, then such accusations should not always become overly disheartening. If a faithful man has met his calling, it is extremely difficult to convert him, the servant of another (Romans 14:1-4), to a legalistic, systematic tradition learned by rote. Isaiah 29:13 is an effective passage for one's self-evaluation, "The Lord says: 'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.'"
Reason is not necessarily a contradiction of faith. I want to elaborate on one of my previous passages:
"Truly reason is a large cut of what directs one to a reasonable God apart from the uncultivated mentality - one in which is driven by fear of philosophies and scientific data. Ironically, would not the creator be both the paramount definition of knowledge and the source of logic? Lasting is the irrational conflict between men of science and men of faith, yet there is an analogy by astronomer Robert Jastrow that nails the primary difference between the two: Men of science hike the mountain 'round and 'round in search of truth. This will inevitably lead back to the Author of truth. Eventually, upon nearing the top, they will realize that men of faith have been standing there for centuries."
Several respected theologians, such as Tozer and Kierkegaard, have implied that faith is where reason cuts off, and this is a necessary absurdity. In The Fellowship of the Burning Heart, Tozer wrote, "So, all down the line, faith is an organ of knowledge. And the man who believes is having knowledge that the man who merely thinks can't possibly have. Our poor little old brain can come staggering along like a little boy trying to keep up with his dad - coming along on his little, old, short, stubby legs, trying to reason." There was a time when skepticism was an act of rebellion. Since to a degree I both believe in evolution and have faith, I can only conclude that, as prophesied, to have faith will someday be an act of rebellion (Jeremiah 5:31). As stated in both the beginning analogy and by Tozer, men of faith are intellectually beyond men of science (Proverbs 9:10). Scientists are at high-risk of being directed towards the Author of truth due to the probability of evidence for God (however, it is important to note that tangible proof of God is not scientifically justifiable because he is spiritually beyond the universe). What one truly does upon receiving this evidence is God's distinction between the faithful man and the skeptic. If one's heart is hardened, an idea or thing can rest in front of him but he will deny it out of pride, while on the inside knowing, in this case, that there must be a supernatural origin for his existence. Consequently, the universe continues to appear more complex, and the more complex something becomes, the more evidence one has that it was not an accident.
From the theistic standpoint, reason exists yet will be inferior to faith. Tozer also said, "Faith never goes contrary to reason; faith simply ignores reason and rises above it." To elaborate on the relationship between this and the phrase "reasonable God", I must make it clear that the following reasons are different from those of scientific standards. The theist has reasons for faith in God: a transformed life, miraculous happenings, positive revelations, gifted abilities, and Christ himself within history. These reasons require a degree of faith in order to be comprehended, but are in fact reasons for one's faith in God; therefore, the phrases "reasonable faith" and "reasonable God" are not unbiblical.
There are a number of denominations who openly reprimand the inclusion of God and science in the same sentence. God, on the contrary, permitted man the sciences as a means to seek, discover, to use, and to relish. Ultimately, God's magnitude is made evident, in the physical dimension, as strong advocates of science so desire, when exploring such a voluminous and complex universe, and whether conscious of it or not, man, in addition, honors God when doing such. Yet many highly and predominantly religion-oriented sects are contemptuous of knowledge seekers, as though God scorns those who delight in studying, in experiencing his own creation. However, what truly matters is that a man who does this through his own conscience is fallen.
Psalms 19:1-6, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat."
