How Should We Then Live?

For decades Christians have asked themselves "how should I live as a Christian?" and looked for the proper way to live and worship God. While each person might come to their own conclusion, there are a few things each person must consider before deciding how they think they should live their lives. Some of the things we must consider include questions such as the following "how do I know whether God exists", "what do I know", "who am I", "what is the right thing for me to do", "am I free to choose what I do", and "what do I justly deserve". After answering each of these questions and gaining a better understanding of ourselves and God, we will know and understand how we should live as Christians.

First, we must decide how we know that God exists. In order to do so, we must understand God and who He is. Saint Anselm says that "no one who understands what God is can conceive that God does not exist; although he says these words in his heart, either without any, or with some foreign, signification." (55). Aquinas is saying that though someone might try to deny the existence of God, if they know who God is, there is no denying his existence. The next step for most people would be to try to attempt to prove His existence. On the other hand, Soren Kierkegaard believes that we must "let go" of our desire to prove God's existence. "Whoever therefore attempts to demonstrate the existence of God... proves in lieu thereof something else, something which at times perhaps does not need proof." (Kierkegaard, 69) John Wisdom's essay Gods tells a story of a mysterious garden that is being taken care of even though no one sees or hears someone taking care of it. Likewise, we can see that God takes care of us though no one can prove His existence or see or hear Him.

Now that we know that God exists, we must decide what we know. When exploring this question, we must differentiate between the truth (lower cased) and Truth (uppercased); the latter being real truth. In "The Myth of the Cave", Plato tells of men in a cave who believe that shadows are real people because they have no way of knowing otherwise. He concludes that "education... then is the art of doing this very thing, this turning around, the knowledge of how the soul can most easily and most effectively be turned around" (221). By learning and educating themselves, the men in the cave would realize that their truth was not the real Truth and the shadows were not real. They did not know the Truth and that kept them from seeing reality. Norman Malcolm agrees with Plato about the importance of education or at least knowledge. Bertrand Russell uses the metaphor of a table in order to imply that Reality is "not immediately known to us at all, but must be an inference from what is immediately known" (241). Some might get discouraged because they do not see the Truth or Reality immediately but Russell says that it may take time to see them. John Locke addresses the idea of where we learn what we know. He says that our ideas come from places like secondary sources such as the people we meet and the experiences we have. Therefore, in order to learn and be able to see the Truth, we must surround ourselves with people living the way we desire to live, i.e. other Christians.

The next question to address is the question of who we are. Identity plays a key role in understanding God, ourselves, and how to live a Christian life. John Perry outlines a discussion about identity that a philosopher, teacher, and student have in The First Night. During the discussion, the philosophers debate existence after death and Weirob says:

Survival means that tomorrow, or sometime in the future, there will be someone who will experience, who will see and touch and smell-or at the very least, think and reason and remember. And this person will be me... And the only relation that supports anticipation and memory in this way, is simply identity. (303)

Weirob means that living and surviving each day is part of our identity. All the experiences we have make up part of us. Weirob also presents the idea of consciousness in correlation with identity and suggests that the body is unconscious while the soul and mind are conscious. Locke agrees that consciousness plays a big role in identity and even goes as far as saying that "consciousness makes personal identity" (316). He also says that "it is by the consciousness it has of its present thoughts and actions that it is self to itself" (316). Thoughts and actions make up part of our identity. Therefore, to gain a better understanding of how we ought to live as Christians, we must be secure in our identity and know that we are Christians. The experiences we expose ourselves to should be that of a Christian nature and if they are not we should learn from these negative experiences.

Next, we must explore the idea of what is the right thing to do. Several different religions suggest answers to this question, leaving each person to decide for himself which religious beliefs he/she will choose to follow. At this point, we have defined ourselves as Christians so we will follow Christian beliefs such as the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. As far as non-Biblical law, several philosophers offer their idea of what is the right thing to do. For example, Aristotle suggests that virtue is key to knowing what is right to do. He says that it is a state of character which is "concerned with choice" (637). Though we may know what the right thing to do is, we still must make the choice to do that thing that is right. John Stuart Mill presents his theory of utilitarianism, which uses the Greatest Happiness Principal to decide what is right. Utilitarian ideals believe as follows:

...the ultimate end, with reference to and for the sake of which all other things are desirable... is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments, both in point of quantity and quality. (645)

The two main ideals of utilitarianism are the desire to bring happiness to the greatest number of people and avoid pain at all costs. While utilitarianism may present an appealing idea, it ignores the minority in its' hastiness to please the majority and avoid pain. Kant presents a theory similar to Mills but does not completely ignore the minority. His suggestion is that each person should consider others before acting and not treat them in a way that they would not want to be treated. He says "Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law." (639) This means that if you would not want to have to live by a universal law do not act in a fashion that would enact that law. Both Mill and Kant suggest ideas that provide good beliefs to live by but both fall short of Christian law. Therefore, we must follow Christian law in order to know what is the right thing to do. This is the only way that we as Christians will know we are following God's will.

After we decide what the right thing to do is, we must figure out whether we are free to choose what we do. This question leaves us to distinguish between involuntary and voluntary actions. Aristotle offers several different things that make up each section of ideas. He suggests that involuntary actions are "performed under compulsion" or "as the result of ignorance" (712). Later, however, he says that as long as a man is not sorry for something that he has done as a result of ignorance, then the action becomes voluntary (712). A voluntary act, according to Aristotle, is one that "the origin or efficient cause lies in the agent, he knowing the particular circumstances in which he is acting" (714). John Hospers defines voluntary as "free acts" and goes on the try to define free (719). Like Aristotle, he claims that "voluntary acts performed under compulsion would not be called free" (719). On the other hand, Baron D'holbach says that "man, then, is not a free agent in any one instant of his life; he is necessarily guided in each step" (716). He believes that man every action man takes is involuntary because there is always another reason for committing that action. Jean-Paul Sartre presents a concept different from all previously mentioned philosophers, but more accurate. He suggests that "there are no accidents in life" and says that each situation a person faces they must remember "I have chosen it" (725). Hence, no matter what choice someone makes, they must realize that they need to own up to that decision and live with the consequences, whether good or bad. We are free to choose what to do, giving us options to take voluntary actions. The times when we are acting under compulsion are involuntary actions.

The last question to address is the question of what we justly deserve. After deciding all of the previous questions, we will be able to learn what we feel we justly deserve. Mill presents his utilitarian idea in relation to justice. The Utilitarian theory of justice supposes two things - "a rule of conduct and a sentiment which sanctions the rule" (759). Utilitarian systems say that justice must be the same for all mankind and there is a "desire that punishment may be suffered by those who infringe the rule" (759). John Rawls calls justice the same thing as fairness but Robert Nozick reveals reservations about following his theory claiming that "the principle of fairness... is objectionable and unacceptable" (765). Requiring someone to do something for someone else that would benefit the other more than themselves is objectionable. Therefore, we justly deserve the consequences of the actions we choose to take, whether negative or positive consequences.

After examining the six questions addressed in this essay, we can gain a better understanding of what kind of lives we should live as Christians. The questions addressed include the following: "how do I know whether God exists", "what do I know", "who am I", "what is the right thing for me to do", "am I free to choose what I do", and "what do I justly deserve". After answering these questions, not only will we learn a lot about ourselves and what kind of person we are, we will also learn more about God and what His will for us is. Above all, following God's will is the best way to live a Christian life. We should follow His laws and rules laid out for us in the Bible while living by the laws that men have made for us to follow on Earth, as long as they do not interfere with God's will.

Word Count: 1856

Works Cited

Anselm, Saint. "The Ontological Argument". Basic Writings. Las Salle, IL: The Open Court Publishing Company, 1962. Rpt in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 53-55.

Aristotle. "Happiness and the Good Life". "The Goal of Human Activity". Nichomachean Ethics. 1901. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 630-631.

---. "Voluntary and Involuntary Action". The Nichomachean Ethics. London: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1912. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 712-714.

D'holbach, Baron. "Are We Cogs in the Universe?". A System of Nature. Boston: J.P. Mendum, 1889. 357-58. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 714-716.

Hospers, John. "Meaning and Free Will". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 10.3 (Mar. 1950). Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 718-724.

Kant, Immanuel. "Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals". Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 638-41.

Kierkegaard, Soren. "The Leap of Faith and the Limits of Freedom". Philosophical Fragments. Princeton University Press, 1936. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 67-70.

Locke, John. "Of Identity and Diversity". Essays Concerning Human Understanding. The Open Court Philosophical Company, 1905. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 315-319.

---. "Where Our Ideas Come From". Essays Concerning Human Understanding. The Open Court Philosophical Company. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 241-45.

Malcolm, Norman. "Knowledge Regained". Mind, 51. 242 (Apr. 1952). Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 232-34.

Mill, John Stuart. "A Utilitarian Theory of Justice". Utilitarianism. Longmans, 1907. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 756-60.

---. "Utilitarianism". Utilitarianism. London: Longman, 1907. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 642-45.

Nozick, Robert. "The Principle of Fairness". Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1974. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 765-69.

Perry, John. "The First Night". A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immorality. Hackett Publishing Co., Inc., 1978. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 301-15.

Plato. "The Myth of the Cave". Republic VII. 514-518. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 219-21.

Rawls, John. "Justice as Fairness". A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999. 21-28. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 760-64.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. "Freedom and Responsibility". Being and Nothingness. New York: Philosophical Library Publishers, 1943. 406-08. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 725- 27.

Wisdom, John. "Gods". Proceedings of the Aristotelean Society Vol. XLV. 1944-45. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 77.

Works Consulted

Aquinas, Saint Thomas. "Whether God Exists". O Summa Theologica, trans. Fathers of Dominican Province. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1911. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 55-57.

Descartes, Rene. "Meditation". The Philosophical Works of Descartes. Cambridge University Press, 1967. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 221-25.

Hume, David. "Of Personal Identity". A Treatise of Human Nature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 320-23.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. "Twilight of an Error". Twilight of the Idols. Penguin books, 1968. 116-120. Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 716-18.

Skinner, B.F. "Freedom and the Control of Men". The American Scholar (Winter 1955-56). Rpt. in Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. United States: Wadsworth, 2004. 727-731.