In ethics I've been learning about the Aristotelian approach to virtuous traits. By this approach, we see that virtue is a balance between two opposites: too little, and too much.
For example: Courage.
An excessive amount of courage would be foolishness; this would involve one person standing up against 1,000 men. This is too much.
An insufficient amount of courage would be cowardice; this would involve one person hiding behind a truck in an attempt to hide from something that is not threatening.
Courage is the balance: the median.
This is different than other schools of thought. Others may think that Virtue is more like a light switch: something you can turn on, or off. You have virtue, or you don't.
I don't subscribe to that belief, because, I believe Aristotelian views on virtue make more sense.
That being said, I've had a lot of questions about what it means to live as Christ: to walk in "Son-ship".
The first question that I wanted to bring up is this: what is the balance between Love and Intelligence.
I never really thought that these two traits were connected until I started thinking about traits as a deficiency or a surplus in virtuous actions.
I was thinking about Love, when the word "hippie" cruised through my head.
Why was the hippie movement so beneficial?
Because people were being loved. People’s feelings were being addressed. People were being heard. We were no longer just flesh and bones but we were, rather, thoughts and feelings and emotions. All of these things became real.
This was good.
Why was the hippie movement so ineffective in areas?
Because it lacked intelligent moves.
There were no organized moves. There was no accountability. There was not logic. It was "thinking with your feelings and hearing with your eyes". There was no thought put into how to take care of people, and meet their needs in reality. It was just "ideas". Emotion. There was no direction. We thought we knew what love was, outside of God. Love was cheapened because it no longer involved God. (not always the case).
I was thinking about Intelligence when the word "scientist" came into my head.
Why was the information age so beneficial?
Because we were unlocking secrets. We were discovering things around us. We were growing, expanding, and finding new ways to accomplish tasks. People were being helped by medicine. People were flourishing in the flowing waters of raw knowledge and success. People were prospering.
Why was the information age so ineffective in areas?
Because it lacked love.
We didn't care enough about people. People became pawns in sciences experiments. People became means to our end: money, sex, prosperity. Our physical and intellectual well-beings became far more important than our spirituality. God became spiritual comfort food for those who weren't prospering and benefiting from science. God was trying to be figured out. God was put into equations. (not always the case).
The problem with the "love" movement was that it lacked intelligence; the problem with intelligence is that it lacks love.
Is there a median between "love" and "intelligence"?
Ephesians 4:11-16 says that-
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
The important thing I see here is that God has had a plan: a strategy, for changing the world. This is something every move of man has tried to do since man has been created (Babel, Rome, Revolution, Hippies, Intelligence, etc). He didn't call it anything like that, though. Jesus called it "The Church", or "The Body of Christ".
Fivefold ministry. People preaching and others teaching; some would be evangelizing and others would be speaking truth as prophets into other people’s lives and giving direction; still, others would be planting places where the "body" could meet.
That would change the world.
The other thing I see is that all of this is done, with both "truth" and "love". They don't go on without each other.
This is the problem with myself, often times. I can focus on loving someone and neglect truth and intelligence. Or, at times, I can ignore love and just be cold and hide behind my wall of big words, theology, philosophy and science. Both are not healthy.
It goes on to say in Ephesians 4:17-24 that we should be renewed in our thinking by the way of Christ to take out the futility of ourselves. Our minds. We should act and be as Christ is.
We should be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.
That is the balance.
The balance between Love and Intelligence is this- Christ: being and speaking the truth, (intelligence), with love.
I'm not claiming this as perfect logic, I just know that I've been being disciplined by The Lord, and I've been out behind the woodshed lately. I've been being disciplined for falling out of line and not acting as Christ has been acting. I just also know that I've been being humbled, and my Father likes that. Because when I am humble, He can dwell in me, and I in Him. He gets to share His thoughts with me and I really know/feel that this is something He's wanted me to know. I hope this gets to you somehow.
If it feels like I'm attacking you, I swear to you, I'm not.
But message me if you have questions.
I love you all very much.
-Josh
