Can a human being know anything without divine illumination?

I am in love with Google reader, that I know... whether that is Divinely inspired or not I am not sure... but there is a draw back... I tend to not "visit" each of the blogs I read and just end up feeling like a peeping tom looking at what people write through a Google reader window... now, I try to remember to click on the links and hang out a bit, maybe make a comment... but I am a bit lazy and I am thinking that that is not divinely inspired but a by product of... you know... that other guy.

But enough of my attempts at religious humor... this is actually one of those serious exposing-of-self kind of posts, where I lay bare something I guard carefully in hopes I don't get trampled. These thoughts today, have been... so powerful, I almost feel like not doing a post on it would be a serious offence on my part.

So, I read this blog written by a theology student, (by way of introduction from Mrs. Ootfp) it is way high brow and my one attempt of a comment fell so flat that I just chose to lurk... but today he had a link to this new blog by another theology type and they put out this question... and I was so stumped I think I have read that post like 50 times since I first read it.

Here is where I thank Google reader for letting me be a peeping tom without seeming like a blog stalker, because that would be just plain weird.

But there is something about that question which just raised some sort of something in me and I am sitting around pondering a whole bunch of things... and mostly that question too.

I almost majored in Philosophy in college, one of the reasons is that I had a theologian as my teacher for my first several classes and he got me hooked, I studied Philosophy 101 and Intro to Ethics with him, and those classes changed my life in some really big ways...

One of the things that reading this post brought forth was this intense desire to learn, to be a student, to discuss things deeply and profoundly and to not feel like my perceptions are worthless or trivial (which I guess that they may be, as I am not a true academic, I just play one on TV). To give my quest for knowledge that which it deserves IFF I accept that knowledge comes through Divine illumination...

But I really think this question is fabulous, because if we accept that the quest for knowledge is Divine, then our responsibility to it is equally Divine... the consequences are like ... wow! I am a failure.

I never ever considered this, I guess I both thought and didn't thought (think) that this was a case... I am not particularly religious, I do believe in a higher power, I would not call my self "born again" as it has implications I am not sure about when I consider what I have learned about God, and I think if I had any conversations with many who are devout to whatever religion that they would think I am a travesty... but in the end I still respect the sacred and hence the beliefs.

The one thing that has been running through my mind though is...

If knowledge is sacred, I think God may be really angry with me... and that scares me.

Addendum:
Via Jordana

You know the Bible 100%!

 

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

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Does this give me any more street credibility?

Tags: philosophy