A blog post concerning my Understanding

          A white piece of paper, an empty slate. This is supposed to represent our empty, somewhat innocent, mind at the start. As we move on, it becomes "furnished" as Locke puts it. The "vast store" of knowledge, ideas, skills, capabilities, and comprehensibility translate to colors, painting, and art. These can brighten and beautify the paper, or dampen and stain it. Each overall adds to the visual "look" of the paper, or taking it out of the analogy, the "shape" of a person.
         Character, moral base, ideals, ideologies, and worldviews all stem from a person' background, heritage, demography, etc. What would be our "shape"? Does our society deform us, or has it made us conform by the repetitive nature of sin? The bigger question is, is my paper stained?
        This is the only question I could think about while reading this. All experience creates who we are. It founds our knowledge (what we know) and our reason (how we think). Have I been exposed to something for so long that I accept it? Or to better word is, have I become so accustomed to (fill in the blank) in experience that I accept it? Our experience does not guarantee absolute truth, because our perceptions are flawed, and our senses are limited.
        If anything, this should be an example to show us how we shouldn't base all of our truth and knowledge off of what goes on inside of us, because as Locke said, these things "spring out of our thinking mind", and don't flow from the Father's Word. "Our heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" The mind (reason and knowledge) can be a very powerful ally, but also a very dangerous tool. Use what you've been given wisely!!










I commented on Spencer's and Caroline's posts!

Comments

Gray Moore said…
Luke! I love the way you explained how you thought about this reading. I think your ideas and questions are ones that several people, especially Christians face on a daily basis, wondering if we are essentially becoming desensitized to evil in the world. You did a great job!
Caroline Tucker said…
This was very enlightening to read! Yes. I went there! I am being serious. I loved all the questions you asked! To think that we were born sinful and have lived in a sinful world so we are now “immune” to sin. I say that in the sense that we are so used to sin that we have a hard time recognizing it. We just go on with our lives not even thinking about sin, because it is just a part of our lives. The only way that our “slate” will become clean is because of Christ’s death! I am so glad you mentioned our mind is both helpful and dangerous. I keep thinking about “what goes in comes out.” Not only do we need to be wise with our gift of reason and knowledge, we also need to be careful of what we put in our mind.
Anna Gay said…
Is my paper stained? Wow that's so good. When we are born, technically our paper is stained because of the fall. We are all sinners with a fall nature. I love the comparisons and connections you made here. Great post Luke!
Madison Flowers said…
Luke, I love this post! The verse you used about the mind being deceitful is one of my favorites! It is a powerful reminder to not rely on feelings which I kind of think is the exact opposite of what Locke is trying to tell us to do! You're asking some deep questions and trust me, I was too while I was reading this essay.