God Be Kind To Us (with bonus reference to Ion)

Last updated on: November 7, 2020 at 3:20 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

God Be Kind To Us (with bonus reference to Ion) 2020-11-07T15:20:16-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Sometimes we are stupid.

At least sometimes I am stupid. I should not confess anyone else’s failure!

I am most stupid when I dialogue with someone else and assume, or pretend, I know that they are foolish or utterly wrong. I see the grit in their mental eye, but miss the log in my own sight.

That is the moment of epic folly on my part. Another soul, created in the image of God, has a passionate belief and I dismiss them, do not hear them, ignore them. That is not merely wrong, but sinfully wrong. As peers in brokenness, our “is” does not match our “ought,” we should find more humility. We really must find more humanity and humility, since our judgement will, eventually, be applied to us.

We cannot survive the standards we apply to “them.”

Why?

For a similar reason my lighters, sometimes very expensive pipe lighters, fail and very cheap lighters do not. The expensive lighters are quite beautiful on the outside, but have no juice on the inside or are overly complicated. They do not light my pipe. On the other hand, my friend will have a very cheap lighter and it will work, always works. Why? It is has lighter fluid and is simple. It just works and when empty has fulfilled function. This is a good lesson for me: better to be simple with fluid than beautiful with none. Yet there is also the parallel truth that my lighter could work, and be elegant, a pleasure to use, if only I refilled the lighter and the engineers had done a better job. The best solution works, lights up, and is beautiful.

We may expect our non-Christian friends to fail, and when that happens we glory in our own beauty. That’s not good, especially when we then make excuses when we do not “light.” Our failure is justified in our own minds, justification by rationalization.

Nonsense.

There is a short Platonic dialogue, Ion, which has Socrates examining an actor, a man who is a bit of a fool, who is named “Ion.” Ion knows his Homer, at least he has memorized Homer, but he cannot think well about the brilliant texts. Still Ion renders them beautifully and that beauty does disclose truths about Homer. On the other hand, Socrates (not at his best!) seems stuck on the fact that Homer was no expert on navigation, chariot racing, or some other craft. (A friend should have confronted Plato about overuse of the “craft analogy.”) Socrates has missed the beauty and truth of the poem, getting stuck on some literal falsities.

The false information matters, a bit, but anyone who reads Homer to learn how to race a chariot also has missed the reason millions will read Homer in 2020: the story is thing that captures us. Is the story true to life? Do people like Paris, betraying his host, cheating his community, ever do good to those who love them? Do good men like Hector ever fail, but win in dying? Socrates seems to miss this point, just as Ion seems unable to think well.

Head, Socrates, and heart, Ion, have become separate and so the epic is lost to the city.

It is not hard to see that all of us do this at times. If our team is losing on the facts, we go poetical hoping beauty will cover for our failure. If our group has the facts, but an ugly reality, then we pound on the facts on the chance nobody with an ounce of humanity will find a new way to view our limited selection of facts. How can I avoid this stupidity?

When I meet an “Ion,” I should ask why his stuff is beautiful and mine is not. When I find a Socrates (as he is portrayed in Ion), I should accept that some of my beautiful work is wrong and fix the errors. The stupidity is in a failure to appreciate beauty or truth. God keep us from both errors.

This is a devotional for the The College program at The Saint Constantine School.

On Books

On Education

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

November 2, 2020

Asking a Real Question (A Nod Toward Meno)

Next Post

November 4, 2020 The Little Tyrant (Shout to Clitophon)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the Christian teaching about truth-telling?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Say nothing Lie if necessary Speak the truth Flatter often

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »