The Philip Pfiles

01/22/06: The Knowledge Paradox

As the saying goes, the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I don’t know what that has to do with the two trees in the Garden of Eden (the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life) but I wanted to work the quote into one of my entries. It’s a sort of silent shout out to my teacher homies on Denali - if they ever find this site.

According to the account in Genesis mankind fell from immortality and purity into death and decay when Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Recently I’ve been reading (some call it research but that makes it sound like work) about Evolution, Creation and Intelligent Design. I’ve been doing this after the recent Dover school board stuff hit the fan in November (link to article).

It is amazing how many of the intelligent people in the "know" have forsaken God in their quest for knowledge. And I’m not just speaking of scientists, this group includes many of the intelligentsia and most unfortunately a large chunk of seminary graduates.

At my undergraduate alma mater the President would often announce that ORU was a great place to "get your learning and keep your burning." Sadly many well intentioned Christians have lost their passion for God while attempting to learn more about Him.

Why do those two things (passion for God / Christ and knowledge) tend to clash so much? Maybe it goes back to Eden.

"The Knowledge Paradox" referred to in the title is that "the more you know, the less you know." Knowledge is deceptive. As I mature and learn more I realize just how little I really know. When I was a teenager I knew everything and ever since then the more I learn shows me just how ignorant I really am. I should’ve stopped when I was all knowing.

There are a number of sayings in the Bible that may help develop this paradox. Jesus said that it is "easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle then for a rich man to enter heaven." I’ve thought that this saying might apply both to people rich in resources AND people rich in knowledge. The prophets proclaimed that the "wisdom of God is foolishness to man" and in other places that God laughs at man’s wisdom. Jesus tells his disciples that unless they have the faith of a little child they cannot enter in the Kingdom of heaven. And David wrote that we should "Lean not unto your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths."

I’m not going into depth on the above examples (there are many truths that can be drawn from them if one has the inclination) but the pattern is clear. Knowledge can be deadly. It can prevent people from belief in Christ. It puffs up. It can seduce and give one the false sense that they don’t need God.

I was just checking out some quotes on God and came across this one from Isaac Assimov "I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism." To refer to Paschal’s wager, it is far safer to bet that there is a God then it is to bet that there isn’t a God. For such a smart man, Isaac wasn’t a good gambler.

Of course when it comes to my belief in God I’m not hedging my bets. Nor do I believe in God DESPITE all the evidence. My belief enlightens my search for knowledge, it does not squelch it. But herein is the key, I believe in God and from this sure foundation I seek knowledge and understanding. I don’t envy those who do the opposite; they don’t believe in God and then seek to placate their fear that they’re wrong with only the knowledge that supports their disbelief.

The point that I’m building to is not the Knowledge is anathema to a belief in God, only that it should be handled with care. The Bible is not a book only simpletons believe (though I often wish that I could be one such simpleton), for many wise and knowledgeable men and women throughout the ages have tested, tried and dissected it only to return to embrace it with more affection.

Going back to the Garden. Many believe that had Adam and Eve partaken of the Tree of Life and continued their relationship with God, then God would have eventually given them of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil when they were able to properly digest it.

Ironically, exactly what would have happened had we not come into the know, we shall never know.

05/25/05: Greener Grass

Tomorrow is the last day of school. As always I approach the final day of the school year with mixed emotions.

As a teacher I greatly enjoy the summer time off (even though I usually pick up some type of work to help out), but I am also aware that tomorrow I will have to say goodbye to my students.

I hope that I have helped them. Besides the maps, cultures and history that I’ve thrown at them I hope that my students are better prepared to make it in life than they would have been without my influence. I pray that they will continue to grow, mature and make good choices. I fear that some of them will not - and it consoles me little that I have done as much as I could to help redirect them.

I know that I will miss them. I have never had two students that were the same. Every student reminds me of how awesome God is and how uniquely he has created each one of us. While new students will take their desks, no one can replace my students and what they have meant to me. Their smiles, laughter, thoughts, ideas, humor, quarky behavior, stories and personalities I shall miss. That is why I don’t want tomorrow to end, but since I know it will I will try to enjoy the moments and the parting.

I wish I could teach them again someday but I know that probably wont happen - high school scares me. Besides I’m pretty good at basketball and sprinting when my competition is 6th graders. This is one case where I don’t want the playing field to be level, I want to win, so I teach 6th grade. It is rather pathetic, but at least I’m honest about it. :>)

In my first year of teaching I remember asking Mrs. Perry (the science teacher on my team at the time) how could a teacher ever forget their students. I didn’t think it was possible to forget these students after spending a year with them. In the three years since my first (3+1 = 4 years teaching) I have forgotten many names. I remember faces and I hope that the students that I bump into don’t know that I can’t recall their names when I say “Yeh, and how are you doing? How are things at ___, you’re in ___ grade, right?” The sad thing is I have only three grades to pick from (7th, 8th, and 9th) and I still get it wrong half the time.

So tomorrow I will say goodbye again to 150 students that I think that I will never forget... and as life continues on their names will slowly fade (last names will go first). I wonder if the lessons I have taught them this year will disappear as well. What things will they retain? Will it be the 80 days that I was at the top of my game or the 10 where I was snappy and sarcastic?

In my last classes I show a slideshow with photos from my different trips overseas and give them the parting advice “get out of the country.” I then show them embarrassing photos of me when I was there age, an awkward 9th grader, a scrawny senior. I tell them stories of my feelings of insecurity, lonerness, early loves and dead monkeys.

The one lesson that I oft repeat is how on my first long trip out of the country (a trip to Indonesia with Teen Missions in 1990) I was homesick the whole time and couldn’t wait to get home. You know the grass is always greener on the other side thing. Anyway as soon as I got home, guess where I wanted to be?

Since that trip I have tried to be content where I am, and enjoy the moments for what they are without wanting to get to the NEXT thing. Course this may explain why I am often late - I get caught up in the moment and know that while the future may be green, life is in the present.

So tomorrow I will say goodbye. I hope that I have helped them. Sometimes I feel very insignificant and that nothing I do will really matter. Kids from good families will achieve great things, and kids from dysfunctional families will propitiate the dysfunction. But I can’t give up hope, for while I may be only a minor footnote in each of these students’ lives, I am still a footnote. I remind myself that my life was radically changed by two footnotes in my life in the 5th grade (Mr. Hoover and Mrs. Harris). Long story... I only tell it to my students, so I guess its a classroom exclusive.

The ironic thing is that these teachers don’t know how much of an influence they had on me. I’ve tried to look them up since then but there are a lot of Hoovers and Harrises out there. Of course if I did ever get in touch with them (one day I will find them) they may say something like “Yeh, and how are you doing...”

Which leads to my last piece of advice. If you ever get in touch with an old teacher of yours, introduce yourself - don’t make them guess, they will probably get it wrong... and that’s just not a nice way to treat a footnote.