The Objective Answer (Part 2)

How many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind

- From Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind"

In his book "Don't Waste Your Life", John Piper agreed with Dylan's 60's smash hit song in explaining on the objectivity of existence and reality, in contrast to John Lennon's "Nowhere Man":

He's a real nowhere man

Sitting in his nowhere land

Making all his nowhere plans

For nobody

Doesn't have a point of view

Knows not where he's going to

Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Those were the heady days of the sixties. When existentialism was the thing people talked and sang about. The meaning of existentialism was that "existence precede essence", to quote Piper. You first exist, and then you create your essence by freely choosing to be what you will to be. There is no "God", "Meaning" or "Purpose" until you create it by your own courageous existence. The later postmodernism era echoed similar themes. Piper said "there is nothing new under the sun, only endless repackagings".

Like Dylan's song, the sky is up there whether we agree or admit it or not. What we think has absolutely no effect on its objective existence. The answer is not up to you or me to invent or create. It's outside of us. It's real and firm. Sooner or later we'll conform and bow down to the answer.

In his journey to stay on the road of objective truth, the writings of C. S. Lewis came with such "blazing brightness" (in his own words) to Piper. Lewis demonstrated that "rigorous, precise, penetrating logic" is never opposed to "deep, soul-stirring feeling and vivid, lively, even playful imagination". Lewis was the brilliant "romantic rationalist". He combined things that we today would think are mutually exclusive: rationalism and poetry, cool logic and warm feeling, disciplined prose and free imagination. During his days, C. S. Lewis had the courage to expose those who opposed  the values of objective truth.

In the book, Piper went on to write about how his path was led to be a minister of the Word. That meant seminary, with a focus on understanding and handling rightly the Word. He lamented on how groups had turned Bible study in a swamp of subjectivity. People shared their subjective "impressions" on what scripture texts meant to them ("for me....") without anchoring on their original meaning. One of the paragraphs goes like this:

"If there is only one life to live in this world, and if it is not to be wasted, nothing seemed more important to me than finding out what God really meant in the Bible, since he inspired men to write it. If that was up for grabs, then no one could tell which life is worthy and which life is wasted...."

 He was entirely serious about the whole objectivity thingy. And so was his determination not to live a wasted, useless life. And his burning passion to warn everyone else.

I've a hundred and one questions in my head, but I'll write more after I return from a camp next week. Plenty of thinking time for you, my friend!