The Lure of Academia

What do I want to with my life, and more importantly, why do I want to do it?

I'm currently coming to the end of my PhD and am considering what to do next. I have been considering doing a Postdoc but what is my motivation? What is the lure of academia?

1. Curiosity about maths and how it can be used.
   But isn't it selfish to devote myself to something simply because I want to know more? If I want to know more about history I'll buy a book and read about it, I don't expect to get paid by the taxpayer to satisfy my interests.
2. A desire to teach.
   I like the idea of explaining things to other people and passing on knowledge but quite a few academics dislike teaching, so will I fit in? They see teaching as a distraction from their all important research and moreover you're employed for your research and not your teaching. Since no one can ever guarantee that (pure) mathematics research will ever have a real world application, is this attitude towards teaching justified? Shouldn't the taxpayer expect a return on their money? Isn't this best achieved by analytical minds entering the workplace and not by some really pure result in a narrow field of interest? Shouldn't the students paying their fees and so the academics' salaries expect to be the academics' priority?
3. Pride.
   Do I just want to to show people that I can do research? That I'm not thick. I think a large part of academia is motivated by pride. They work with the attitude that “I will show how clever I am by tackling a tough problem”. They work so that they can get to the top and say “Look, I have X number of publications; I'm the big boy in the field”. And each person thinks that their work is incredibly important, however pure and esoteric, and society owes it to them to continue in them endeavour.
4. Because it's expected of me.
   People assume its the next logical thing to do. I'd look a fool for walking away with no clear idea what to do. But I should fear God not man.
5. Fear of the unknown. 
   I'm institutionalised. I've been in full time education all my life. I have no idea what the Big Bad World is like out there and whether it will blow me down. Where do I fit in?
6. To serve God.
   People in academia need to hear the gospel as much as anyone on the outside. But will being on the inside help? Is this just masking a desire to be credible, to say “look I'm intelligent and am a Christian – you don't have to abandon your reason”? But all this really boils down to is “Trust Christ because I'm clever.” That's an attitude that God will never use to save anyone. In addition

   22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. I Cor 1:22-24.

   Christianity will always appear to be foolish to the wise in the world, it doesn't matter how educated its exponents are.

So having looked at my motivations, a postdoc doesn't seem the wisest idea. I wouldn't mind doing one if I can see how the research might be beneficial to society and if it fits in with the more important things in my life. However I thinks that's unlikely and so it's probably time to move on. There are far more important things in my life than the job I do. Which leaves me pondering what to do next?

I'm afraid of the future and so there's always the temptation to stay in academia and to continue with what I know. But God's in control and He loves me so why should I fear? If I never take a risk, trusting God to provide for me. I'll never live, I'll live forever in a cage of my own making.

But I say unto you...

Lots of people say that Jesus was a good teacher. They point to the sermon on the mount as an example of His great teaching. But have they ever read what Jesus said?

Recently I've been thinking about the sermon on the mount and I've been struck by Jesus' authority. And it appears I'm not the only one

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. Matthew 7:28-29.

In Matthew Chapter 5 Jesus repeats the phrase “You have heard that it was said...” and quotes part of the Law, and some of the Jewish interpretation of it, and then says “But I tell you...” seven times.  When He does this Jesus doesn't contradict the Law. He extends it. He shows that it applies to our hearts, to how we think and not just to how we act. But what gives Him the authority to do this?

Jesus doesn't say “God says this” or “I think the Law means this.” He says “I say” and that's the end of the matter. He is the final authority. Who does He think He is to make these claims, to base the authority of what He is saying on who He is?

Through this sermon Jesus is implicitly claiming to have equal authority with God.  He states that how we respond to Him and what He teaches will determine our eternal fate.  These are not things that someone who is just a good teacher would claim.  So my question for people who say Jesus is just a good teacher is this: 

How can a man have moral authority if the basis of that authority is that he thinks he is God?

Determinism and the Death of Justice

We cry out for justice.  When we see the murder of an innocent we demand that the perpetrator should should be held accountable.  We long to see wickedness punished. But how does this desire for justice fit into a world without God?

In order to be held accountable for an action a person must have been free to do otherwise.  Whatever the pressures on the person when they committed an act, to be accountable they still must have had an alternative option, even if it was an unattractive one. But if naturalism is true, i.e. all there is is the physical universe and the laws that govern it, then no one can be held accountable.   If materialism is true then we are simply complicated biological machines responding to various stimuli. The brain processes the information it receives, following the laws of chemistry and physics, and the person reacts.  They may have the illusion of choice but in fact the wiring of the brain and the physical processes dictate the reaction.  They have as much freedom as a computer.

When I rant and rave at my computer for its latest malfunction I am being irrational.  The computer was just following its programming.  When Basil Fawlty chastises his car we know he's gone over the edge.  You cannot hold a machine accountable.

Yet we hold humans accountable.  We lock people up or execute them for murder.  We act as if people have a choice.  If atheism is true murders, rapists, and terrorists have no choice.  The best we can say is that they are sick: their brains have their wires crossed.  They should receive our sympathy and not the due penalty. We shouldn't lock them up.  But can we live with this reality?  Do we really believe that we have no choice?  That when our consciences scream at us but we ignore them that we really couldn't have listened?

If atheism is true then justice is dead.  And my desire for it is just the symptom of a malfunctioning brain.

But this is not the view of the Bible.  God holds us accountable for our actions; that we should turn from our wickedness to Him and live.  How can this be?  The answer is that we are not just physical beings but spiritual. We are not constrained by the physical laws of cause and effect but, as spiritual beings, we transcend them.  We have genuine moral choices.  We are accountable. God has given us all a conscience that tells us when we are wrong, even when it's not in our interest to listen to it.

The Image of God

 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

 27 So God created mankind in his own image,
   in the image of God he created them;
   male and female he created them.

 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:27-28

Humans are made in God's image; but what does this mean?

In some way we are meant to be a reflection of what God is like. The question is in what way?

I think we display God's image in those moments when we see something in us that is truly noble.

Those moments when we admire something in another human.

The bravery of a soldier who risks all to fulfil his duty.

The creativity of an artist who dazzles us with beauty.

The loving care of a mother with her new born baby.

The sacrifice of an aid worker to help the poor and needy.

The ingenuity of an engineer to build a stunning structure.

The married couple living for the sake of each other.

The whistle-blower defying all for the sake of truth.

The righteous verdict that brings forth justice.

The patience of a teacher with an unruly pupil.

The act of mercy that brings forth peace.

The problem is these are only glimpses. We're all sinful. Broken. Not as we were meant to be. The image is tarnished. So where does the image of God truly lie?

In Christ.

He is the perfect Man. He is the second Adam. Through Him we see what God is truly like.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Hebrews 1:3.

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? John 14:9-10.

Yes, Jesus displays God's power and knowledge because He is truly God. But He's also truly man. Through Jesus we see God's character. We see his compassion, his love, his mercy, his determination, his sacrifice, his love of truth and justice. These are all things that humans are capable of, however imperfectly, and they reflect what God is like. When we see these things in humans, however sinful, however broken, whether atheist or Christian, we catch a shadow of what we were meant to be.

But this is not all. Christ didn't come just to show us what God is like. He came to save us. And if we trust in Him then God restores His image in us. As we love and follow Christ He transforms us to be like Him:

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18.

And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. 1 Corinthians 15:49.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Romans 8:29.

God's goal is to make us like His Son. So we might display His glory to all creation.

The Meaning of Life.

What is the meaning of life? Why am I here? What is the point of life?

These are questions we all ask. Philosophers ponder them. We all long for an answer. But the question I'm asking is: why do we ask these questions?

To ask the meaning of something is to ask about its purpose. When an archaeologist finds a strange object he wonders what it was for? What is the meaning of a kettle? What is the meaning of a knife? The meaning of the kettle is to boil water and the meaning of knife is to cut something. In both cases their meaning is external to them. The creator – man – decides what the objects purpose is and the object fulfils that purpose when it does what it was designed for. Another picture might be, what is the purpose of a private in an army? He cannot see why he does what he does, risking life and limb, but the General, whose plan it is the soldier follows, has a purpose, which he hopes the soldier will accomplish. Again we see that the soldier cannot define meaning for himself amidst the chaos but it is an external agent who defines his meaning. So when we ask what is the meaning of life we are asking: for what was I made? And only our creator can tell us.

If Atheism is true, then why should we ask these questions? We are here by chance and natural selection. There is no purpose. We are nothing but specks, screaming into the darkness to be blown away by the winds of time. This is the conclusion of Nihilism. There is no God therefore there is no meaning. And yet the fact remains they wrestle with this question. We all desire meaning. Some Atheists advocates a form of existentialism where we define our own meaning. But this is nonsense. The kettle and the knife cannot decide what their purpose is. The kettle cannot cannot decide today to be a spoon. The private in the army cannot decide he finds meaning by doing his own thing. Meaning is external. So Nihilism is right. If there is no God then there is no meaning. But in stating that they must have asked the question.

So why do we desire meaning?

If Athesim is true then there is no meaning and it makes no sense to ask about it, think about it or worry about it. We should live like animals, following our instincts to try and pass on our genes. We shouldn't waste time and energy with such questions: they don't help us survive. In fact they could be detrimental – because if there is no great purpose in life why bother even to pass on my genes? Why make the world a better place for my children? Why help humanity or nature to survive? We're all dust. No one will notice if we're gone. The universe will march on in indifference if humanity should cease to look on it. In short, to ask why we are here does not have any evolutionary advantage, so can only be explained as an accidental by-product of conciousness. This is not explanation but a mere just-so story and doesn't really satisfy. The same as life without meaning doesn't satisfy. Instead, I think, a better explanation is that we were indeed created.

When we ask the question: what is the meaning of life? It is a tacit admission that deep down we know that we are created even if we deny it to ourselves. If there is a creator it makes sense that we should want to know why He made us. It makes sense that He should place it in our being to want to know why he made us. It makes sense to ask the question - why is there meaning - as there is the possibility of an answer even if we may not like it.