don't listen to everything you were taught in college.
seriously. every wednesday night, when i go to The Truth Project, i am stunned and amazed by what the video moderator calls the "pernicious lies" that exist in many of our worldviews. stuff that we as christians just naturally buy and take to heart. without really thinking.
last night was anthropology night. we looked at who man is, what his essence is, what his moral state is, and what his need is. of course, the biblical world view says that man (who is made in the image of God) WAS innocent, IS fallen (in him resides a sinful nature), and needs redemption (Jesus on the cross).
the biggest opposition to this belief, the pernicious lie, comes from abraham maslow. i used to think he was a good guy, i studied about him quite a bit. he says that as people, we "have no intrinsic instinct for evil." hhhhhhmmmmmm. where do you suppose it comes from then, if not man himself? maslow says that sick people are made by a sick culture. he does NOT say how the culture got sick, if not for the actions of the people in it. crap. i cannot believe i fell for that one, it's a dead-end lie.
oh. and the biggest lie of all. maslow's "hierarchy of needs." take a look at em, a good hard look. the highest need we can have is SELF ACTUALIZATION? hmmmmmm. really? if that is so, with an oprah on every corner selling self-help books while the world falls apart, why are things worse and not better? where is this evil coming from? why is SELF at the top? is it really all about us? how come this theory doesn't match with the REAL world?
Lord. help us, this stuff just proves how much we need it.
6 comments:
I so wish I was going to this with you. I think it's absolutely fascinating. Maybe you can give me a crash course when you come to paint my new house in Prattville, Virginia, Korea.
yes. i heard a rumor that after you take the course (not before) you can buy the dvds...i know that they want to "train" people before they teach this, but i would love to do this course at my house. i may need to go the next training course!!!!
i don't do it justice. it's spine-tinglingly good :)
As an Early Childhood Porfessional, I struggled with this one. Maslow is pretty high up there to us working with children. To us Self Actualization for a child doesn't mean that the child gets to the level of wordhiping themselves. It means they reach the fullest potential as a productive member of society. It is also very hard for me to look at a little baby and see it as an evil being. Maybe I am stretching this a bit. I know we are born with sin, but man environment really does play a big part.
Professional, not Porfessional. Sheesh!
I understand how this could have caught you up Chris, it did me as well.
However, what would happen IF we taught children from the get go that they are completely and totally loved by God and our completion will be in HIM, not any other thing. For me personally, i am sure it would have changed my life. I did not worship myself (at least i would have denied that) but i worshipped the IDEA of love, and what it would take to get it.
I think our environments are a product of US. that is the point that Maslow misses out on. If we really truly loved God first and each other second, we would put Maslow to shame!
i wish we were all doing this course together!!!!
Yeah, I could use some scholars like you and Karen with me. Maybe then I would understand it a bit better!
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