Originally Posted By: Revlgking
For those with the patience there is a lot on the Web about Socrates and the idea of Christ.
http://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1701336.html
http://www.lotsofessays.com/essay_search/Socrates_Christ.html
From the first link:
The study of philosophy can lead to the confirmation of Christian beliefs. Although some Christians consider philosophy to be of Satanic origin, in reality it emanates from the search by humans for meaning and order in life. Unlike science or mathematics, philosophy has no laws. Instead, philosophy is characterized by argument, alternative reasoning, and debate........


The confirmation of a belief...
Would that be like the confirmation of a thought? To establish that Christians believe in something?
I actually don't have any issue with that Idea. I think it is widely accepted that Christians have a belief.

As for the other link and its content.
I have to reiterate, that anything philosophized while being asleep is still going to be subject to greater awareness and intellect upon awakening, as is also illustrated in the excerpt from Plato's Dialogues:
In all three of these dialogues, Socrates illustrates that the nature of true knowledge often remains elusive, that it can only be truly known once the soul is freed from the body, and that the pursuit of it (i.e. the good) through philosophy while alive is the only thing that approximates happiness or wisdom.
Obviously an approximation of something not experienced, is at best going to be limited by the ego and how deeply hypnotized it is in belief based on false interpretations of reality.

Again from the first link:
These issues are of importance to all Christians. Geisler and Feinberg contend that Christians have a responsibility to study philosophy because "philosophical thought can significantly contribute to theological understanding"
I would comment on this statement in saying that by going so far in the wrong direction one would be able to tell the difference when they are going in the right direction.
However being tantamount to experience I would say most Christians who discover the good/Truth will necessarily drop the futility of philosophical thought originally engaged in the state of mind and body that was immersed in the shadow world of illusion and as Jesus the Master or Teacher did, "speak from direct experience" of "the Good" rather than philosophize their way around it.
That is what leads others to direct experience when they are ready to engage themselves in direct experience. It is also what enlivens and strengthens it within the material or relative world.
I think it was said in scripture that the measure of a man is made by what he accomplishes, not in material status and title, but in his ability to bring the spirit of the absolute forward into the relative world of the body, or to quicken the flesh.

Unfortunately the links only seem give snippets of the content of the essay unless you decide to buy into their membership, which I wasn't interested in exploring. As a consequence I only comment on what I skimmed from what was available.


I was addicted to the Hokey Pokey, but then I turned myself around!!