On Approaching Philosophy

Colossians 2:

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 

I read this today and wondered, what is hollow and deceptive philosophy? Which philosophies depend on human spirit and the material, elementary teachings, vain deceit, and intellectualism (as the Amplified depicts) ?

First, a word on intellectualism. 

The New Testament repeats again and again that we were once hostile in mind (Colossians 1) but are now being transformed through our faith in Christ.

I remember a time when I was looking towards Reason to lead me to God. I remember thinking, "if I thought so objectively and without any bias, surely the Truth would be the only logical explanation and appear as the obvious answer in the universe."

This is both right and wrong. 

True, Christ is the end of all wisdom, the zenith of mental climb. But it is not Reason that leads us to God, it is Christ alone. Reason was a god to me, and I believe to many. 

Reason is deeply flawed in this way - 

John said the Light had come into the world but the world did not recognize Him. They could not see Him as He truly was (John 1). In John 3:19-20, John says that people have loved darkness more than the light and people run to hide from it so their deeds would not be exposed.

1. The chief motivation of philosophy and all mental exertion without Christ, is to expel Him (who He is, as He is)from our minds.

 - This was an attack on my view. It dumbfounded me. How could my searching faculties be flawed? How could anything be known without functional searching faculties. But the Truth I sought, and we seek, is not like the formula of a neutron star, or the psychological grounds for depression. It is emotional and physical, yes, but it is spiritual also. Thus if our spirit is truly dead (as Jesus says) before we come to Him, there is no way we can use spiritual reason to choose Christ.  It told me that taking an objective stance to cast my lot (and be saved) on what was true was not possible for me at all because God is spirit, and He must be worshiped in Truth and in Spirit. It told me that my pursuit of God through my own reasoning would lead me into rejecting Him. Because,

2. The heart guides the mind.

 - And the heart is dark. There is confusion and seeming insignificance and endless toil in vanity outside of Him. The entire idea of schools and universities who believe they are so objective in their deductive reasoning that the conclusions they come to are devoid of emotional sway cannot be true. It astounds me that end of the most educated and bloodiest century in history (21st century), popular culture says education is the way to unite in love and end violence - save us. 

But as we saw previously, the revealing of facts doesn't alter us. This is why when we are caught, or not caught, doing something we know or feel is wrong, our mind quickly justifies our actions. "Well, it's because of the circumstance, if they had been different..." or "Well it's because of how I was raised." or "Nobody is perfect. So what" Our hearts direct our minds to work, sometimes work hard, to justify our hearts in order to numb our conscious. 

3. All the fullness of God dwells in Christ.

 Our reaction to Christ as God will tell us where our heart is. He is a fact. But if there has been a birth of His Spirit in us, then our spirit reacts with Him. And our spirit challenges and through time changes our hearts so that the truth  we know at one point seems bitter, and at another seems sweet. If Christ has any value to us, then chase knowledge of Christ because your heart will lead your mind to God Himself.

Be a Christ centered intellectual.

What else is worth spending our lives studying?