ursus 137 wrote:I am amazed that so many Christians are fearful (yes, fearful) of thinking for themselves. I could hardly believe the comments which I received in response to my "thought experiment". Is rational thought extinct in the Christian world? I certainly hope not.
"What do the Greeks have to do with the Christian faith?" Odd question, since the apostle Paul was quite familiar with Hellenistic civilization and wrote his epistles in the Greek language. Odd question, since the Socratic method is still used to investigate what is true and what is not true. Odd question, since the very vocabulary of science (and theology!) is freighted with Greek terminology. Western civilization is built upon two pillars: the Judeo-Christian tradition and the Greco-Roman tradition. Pull either one away, and the whole edifice of Western civilization comes crashing down.
You seem to be confusing western culture with theology or faith in God's word.
1 Corinthians 1:20-25
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. NAS
The early church dealt with Greek philosophy in the form of Gnosticism or didn't they teach history at your "well-known evangelical seminary".
Another aspect of history you seem to want to ignore is that Greek was the language of commerce in the Roman Empire and the optimal language to communicate God’s truth throughout that empire so the fact Paul communicated in Greek is neither unusual or a logical basis for your philosophy.