GETHSEMANE EPISTEMOLOGY: MY WILL BE DONE?
Gerald Nwogueze, OFM Cap
If God exists, what is the evidence?
The quest for the justification of the belief in the existence of God has been a major subject of concern in philosophical and theological discourse. Our justification for believing is a raw material for our true belief, just as actual justified belief is to knowledge. Consequently, in the course of history, many schools of
thought have expressed their views and doubts in response to the question, ‘if God exists, how do I know he does?’
In this reflection, I shall distil the points from Paul Moser’s argument for the existence of God, relate it with our daily struggles this journey this lenten season and beyond of seeking the face of Jesus, significantly now that the statues in the church are covered in purple linen. As a way of methodology, I shall begin with the scriptural context, then move to the clarification of concepts and finally reflection proper on the theme for the day. True, this seems to be loaded with content, in fact the topic seems overly intellectual or complicated. No worries, I shall be overly simplistic in my approach and ensure the essence is retained.
Scriptural Foundation
Mark 14:32-15:6, “they [Jesus and his disciples] went to a place called Gethsemane…He said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death…’ [He] threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour [of his arrest and crucifixion] might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup [of suffering and death] from me, yet it is not what I want, but what you want.”
Gethsemane Epistemology: Volition and Knowledge
Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that critically investigates the theories and principles underlying the nature of knowledge. It asks questions like, what is knowledge, how do we know or what is the foundation, sources, theories, justification of knowledge, truth, belief.
Central to the problem of modern epistemology is the relationship between knowledge and volition. Knowing and willing are interdependent. It is so interconnected that there is no will without an idea, and no idea without the will. Augustine in his Anti-Pelagian writings, noted three faculties by which God’s commandment are fulfilled, namely: capacity, volition and action. Capacity to him is that by which man is able to be righteous; volition, the will to be righteous; action is that by which man is actually righteous. Also, Volition as conceived by Descartes is what we can control, a nature within us that enables us to act freely and make uncoerced choices and decisions.” Here we see that while Descartes likens volition to be what we can control, Augustine likens volition to be what we desire.
Gethsemane Epistemology: Evidence for God
Paul Moser proposed the Volitional Theism which he calls ‘Personifying evidence for God,’ whereby human attains the volitional transformation which includes uncoerced attunement, or cooperation, or submission of their will with God’s moral will, for the purpose of removing human selfishness and all its destructive consequences, as a means of building genuine community under divine moral authority, thus, being agents of God’s evidence. However, volitional transformation is not one without struggle. Jesus of Nazareth in a garden, actually called Gethsemane is a perfect example he used to demonstrate the volitional struggle with God in the scriptural lines, “yet it is not what I want, but what you want.”
Gethsemane experience as illustrated here, begins with human conflict between what a human wants and what the divine wants, he tried to pin down that evasion of this will to following our will which is world bound and lacking in moral precepts, brings about many evil which in turn forms a barrier to the evidence and experience of God with the transformation therein. However, the it ends with a resolve to submit to what the divine wants, if this struggle is overcome, the response of the human agent is an uncoerced ‘let your will be done.’ After this is done, the transformed agent launches into divine reality and begins to see God as God; the one with morally perfect authority over human desires and intentions, whose will is worthy of submissiveness and obedience.
Furthermore, Moser quoting Albert Schweitzer in his Quest for Historical Jesus, proposes that Jesus creates a fellowship with us when we unite our wills with his, by so doing we develop his personality, rediscover ourselves and become another Christ. This implies that we become living presence of Jesus and his evidence, by our volitional condescension in fellowship with Christ. This is possible when we can sacrifice what we think best we want to link up in volitional conformity with what we believe God wills and thinks best for us.
Furthermore, he posited that the Gethsemane does not end in the knowledge of what is good or bad but in volitional responsiveness to God, who aims at establishing a genuine divine-human interaction and filial relationship. This he concludes require faith, not an intellectual affirmation of proposition.
Reflection and Evaluation
Lenten season is that calls us to align our will to the divine will. It was Jean-Jacque Rousseau who said that man was born free but in every where he is in chains. We all are born with God given free will to desire and make choices, both those that liberates us and those that makes us captives in the den of sin and death. In the garden of gethsemane of our hearts, we face dilemma, pain and regreats, plunged in deep conflict between letting ourselves remain man and God God. We want God to do it our way, we want him to strike down the enemies, to take the cup of suffering away, to revert the penalty of our salvation and the cross of glory. Yes the struggle is normal, even Jesus suffered greatly because he foresaw what would become of him, yet he resigned to the will of God.
Dear friends, when we resign to the will of God, we become Christ-like, we bear the silence of God, his seemingly hiddenness in the midst of our scourging, crowning with thorns, carrying of the cross, many falling and rising. But notice something, he sends little consolations significant of his presence. Sometimes we want to see Jesus himself come down to us, but then, he sends your family and even strangers to help; Simon of Cyrene once again would be compelled to help, veronica would come with her towel so you can see clearly that calvary is near, the women of Jerusalem would show sympathy and solidarity, oh what more can I say, a little while you would sigh and say, it is finished.
Gethsemane is very important in our Christian journey, it is garden of decision and that moment of transformation. In baptism we decide, by deciding participate in the God life as prophets, priests and kings. We resist and defeat Satan, once again, again and again when tempted to eat the Apple in the garden, to feed our eyes and hearts with fruits of impurities, jealousy, envy, fear, anger, sloth, pride As we grow, we are confirmed by the power of the Holy Spirit we are plunged into to deeper mysteries our militancy, set on mission both little and great, we become once again pentecosted with the fire of divine love. God has equipped you to be able to choose Him yet at the same, he never tampers with your free will. He wants you to choose him at every point in time and freely and uncoerced. It may not make sense now, at the resurrection, it will.
In conclusion, our reflection began right after the introduction by introducing the concept of volition. Augustine viewed volition to be a desire to be righteous, Descartes likens the will to be something controlled by human. Gethsemane epistemology presented in this reflection points at the struggle between letting what we will and what God wills. Yet we cannot will without knowing. We learn from Paul Moser that Christianity is a religion of inclusive love, unfathomably great in considering the forgiveness and reshaping of personality, in inclusive and uncoerced filial relationship, bound by compassion. Reflecting on the import of volitional theism on Lenten journey, I conclude by saying that God has equipped us with all resources we need to belong to Him and to choose him freely and uncoerced, here it all makes sense that the call and journey to Christian perfection is daily and our response to the call of Jesus to be promptly. “Not my will but your will be done”
References
Audi, R. 1998. Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 2.
Gary, H. “Descartes on Sensory Representation, Objective Reality and Material Falsity” In Kareen Detlefsen (Ed.). 2013. Descartes’ meditations: A Critical Guide. New York: Cambridge University Press. 132.
Moser K. P. ”Gethsemane Epistemology: Volitional and Evidential.” Phiolosophia Christi. Vol. 14, No. 2 ( January, 2012.) 267.
Schaff, P. (Ed.) 2017. Augustine Anti-Pelagian Works. Canada: Woodstock. 306.
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