Takeaways from Podcasts

Submitting to Authorities

We can submit to authorities because Jesus has already won. The authority may not be Christian, but because Jesus has already won and is King, it means the authority is put there by Him to reward good conduct. When God asks us to submit to authorities, it does not mean blind nationalism, but to submit with view of King Jesus as the overall Lord. 

Political theocracy seems to be the ultimate way to change things according to modern vibes; you can make the greatest impact by changing laws or governance. But the way Romans is structured: first talking about personal conduct, how we ought to love and bear one another in the family of God as a sign to the world, then only leading to talks about submitting to authorities, suggests otherwise. Taking care of personal conduct trumps making a revolution in the governance of a nation.

The Tyranny of Meritocracy

The author presents an argument that meritocracy originated from biblical theology. There are two broad concepts in the religion space, one of salvation by good works and another of salvation by unearned grace. A sort of similar version in the Christian dialogue is free will (what you do affects your salvation) versus predestination (nothing you do can affect your salvation). The Reformation movement pushes the latter idea more strongly; salvation cannot be bought or earned. The Reformation work ethics is something along these lines. Because salvation cannot be earned, the work we do on earth is purely to glorify God, not so that we earn salvation, and not so that we can enjoy ourselves using the product of our work (like pagans do?). Because doing any of the latter two takes away from the first objective. This then meant that people were working and not spending as much, leading to wealth accumulation. 

Meritocracy is a double-edged sword because it makes people who can make it using this method automatically deserving of the outcome and morally justified in that. It also makes the people at the bottom who do not make it seem crap, like it is on them that they did not succeed. People who belong in the latter group are such as people who did not go to university or flyover states in the US. 

What politicians say is interesting because it reflects ideas that are convincing to society. For example, cleverness is the in-thing now. To convince someone to do something, you tell them it is the smart thing to do, whereas it is more about the ethical/right/virtuous thing to do in the past. 

What does praise mean?

What does it mean when someone praises you on graduating with a first, or getting a good job, or having a baby? It probably means their estimation of you as a person increases. Taimur is uncomfortable with praise precisely because of this. Is someone's respect for me increasing with how well I do (my job) in a certain domain (plumber/magician/analyst), or is it not limited to domain, but the respect for me as a person increases because of X? One may say I respect all humans equally irrespective of how well they do as opposed to respecting someone more in their domain because their doing well. The latter is shown through actions such as following them on twitter, going for dinner with hopes of collaboration, but how is the former shown? For example you say you respect a Warcraft player with rank 100 as much as a player with no rank. You would want to be friends with the first to go on quests together or just be friends because you think you would click. Then how do you show respect for the latter as well, since you say you respect them both equally regardless of merit, what actions can be a proof of this behavior or thought? It is one thing to say you respect all humans equally and another to treat all humans equally.  

How to optimize the process of making deep connections

Take the "36 Questions to Fall in Love" questionnaire, filter for the best ones and ask your circle of friends, who wants to go on a long walk with you, chatting about these questions with the aim of making deeper friendships? 

PS: Only do this when you are around 19 years old, doing it much later may seem weird.

From Knowing Faith and Not Overthinking Podcasts (2.5 recordings)