“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 31
Many years ago, when I was laboring away in a class of classical Greek, whenever our instructor would give us some grammatical rule or other, the class would chant in unison, “For now!” We knew that somewhere, up around the bend, we would eventually hear about an exception to the rule.
In any realm that admits of development and progress, the “for now” principle is a good one to hold on to. It helps to keep us humble, and it prevents us from going on religious crusades that involve vitamins, fiber, or pharmaceuticals. At the same time, we do not confess that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides “for now,” or that Jesus is Lord “for now.” We believe in the objectivity of truth, and the existence of truths that do not shift around. But it is fully appropriate to say that the sky is overcast “for now,” or that the best available cancer treatment is thus and such “for now.”
What this allows us to do is cheerfully make a decision to opt for a particular medical treatment, knowing full well that if that treatment were described in any detail for a class of medical students one hundred years from now, they would all go white in the face and some of them would have to leave the room. And yet, I could in good faith decide to undergo that treatment today because (in my view), it is the best available “for now.” But someone who is projecting religious faith onto any regimen, treatment, or medicine cannot afford to do this. This is because we instinctively demand infallibility from our gods, and we do not demand the same from our servants.
Douglas Wilson