“For
the trouble is that one part of you is on His (God’s) side and really agrees
with his disapproval of human greed and trickery and exploitation. You may want
Him to make an exception in your own case, to let you off this one time; but
you know at bottom that unless the power behind the world really and
unalterably detests that sort of behavior, then He cannot be good. On the other
hand, we know that if there does exist an absolute goodness it must hate most
of what we do. This is the terrible fix we are in. If the universe is not
governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run
hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness
every day, and are not in the least likely to do any better tomorrow, and so
our case is hopeless again”.
C. S.
Lewis – Mere Christianity
Now
if you have come to honestly believe that there must be a moral law Giver for a
moral law to exist, what is the next thing to do?
How
can you proceed?
As I
said before, if you believe in relativism, there is a huge amount of religions
to choose. You can make any of them your own and decide that that particular
faith is your moral giver.
Or
you can believe that Christianity is the real thing.
You
can choose Christian God.
You
can accept that Christians offer you an answer to why there is evil in the
world and also how we can overcome the evil.
As C.
S. Lewis says “When you have realized your position is nearly desperate you
will begin to understand what the Christians are talking about. They offer an
explanation of how we got into our present state of both hating goodness and
loving it. They offer an explanation how God can be this impersonal mind at the
back of the Moral Law and yet also a Person. They tell you how the demands of this
law, which you and I cannot meet, have been met on our behalf, how God Himself
becomes a man to save man from the disapproval of God”.
This
means doing some radical thinking. Changing your worldview and accepting that
you may not always be right.
It
also means accepting that there is someone far greater and more magnificent you
could ever imagine.
The
problem is that, even though this is a very comforting idea of a great loving
person behind everything. It is also a very dangerous and terrifying idea of a
great perfect being behind everything.
Just
like C. S. Lewis says “God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror:
the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from”.
But
what are you looking for?
The
truth?
Or
something to take away your fears and comfort you during the lonely nights?
Again
a quote from C. S. Lewis: “If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the
end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort of truth – only
soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair”.
Or a
thought from a great Russian literary masterpiece:
“It's
God that's worrying me. That's the only thing that's worrying me. What if He
doesn't exist? What if Rakitin's right -that it's an idea made up by men? Then,
if He doesn't exist, man is the king of the earth, of the universe.
Magnificent! Only how is he going to be good without God? That's the question.
I always come back to that. Who is man going to love then? To whom will he be
thankful? To whom will he sing the hymn? Rakitin laughs. Rakitin says that one
can love humanity instead of God. Well, only an idiot can maintain that. I
can't understand it. Life's easy for Rakitin. 'You'd better think about the
extension of civic rights, or of keeping down the price of meat. You will show
your love for humanity more simply and directly by that, than by philosophy.' I
answered him: 'Well, but you, without a God, are more likely to raise the price
of meat if it suits you, and make a rouble on every penny.' He lost his temper.
But after all, what is goodness? Answer that, Alyosha. Goodness is one thing
with me and another with a Chinaman, so it's relative. Or isn't it? Is it not
relative? A treacherous question! You won't laugh if I tell you it's kept me
awake for two nights. I only wonder now how people can live and think nothing
about it. Vanity!”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
To begin, read Natural law. A post about the law we all have in our hearts.
If you would like to know what comes after read the post about Moral law.
Having read that, you'll need to know Which moral law to choose.
If you agree that you need God, read to find out What is sin.
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
To begin, read Natural law. A post about the law we all have in our hearts.
If you would like to know what comes after read the post about Moral law.
Having read that, you'll need to know Which moral law to choose.
If you agree that you need God, read to find out What is sin.
If more people believed in God, and those that do believe in him went back to His ways, and did what he instructed us to do, there would be much more peace, more love, and there wouldn't be all of this violence, pain and horror that is coming about. Especially in America. Until we get back to the roots of our Christian company, there is no hope for America. Though I never believe it will be that way again, open up Revelation and you will see all of this is in the Bible, all of the wars, money issues, greed... it's all a sign of the times!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Stephanie. We need to live the way God instructs us to be more peacefull and so that our lives could be filled with love.
DeleteWell, I believe in C. S. Lewis: “If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort of truth – only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair”.
ReplyDeleteGreat quote.
Thank you! I love the quote myself also.
DeleteGreat quotes. So true.
ReplyDeleteMichelle F>
You know I often ask myself why others don't follow gods ways and really struggled with this growing up. It was when I prayed to him for guidance that it occurred to me that we all believe it what we feel is right and that is what makes us all so unique. I truly believe with him by my side I have the strength and courage to face what ever comes my way each and every day. As always I enjoy your blog and your pictures are beautiful. Thank you for sharing:)
ReplyDeleteI think we all long for the righ and good in our hearts, Tiffany. I hope that everyone can find it. I'm glad that you liked the post and the pictures :)
DeleteI found myself gravitating to the quote by CS Lewis that you mentioned: " C. S. Lewis: “If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either..." Good words to heed.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, Yona. They are.
DeleteThis is very well written. The C.S. Lewis quotes are great!
ReplyDeleteThe world does need God! If more people followed Him, the world would be a less evil place!
ReplyDeleteC. S Lewis is a favorite and I do agree we need God... I wouldn't be here without the grace of our Creator.
ReplyDeleteWell written advice. I love C.S.Lewis! I think sometimes we all need to step back and take a look at the bigger.
ReplyDelete