Excursus: C.S. Lewis on man's standing before God
I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office this morning and read a short paragraph in Mere Christianity that I had read before. It is, however, very revelant to us and our culture in particular.
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. We cannot do without it, and we cannot do with it. 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. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger-according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way.
I think Lewis' words have great application in our day. Many people believe God is the great friend. That He just wants to love them. Don't worry about what you do, God doesn't care. Well, Lewis couldn't have disagreed more with this assertion. God does care and is offended by our filthy rags. There are those disguised by their sweetness that are leading many down the path to destruction based upon this message of God absolute goodness. They ignore God's holiness and justice. Our message is not intended to be a sweet or kind message. It is one of confrontation. At least at first, then people began to realize who they are and the message becomes sweet to us. Lewis understood grace and the gospel. Do we?
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. We cannot do without it, and we cannot do with it. 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. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger-according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way.
I think Lewis' words have great application in our day. Many people believe God is the great friend. That He just wants to love them. Don't worry about what you do, God doesn't care. Well, Lewis couldn't have disagreed more with this assertion. God does care and is offended by our filthy rags. There are those disguised by their sweetness that are leading many down the path to destruction based upon this message of God absolute goodness. They ignore God's holiness and justice. Our message is not intended to be a sweet or kind message. It is one of confrontation. At least at first, then people began to realize who they are and the message becomes sweet to us. Lewis understood grace and the gospel. Do we?
posted by Michael D. Estes at 10:16 PM
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