My belief in god is something that I sometimes struggle with. I recently heard a quote from C.S Lewis that I can really identify with.
I believe in God just as I believe in the sun. Not so much because I see it (it's actually dangerous to look at it directly) but because in it's light I see everything else.
It reminded me of Exodus 33:20-23.
But," he said, "you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live." And the Lord continued, "See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen."
Even Moses only got to see the back of God.
3 comments:
Did you have to use that Lewis quote, Chris? Alister McGrath regularly trundles that one out as a "rational" apologia for theism, and nobody--least of all, I am sure, reasonable Christians--wishes to be reminded of his blithering, nondescript excuse for reasoned debate.
At least promise me the construction "What I would want to say . . ." will never escape your lips. :)
(I'm sorry . . . I know you're not engaging in apologetics in this post. It's just that anything redolent of McGrath vs. the "New Atheists" just makes me wince in recollection of the man's ineptitude.)
He he,
Sorry Arthur, having never been able to listen to much of Mr McGrath I've never heard him use that quote. I can see how that could be part of a God of the gaps type argument or everything I've said doesn't make sense to you but if you believed like I did then it would make sense type argument.
I guess for me it reminded me of the particular passage of Moses where you have one of the great biblical figures and all he gets to see of God is his back. I think Xns who try to prove God's existence are also claiming to see more of God than even Moses.
I'm trying to work out how to articulate why the quote resonates with me. The best for me would be to say that it makes philosophical or theological sense rather than say rational sense.
Yes I'm aware that might be a bit of a nonsensical sentence. I working on a post at the moment pondering how I tend to live my life as a practical atheist, which might go someway to explaining why I often feel like I have more in common with the average atheist rather than the average fundamentalist Xn. I try and explain this thought a bit further there.
I can see how that could be part of a God of the gaps type argument or everything I've said doesn't make sense to you but if you believed like I did then it would make sense type argument.
As I said, I'm not taking issue with your post, since you're not engaging in anti-atheist apologetics. McGrath is (and so, I suppose, is Lewis), and that's why, in the context of the public debates he unwisely gets involved with, the Lewis quote becomes such an epic fail for his purposes: in order for it to even make sense, one is, as you say, required to believe in God--and therefore it fails as an argument for theism.
I working on a post at the moment pondering how I tend to live my life as a practical atheist, which might go someway to explaining why I often feel like I have more in common with the average atheist rather than the average fundamentalist Xn.
I guess there are a million shades of gray between the two. I would also hazard a guess that many Christians are just like you--"practical atheists," as you put it. I think the term "secularist" is better, by the way, since atheism is a belief position wrt theism, while secularism is a belief about the role religious dogma should or should not play in decision-making and actions in this world--whether at a public policy level or at an individual level.
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