Is Naturalism the answer?

Let's get down to business today.

Before we can talk about man, I'd like to say a few words of how man was able to be on this planet at all. I will attempt to show that this world is not all there is. I am not a naturalist, but I do believe in, if I may say it like this, Theistic Evolution. You see I do not have a problem with religion and science working together. But I also believe that there was something bringing about evolution. You see, something had to be the first cause to start the process. There has to be an unmovable first cause. Impersonal + chance + time does not equal the cosmos. 

Furthermore, I would not even be able to trust my own brain if everything that happened in the world was just time and chance. Let me summarize what I wrote in my essay named Miracles, "For our brains to be trusted, reason must come from outside itself. Rational thought cannot come from irrational causes." If Naturalism is true saying the words "I ought" is the same thing as "I itch." I can never say you ought not do that. My opinion is greatest. There is nothing outside people's opinion of right and wrong.

Just a quick note, in Pantheism, you would have no way of distinguishing right from wrong. There can be morals this way. If God is in everything, then you have no basis for right and wrong.

Here is a question for you, if you are a Naturalist. Why do humans imagine a transcendent God outside of ourselves? If we get hungry, we could imagine food to quench this hunger. That doesn't mean there is such a thing as food, but it does make it more probable. if we can have a hunger for something beyond ourselves, there is probably such thing as God.  

I made a mistake on my first post saying I only worked for Oxford, chalk it up to old age.  I did work at Cambridge for awhile. In 1954 the university made up a post for me named Medieval and Renaissance Literature. My first lecture was named, "Describing the Times", I wrote the following, "The gap between those which worship different Gods is not as wide as those that worship Gods and those which do not. Many people through time have worshiped some type of God. This also leads to me as to believe there is a God. This is not just a belief, but a hunger. I would say this God has left a God shaped whole in our hearts that he made for him to fill. This God would ten be outside our time, space, and I might even say loving. It cannot be impersonal force +time + chance. The universe, logic, and even the cosmos itself would not exist.

So, I am to say the Christian God must be the real God. The Bible tells us he made us in his own image. So, logically, people should want to image God. With the Christian God, we find logic, reasons for life and death, and love itself. Man is made in the image of God, and we get to mirror him. Without God, let me say again, there is no such thing as morals, basis for knowledge, or life itself.

Conclusion...what do we do?

Although some people who are told exactly what the Christian Doctrine is, will fight it, and deny it. I do think there are those whom will come to the table of Christ as a starving man before a hearty meal. When I write, my life is evangelism, not just apologetic. In my book "God in the Dock," I quote, "Most of my books are evangelistic...It would have been inept of me to preach forgiveness and a Savior to those who did not know they needed either." It is more important to bring one lost soul to salvation than to save all the books of medieval past. Humans are made Christians to pass on God's love to others. That is what humanity was created for.

What do you say? Agree...Disagree

Please let me know your feelings, I love to discuss Theology with others.  

 

God is

January 22, 2014

God is…Relational…Creator

I’ll give you some of my excerpts from the book I wrote named Mere Christianity to try to explain some things about God.

January 23, 2014

God…Creator…Relational

As a Christian you do not have to reject every point of all religions. There may be some hints of God in them. As in mathematics, there is only one correct answer some wrong answers are closer than others. There is a big division in humanity, which are those who believe in God and those whom do not. Then there’s a smaller of division in which God or Gods do you believe in?

Then there are numerous ways to break up the God or Gods.  There is Christianity, Muslim, and Judaism who believe in one God and good and evil. There is Pantheism that goes beyond good and evil, and basically says God and universe are one.  Then there are Greeks, Romans, and Pagans with multiple Gods.  Everybody has a different idea about God.

The Christian though think God made the world and EVERYTHING in it. God made this world up as man makes up a story. But a Christian also knows something went wrong, very wrong. God is there to save us to put everything right again.

The Apostles Creed stated that before the foundation of the world, the Father beget the Son. I would like to explain the difference between making and begetting.  Beget is not a word that gets used much anymore, but it means, “To become the father of.” A father can beget a son, but he can only make a statue.  You beget the same thing as yourself. Let me clarify this thought. “God begets god, and man begets man. God cannot create God. Man cannot make man.” So the point is God beget Christ, but he made man.

So hopefully I have made that clear, now let us move on. “A good many people nowadays say, “I believe in a God, but not a personal God.” They feel there is something beyond the natural, but just not personal. The Christian idea of God is the only one who is personal. Even after death some people have the idea that we are absorbed into God, but again only a Christian understanding of the afterlife is you are a person true again. 

Moreover, let us say you and your best friend are both scientists. You study rocks, and he studies animals. You can just walk up to the rock and study it, as it does not move or talk. If you want to study them, it’s up to you. Your friend to study animals in the wild, on the other hand, must take more initiative. He must go to the animal, but it can run away. He must be still, but the animal knows your there.  “There is beginning to be a tiny little trace of initiative on their side.” But how do you become best friends with him? Well first you must become known to each other, and then become friends. This takes initiative on both people. In order to know something or someone the higher being must take initiative.

So I hope this obviously brings to your mind, “What about God?” He is the higher being in this, so the initiative is solely up to him. It’s up to him to find you. Sometimes he shows more of himself more too some people than others. He shows himself more to a man who has a clean mind and heart. “Just as the sunlight, though it has no favorites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as a clean one.

What do we use to relate to God? We must use our whole self. Our clean hearts and minds are used to see God. If we are not clean, we see God through a dirty instrument, as looking at the moon through a dirty telescope. “That’s why horrible nations have horrible religions: they've been looking at God through a dirty lens.”

God will only show himself to men who are part of a community, and they are doing what God made them to do.  So this means God shows himself ultimately through community. If we were to make up Christianity, it would be made up as something much easier. But Christianity is about Facts, not made up religion.

Hopefully your asking, “Now what?” I say Theology should be practical.

Men are mirrors of Christ, some are reluctant. You see some non-Christians helped bring me to Christ. But it is usually those who know him, reflect him better. This is why the church as a whole is so important to Christ.  We reflect Christ better as a team effort, rather than as an individual.   

I hope you find this helpful, and I am hoping you will join in the conversation about what God is. What is he to you? Do you agree or disagree with me? Please share, as Christians in community we can help each other reflect God.

Jack-“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” 

Getting started

Hello everybody and welcome to my blog. This is my first time blogging, so I hope this will be fun and informative for you. My full name is Clive Staples Lewis, but you may call me “Jack” as my friends and family do. I guess you would like to know about me, that is why you are here. Let’s see, I was born on November 29, 1898 in Belfast Ireland, and I work at Oxford University. Before Oxford, I served in the English Army but I was wounded in WWI. I was sent home after receiving a wound from shrapnel. I started my university years at Oxford, and then I was awarded a fellowship teaching position at Magdelon College, which is part of the University.

First and foremost, I am a Christian. You will see this all throughout my writings.  But I was not born as a Christian; it was a long journey as God was hunting me to become one. I’m sure I will go deeper into this as I create more postings. Not only am I employed with the university, but I love to write books. I write fiction and non-fiction books. I love reading the bible, and often imagine a world outside of this realm of earth.  I even wrote about another world known as Narnia. I wrote plenty of stories about this world are full of bravery, evil, talking animals, and a large lion named Aslan. I will explain more of this world later on also.

I hope you will all enjoy my blogs, as I hope to inspire you.  I hope to provoke your imagination to know God more and more each day. I encourage you to comment, and let’s have some great discussions.

Jack-“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”