Posted on 12/16/2005 11:31:42 AM PST by UnklGene
God sent the human race what I call good dreams: I mean those queer stories scattered all through the heathen religions about a god who dies and comes to life again and, by his death, has somehow given new life to men. He also selected one particular people and spent several centuries hammering into their heads the sort of God He was — that there was only one of Him and that He cared about right conduct. Those people were the Jews, and the Old Testament gives an account of the hammering process.
Then comes the real shock. Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world Who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.
One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned; the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history.
Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is ‘humble and meek’ and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
This is an extract from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. It is reprinted with permission from C.S. Lewis Pte Ltd (CSL). All rights reserved. CSL has not otherwise approved the content of this publication or the views expressed herein and assumes no responsibility or liability for such content or views.
I don't know what the percentages are of Catholics being "born again" but I doubt it is very high.
This was one of my favorite passages in Mere Christianity. The concept that you had to agree that Jesus was God or that he was a nutter had a great impact on me. I chose the former.
"God sent the human race what I call good dreams: I mean those queer stories scattered all through the heathen religions about a god who dies and comes to life again and, by his death, has somehow given new life to men."
Uh-uh. God didn't send those notions of false gods.
What point are you trying to make? If you're a practicing Catholic, you believe Jesus is Lord and he died for your sins. And you say a prayer repenting your sins every week at Mass (The Confitior). If you don't believe that, you're not really a Catholic. These things seem to be very close to what happens when many born-again Christians are born again (seems to be similar to what happened at the last Billy Graham Crusade I saw). So if that's the definition of born again that you accept, then all practicing Catholics are "born again."
If I understand the tale correctly, the main characture in Hidious Strenght is Tolkein himself (Name changed of course). Lewis and Tolkien had a deal, one would write a Sci-Fi and the other a Ghost story, and find which would be more popular. Tolkien's ghost story lost, but, it did have Lewis as the protagonist (name changed of course)
I've been thinking about Lewis much lately, I think I'll re-read those two.
"Born Again" means that one states to himself and God that he accepts Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Hoards of "Christians" have not done this. I know many Catholics and Protestants that have never done this. You wonder how I know, I asked them.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!!"
redrock
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman is an excellent lamentation on this phenomenon.
It has been one of the most influential books on my life.
Good idea. Who knows, it may even work.
We've all been baptized, so we've all been "born again of water and the spirit."
Don't forget the Great Commission either: "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of..."
No doubt about it. Postman just nails it. A book that every consumer of the media should read. It's what, 30 years or more old? But, more relevent today than ever
Here we go!
I remember the feeling of blunt force trauma when I read these words the first time. The man is right and I was a fool.
Ransom is a linguist, and I could see other similarities to Tolkein as well.
I love the character, but I thought he was better in the first two.
HHMmmmmmm, where are you going?
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