Posted on 12/16/2005 11:31:42 AM PST by UnklGene
Better tell George Bush too. Didn't he answer in a debate that Christ was his most admired philosopher.
Better tell George Bush too. Didn't he answer in a debate that Christ was his most admired philosopher.
We are born again at every Mass!
Except for one being a "great philosopher" is just the beginning while for the other it is the end.
I think GWB should have said, without flinching:
"Wittgenstein. Definitely Wittgenstein."
And then wait to see what the journalist would offer as a follow up.
My personal favorite
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
This tale of two princesses - one beautiful and one unattractive - and of the struggle between sacred and profane love is Lewis’s reworking of the myth of Cupid and Psyche and one of his most enduring works.
I don't think the ability to compartmentalize is what Lewis meant there. He is not arguing that Christ, if only a man, could not have been inconsistent.
He is arguing against the rather common and condescending notion that Christ was a great, humble, moral teacher. He argues that Christ purposefully took this off the table as an option. His teachings were not humble (as in John 8:58, my favorite verse in all of scripture where Christ states that "before Abraham was, I AM!"), and if you listen to his words and believe that he was not the Son of God, you must decide whether He was a liar, or a nutjob. You cannot call yourself the Son of God, "I AM", and claim to exert the authority that Christ did, and be a good teacher, if you are not God.
Your counter-argument is logical, but Christ's positions and His rationale for the Authority to hold them are not easily seperated in the record. To do so, to strip away his divinity and look only at his more universally accepted moral teachings, He then MIGHT be a moral teacher, but I would argue, not a "great" one.
I think Josh McDowell expanded on this in "More Than a Carpenter", another must read for introductory Apologetics. My favorite author in Apologetics is a tie between Lewis and Norman Geisler. Geisler is more theologically learned, but Lewis far more poetic.
If this thread develops according to pattern, down a wore out road. The "born again" thing has been argued to death many times.
Lewis was a true voice calling out to 20th century Christianity. He is my hero.
I recommend 'Till We Have Faces". Lewis considered it his best work.
I'm reading it now. I've never quite believed because it all seemed illogical. Lewis's logical approach is v ery helpful.
bookmark
1. then why do you reply
2. So has evolution threads but I still see new ones on every day.
Because I can.
2. So has evolution threads but I still see new ones on every day.
Gee. You got me there.
what does that mean anyway..? Does it mean that fallen Catholics will go back to being Catholics, or does it mean that Catholics will be Presbyterians?... or that they don't believe in God but come around...
I'm not being obtuse, but what do you mean by being "born again"?
"Either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse."
He was and is the Son of God.
see post 27
I don't think the "lunatic/Lord" argument is intended to prove His divinity.
The purpose of that argument is the purpose of this particular radio address quoted above, namely, to remove JC from the bin of philosopher/moralists that tepid souls dip into when they need an emotional tingle.
The argument and the point is that JC must not be regarded as just a man. It is all or nothing, Lord or lunatic. And those who hear his word are either lighted eternally by it or cast themselves into darkness from it.
I think I understand your point....
But, I disagree with it...
I think if a person seriously love the teachings of Christ... Even without being a believer. That is a beautiful thing....
That person might not know the true light, but at least he has seen a reflection of it and is attracted to it. It should not be scoffed at.
I guess I am biased in this instance, because in my young years I was a staunch pro-Jesus atheist....
Cheers.
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