Questions on Christianity

C. S. Lewis’s book, Till We Have Faces, is very similar to another one of my favorite books, Ecclesiastes.  The reason I like both is they so eloquently describe the human condition.  To understand the world and our place in this world, it is critical that we understand ourselves.  As Lucian of Samosata says, “the only study of mankind is man”. [1]

One lesson both books teach us is that we most often pursue what is unimportant.  Orual states that we do and do and do but then asks:  Does all our doing really matter? [2]  We learn and learn and learn but does it really change anything?  We acquire and acquire and acquire but are we any happier?  If we honestly look at our lives, much of our lives are a “senseless repetitions of days and nights and seasons and years”. [2]

As Ecclesiastes says:

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.  Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”?  It has been already in the ages before us.  There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after. [3]

The author of Ecclesiastes discovered we humans consistently chase after things that do not matter.  We seek pleasure, wisdom, wealth, and honor but ultimately they are immaterial.  We are so good at ignoring what is important and emphasizing the irrelevant.

We pursue advancing our technology because it can and has helped to relieve so much suffering in our world but it has also brought so much pain.  Through our technology we can eliminate starvation in our world but through our technology we kill millions in our struggles for power.  Our technology is not the answer; it is just a tool.  What matters is the use to which we put our technology and that is determined by the type of person we are.

After the Preacher had heard and experienced all, his conclusion was that our main duty is to “Fear God and keep his commandments. . .” [4]  It is our moral choices that determine what type of person we are and will become.  And who we are will determine the world in which we live.

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[1]   H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 1, Public Domain Books, Kindle edition, Location 375.

[2]   C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces (San Diego:  Harcourt Brace & Company, 1956), p. 236.

[3]   Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 ESV

[4]   Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV

In the last blog, we discussed Orual’s complaint against her gods in C. S. Lewis’ novel, Till We Have Faces.  We noted that her complaint very accurately described the problem all of us face.  That problem is God only provides us with hints and does not give us certainty about his existence.  God made us finite but yet he expects us to believe in something that occurred 2,000 years ago.  And what he wants us to believe is something extraordinary that only occurred once in human history—Jesus dying and being resurrected for our sins.  And if we do not believe, he will punish us for eternity.

Now Greg Koul, an adjunct professor in Christian apologetics at Biola University, makes a valid point that no one goes to hell because they do not believe in Jesus; people will be sent to hell because they break God’s law. [1]  However, Christianity teaches the only way to receive forgiveness for breaking God’s law is to believe in Jesus and his work for our sins; Jesus is the only way of salvation.  So while what Mr. Koul says might be true, in reality, it is just semantics.  Regardless of how you look at it, according to Christian doctrine we must believe in Jesus and his death for our sins to be saved and go to heaven.

C. S. Lewis’ resolves Orual’s complaints against her gods by concluding we must develop into beings to which the gods can relate. The gods cannot speak openly to us because we babble.  We must learn to speak intelligibly.  Until we have faces, how can the gods face us? [2]

Is C. S. Lewis’ resolution of Orual’s complaints so far from what we have discussed in this blog?  How can we relate to God if we have little in common with him?  God will not change.  If we want a relationship with God, it is we who must change; our soul must become like him.

[1]  Greg Koul, “What about Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel?”, CD, Christian Apologetics Program, LaMirada, CA:  Biola University.

[2]   C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces (San Diego:  Harcourt Brace & Company, 1956), p. 294.

One of my favorite books is Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis.  I have read it at least four times and it is very rare that I read a book twice.  One reason I like this book is that I can relate to Orual, the main character.  Orual, who has seen the highs and lows of life as the ruler of a small kingdom, issues a complaint against her gods that includes the following.

The gods do not answer us or if they do it is with terrors and plagues.

If the gods really intended to provide guidance for us, why is their guidance not plain?

The gods hide themselves and torment us with glimpses.

The gods ask us to believe what contradicts our senses.

The gods give us no clear sign even if we beg.  We must guess.  If we guess wrong, they punish us.

The gods will neither go away and leave us alone nor show themselves openly and tell us what they want.

The gods tantalize us with hints but are silent when we question them; it is as if they have no answers. [1]

Orual’s complaint is very similar to the questions we have asked in this blog.  God has made us finite which limits our ability to know what is true but God still expects us to believe that he exists.  God has limited our ability to know what is true outside of our space and time but he still expects us to believe that 2,000 years ago Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead for our sins.  And if we do not believe these things, he will condemn us to hell for eternity.  If this is true, then all of Orual’s criticisms of her gods apply to God as well.  Can we respect such a God?

Or maybe our concept of what God requires of us and of how God relates to us needs to be revised.

[1]  C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces (San Diego:  Harcourt Brace & Company, 1956, pp. 3, 134, 244, 249, 250.

Lucian of Samosata, a Greco-Roman philosopher, in his satire “Hermotimus or the Rival Philosophies” discusses the problems of determining which philosophy of his time (120 to 200 AD) he should follow in his quest to discover what is true.  He compares such problems with a person who wants to but “cannot plunge into the depths of the sea at Sicily and come up at Cyprus, or soar on wings and fly within the day from Greece to India. . .” [1]

In his era this was impossible but it is easily done in our era.  Why?  It is because we have worked together to solve the problems of traveling under the sea and through the air.  If we can solve those problems, why cannot we solve our other problems?

Human history is a record of the constant rise and fall of civilizations, and of constant wars between nations.  The atrocities committed on a daily basis on our planet are staggering.  The major problem the human race faces is not in discovering new scientific facts or in developing new technology to improve our lives as is evidenced by the problems that have been solved by science; the problem is in getting along with each other as is evidenced from watching the news.  We are very adept at using science and technology for our wars and terrorists acts.  We have become very efficient in utilizing our technology to destroy human life.  We have developed our agricultural science to such an extent that the issue is no longer having sufficient food to feed the world but whether we have the will to end starvation on our planet. [2]

If we can solve technical problems to make our lives easier, why cannot we solve the human relationship problem?  Why, in the words of Mark Twain, do we humans make “a graveyard of the globe in trying [our] honest best to smooth [our] brother’s path to happiness and heaven”?  [3]  The answer is because we do not desire to solve this problem.  We would rather pursue our selfish interests than solve this age old problem.

[1]   H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 2, Public Domain Books, Kindle edition, Location 1046.

[2]   Dan Morgan, Merchants of Grain (New York, NY:  Penguin Books, 1980), pp. 444-445.

[3]   Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth (Greenwich, Conn.:  Fawcett Publications, 1962), p. 180.

Jesus tells us the entire Old Testament Law and Prophets are fulfilled in just two commandments (Matthew 22:37-40):  Love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and love our neighbor as our self

Now, I can understand the second commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves because our neighbors are very similar to us and the Bible gives us plenty of examples of how we are to love them (I Corinthians 13, Luke 10:25-34, Matthew 25:31-46).

But what does it mean to love God?  Pascal, a Christian philosopher, believes that:

God is infinitely beyond our comprehension, since, being indivisible and without limits, he bears no relation to us.  We are therefore incapable of knowing either what he is or whether he is.” [1]

If God is unknowable, how can we have a relationship with, let alone love, God?  The answer is Jesus tells us and demonstrates to us who God is.  How do we know who Jesus was and that what he tells us about God is true?  We know it through two different avenues:  the Bible and personal experience.

Knowing about God through a book, the Bible, gives us information but does it enable us to have a relationship with or to love God?  Can I have a relationship with Abraham Lincoln by reading a book about him?  Can I love Lincoln?  I might love what he did but I cannot love him because I do not know him as a person.

Christians say they have a personal relationship with God and Jesus.  After all John 16:8 does tell us that the Holy Spirit communicates to us directly and we can pray to God.  Also, Christianity teaches that God is somehow involved with each of us on a very personal level (Matthew 10:29-31).  However, how do we know what we feel or think about a particular subject is God talking to us or is our personal opinion?  How do we sort what God says from the endless chatter of our mind?

God seems to hide himself from us (Isaiah 45:15) or at least we can say that he does not make himself readily apparent.  Most everything we know about God we must take on faith.  Why does God hide himself?  Maybe the purpose of our lives is for us to know who we are.  Only when we know who we are can we determine if we have anything in common with God.  Only when we know ourselves is it possible to know if we want to have a relationship with God.

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[1]   Krailsheimer, A. J., Translator.  Pascal:  Pensées (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England:  Penguin Books, 1966) p. 150.

Why did God construct our existence so that we must believe in things we cannot know or see?  Why is faith so important to God?  I do not think that faith is that important to God.  Faith is just a means to accomplish his purposes.

We must have faith because we are finite.  If we knew all there was to know, we would not need faith.  If we knew with certainty that God exists, we would not need faith in God.  If we knew for certain Jesus rose from the dead, we would not need to have faith that what the Bible tells us is true.

Why did God make us finite?  Because we are finite, everyone, no matter if we are secular or religious, must have faith in something.  No one has absolute certainty for their beliefs.  God has given us the freedom to believe whatever we want to believe and to be whatever we want to be.  God desires to see what type of individual we are, to see what type of person we are becoming.

What the Bible tells us is that if we become more like God, we will spend eternity with him.  If we become unlike God, we will not spend eternity together.  The choice is ours.  The reason for faith is that it shows us who we are and who we are becoming.  And this information is of critical importance because who we are will determine where we spend eternity.

To be a Christian, one must believe in certain historical events—that Jesus existed, died, and was resurrected.  As we have seen previously, this requires an element of faith because we do not have absolute proof these events actually occurred.  They occurred over 2,000 years ago, in a different culture, and involve a very extraordinary event—the resurrection of a man from the dead.

However, there is more to Christianity than just these historical events; there is a meaning to these events.  Christianity teaches the purpose of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection was to pay the penalty for our sins and to restore us to a right relationship with God.  How do we this is true?  The Bible tells us the meaning of these events but we have no proof for it; we must take this on faith.

It is obvious that in all aspects of Christianity, faith is essential.  “. . . without faith it is impossible to please him . . .” (Hebrews 11:6 ESV)  The Bible defines faith as “. . .the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV).  To be a Christian, we must believe in things we cannot know or see.  Why did God construct our existence in this manner?  If God is who he says he is, he could have given us certainty but he did not.  God must have a reason for doing.  So why do I see so few Christians trying to determine what that reason is?  Does the Bible tell us why?

As we have previously discussed in this blog, Christianity has a wealth of evidence for its beliefs; it is a very reasonable belief.  However, this fact does not mean it is irrational not to believe in Christianity.  There are two reasons why.

First, while there is a considerable amount of evidence for the validity of Christianity, not everyone in the world has the time or inclination to research and discover these facts.  Not all of us have the time to take courses in apologetics.  Not all of us can acquire a doctorial degree in religious studies.  We have other tasks that consume our time such as our job, our life’s work, and so we must make do with whatever information about Christianity we incidentally acquire as we go through life.  Also we might be raised in another religion and it is very unlikely we would investigate Christianity to see if it is true.

Second, it is a fact that we do not have absolute proof for God or for the validity of Christianity; other reasonable people can disagree with our beliefs.  This fact is simply the human condition which is how God made us.  We are finite which means our knowledge is incomplete and our ability to know what is true is limited.  And that includes our knowledge of God, Jesus, and the Bible.

I do not know of any person who has conducted an honest investigation into the validity of Christianity who would disagree with the above two observations.  The problem with these two observations is that they conflict with one of Christianity’s doctrines.  Most Christian religions and denominations teach that Jesus is the only way to God; we must believe that Jesus died and was resurrected for our sins to be saved and go to heaven.  My question is:  If God decided that the only way to him and heaven is through Jesus, why did he make us finite?  A reasonable person can doubt the existence of God, the fact of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the fact the Bible is the word of God yet God will condemn such a person to hell.  That is not a God of love and justice we read about in the Bible.

J. P. Moreland, in discussing how to choose a religion, stated that a religion should profoundly address the human condition. [1]  The above questions are questions about the human condition that seemingly contradict Christian theology.  God evidently is requiring us to do something (believe in him and Jesus’ death and resurrection for our sins) that he made us incapable of doing.

This is a question that I do not see Christianity addressing.  Why?  If we Christians consider our faith to be rational, if we spend enormous amounts of time and money on demonstrating the rationality of our faith, why would we ignore this problem?

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[1]   J. P. Moreland, “Arguments for the Existence of God”, Biola University, The Christian Apologetics Program, Audio CD.

Given all the evidence we have cited in the last blog, why does not everyone accept Christianity as true?

First, there are many people who have not heard of Jesus.  John Sanders, in his book What About Those Who Have Never Heard?, concludes that a majority of the people who have ever lived have never heard of the God of Israel or of Jesus. [1]  If one has not heard, one cannot believe.

Second, Christianity requires that we believe certain historical facts are true, namely that Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead in first century Palestine.  In our blogs of March 7 and 14, 2011 we discussed some of the reasons why people do not believe in these historical events.  The bottom line is that God made us finite which means our ability to know what is true is limited.  Given our human condition, we cannot have certainty in regards to historical events; we must deal with probabilities.  John Warwick Montgomery in History, Law, and Christianity states that probability is the only method we have in deciding to follow Jesus but we must realize that we use probabilities daily in deciding what to do. [2]  Alister E. McGrath in Intellectuals Don’t Need God & Other Modern Myths states that while Christianity makes sense, it ultimately depends upon a leap of faith. [3]  He also notes that essentially all human knowledge is uncertain including our apologetics. [4]  Any Christian who is intellectually honest would admit the same.

While it is a well-established fact that we must rely on probability to discover the truth of historical events, it is important to understand that our ignorance is not total.  Just because we must use probability in our search for the truth of distant events does not mean that we possess no truth at all.  The French scientist Poincaré notes:

If we were not ignorant, there would be no probability, there would be room for nothing but certainty.  But our ignorance cannot be absolute, for then there would no longer be any probability at all, since a little light is necessary to attain even this uncertain science. [5]

Christian apologetics sheds a considerable amount of light on the validity of Christianity.  It is very reasonable to believe in Christianity; it is not just a belief based on blind faith.  Anyone who states that Christianity is not a rationally based belief is not acquainted with all the facts.  However, we must also recognize that our apologetics cannot give us the absolute certainty that Christianity is true; there is still an element of doubt that remains.  And this raises a question about our theology which we will address in the next blog.

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[1]   John Sanders, What About Those Who Have Never Heard? (Downers Grove, IL:  InterVarsity Press, 1995), p. 9.

[2]   John Warwick Montgomery, History, Law, and Christianity (Edmonton, AB, Canada:  Canadian Institute for Law, Theology, and Public Policy, Inc., 2002), pp. 91-93.

[3]   Alister E. McGrath in Intellectuals Don’t Need God & Other Modern Myths (Grand Rapids, MI:  Zondervan Publishing House, 1993), pp. 59-60.

[4]   Ibid., p. 155.

[5]   Henri Poincaré, The Foundations of Science (Lancaster, PA:  The Science Press, 1946), p. 159.