Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Mere Christianity and Surprised by Joy

Third lecture in C.S. Lewis series by Louis Markos.  It is on Ethics and the Tao.

This is C.S. Lewis's most bizarre choice of words for the best proof of God's existence.  He hijacks Confucius's word of Confusion and applies it to God's ultimate moral standard.  It's like, all people everywhere have an inner knowledge that you should not kill, cheat on your wife, steal, etc.  They would not have this if there was no God to give them this standard, therefore, there is a God.

Lewis does take the wrong path in implying that God placed this inner knowledge inside all people, although it's similar to Romans 1, God is obvious simply through his creation.  I'm going to take a different route and go with the arguments of both Jason Lisle of Answers and Genesis and William of Occam (I'm not sure if I'm citing the latter correctly.)  Lisle pretty much took Lewis's Tao and formulated the ultimate proof of creation: the fact that we all have a moral code.  If there was no God, there would be no morals or reason to not kill, cheat on your wife, steal, etc.  The fact that people have moral standards is proof that a divine being did give us laws and order to the planet.  But this reason is not because of an inner conscious.

I believe it was William of Occam who got his name on the Ontological argument.  Correct me if I'm wrong.  Please.  Basically, all people have a concept of God in their minds.  This concept would not exist if there was no God.  God's existence is proven simply because we all have a mental concept of God.  Although I've always liked that argument, it seemed rather simplistic until I became a fan of Answers in Genesis.  I seriously think Ken Ham has perfected the Ontological argument when he talks about dinosaurs.  People all over the world have dragon legends, pictures and tales.  The word dinosaur was not coined until 1841, so in 1611, the King James Bible would have called such creatures dragons.  Have you ever read of Job's Behemoth and Leviathan?  Read the descriptions of Behemoth's cedar-like tale or Leviathan who breathes sparks.  He's describing a dinosaur and a fire-breathing dragon.  No joke.  So, obviously, dinosaurs were real, they went extinct, but they lived to the middle ages because before 1841, they were called dragons. 

Why would this all be true?  We have bones, fossils, legends and paintings all over the world, and God also sent a great Flood that would churn the earth into looking old, stack the rocks in a such a way that the dinosaurs would be buried and fossilized rapidly, and give us all the evidence we need to prove God and his Word.  And Noah would have had dragons on his Ark.  And they would have provided all the tales of slayings and knights and sacrifices, etc.

Still, why does this prove the Ontological argument?  Because God really created Adam, and all people really are descended from him.  After his fall, he told his children about God, who told their children.  Then they all sinned, and God destroyed them in a flood but had mercy on Noah and his family.  Noah told his children about God who passed it on to their children who migrated all over the world.  Many turned their backs on the true God despite what they knew and invented other gods more to their liking, but still, we all come from Noah, he told us all about God, therefore we all have a concept of God, proving him true.  So there's the process, and that's all I will say about Lewis's Tao tonight.

1 comment:

  1. One's religious beliefs are as personal and sometimes inexplicable as sexual preference. I beg to differ with the preivious reviewer. There is no need to browbeat Lewis for his beliefs and his explanation of same. If one dislikes Christianity, one need not believe. If one wants a clear explanation of the central tenets of the faith, one can do no better. Lewis at many points in this book tells the reader that he need not accept certain aspects or approaches set forth in 'Mere Christianity"

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