Friday Frivolity: Our Lady of Puns
Okay, these are pretty terrible, even by my standards…
Mere Christianity – Book II – Chapter 1 (“Rival Conceptions of God”)
We now begin the second Book of “Mere Christianity” which is entitled “What Christian’s Believe”. Previously I had been posting my notes as I read. Here are my notes for the first chapter of Book II:
Notes & Quotes
1. Christians can recognize the elements of truth in other religions
“If you are Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth”
2. Christians can still make absolute claims
“As in arithmetic – there is only one right answer to a sum…but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others”
3. Humanity may be divided first into two groups, the majority who believe in some kind of deity and a minority who do not. This group may be further subdivided into the kind of deity in which they believe:
(a) Pantheists
These believe that:
(i) God who is beyond good and evil
“…these people think that long before you got anywhere near the divine point of view the distinction [between good and evil] would have disappeared altogether…[This is] Pantheism. It was held by the great Prussian philosopher Hegel and, as far as I can understand them, by the Hindus.”
(ii) God and the universe almost the same thing
“Pantheists usually believe that God, so to speak, animates the universe as you animate your body: that the universe almost is God, so that if it did not exist He would not exist either, and anything you find in the universe is a part of God”
These two beliefs are connected:
“If you do not take the distinction between good an bad very seriously, then it is easy to say that anything you find in this world is a part of God”
(b) Non-Panthesists
These believe that:
(i) God who is ‘good’
“…a God who takes sides, who loves love and hates hatred, who wants us to behave in one way and not in another…[a view] held by Jews, Mohammadans and Christians”
The word “Mohammadans” is an old word used to describe Muslims (since they were followers of Mohammad).
(ii) God is distinct from His creation
“…God invented and made the universe – like a man making a picture or composing a tune. A painter is not a picture, and he does not die if his picture is destroyed”
These beliefs are connected:
“…if you think some things really bad, and God really good, then you cannot talk like that. You must believe that God is separate from the world and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will…a great many things have gone wrong with the world that God made and that God insists, and insists very loudly, on putting them right again”
4. The very question as to why there is evil in the world presupposes God
“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line…I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that then my argument against God collapsed too – for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies”
Discussion Questions
1. Why does Jack say that when he became a Christian he adopted the more “liberal” view?
2. Is it possible to affirm the truth of other religions while still holding to the absolute truth claims of Christianity?
3. Can you think of any religion completely devoid of ALL truth?
4. Into what two central conceptions of God does Jack say people hold? Do you think we could divide it up in a different way?
5. In what way do these conceptions of God and our attitudes towards the Moral Law and the Universe relate to each other?
6. Why does the very question of asking about evil in the world presuppose the existence of God?
C.S. Lewis Doodle
(The video does work, honest!)
When the British don’t talk about sex…
As I was driving in to work today, I was listening to Episode 26 of Trending with Don and Timmerie.
One of the news items being discussed by the hosts referred to my country of origin and I thought it would be worth briefly sharing here. The news item in question referred to a study by David Paton and Liam Wright and published in the Journal of Health Economics.
Back in the 1990s, Britain had some of the highest teen pregnancy rates, so the government responded with a rigorous sex education plan costing four hundred and fifty-four million pounds. The plan was implemented, free contraception was handed out… but it it did little to reduce the occurrences of teen pregnancy.
However, in 2008 things changed. Due to the economic downturn, the funding for the sex education initiatives were cut. Some of the schools chose to continue the programmes, while others dropped them due to lack of funding. It might surprise some to find out that in the geographical areas where the programmes no longer functioned, there was a distinct drop in the number of teenage pregnancies and abortions (up to 40%), while it was business-as-usual in the areas where the programmes continued.
Perhaps contraception isn’t the panacea we were promised…
Music Monday: Heart of Mercy
I’m still on a John Finch kick at the moment. Today’s song is a duet with Rita West, a delightful song entitled “Heart of Mercy”:
There is a harbor for those in need of safety,
a place, a place where we can rest.
There is a father, who left his thrown above,
to find, to find this wayward soul.
I’m drawing closer…
Into the heart, into the heart of mercy
that bore my shame, and broke my chains at Calvary.
That love poured out, and saved by grace you lead me home.
Into the heart of God, into the heart of mercy.
I run to you, your arms are open wide.
Forgiven, forgiven and set free.
I’ll follow you for you have made a way,
to mend, to mend this broken heart.
I’m falling deeper…
Blood and water, pouring from your side
it floods my heart and brings me back to life. x2
Early Christian Controversies that Protestantism Can’t Explain
This past Friday, Joe Heschmeyer was on Catholic Answer Live, the audio of which is available here. Joe was talking about one of my favourite subjects, Church History. In particular he was talking about how many of the early controversies in the Church can’t really be explained from within a Protestant framework.
For example, in the Early Church there was a breakaway group in AD 311 called the Donatists. These were rigorists who insisted that the sacraments administered by clergy who had been compromised during persecution were invalid. This was a major issue within the Church of the Early Fourth Century…but it’s an argument that makes no sense within most Protestant frameworks.
If you are interested, the article where he draws out these ideas is available below:
To go deep into history…
Cardinal Newman famously said that “…to go deep into history is to cease to be Protestant”. I couldn’t help but think of this quotation when a friend of mine sent me a screenshot of the Church of England Twitter account, remembering the “Reformation Martyrs” St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher. While I can appreciate the ecumenical good-will which no doubt motivated the tweet, the history of these two men renders this tweet exceptionally odd.
Both Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher were Catholics who were executed by King Henry VIII. They were killed because they opposed the King’s divorce of Catherine of Aragon, his marriage to Anne Boleyn and the break from Rome which this remarriage necessitated. It is therefore more than a little strange for the Church of England to hold in high regard two men who shed their blood in opposing the creation of their own institution!
On a personal note, when I lived in London, the gym which I attended was very close to the location of their execution on Tower Hill, so I would quite often pray the Divine Office on that martyrdom site.
It has been said that shortly before Bishop Fisher’s execution, he opened St. John’s Gospel and read the following:
“Eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ. I have given You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do. Do You now, Father, give me glory at Your side”
– John 17:3-5
After closing the book, the good bishop commented “There is enough learning in that to last me the rest of my life”. St. More and St. Fisher, pray for us.
Friday Frivolity: Do you even lift?
