Mark Conner Contemporary Culture, Religion, Spirituality

What is Happening to Christianity?

The statistics are in from the 2021 census by the Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS: source]. Only 43.9% of Australians now identify with its most common religion – Christianity. This is down from 50% in 2016, 60% percent in 2011, and 71% not long before that. That’s what I would call a ‘free fall’ – almost a 30%+ decline in a matter of decades. It is the first time less than half of the country identifies as Christian.

So what is the fastest-growing religious category? ‘No religion‘. More Australians than ever have reported they don’t identify with any religion. Almost 40% of the Australian population reported having ‘no religion’. This marks an increase from 30% in 2016 and 22% in 2011. NOTE: Despite being a voluntary question on the census, there was an increase in the proportion of people answering the question, from 91% in 2016 to 93% in 2021.

The census showed other religions are growing but make up a small proportion of the population. Hinduism has grown by 55.3 percent to 684,002 people or 2.7 percent of the population. Islam has grown to 813,392 people, which is 3.2 percent of the Australian population.

So what is happening? Is this simply a sign of increasing nominalism and spiritual apathy? Or could it be that Christianity in its current forms simply doesn’t seem attractive to more and more people who do not believe it is worth their wholehearted devotion and commitment?

In the USA, the Supreme Court has recently overturned Roe Vs Wade which legalised abortion back in 1973. Most conservative Christians are rejoicing and former President Donald Trump is smiling in a corner somewhere. However, the culture wars are ignited afresh as a result of this landmark decision, with LGTBQI+ rights potentially under threat next.

How does all of this affect the work of the church and the message of Jesus? Personally, I am for life in all its ages and stages BUT I think legislating morality can be problematic. Zack Hunt’s recent provocative article ‘The Pro-Life Movement Is Anti-Christ‘ raises a lot of relevant issues in all of this.

No doubt the reputation of Christianity has been greatly damaged by cases of clergy sexual abuse and recent public scandals of influential leaders. In addition, the COVID pandemic caused much polarisation within the church between anti-vaxxers, conspiracists, and health professionals, and has also had a big impact on church attendance as well as volunteerism (I recently heard that one Christian business person said the last thing they wanted right now was to be on a roster!).

An increasing number of people I know have no problem with Jesus and would describe themselves as ‘spiritual‘ but feel less comfortable with the institutional church as we know it and in identifying with ‘Christianity.’

I just finished reading Brian McLaren’s latest book ‘Do I Stay Christian: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned‘. It is a challenging read and though you will probably not agree with all of his analysis or recommendations, he sure captures the current questions and dilemmas that many followers of Jesus are grappling with.

We know that ‘Christendom‘ is gone, at least in the West, but it now seems that even contemporary expressions of ‘church‘ are also on shaky ground.

In his book ‘The Future of Faith‘, Harvard religion scholar Harvey Cox offers up a new interpretation of the history and future of religion. Cox identifies three fundamental shifts over the last 2,000 years of church history:

  • The Age of Faith was when the early church was more concerned with following Jesus’ teachings than enforcing what to believe about Jesus.
  • The Age of Belief marks a significant shift – between the fourth and twentieth centuries – when the church focused on orthodoxy and right beliefs.
  • The Age of the Spirit, which began in the 1960s and is shaping not just Christianity but other religious traditions today, is ignoring dogma and breaking down barriers between different religions. Spirituality is replacing formal religion. 

For even more thought-provoking reading on this topic, you can’t go past American historian of Christianity Diana Butler Bass‘ monumental work in her book ‘Christianity After Religion’.

So what does this all mean? Where are things heading? What does the future hold? How should we respond to this? What is God up to? These are vital questions for our time, especially for followers of Jesus and church leaders seeking to live out his mission in our world. May we have wisdom, courage, and grace to respond well to the times we have been given.

Mark Conner Contemporary Culture, Current Issues, General Interest, Personal Development, Religion, Spirituality, Theology

A Map of Life’s Journey

In a few months time I will be 58 years of age. As I grow older, I find myself reflecting more on my life. Where I’ve come from, where I’ve been, where and who I am now, and where I am going. I also observe other people in their own journey as they seek to make sense of this amazing gift called ‘life’.

I read a few intriguing personal news items these last few weeks (see more below). After doing so, I sketched out the following stages as a sample map of life’s journey. Here is what I observe.

1. Construction

We all grow up in a context – a family, a country, a village or tribe, a set of values, and for many, a religious belief system. This is the ‘construction’ we emerge within. There are shapes, lines, borders, and boundaries that we learn to live and move within. Other people created this construct for us. Often they are the influential people in our life or our environment. It’s what we inherit we when start out on our journey.

2. Conversion

At some point, as we grow up, we start to find ourselves. We determine what we believe and what is true for us. For many people, there is a sense of conversion, where we embrace our world because it works for us. This conversion may be dramatic and at a specific point of time. Or it may be less spectacular and more gradual in its emergence. This is where we identify with who we are, based on the construct we have grown up within.

3. Questions and Doubts

[NOTE: There are people who stop after the first two stages mentioned above and they are content with those experiences … for the rest of their lives. They never doubt or question. Life and faith works for them. They can also tend to view people at the following stages as ‘backslidden’, ‘apostate’, or never ‘saved’. After all, where you stand determines what you see.]

For many other people, questions and doubts emerge. They start to critique the construct they have grown up within and even their conversion experience(s). This often occurs as a result of meeting other people who live outside of their construct and from hearing stories of other worlds and other world-views (belief systems).

For those who have grown up within a Christian environment or construct, the questions frequently centre around perplexities such as the existence of hell, why there is suffering in the world, the exclusivity of the Christian faith, the reliability of the Bible, the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus, and the marginalisation of LGBTQIA+ people.

4. De-Construction

As a result of the questioning and doubts, many people start to de-construct the world that other people handed them. They begin pulling out some of the Jenga blocks other people gave them. Even those passed on from parents, teachers, and authority figures. After a while, the construction starts to sway and some of the blocks topple … and for some, the whole construct comes tumbling down to the ground … with an almighty crash!

5. De-Conversion

Some people move into de-conversion after a time of de-construction. They don’t believe what they used to believe. What was once true for them isn’t true anymore. They would be hypocritical to continue to declare allegiance to the construction that no longer feels like home to them. They have changed. They have moved. Reason has triumphed over past faith.

Recent examples of people who have arrived at this stage of de-conversion include Joshua Harris, a best-selling Christian author, and Marty Sampson, a well-known worship leader from Hillsong. They are not alone … or new. Consider the intriguing de-conversion stories of people such as Charlie Templeton (peer to Billy Graham), Dan Barker and John Loftus … if you dare.

Other people skip this step altogether and move from de-construction straight into re-construction.

6. Re-Construction

Now, a time of re-construction begins. It’s time to build a new world with what truly has meaning, value, and truth to us. We begin to think for ourselves. We choose to be authentic about what we believe, apart from what others have told us we should believe. This new construction may include some aspects, beliefs and values from our past. These are now seen from a new perspective. It also includes new things that weren’t part of our past at all. This can be quite scary … and liberating.

Summary

I am still learning and researching this. I am listening to other people’s stories and reflecting on my own life journey. This is not a linear process. Life is far more circular, unpredictable, and random. Nor is it everyone’s story. Not everyone goes through each stage on this map. Nor do they identify and understand each stage. But someone does.

A few final reflection questions:

  1. What stages of this map of life’s journey do you identify with? Where have you been?
  2. Where are you now?
  3. Have you ever had questions and doubts about your inherited construct? How have you processed these? Were you given permission to lean into them or were you shamed for experiencing them?
  4. Where do you see the other important people in your life right now?
  5. How do you handle or cope with people at different places than you?
  6. How can we better truly listen to and understand other people’s stories more deeply … without judging or trying to ‘fix’ them?
  7. What emotions does this discussion about a map of life’s journey evoke for you? It is resonance, dissonance, fear, anxiety, annoyance, anger or excitement and hope?

I’d love to hear from you. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. If you can’t see the Comments section, click on the title of this BLOG post then scroll down to the bottom off the page.

Mark Conner Religion, Science

Has Science Buried God? with John Lennox

220px-John_LennoxUnfortunately, many people today see science and faith as enemies rather than friends. Thankfully, there are an increasing number of scientists and intellectuals who are speaking out about their faith. John Lennox is one of them.

John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, is an internationally renowned speaker on the interface of science, philosophy and religion. He regularly teaches at many academic institutions including the Said Business School, Wycliffe Hall and the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, as well as also being a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum. He has written a series of books exploring the relationship between science and Christianity and he has also participated in a number of televised debates with some of the world’s leading atheist thinkers. Check out his excellent web site.

There are also many very good videos available of him speaking or debating atheists. For exampe, he gave this presentation at the 2013 Xenos Summer Institute (www.xenos.org/xsi) – "Has Science Buried God?". It's well worth watching – You Tube video.

Mark Conner Quotes, Religion, Science

Science and Faith – Sir Isaac Newton

NewtonSir Isaac Newton was one of the fathers of modern scientific revolution. Interesting, he said that his greatest passion was the Bible over and above science.

“I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.”

His curiosity about the world was entwined with his reverence for the Creator, whom he credited with the existence of the universe. He was able to hold his scientific discoveries in tension with his faith, rather than replacing God with natural laws.

In fact, almost all of the scientific greats of the modern period were also deeply religious people who learned to balance the need for both faith & reason.

Mark Conner Books, Preaching, Religion

Christmas Resources

XmasBelieve it or not, Christmas is only four weeks away! For followers of Christ, and especially for those of us who pastor a church or speak from time to time, Christmas presents another excellent opportunity to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ. But how do we share this timeless message in new and fresh ways that capture people’s attention and interest?

J John from the UK has put together a variety of resources specially related to the Christmas season. Check out his web site for further details. Of note, is the recent release of the book Proclaiming Christmas, a compilation of Christmas sermons from communicators all around the world. I was privileged to contribute my message from a few years ago called “What would Jesus say to Santa Claus?”

Enjoy your Christmas preparations!

Mark Conner Religion, Science

Communion on the Moon

ComA few months ago I was privileged to meet Charlie Duke, the tenth person to have walked on the moon. At the event I attended, he shared some amazing stories about his experiences in space. What was most moving for me, was hearing him speak about his conversion story and his current relationship with Jesus Christ. He actually became a bit teary-eyed during this part of his talk, something that didn't happen when he was recounting his first walk on the moon. I told him afterward that it was moving to hear someone become more emotional about their relationship with Jesus than their experience of walking on the moon. He responded by saying, "Yes, I did walk on the moon … but more importantly, I get to walk with Jesus every day!"

Just this last week, I heard another inspiring story about two well-known astronauts … Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong (who passed away a few weeks ago) …

"On July 20, 1969, two human beings changed history by walking on the surface of the moon. But what happened before Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong exited the Lunar Module is perhaps even more amazing, if only because so few people know about it. Buzz Aldrin took communion on the surface of the moon. Some months after his return, he wrote about it in Guideposts magazine. And a few years ago I had the privilege of meeting him myself. I asked him about it and he confirmed the story to me, and I wrote about in my book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask).

The background to the story is that Aldrin was an elder at his Presbyterian Church in Texas during this period in his life, and knowing that he would soon be doing something unprecedented in human history, he felt he should mark the occasion somehow, and he asked his minister to help him. And so the minister consecrated a communion wafer and a small vial of communion wine. Buzz Aldrin took them with him out of the Earth's orbit and on to the surface of the moon.

He and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when Aldrin made the following public statement: "This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way." He then ended radio communication and there, on the silent surface of the moon, 250,000 miles from home, he read a verse from the Gospel of John, and he took communion. Here is his own account of what happened: "In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit … Apart from me you can do nothing.'" 

"I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly. I ate the tiny host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements." And of course, it's interesting to think that some of the first words spoken on the moon were the words of Jesus Christ, who made the Earth and the moon – and Who, in the immortal words of Dante, is Himself the "Love that moves the Sun and other stars.'" 

(Article by Eric Metaxas)

Mark Conner Books, Religion

“Who is this Man?” by John Ortberg

ManWith over 1,500 new books about Jesus being published every year, why read another book about Jesus? John Ortberg's latest book Who is this Man? The Unpredictable Impact of this Inescapable Man is well worth reading as it gives us a fresh and inspiring look at Jesus and his impact on history. 

New Testament scholar and historian N.T. Wright says this about it: “One of the big lies of our time
is that Christianity has been part of the problem rather than the source of the
solution. Most people today don’t realise that things we now take for granted,
like education and health care, were reserved for the rich elite in the ancient
world until the Christians insisted on providing them for everyone within
reach. Many imagine that Christianity was bad for women, whereas early Christianity
provided the biggest transformation of attitudes to women the world had ever
seen … The impact of Jesus on the whole world, even when his followers have
been muddled or misguided, towers breathtakingly over all human achievement. This
book provides enormous encouragement both to celebrate what Jesus’ followers
have done in the past, and to stimulate a fresh vision of our mission in the
future. And, above all, to be amazed and awed once more at Jesus himself, who
lived, died, and rose to launch such a transformative vision.” 

A few excerpts:

On the day after Jesus’ death, it looked as if whatever
small mark he left on the world would rapidly disappear. Instead, his impact on
human history has been unparalleled. Consider the impact of Jesus on history. Most people –
including most Christians – simply have no idea of the extent to which we live
in a Jesus-impacted world. From the existence of hospitals to the notion of
universal human dignity and rights to the prizing of virtues like humility and
forgiveness, our lives are simply unimaginable apart from his life.

In the ancient world, children
were commonly left to die of exposure if they were the wrong sex (guess which
one), or sold into slavery and often used sexually. O.M. Bakke, a Norwegian
church historian, has written that Jesus’ blessing of children – and his using
them as an example to be spiritually emulated – was essentially unprecedented,
and led to the eventual end of practices like expose and infanticide, as well
as to such innovations as orphanages and godparents.

Through
Jesus, the truth prized in Israel that every human being is made in the image
of the one true God became accessible to the entire world. It’s not simply
Jesus’ teaching that fuelled people’s moral imagination. It was his ceaselessly
courageous embrace of lepers and prostitutes, of Samaritans and soldiers and
sinners, of tax collectors and zealots that fuelled the world first’s movement
that sought to include every individual regardless of ethnicity and status. The
philosopher Nickolas Wolterstorff argues that the modern embrace of human dignity,
rights, and justice, is built upon this Judeo-Christian foundation.

Jesus’ impact extends into such diverse areas as
architecture and the calendar system … From a purely human perspective, the
biggest surprise is that Jesus had any influence at all. Normally, if someone’s
legacy will outlast their life, its apparent when they die. On the day when Alexander
the Great, or Caesar Augustus, or Napoleon, or Socrates, or Muhammad died,
their reputations were immense. When Jesus died, his tiny, failed movement
appeared clearly at an end. No one would have pronounced Jesus “Most Likely to
Posthumously Succeed” on the day of his death.

I highly recommend this book! It unpacks the truth of One Solitary Life for a new generation.

See also How Christianity Changed the World.

Mark Conner Religion

A Fresh Look at Religion

With the recent Global Atheists Convention in Melbourne, it's worthwhile thinking about religion, including science and faith. Some people think that religion is dangerous and has done a lot of damage in the world. Obviously, there is an element of truth in that. However, Jesus never came to start a religion and his intention was never to produce the kind of violence and hatred that characterises so much of a number of religious movements today. 

On my BLOG I have some articles about science and faith, as well as an interesting series of faith looking at C.S. Lewis' journey to faith, which involved working through a number of significant objections. These are relevant to our generation today.

Click here to begin reading.

 

 

Mark Conner Religion, Theology

C.S. Lewis – Objection #11: Christ

Images-26 Finally, C.S. Lewis had to come to grips with answering the common question: "Isn't Jesus just another good, moral teacher?" 

Since there is little likelihood that Jesus' claim to deity is legend or myth, we should expect to find something in his words and actions that suggest he thought of himself as divine. Jesus' self-perception as God is clearly seen in the various Gospel accounts.

Jesus claimed to be God:

  • He believed he had the power to perform miracles and cast out demons (Matt. 11:2-5. Luke 11:20).
  • Jesus claimed to determine people's eternal destiny (Luke 12:8-9).
  • Jesus placed his personal authority over the Law of God (Matt. 5). 
  • In Mark 2:5-7, Jesus shows he believed he had the power to forgive sins. The scribes reacted by saying, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
  • The most explicit claims to deity are found in John's gospel where Jesus claims, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30), and "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). There is no reason to hold that these passages are merely the result of the over-developed imagination of John, since Jesus' self-conception as God is already evident in the earlier three gospels.

Was this True or False?

Liar or Lunatic?

Since Jesus claimed to be God, his claims are either true or false.

If false, he either knew it was false or he didn’t.

If false, he must have been a liar, deliberately misleading the multitudes.

Or, he was a lunatic, sincerely believing himself to be God, when in reality He was just a man. This is kind of like me thinking I’m Bill Gates or someone!

Jesus' brilliant moral character and his willingness to die for his claim to be God have convinced most people that he was not lying. Jesus' humility, warmth and unselfish love, his quick and skillful thinking in dealing with his opponents, his intelligent communication with the multitudes, and his amazing self-control and composure in the midst of the tremendous physical and emotional stress of his betrayal and crucifixion, all point to his contact with reality. Jesus was no lunatic.

Lord

If Jesus was not a legend and he claimed to be God, then, as we've said, his claim is either true or false. If it is false, he must have been a liar or a lunatic. Since the evidence shows he is neither a liar nor a lunatic, then the only other alternative left is that his claim is true. Jesus is Lord and God. That affects everything!

[Summarised from Chapter 14 of Art Lindsley's book C.S. Lewis' Case for Christ]

Mark Conner Religion, Theology

C.S. Lewis – Objection #10: Other Religions

Images-27 C.S. Lewis also grappled with the validity of other religions – There are so many religions, how can you say which one is right? Are all religions really the same, or is there a difference? How can we say which one, if any, is the right one?

Lewis felt it was atheism that wrote off all religious claims as false, while he was free to affirm truth wherever it was found. He accepted truths in other religions. He recognised the similarities – as well as the significant differences between religions. A commitment to Christ does not necessitate the denial of truth in other religions. 

When it came to other religions, Lewis was an inclusivist - he believed that the only way to be saved is through Christ, but a person does not necessarily need a conscious knowledge of Christ in order to be saved. In one letter, Lewis wrote, “I think that every prayer which is sincerely made even to a false god […] is accepted by the true God and that Christ saves many who do not think they know Him” (Letters 247). See also the use of the character Tash in Lewis' book The Last Battle.

In contrast, an exclusivist believes that Christ is the only way to be saved and that a person needs a conscious knowledge of Christ. Although Lewis was an inclusivist, he was not a universalist who believes that everybody is ultimately saved. [I will comment more on this topic when I review Rob Bell's new book Love Wins in the next few weeks]

What makes Christianity unique is the incarnation – God entered a specific historical place and time in Jesus Christ. This utterly unique – and is either true or false. 

In his book God in the Dock, Lewis is quoted as saying, "If you had gone to Buddha and asked him 'Are you the son of Brahma?' he would have said, 'My son, you are still in the vale of illusion.' If you had gone to Socrates and asked, 'Are you Zeus?' he would have laughed at you. If you had gone to Mohammad and asked, 'Are you Allah?' he would first have rent his clothes then cut your head off. If you had asked Confucius, 'Are you Heaven?' I think he would have probably replied, 'Remarks which are not in accordance with nature are in bad taste.' The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. In my opinion, the only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines the whole mind of man."

Lewis cleverly showed that Jesus Christ's claims to be God make him either a liar, a lunatic or Lord of all. There is no other viable option. 

[Summarised from Chapter 12 of Art Lindsley's C.S. Lewis' Case for Christ]

Next: C.S. Lewis and the person of Christ.

Mark Conner Religion, Theology

C.S. Lewis – Objection #9: Relativism

Unknown-11Another objection to faith that C.S. Lewis struggled with was the question: Aren't morals relative? More than two-thirds of Americans deny any belief in absolutes and the statistics would be very similar in other countries.  

An an atheist, Lewis denied that there were any moral absolutes. When he became a Christian, he insisted that Christian morality had to go beyond mere personal opinion. It had to fit with life as a whole, or it was meaningless. 

Lewis queried where he got this idea of things being just and unjust. A person does not call a line crooked unless they have some idea of a straight line. An absolute standard of good suggests a God who is the infinite reference point. Lewis went to great lengths to document the universality and timelessness of moral standards. In the appendix to The Abolition of Man he cites the similar moral standards of ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, Chinese, Greeks, Romans and others. Though the specifics may differ, the general outline is the same throughout all cultures. 

If there is no absolute standard for good and evil (God), there there is no evil. One or the other has to go, either atheism or a major argument for atheism.

The relativistic viewpoint is hopelessly inconsistent. The attempt create an ethic without God is doomed to failure. No relativist who has been given absolute power has used that power benevolently. 

[Summarised from Chapter 11 of Art Lindsley's C.S. Lewis' Case for Christ]

Next: Lewis and Other Religions.

Mark Conner Religion, Theology

C.S. Lewis – Objection #8: Postmodernism

Images-27 A good question at this stage in our overview of C.S. Lewis' objections to faith and how he overcame them is, "Is what was true for C.S. Lewis necessarily true for me?"

Post-modernism denies meta-narratives: any narrnaitve, story or account of the world that claims to be absolute or all encompassing. It sees no facts, only interretations. There is no such thing as an objective view of reality. Ethical claims are sentiment and de-construction is justice. Lewis lived before the full flowing of post-modern thought but some of its roots were already present in his day. 

When it comes to post-modernism, Lewis would have agreed that:

1. There are limits to knowledge.

2. Our perpsective does affect what we see.

3. Our perspective affects the way we view history. 

4. Our ideas of reality (and therefore of God) are too small. What we need most of all is not our pet theories about God, but God himself. Lewis said, "My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters himself. He is the great iconoclast."

5. Culture can blind us to some aspects of who we are. 

However, Lewis would have disagreed with the claim that we can have no objective knowledge of truth or morality. The most basic postmodern contentions are self-refuting. Lewis would ask: "Is it objectively true to say that there are no objective truths? Can you deny the validity of reason without using reason?" If all perspectives of reality are culturally determined, then that statement itself is culturally determined. If all meta-narratives are suspect because they are oppressive, then is no post-moderism also a meta-narrative and equally suspect. Suspician can work both ways. If Christianity can be a crutch, so can atheism.

[Summarised from Chapter 11 of Art Lindsley's C.S. Lewis' Case for Christ]

Next: Lewis and Rationalism.

Mark Conner Religion, Theology

C.S. Lewis – Objection #7: Wish Fulfillment

Images-26 C.S. Lewis also struggled with the question of Wish Fulfilment: Isn't belief in God just a crutch for needy people?

Some people believe that humanity invented God out of need – to cope with the uncertainties of a confusing and often dangerous world. The psychological explanation for God is one of the most common arguments against Christian faith (and against any theistic religion). Belief in a god is common to all cultures in all time periods. Atheists prefer to explain this as "wish fulfilment" – that humanity invented God because we wished God existed. 

Lewis responded to the influential atheists of his time – Ludwig Feuerbach (1804 – 1872), Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) and Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939). Lewis showed that wishing for something does not make it true or real. On the other hand, the wish itself does not prove that what we desire does not exist. If we are hungry, we wish for food. Fortunately, food exists to satisfy your wish. The same thing could be said about thirst and sleep. 

Lewis experienced sharp longings for something beyond his ordinary life and came to conclude that "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." Our pleasures on earth act as cosmic pointers to those realities that will ultimately satisfy us. 

Yes, religion can be a projection of some human experience onto God. We can wish God to be as we wish him to be. However, an argument against abuse is not argument against appropriate use. Just because we wish for something doesn't make it untrue.

Lewis also indicated that the tables can be turned on the atheist. Is atheism a project, a desire to kill God, to be free from accountability to a higher power, an opiate for the conscience to escape moral guilt, a wish fulfilment? When we repress something, at a deeper level we know it is really true. Lewis believed that denial of God was a result of systematic dishonesty and was fundamentally self-refuting.

[Summarised from Chapter 9 of Art Lindsley's C.S. Lewis' Case for Christ]

Continue reading “C.S. Lewis – Objection #7: Wish Fulfillment” →

Mark Conner Religion, Theology

C.S. Lewis – Objection #6: Miracles

Images-20 C.S. Lewis also struggled with miracles: do you believe in the miracles of the Bible?

A miracle is something that comes to us from beyond the world. It is an event that can't happen, but it does. It can't be explained scientifically. 

Lewis gained attention beyond his academic circles through his unflinching affirmation of the supernatural – God, demons, miracles and all. How could a sophisticated Oxford professor believe in such fables in the 20th century? He took on the task to consider whether it was intellectually honest and realistic to automatically reject miracles.

He critiqued naturalism, which claims that miracles were impossible or at least so improbable that they can never be accepted. In his book Miracles, Lewis confronted naturalism – the belief that nature is all there is: a closed box of cause and effect. Super-naturalism sees nature as an open system, operated by natural law most of the time but open to intervention by God.

There are three negative ways to respond to miracles:

1. They are impossible. Unless we absolutely certain that there is no supernatural power (God) in the universe, we cannot dogmatically say that every claim of a miracle is false. Granted, miracles rare are but that does not mean that they are impossible. We can never assume that what we have experienced is all there is to reality. There is no argument to prove that miracles cannot happen. 

2. They are improbable. Scottish philosopher, David Hume, allowed for no instance of a miracle because another explanation is always preferable. However, we cannot say that all reports of miracles are false, even if one of them did happen. You need to weigh the historical evidence for each unusual event before you exclude or accept it. 

3. They are inappropriate. In Christianity, miracles have deceives significant, converging on Christ and demonstrating that he is the one sent by God. The miracles of Christ are not merely powerful acts for the sake of power – they show his compassion and demonstrate his identity. 

We still serve a miracle-working God. Nothing is impossible with Him!

[Summarised from Chapter 8 of Art Lindsley's C.S. Lewis' Case for Christ]

Next: Objection #7 – Wish Fulfilment

Mark Conner Religion, Theology

C.S. Lewis – Objection #5: Imagination

Images-20 C.S. Lewis struggled with Imagination: Isn't faith merely imaginary?

Reason and imagination were important to Lewis because they had once been separated in his own life but were later brought together. For him, meaning often came through imagination. For some, imagination can seem like an escape from reality. In contrast, Lewis believed that stories can be an escape into reality. Imagination is a means to truth. 

As part of Lewis' conversion, he received what he later called the "baptism of his imagination." He came to see that his earlier aspirations pointed to something real, unlike his atheism which led him to a grim and meaningless universe. He noted that the authors with the most depth in them were written by people of faith while the rest were 'tinny' – entertaining, but hardly more. Imagination opened his mind to the beauty of the holiness around him and ultimately to the beauty of the holiness in God. 

Lewis believed that adults should keep a childlike outlook on the world. This included a tireless curiosity, an intensity of imagination, the faculty of suspending belief, an unspoiled appetite, and a readiness to wonder, pity and admire. Through good stories, he believed that we could escape to reality – to see how the human life might be lived, perhaps ought to be lived.

God is the great creator, but he delegates creativity to us as well. Tolkein and Lewis talk about our role as 'sub-creators.' Only God creates something out of nothing, but we can use our creativity to create something out of something. 

We often learn by seeing – catching a vision. Read good stories – feel and experience the world through the author's eyes. Travel to places you have never been, experience things you have never guessed, struggle with dilemmas you have not faced, and learn how people of other cultures deal with life. 

[Summarised from Chapter 7 of Art Lindsley's C.S. Lewis' Case for Christ]

Next: Objection #6 – Miracles.