Is It Foolish To Believe?

 

One of my favorite authors is C. S Lewis. Most know Lewis from his Chronicles of Narnia series, especially The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. But Lewis also write essays and books on Christianity and Christian living. His insight has made a major impact on how I view Christianity. For one of the best arguments for belief in God and Jesus you need look no further than Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity.

Many people think Christians must be mindless to accept the Bible or Christianity. How can anyone with half a mind believe any of that?  Lewis knocks that thinking on its head. He was a great thinker, who began as an atheist arguing against Christianity as pie-in-the-sky belief. But God wore Lewis down, and his writings reflect someone who has thought long and hard about his faith and why he believes what he believes. I used to enjoy introducing his amazing mind to my students and then revealing he was a Christian theist.

Lewis writes that he came to faith in God, “kicking and screaming” (my words, for his see Surprised by Joy). He didn’t want to believe. He wanted his earlier presuppositions to be true, but they eventually failed him. He argues that it’s really mindless not to see God in the world around us, or to accept His plan and purpose for His creation.

I like to believe I have at least a “half a mind”, and I use it in understanding why I believe what I believe, about God, faith, salvation, Christianity. I know there are Christians who think people like me over think it all, and maybe we do. But I’d rather approach something rationally than strictly by emotion/feelings. Don’t get me wrong. I think emotions play a part in our belief. I think my faith touches all aspects of who I am. And I also believe that simple faith plays a huge role. We can only use our human reason so far. There is always a point where we have to accept and take hold by believing in, what to most seem like, crazy ideas. But God did give me my brain, and I feel I need to use it.

One of the primary writers of the New Testament, Paul, was also a very rational Christian. Read his book Romans and see how he logically presents a case for Christianity. Paul also writes that the things of God seem foolish to the average man (see I Corinthians 1:18-30). We shouldn’t be surprised that people think the ideas of a created universe, or a baby born to a virgin, or that baby growing up and dying on a cross, let alone rising from the dead, are foolish, crazy ideas. It all sounds pretty strange, out of some ancient lore.  And in a sense, it is a story from 2000 plus years ago, so plenty ancient. But why believe anything as crazy as that? Foolishness.

Yet we’ve talked about the wonderful diversity in the universe, and how incredible it is to think it all just happened by chance.  How is that any more “foolish” than believing there was a Designer behind it all? And we don’t have to look too far to see how broken our world is, how broken we are as people. Why haven’t we evolved into something better? Something perfect? Why do we keep killing each other, with weapons and words? Why do we feel so alone, even in a crowd? Why do relationships fail to meet all our needs?

Where do these ideas of brokenness, perfection, morals even come from? Even today in our “anything goes” society, there are still some things we label “wrong” – murder, child molestation, any attack on our person. Is “wrongness” arbitrary, merely a society thing? And if it’s all relative, why do we even care? Why have laws at all, and what gives a law its power? Why did western culture keep going back to the 10 Commandments while at the same time going farther from God?

We can probably agree our world is a mess. Why can’t we fix ourselves? It’s not for lack of trying. Look at all the self-help books out there. Why don’t the answers in those books fix us?  Maybe that’s the wrong question. Why do we even need fixing?  I think a lot of us feel that others need fixing, even if we don’t.

Let’s face it, though, we all need fixing. We need a fixer. We’ve tried everything, and we just can’t get it right. When we look at it that way, it doesn’t seem so foolish that we need outside help. It all starts with God – until we can wrap our mind around a Creator God, it will be difficult to see Him as the Fixer. But once we open the door to the possibility of God, the rest can fall into place. God gives morality a source, an absolute to hang on. God then sets the standard that we continually fail to meet. And God provides a way for us to meet His standard that doesn’t require us to “be good” when we just can’t. He gave us Jesus.

It seems very rational to me, but in the end my mind isn’t what saves me. My rational thinking just gets me to the crossroads – to believe and accept God and His plan or not. A student of Lewis’, Sheldon Vanauken, in his book, A Severe Mercy, talks about his journey to faith. He compares it to climbing a mountain, every step another piece of evidence towards belief in Jesus. He imagines when he gets to the top of his rational journey, the pieces finally all together, he will know for certain all he needs to know about God, Christianity and Jesus. But when he reaches the top, it’s not the end. He stands on the edge, ahead of him a crevasse and on the other side stands Jesus. He realizes all his thinking and learning has brought him here, but it is not enough. He now has two choices, take the leap of faith into Jesus’ arms, or turn around and go back. For Vanauken, going back wasn’t possible, he knew too much to return to his previous way of thinking. He stood and looked across the void. I guess he could have just stayed where he was, but that wasn’t what Vanauken was looking for. He jumped.

We all face the same choice. Whether we use our minds or our emotions or some combination of both, our search for fulfillment and peace leads us to that same chasm. All of us make the choice, whether we realize it or not. Paul says God’s wisdom is foolishness to most people. Who in their right mind would throw themselves into the void? Yet, when I look at all the other alternatives, throwing myself into Jesus’ arms was the best decision I have ever made. If that’s foolishness, then so be it.