21 Lessons for the 21st Century: Lesson 16

C.S. Lewis & Francis Schaeffer: Lessons ... from the Most Influential Apologists of Our Time | 1998 | Scott R. Burson & Jerry L. Walls

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16. Moral intuitions

In The Problem of Pain Lewis noted that we face a dilemma when we try to relate God's goodness to our own notion of goodness. One the one hand, since God is wiser than we are, and his ways higher than our ways, what seems good to us may not really be good, and what seems evil may not really be evil. On the other hand, if this is true, then calling God good is meaningless, and if he is not good in our sense, then we shall obey him not on moral grounds but through fear. Such obedience to God would be no different from submitting to a powerful tyrant.

According to Lewis, the way to avoid this dilemma is to recognize that our moral judgments are indeed different from God's, but not radically so. Given this perspective, God's goodness "differs from ours not as white from black but as a perfect circle from a child's first attempt to draw a wheel. But when the child has learned to draw, it will know that the circle it then makes is what it was trying to make from the very beginning." Given this perspective, our basic moral intuitions and judgments are sound but in need of further refinement, training and correction from revelation. In other words, revelation fulfills and completes our best moral instincts instead of rejecting or undercutting them. Moreover, this means that Scripture should be interpreted in ways that cohere with our deepest moral intuitions, just as it should be interpreted in ways that accord with the basic laws of logic.

Of course, this is not to say that Scripture should be subordinated to human reason and moral judgment. It is to say that God is the ultimate source of human reason and moral judgment, just as he is the source of Scripture. So there is good reason to think that our best reason and moral judgment will be compatible with Scripture, properly interpreted. To set Scripture against our clearest logical and moral intuitions is to promote fideism at best and skepticism at worst.

Our discussion earlier about unconditional election and the fate of the unevangelized illustrates how moral intuitions interact with biblical interpretations and theological formulation. Lewis's position on these issues flows naturally from his belief that our sense of goodness is fundamentally consistent with diving goodness. This commitment is crucial for an apologetic that is morally satisfying, as well as morally challenging. This is the sort of apologetic that will engage our will and empower us to advance to higher moral achievements.

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NEXT: Virtue epistemology

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[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for this next installment! The premise of man having a moral compass for good or evil (albeit imperfect) is Scriptural: Romans 2, especially verses 14-15:

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and [their] thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)