Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: Dr. Eckleburg
And you and I obviously have very similar interpretations of those various passages...for us the path is marked in that (very obvious) manner, and as we all draw nearer to HIM, the paths merge, ultimately into one, but the paths that ultimately lead there may be many and various.

If your uncle on Oak St., in Pocatello, Idaho gives you and I directions to his house, and we follow them dutifully, we will both ultimately end up on Oak St., in Pocatello...the "one true way." The fact of the matter is, our directions up to that point may vary considerably.

It has been my observation, supported I think by reason, that an omnipresent and universal GOD is discovered and revealed to different people in different ways, at different points in their lives.

While CS Lewis is widely regarded as one of the premier Christian apologists of the 20th Century, perhaps his most controversial passage is found in, "The Last Battle," and it's one I've pondered at length and has impressed me deeply. In an apocalyptic, final judgement setting, a Calormene prince who was a man of virtue brought up in a false tradition of worship (Tash)finds himself face to face with Aslan...

“So I went over much grass and many flowers and among all kinds of wholesome and delectable trees till lo! in a narrow place between two rocks there came to meet me a great Lion. The speed of him was like the ostrich, and his size as an elephant’s; his hair was like pure gold and the brightness of his eyes like gold that is liquid in the furnace. He was more terrible than the Flaming Mountain of Lagour, and in beauty he surpassed all that is in the world even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust of the desert. Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, though knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless they desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what the truly seek."

Certainly it's fiction and not holy writ, but after much reflection, I don't find it at all inconsistent with any aspect of my faith.

39 posted on 06/23/2008 1:33:29 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies ]


To: Joe 6-pack
It has been my observation, supported I think by reason, that an omnipresent and universal GOD is discovered and revealed to different people in different ways, at different points in their lives.

But the salient fact is that while God may reveal different parts about Himself to people at different times in their lives, those parts that God reveals about Himself are always the same parts making up the unified whole of God which is consistent, specific and unchanging.

God does not contradict Himself. Hopefully, by God's grace alone, our understanding of Him grows every day. But what is true about God today is still true tomorrow and always.

C.S. Lewis is a mixed bag. I think he misses the mark with his fable. God is unchanging.

There is only one name under heaven by which men can be saved, Jesus Christ. God brings men to Christ along various out-croppings of the one path to Christ. Hopefully, we are brought to Him staying as close to that one, true path as possible.

"Hence arises that boundless filthy mire of error wherewith the whole earth was filled and covered. For each man’s mind is like a labyrinth, so it is no wonder that individual nations were drawn aside into various falsehoods; and not only this - but individual men, almost, had their own gods. For as rashness a single person has ever been found who did not fashion for himself an idol or specter in place of God.

Surely, just as waters boil up from a vast, full spring, so does an immense crowd of gods flow forth from the human mind, while each one, in wandering about with too much license, wrongly invents this or that about God himself. However, it is not necessary here to draw up a list of the superstitions with which the world has been entangled because there would be no end to it, and so without a word of them it is sufficiently clear from so many corruptions how horrible is the blindness of the human mind.

I pass over the rude and untutored crowd. But among the philosophers who have tried with reason and learning to penetrate into heaven, how shameful is the diversity! As each was furnished with higher wit, graced with art and knowledge, so did he seem to camouflage his utterances; yet if you look more closely upon all these, you will find them all to be fleeting unreality’s. The Stoics thought themselves very clear when they said that one could elicit from all parts of nature various names for God, yet without on this account destroying the unity of God - as if, indeed, we were not already more than prone to vanity, without being drawn farther and more violently into error by the multiplicity of gods foisted upon us! Even mystic theology of the Egyptian shows all have sedulously brooded upon this so as not to appear to rave without reason And perchance even at first glance something that seemed probable would deceive the simple and careless; but no mortal ever contrived anything that did not basely corrupt religion." -- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion Book I, Chapter V, Section 12


59 posted on 06/23/2008 3:06:08 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson