Mere Christianity, Chapter 8 - Part B
The third argument that Lewis makes in chapter 8 is that God's solution to the mess was to do four things: First, to give us a conscience; Second, to give us myths about death and rebirth; Third, to take 'one particular people and spent several centuries hammering into their heads the sort of God He was;' and fourth to come down and take a walk among those same people for a time.
On each of these points, I have an alternative viewpoint.
Conscience: I would tend to explain conscience as an intuitive awareness of social norms and the 'little in, lot out' nature of society.
Myths: Myths are ways to assign meaning to the world around us and explain the social norms present in every group of people. Overlap between myths here stems from overlap in what humans don't understand, rather than on some divinely implanted seed. After all, many cultures also share myths about Rip Van Winkle type characters, gnomes, and talking animals. If we death and rebirth as a mythological theme is evidence for Christ, then talking animals, gnomes, and Rip Van Wingle themes each must be divinely implanted as well.
Chosen People: The god that does the hammering in the old testament consistently violates the norms and principles that are espoused by Jesus in the New Testament. Though many fine theologians have tried to reconcile the two, the contradiction remains. For example, the old testament God loved and repeatedly helped David, who committed adultery and then had the husband killed while king. That God approved of mass murder as a response to rape of Dinah. Lewis says that god is interested in justice and good behavior. It appears, however, that he taught the jews that he was interested in 'vengeance,' 'favoritism' at least as much.
The fourth point, about God coming down to earth, is pretty long. I'll put that in a separate post.
On each of these points, I have an alternative viewpoint.
Conscience: I would tend to explain conscience as an intuitive awareness of social norms and the 'little in, lot out' nature of society.
Myths: Myths are ways to assign meaning to the world around us and explain the social norms present in every group of people. Overlap between myths here stems from overlap in what humans don't understand, rather than on some divinely implanted seed. After all, many cultures also share myths about Rip Van Winkle type characters, gnomes, and talking animals. If we death and rebirth as a mythological theme is evidence for Christ, then talking animals, gnomes, and Rip Van Wingle themes each must be divinely implanted as well.
Chosen People: The god that does the hammering in the old testament consistently violates the norms and principles that are espoused by Jesus in the New Testament. Though many fine theologians have tried to reconcile the two, the contradiction remains. For example, the old testament God loved and repeatedly helped David, who committed adultery and then had the husband killed while king. That God approved of mass murder as a response to rape of Dinah. Lewis says that god is interested in justice and good behavior. It appears, however, that he taught the jews that he was interested in 'vengeance,' 'favoritism' at least as much.
The fourth point, about God coming down to earth, is pretty long. I'll put that in a separate post.
posted by Me at 3:24 AM
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