Thursday, January 22, 2009

Man or Rabbit

I really enjoyed this essay. I thought it was very interesting how he addressed the question, “Can a man lead a good life without Christianity?” The reason why this essay is called “Man or Rabbit? Is because what distinguishes man from other animals is that he seeks after knowledge and desires to find answers. Lewis discusses what it really means to live a good life and whether a person ignorant of Christianity is guilty.

I agree with Lewis when he writes about God’s punishment on the wicked, whether they have heard the gospel or not. Often times we wonder about those people who have never heard the gospel, such as the Indians in North America who worshipped nature. People might say that it is not fair because they gospel never came to them, but they will still be punished because they saw God in creation and chose not to worship Him. I believe that these people who have not had the gospel preached to them and are ignorant will be punished, but their punishment will not be as great as those who heard the gospel and “rejected” it. Luke 10:10-12 teaches us that God will have more tolerance in that day for Sodom than the city that rejected the gospel. God chooses His elect from eternity, and to those who He chooses to save, He will find a way to bring the gospel to them.

In class we discussed the justice of God. Some people think that since God is just, predestination is not fair. I believe in predestination because the Bible supports it. God is just because he created the world just. Justice would be paid if everyone went to Hell. We must remember that we do not deserve heaven, but God in His grace decided to save an elect group of people because this is the best way in which He could glorify Himself.

When defining whether any man can lead a good life without Christianity, I agree with Lewis that we must define what good means. An unbeliever can do no good because he is totally depraved. It may seem to us that an unbeliever is doing good, but it is not good because he is doing it for his own glory and happiness, not for the glory of God. The wicked may believe they are living a good life, but their happiness will be short-lived because they are not seeking after the true God. For this reason, I do not believe an unbeliever can live a good life. I like how Lewis says, “…You can’t be ‘good’ (not for twenty-four hours) on you own moral efforts.” Lewis concludes by saying that people cannot leave a good life without Christ.

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