This analogy (I believe it's on page 71, but I have a slightly
different version than most of you) makes a lot of sense to me but
illustrates the difficulty non-Christians have with the absolute
nature of the Christian faith. Honestly, I struggle with this truth
as well.
Lewis says that a fleet of ships is concerned with 1) not knocking
into each other 2) each ship running smoothly 3) all the ships
heading in the right direction. So morality is concerned with 1)
harmony between individuals 2) each person right with himself 3) the
general purpose and direction of humanity.
But most of the world finds this to be the major stumbling block
against the Christian faith. Almost all would agree that it makes
sense that we are in harmony in others. Less but still a significant
proportion of the general population could see that it is important
to be right with yourself.
But Christians, say these non-Christians, have the audacity to say
that their way is the only true way to real living. How can
Christians possibly have a monopoly on everything eternally
meaningful? Maybe Christianity is a good set of behaviors and
beliefs that keeps us in harmony with others and helps us be true to
ourselves. But can Christianity possibly be the only true purpose
and direction that has been ordained for all of humanity?
Lewis somewhat skirts the issue by assuming at the end of this
chapter that this preposterous claim is true, and works backwards to
why it makes sense. But I am still wrestling with how to present
this to an unbeliever. It is the #1 hang-up I get from those I
witness to, whether it be my own father or a complete stranger.
Maybe there is no intellectual reasoning that enables this claim to
make sense. To a fallen world, it is indeed a preposterous claim.
Perhaps it takes God's irresistible call in our lives to awaken our
spiritual side to understand such a truth.
Or maybe we have forgotten just how depraved and hopelessly lost we
are as individuals and as a collective humanity. After all, if we
believe in our hearts that we're essentially morally OK, we can
banter about such philosophical things and wonder how one set of
people can harbor such a claim that their way is the only way.
But if we are seized with the reality of judgment before a righteous
God, of the multiplying and festering effects of sin in our lives,
our relationships, and our world, perhaps this news doesn't seem so
preposterous after all. Maybe instead of getting hung up on the
notion that Christianity is the only true purpose and direction and
way to salvation, we might marvel that there is a true purpose and
direction and way to salvation at all.
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