Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Liberals vs. C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite Lefty websites, the Democratic Underground, has an article posted today that's supposed to reach out to all the conservatives that roam their website. In the DU's attempt to appeal to Christian conservatives, the writer of the post makes this startling statement:

Being a liberal isn't about making fun of God, or your beliefs about him. Most liberals take the Sermon on the Mount to heart. They try to live the teachings of Jesus, even if some aren't sure he's really the Son of God.

I hope that this particular DUer isn't speaking for too many liberals. Some people like to conveniently argue Christianity away with a new definition of Jesus. Muslims commonly do it, and occasionally Jews as well. Some other world religions would like it a lot more if Jesus were just a "good guy." In the words of one of my professors last semester, Jesus was just a "radical social activist" so it's great to follow his teachings and not really worry bout being a Christian.

The problem with this mindset is clearly articulated by C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity. Lewis famously points out the inherent impossibility between Jesus as being a "good guy" without being the Son of God.

You see, Jesus said on numerous occasions that he is the Son of God, that he came from God, that he has the ability to forgive sins, and that God is his Father. In short, Jesus said many times in many ways that he was the Son of God. If that is true, Jesus was everything he says he is. However, if Jesus is not the Son of God then he either 1)lied about it or 2) was insane. You see, if he knew he wasn't really the Son of God and still told people he was he is a liar and a deceiver, and is therefore an evil person because of the masses that have come to believe in him. If he truly thought he was the Son of God and was actually wrong, he instead is insane by continuing to tell people he was someone he was not.

Jesus was either a 1)Good Man (the Son of God) 2)bad man, or 3)mad man. He can't be good and not be the Christ. Just a point of clarification...

3 comments:

The Big Ticket said...

Just a question: how do the majority of Jewish people affiliate as far as along political lines? I honestly don't know and was curious, and I figured surely one of you gents would know if any association exists.

radar said...

Usually I would say that Jewish people lean left. However, a number of the blogs I read (Powerling in particular) are written by conservative Jews. I think that some in the Jewish community have been pushed to the right because of conservative support of the Israeli state and it's attempts to fight terrorism.

The Big Ticket said...

Gracias.