“If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning” (Mere Christianity). C.S. Lewis argues that without having something to which an idea can be compared the idea may be ignorant of the truth. Without a full understanding of what something is not, how can we possibly say what it is? In this world, the arguments for good and evil are perpetually discussed. But the question is, are they really opposites? Lewis proposes that good was never created, but rather that it always has existed and that evil is just a perversion of that good (Mere Christianity). Why then is there evil in the world that God created? The breaking of the Shalom, the complete peace and perfect world that God made was the decision of our own free will.
It was the free will that God gave to us that allowed us to stray. The Fall brought to the world evil. Evil was created with the world. But why then were humans given this free will? If it was free will that permitted this evil, why did God bother to give it to us in the first place? First, the purpose for our creation must be discussed. Plantinga offers that “Creation is neither a necessity nor an accident. Instead, given God’s interior love that overflows with regard for others, we might say creation is an act that was fitting for God” (Engaging 23). He suggests that humans were created because of God’s love. Whether this is to be believed or not, it does fit with what is known of God. This, however, is only one view on the purpose of Creation. It only hints at a solution to a question that cannot be answered by humans of this earth. The question of why God created humans is one that has no answer, but how he made us can be answered in Genesis 1:23, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.’” This honor and gift of life was shamed and overshadowed, tarnished by the Fall. God gave to us the precious ability to think and chose what we believe is best for us. “Free will though it makes evil possible, it also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having” (Mere Christianity). This is the gift God gave to us, the ability to have that pure joy, but with the shattered Shalom, the ability for that pure joy on earth was lost.
Being told that something is unobtainable, makes the desire for it that much stronger. With the knowledge that we will never experience the purest joy on this earth, the aching for it increases. The desire to feel that kind of joy will never be satisfied on this earth, but not for lack of trying. Humans long for many things in this world: family, friends, acceptance, love, purpose, and the past. But what is hiding behind each of those desires? We do actually want the earthly things we desire, but that is not the full extent of the longing. “These earthly things are solid goods and we naturally relish them. But they are not our final good. They point to what is ‘higher up’ and ‘further back’” We want God. We want what we can no longer have on this earth. In Psalms 42:1 it is proclaimed, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” There are things that we desire on this earth, but all of them are concealing what our soul truly desires. All of them can potentially make us happy for a time, if we obtain them, but none can give us pure joy or full satisfaction.
C.S. Lewis aptly describes the extent that this longing is ingrained into us. He explains just how great that desire truly is. “I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you—the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it makes like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescents; the secret also which pierces with such sweet ness that when, in very intimate conversations, the mention of it becomes imminent. We grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both” (“Weight of Glory”). The problem is that there is no permanent cure, short of death and purification through Jesus Christ that can fill this desire. What then can we do to stave off this desire? How can we combat the dissatisfaction that we feel? The answer is hope.
Hope for what is to come, that in the future the desire will be quenched and Shalom will be found again. This is what will keep us from the depression that the world tries to push onto us. This is what Christians need to proclaim throughout the world. There is still hope for what is to come. One day, the pure joy will indeed be ours through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Even in the bleakest and darkest hour, hope for the light that made the darkness’s meaning clear. “Hope in the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.” (Psalms 37:34) This is what should drive Christians to proclaim the message of Jesus. The Lord gave us hope in Jesus, how then, can we deny others that same hope? This is the duty that God has set out for us. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4). Since the beginning, the message of hope in God has been passed from generation to generation. Now, we too should pass this message of hope to all the people of the world.
Bringing hope to those who need it most seems a daunting task. How are we to know who needs the message, and what approach will best convince them that that message is true? The old cliché “actions speak louder than words” applies here better than any other method. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). The best way to explain the hope that Jesus gives is through the actions of your daily life. This does not mean that we must all become pastors and school teachers. It only means that we must become full time Christians.
A vocation is that which you have been called to do. It is the calling to be a mother, a friend, a doctor, a farmer, a husband, a brother. It is anything that you have been called to do giving you a title of one sort or another. A Christian vocation does not just mean your job or career, but it is your attitude and motivation of how you approach your life, especially your relationships with others. According to Plantinga, “A Christian’s main vocation is to become a prime citizen of the kingdom of God.” And the best way to do this is to do everything for the glory of the Lord because as Lewis pointed out there is no wrong thing to do, only wrong motivations. A Christian vocation seems to be the way you have been called to live more than anything else. It is how you apply your knowledge of what Christ has done for you into your daily life.
Being a student is also a vocation, one with high standards and high consequences. Pursuing knowledge can be a very dangerous thing. “We may come to love knowledge –our knowing—more than the thing known: to delight not in the exercise of our talents but nit the fact that they are ours” (“Learning in a Wartime”). We can desire to search for deeper understanding of God and strengthen our own faith or become absorbed with the fact we know more and forget the purpose of learning it in the first place. When learning about the intrinsic details of atoms, the amazement of creation and the details of God become more pronounced then when you were ignorant to the fact. It is also important to learn so as to be able to refute the claims of those learning who do not believe. “If all the world were Christians, it might not matter if all the world were uneducated. But, as it is a cultural life will exist outside the Church whether it exists inside or not” (“Learning in a Wartime”). Those learning must be able to steer those who are unable away from the false teachings and discoveries. We must stand firm and defend our beliefs to give everyone around us the opportunity to share in the future Shalom.
Works Cited
Lewis, C. S. "Learning in a Wartime." Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford. 1939. Lecture.
---. Mere Christianity. 1 July 2005. Web. 22 Jan. 2011. <http://lib.ru/LEWISCL/mere_engl.txt>.
---. "Weight of Glory." Lecture. Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford. 8 June 1942. Web. 22 Jan. 2011.s<http://www.verber.com/mark/xian/weight-of-glory.pdf>.
Plantinga Jr., Cornelius. Engaging God's World: A Reformed Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living. Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B Eerdmans, 2002. Print.
Zondervan NIV Study Bible. Fully rev. ed. Kenneth L. Barker, gen. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. Print
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