"I believe in God as I believe that the sun has risen - not because I can see it, but because by it I can see everything."
2007-10-16 01:20:50 · 22 answers · asked by Linz ♥ VT 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Pastor Billy says: C.S. Lewis was greatly influenced by another writer GK Chesterton before his conversion. Chesterton wrote something very similar, "the world without the supernatural is not natural but unnatural"
point: The world contains truth because God is in it, God created everything, take God out of society as secular atheists would have us do and you are left with something that is unnatural.
2007-10-16 02:16:39 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unless you know God, as Mr. Lewis did you can not understand this point. many believe in God, but it is a far cry from Knowing God. I 'believe' that my family is ok at work and at school. I 'KNOW' that if i fip this swich on the wall this room will be filled with light. The two are not in the same ball game. I say this because once you 'know' God, it is no longer a matter of 'believeing' anymore than it is a matter of living you simply do it. God becomes part of you, part of your life, you can not 'stop' knowing God anymore than you can stop 'knowing' the face in a mirror. When you know God, everything if differnt. When you feel for people, with a heart after God's design, you life will change. giving is no longer a burden but a joy, time spent in prayer is time spent in conversation with the one who loves you as no other.
Seek and you will find.
2007-10-16 08:49:05 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
He is saying that he doesn't believe in God because he can "see" God, but he can see the effects of God.
Like saying you don't believe the sun has risen because you see the bright ball of fire in the sky, but because you see the light on the world around you.
Whoever said it was circular doesn't grasp the concept of circular logic. This is a very coherent way of explaining faith - without using faith as a means of explaination.
2007-10-16 08:45:45 · answer #3 · answered by capitalctu 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think what he means is that although he cannot see the sun he knows that it has risen because of the light it spreads.
In the same way we may not be able to see God but we know He is there because we can see the evidence of His intelligence and His works.
2007-10-16 08:33:30 · answer #4 · answered by Andy Roberts 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
As salaamu 'alaikym.
Believing in God (whether as YHWH, Trinity Father/Son/Holy Spirit, or Allah, Subhanna wa Ta'ala) allows one to see existence and reality in different manner than one who does not hold any such belief.
Believing in God implies the belief in a purposeful existence and a reason for the same as all that exist and all that happens must happen by the Will of God who sustains all of existence and thereby allows the same to continue.
Believing in God would also give one pause to consider that everything having been created by God is as sacred and as important in the grander scheme of things as ones self. This would lead one, necessarily, to treating all of existence with a great deal of respect and consideration.
On the contrary, not believing in God and the implications thereof, accepting everything that exist as doing so by mere coincidence and happenstance would lead one to place little value on anything or anyone as it would all be seen as coming from nowhere and then returning to the same. Such a personal view might well lead one to ruthlessness or apathy, neither of which will be of benefit ot the individual nor to humanity as a whole.
Ma'a salaam.
2007-10-16 08:44:12 · answer #5 · answered by Big Bill 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
for the first part about the sun rising i think that he was talking about the fact that he will always believe in God and that his faith is as strong as the fact that the sun will rise.
the second part i'm pretty sure is that he believes in God because of the way he sees him working in ways and just because you can't see something doesn't mean that it isn't there. it is kind of like this DC Talk song "minds eye" i have heard before. it says "i can't see the wind but i see the affects of the wind"
hope that this has been of some help. and God Bless. : )
2007-10-16 08:33:26 · answer #6 · answered by ? 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Even the blind know the sun has risen, they can feel the heat of it or the change in temp when it goes down, and has risen . That is just a camment something to think on . Now what He may have meant is Jesus is the light of the world and word and because of that light he can see every thing in the word
2007-10-16 08:28:04 · answer #7 · answered by the only 1 hobo 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
He can honestly be harking back to the solar deity that is behind most religions, or he's saying that belief in God is necessary to correctly interpret ("truly see") everything else.
I love C.S., but I find his "Mere Christianity" flawed in one essential aspect. He argues that either Jesus was God, or he was a maniac or he was evil. He does not include one more possibility: that he was a fictional character. Being a writer of fiction himself, he should have seen that possibility.
2007-10-16 08:55:25 · answer #8 · answered by auntb93 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Romans chapter one says the creation shows the invisible things of God
God is manifest in his creation.
God is a trinity so is creation
Time is past present and future
matter is gas solid and liquid
man is soul body and spirit
space is described as length width and height
there are 3 primary colors
many more but man and gods creation were made in his image which means a trinity. Look around and see that God is good.
2007-10-16 08:28:12 · answer #9 · answered by jesussaves 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Since Lewis was a former atheist, his words on this have weight.
Lewis referred to the attitude that faith is a worldview, and without faith as part of your worldview, you are blind to the sublime. He expounds on this point in Pilgrims Progress as well as The Problem with Pain.
2007-10-16 09:04:53 · answer #10 · answered by lundstroms2004 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋