"Well, really, you know, I am not aware of a thirst for some ready-made truth which puts an end to intellectual activity in the way you seem to be describing. Will it leave me the free play of Mind, Dick? I must insist on that, you know."
"Free, as a man is free to drink while he is drinking. He is not free still to be dry."
The Ghost seemed to think for a moment. "I can make nothing of that idea," it said.
"Listen!" said the White Spirit. "Once you were a child. Once you knew what inquiry was for. There was a time when you asked questions because you wanted answers, and were glad when you had found them. Become that child again: even now."
"Ah, but when I became a man I put away childish things."
"You have gone far wrong. Thirst was made for water; inquiry for truth. What you now call the free play of inquiry has neither more or less to do with the ends for which intelligence was given than masturbation has to do with marriage."
"If we cannot be reverent, there is at least no need to be obscene. The suggestion that I return at my age to the mere factual inquisitiveness of boyhood strikes me as preposterous. In any case, that question-and-answer conception of truth only applies to matters of fact. Religious and speculative questions are surely on a different level."
"We know nothing of religion here: we think only of Christ. We know nothing of speculation. Come and see. I will bring you to Eternal Fact, the Father of all other facthood."
Ah, Lewis.
Desire is such a tricky thing...the moment it is satisfied, desire is gone. And when has man ever been content with what he has? Given enough time, a man can become desirous of desire itself. At that point, what can satisfy him? What will ever satisfy him? Only perpetual desire...forever wanting something unattainable...and so we are lost in a tempest of our own making.
This is the beauty of the Christian faith. Behold, how beautiful is our Savior! Through salvation, we do not gain an independent life, or an answer from which we can draw self-sufficient meaning--neither do we open the door to meaningless questions for the sake of always seeking for an answer. No--salvation from ourselves awakens a new life--a life forever revolving around our wonderful Savior. He is our answer, He drives our questions; He Is. And because He Is, we have hope that Heaven might actually be the home our souls have yearned for all along. Rest for the restless combined with a relationship with the unknowably knowable God.
Because He Is, we can dare to ask all questions, always earnestly seeking the answers--without fearing what those answers might be. More than that--we can ask questions, knowing that every answer only reveals more questions to ask of The Truth. Perhaps this is one of the keys to our eternal happiness? Man is always a fool; sometimes content to allow a simple answer to suffice when it is clear the answer only reveals the need for more questions, other times asking empty questions without any regard for a real answer...or worst of all finding an answer and, missing the desire for the answer so much, he cannot appreciate what he has found.
Yet, our Savior, The Fact, "the Father of all other facthood," can calm even this storm. His answers are simple enough that we can rest in them for what they are; they are complex enough that we will never lack for questions. And in the person of Christ, we discover a paradox: the unattainable promise given freely, forever satisfying while simultaneously forever calling us on; "Further up, Further in!"
An adventure without end. Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
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6 comments:
I think there is a danger that Christians face when asking questions about the Bible and about spirituality etc. There is an implicit assumption that answers are available to any questions we can ask. Or at least it feels like this to me because a lot of Christian authors make unsubstantiated claims based on what they read out of the Bible.
ha... i just heard this quote today:
"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."
~Bertrand Russell
By no means do I disagree with your thesis that we should be asking questions; it's very important. But I don't think we should be afraid to conclude that "we don't know".
Besides.... it's *sooo* difficult to avoid "confirmation bias": where the answer that we find is nothing more than the answer we knew we were going to find before we even asked the question.
But again, difficulties are no excuse not to try.
i realized later that i may not have understood what you're talking about in your post.
you reference meaningless questions, questions who's answer we might fear, questions driven by our wonderful Savior, questions that reveal more questions, empty questions, and questions that come from complex answers.
do you have some specific examples of the kinds of questions (and answers) you're talking about?
You're like, so spiritual!!! omg!!!!
not.
Sorry for the long delay Amos.
I suppose I would say this; We must have answers--otherwise what is the point of asking questions. Endless questions without the hope of finding answers are meaningless. I contend, however, that without questions our existence begins to become stale. So, in Heaven or the New Earth, part of our existence will include questions for which there will be answers, but those answers will only spark better, higher questions. Thus we will find endless desire satisfied by endless answers. And, of course, our desires will be rightly ordered at that time, so endless desire is perfectly good and to be encouraged. But we will never need to fear finding an end, because there's always more.
Think of it like reading a great book--have you ever wanted to avoid finishing a book because, once it was over, it would be "over"? You could never read it for the first time again, and you would lose the joy and excitement of anticipating the end, right? Well, that pleasure in heaven cannot go away, because every time we see a little more of the end, we uncover even more to discover and explore.
That sounds pretty wonderful to me.
Mr. Leigh, you must have a headache because your brain is so big! I'm glad you have an answer for everything -- I would be anxious if you didn't know all the answers, and anxiety feels yucky.
To Mr. Anonymous --
Yes, anxiety does feel very "yucky". I've spent a reasonable amount of time over the last several years developing friendships with non-Christians -- people with whom I can have honest conversations. It is incredibly challenging, and I've had to learn how to be honest with statements like "I don't have an answer to that question". I've really been learning over the last year or so, in which I've had a couple of particularly lengthy conversations, what "faith" really means. I used to think it was a throwaway word, but now I realize that simply because I can't explain everything I *must* rely on faith. And for someone like me (i'm trying to become a scientist) has been one of the most "yucky" experiences I've struggled with.
I listened to this sermon recently, I think it goes right along with this issue of asking questions. It's a John Piper sermon (one of my favorite preachers) on why the Bible is hard to understand.
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByScripture/10/1074_Why_God_Inspired_Hard_Texts/
It is precisely that "yucky" feeling that keeps me from getting too comfortable with the level of understanding that I currently hold. But for every challenge in my life, I think there are 2 possible outcomes. First, I can grow more confident in my understanding, or second, I discover that I'm wrong. The only outcome where I have something to loose is if I'm dishonest -- which unfortunately is all to easy.
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