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Christians believe that Jesus, who was his own father, came to Earth to offer salvation to humankind for failing the omnipotent Being who created them, through a blood sacrifice, dying, returning to life, and then flying away. This is not a crazy belief system compared to what?
Boy, that's crazy indeed, compared to the Christian faith I believe in!
I think we would likely have a very different understanding of what Lewis was saying in that quote.
Notice how he said we're mirrors reflecting God's goodness, and power? It doesn't suggest that we will be gods or goddesses governing our own worlds. I've read Mere Christianity, and I don't recall him suggesting anything close to that idea.
In any event, probably not something to really get all worked up over without seeing the entire thing in context. I'll see if I have a copy handy.
If children do NOT grow up to be adults like their parents, what do you think they become when they grow up, BF? Why are we called God's children? When you learn that the word translated as "perfect" actually means "mature," what do you think that implies about our goal as children of God?
If children do NOT grow up to be adults like their parents, what do you think they become when they grow up, BF? Why are we called God's children? When you learn that the word translated as "perfect" actually means "mature," what do you think that implies about our goal as children of God?
Do you know that Jesus referred to people as children of the devil? That in Ephesians it says we are born into wrath?
Do you believe that non-Christians become devils or demons in the afterlife?
The simple answer is that God never suggests that we are simply little gods. We do not have a divine nature, and nowhere in Scripture does it suggest that.
Do you know that Jesus referred to people as children of the devil?
I'm sorry that you believe yourself to be a child of the devil, BF. I can't even imagine how sad it must make your Father in Heaven to think you see yourself as the devil's child and not His. To reject your sonhood is to reject His Fatherhood. As for me, I am a daughter of God.
If children do NOT grow up to be adults like their parents, what do you think they become when they grow up, BF? Why are we called God's children? When you learn that the word translated as "perfect" actually means "mature," what do you think that implies about our goal as children of God?
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Originally Posted by BaptistFundie
Do you know that Jesus referred to people as children of the devil? That in Ephesians it says we are born into wrath?
Do you believe that non-Christians become devils or demons in the afterlife?
The simple answer is that God never suggests that we are simply little gods. We do not have a divine nature, and nowhere in Scripture does it suggest that.
That is not an answer to my questions, BF. Stop avoiding them. What do children become if NOT adults like their parent? Children DO get to choose whether or not to be like their parent, BF. It happens all the time. Jesus was simply pointing out the choices some seem to have made. We may not have two wolves inside as the Native American story goes, but we DO have two sources of influence on our behavior. We have the Comforter sent in Christ's name to guide us to the Truth God has "written in our hearts" and we have the Serpent (reptilian brain) source of our survival drives, pain avoidance, and pleasure-seeking drives. WE decide which of them to "feed" (or listen to).
I know that CS Lewis stated that he was an Atheist when he was young, then became a Theist as an adult. And I am not disputing that he was exactly that. I am sure that he was a Theist.
But it seems like he was writing about Christianity as possibly a way of explaining *why* Christians believed the things that they did. He knew that Christianity was not a crazy belief system. And perhaps he wrote about it in a way that was respectful to them, while at the same time intending to help nonbelievers understand believers.
And that is something that I can understand. Because I have evolved in my own Theistic beliefs to the same kind of position.
Does anyone else see CS Lewis in this way?
I am curious where you get the idea that CS Lewis was anything other than a reasonably orthodox Anglican, who happened to be an incredibly good writer? Is there something in his writings, or in his history that would lead you to think that he was some sort of generic, non-Christian theist?
To be fair, I have always read his works through the lens of evangelical Christianity, but I see no reason to doubt his Christian bona fides. Especially not after reading abolition of man, or mere Christianity…
That is not an answer to my questions, BF. Stop avoiding them. What do children become if NOT adults like their parent? Children DO get to choose whether or not to be like their parent, BF.
It's completely irrelevant to the point here. God never calls us little gods, or says that we are "baby gods" that grow up to be big gods.
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It happens all the time. Jesus was simply pointing out the choices some seem to have made. We may not have two wolves inside as the Native American story goes, but we DO have two sources of influence on our behavior. We have the Comforter sent in Christ's name to guide us to the Truth God has "written in our hearts" and we have the Serpent (reptilian brain) source of our survival drives, pain avoidance, and pleasure-seeking drives. WE decide which of them to "feed" (or listen to).
Not even close to what the Bible actually teaches. Nowhere near. But now is where you'll tell me the Bible is barbaric and you have some hidden gnostic understanding that you have figured out 2000 years after Jesus. Yay for you! And the rest of us poor slobs are simply too dumb, or too blind to figure it out. Because YOU have decided what it is.
It's completely irrelevant to the point here. God never calls us little gods, or says that we are "baby gods" that grow up to be big gods.
He does tell us that He's our Father and that we are His children. And Jesus Christ told us to be "perfect, even as [our] Father which is in Heaven is perfect." How are either of those things irrelevant?
I think we would likely have a very different understanding of what Lewis was saying in that quote.
Notice how he said we're mirrors reflecting God's goodness, and power? It doesn't suggest that we will be gods or goddesses governing our own worlds. I've read Mere Christianity, and I don't recall him suggesting anything close to that idea.
In any event, probably not something to really get all worked up over without seeing the entire thing in context. I'll see if I have a copy handy.
But if it is as symbolic as you say, which I agree with, then it would tend to support my original question.
But if it is as symbolic as you say, which I agree with, then it would tend to support my original question.
If it is symbolic, what is it symbolic of?
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