Post by stevemccloskey on Mar 17, 2006 23:18:07 GMT -5
What is at the root of human sin? Is it selfishness or perhaps something else?
Here's a thought to consider by C.S. Lewis from his sermon "The Weight of Glory":
"If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.
If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
Is desire (in itself) the problem, or is it, as Lewis proposes, that our desire is to weak? Is it a righteous motive to pursue our own satisfaction in God? We must differentiate that the gratification of the desires of the flesh are separate from satisfaction in delighting in God (Psalm 37:4). We are explicitly told to believe in the pleasures and the rewards of knowing Him. Consider these two verses:
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)
"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6--emphasis mine)
Blaise Pascal said:
" All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves."
The implications of this are that even regenerate believers pursue happiness--and that this is not evil. The problem lies in the direction in which he pursues happiness, and not in the pursuit itself.
The root of sin is in idolatry. Whereas, whatever man delights in supremely is his god.
Here's a thought to consider by C.S. Lewis from his sermon "The Weight of Glory":
"If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.
If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
Is desire (in itself) the problem, or is it, as Lewis proposes, that our desire is to weak? Is it a righteous motive to pursue our own satisfaction in God? We must differentiate that the gratification of the desires of the flesh are separate from satisfaction in delighting in God (Psalm 37:4). We are explicitly told to believe in the pleasures and the rewards of knowing Him. Consider these two verses:
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)
"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6--emphasis mine)
Blaise Pascal said:
" All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves."
The implications of this are that even regenerate believers pursue happiness--and that this is not evil. The problem lies in the direction in which he pursues happiness, and not in the pursuit itself.
The root of sin is in idolatry. Whereas, whatever man delights in supremely is his god.