Walking in a Room Blindly
Life operates by principles we did not create and we do not control. Not only that, but we are part of a world with forces and conditions that determine us, rather than we determining them.
For the modern Western mind, this assertion is contrary to the philosophical notion of man as the deciding factor in all events. “Man at the Center” is the idea that we are the arbiters of truth, and the creators of our own destinies. This man-centered focus is prideful and false, but it is such an ingrained idea of modern culture that even Christians hold it thoughtlessly along side the idea of God as the source of all truth and life.
The world operates best according to God’s intended design. Human relations work best when ordered along God’s principles of right behavior. Sin is simply the idea that we can live in the world anyway we want because we can re-write the laws of life and nature. We delude ourselves into thinking we can suspend or ignore the laws of nature. It is as though we thought we could blindfold ourselves, and walk into a strange room, and not bump into other people and the furniture. We will always “run into” some reality we thought we could re-write by our prideful self-determination.
Chuck Colson has recently released a book: “The Good Life”. The book spends 2/3 of its volume addressing the use and limits of reason to understand the world. Yet, Colson, a very thorough and systematic thinker, takes logic and reason as far as it can go. A lawyer, he “makes the case” for the Christian world view as superior to every other. The case proceeds on the basis of logic, and an examination of the evidence for how the world really works. Yet, even the most penetrating logic takes us to a threshold requiring us to admit with humility that we cannot know many things, and that the full nature of God is incomprehensible to us. Living life fully requires faith. “The Good Life” is ultimately about both reason and faith, working together, not in conflict.
Originally, Christianity was referred to as “The Way”. I like this reference because it connotes that there is a “right path”, a manner or method of living that conforms to “the way” the world works. Jesus embodied the “Way” we are to live. He explicitly identified Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Way is a path of light, of truth, and of faith. The Way is a direction leading to a destination we cannot yet perfectly see or understand, and for that reason, we walk the path of the “Way” in daily faith, seeing what is within our limited vision, and trusting that the Way will lead us to the eternal life and happiness promised by Jesus and the Scriptures.
