“If God’s moral judgment differs from ours so that our ‘black’ may be His ‘white’, we can mean nothing by calling Him good; for to say ‘God is good’, while asserting that His goodness is wholly other than ours, is really only to say ‘God is we know not what’. And an utterly unknown quality in God cannot give us moral grounds for loving or obeying Him. If He is not (in our sense) ‘good’ we shall obey, if at all, only through fear — and should be equally ready to obey an omnipotent Fiend. The doctrine of Total Depravity — when the consequence is drawn that, since we are totally depraved, our idea of God is worth simply nothing — may thus turn Christianity into a form of devil-worship.”
As a Catholic who briefly fell into the OPC Reformed Calvinist world, I read, prayed, and dialogued until I was satisfied I understood what I was getting into. And I left. At the particular OPC congregation I joined, I watched the human contradictions of “Once saved always saved” and predestination contribute to the suicide of the drug addicted pastor, whose theology could only lead him to conclude he was predestined for hell anyway. My personal interpretation of Lewis’s writing on Total Depravity is as follows: If we are made in the image and likeness of God, and Total Depravity is true, then we could conclude from this we have a monster as a God. It’s possible this is another quote from Lewis, but I’ve been unable to source it.
I have the highest regard for Catholics, but we do have some doctrinal differences. I’m not a theologian, but have observed lots of folks struggle with Calvinism, specifically predestination versus free will. To me, there is no conflict. Both are displayed in scripture. …I should write an article on that… Some folks, like the pastor you mentioned, really get wound up in theology tightly. Theology seems to me an attempt to reword the Bible and define God in human terms. I view such efforts skeptically.
You nailed my problem with Calvinism in a nutshell. Everything I learned about the theology impressed me as trying to fit the ways of our Infinite Almighty Supernatural Omnipotent God inside the boundaries of the human intellect.
Thanks for reading and commenting! I've read this quote several times, but its meaning is still lost on me. CS Lewis was a great author, but I sometimes struggle to follow his logic, and other times disagree with it. For example, I do not agree with, "an utterly unknown quality in God cannot give us moral grounds for loving or obeying Him". Well, every quality of God, in its fullness, is unknown to us.
This, however, I know: "“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Also, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile" (1 Corinthians 3:20). He is infinitely larger than we in every respect.
Without this promise I would be eternally lost and deeply distraught.
Me too, brother. Recently, I’ve been surprised at how widespread the belief is that salvation can be lost.
“If God’s moral judgment differs from ours so that our ‘black’ may be His ‘white’, we can mean nothing by calling Him good; for to say ‘God is good’, while asserting that His goodness is wholly other than ours, is really only to say ‘God is we know not what’. And an utterly unknown quality in God cannot give us moral grounds for loving or obeying Him. If He is not (in our sense) ‘good’ we shall obey, if at all, only through fear — and should be equally ready to obey an omnipotent Fiend. The doctrine of Total Depravity — when the consequence is drawn that, since we are totally depraved, our idea of God is worth simply nothing — may thus turn Christianity into a form of devil-worship.”
C.S. Lewis, “The Problem of Pain.”
As a Catholic who briefly fell into the OPC Reformed Calvinist world, I read, prayed, and dialogued until I was satisfied I understood what I was getting into. And I left. At the particular OPC congregation I joined, I watched the human contradictions of “Once saved always saved” and predestination contribute to the suicide of the drug addicted pastor, whose theology could only lead him to conclude he was predestined for hell anyway. My personal interpretation of Lewis’s writing on Total Depravity is as follows: If we are made in the image and likeness of God, and Total Depravity is true, then we could conclude from this we have a monster as a God. It’s possible this is another quote from Lewis, but I’ve been unable to source it.
I have the highest regard for Catholics, but we do have some doctrinal differences. I’m not a theologian, but have observed lots of folks struggle with Calvinism, specifically predestination versus free will. To me, there is no conflict. Both are displayed in scripture. …I should write an article on that… Some folks, like the pastor you mentioned, really get wound up in theology tightly. Theology seems to me an attempt to reword the Bible and define God in human terms. I view such efforts skeptically.
You nailed my problem with Calvinism in a nutshell. Everything I learned about the theology impressed me as trying to fit the ways of our Infinite Almighty Supernatural Omnipotent God inside the boundaries of the human intellect.
Thanks for reading and commenting! I've read this quote several times, but its meaning is still lost on me. CS Lewis was a great author, but I sometimes struggle to follow his logic, and other times disagree with it. For example, I do not agree with, "an utterly unknown quality in God cannot give us moral grounds for loving or obeying Him". Well, every quality of God, in its fullness, is unknown to us.
This, however, I know: "“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Also, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile" (1 Corinthians 3:20). He is infinitely larger than we in every respect.
Will unbelievers enter God’s rest in Heaven?