Quotes from my Theology Paper research
Two more Lewis, one other.
Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk. Perhaps we feel inclined to disagree with Him. But there is a difficulty about disagreeing with God. He is the source from which all your reasoning power comes: you could not be right and He wrong any more than a stream can rise higher than its own source. When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on. If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will - that is, for making a life world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings - then we may take it it is worth paying.
(and)
You must believe that God is separate from the world and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will. Confronted with a cancer or a slum the Pantheist can say, "If you could only see it from the divine point of view, you would realise that this also is God." The Christian replies, "Don't talk damned nonsense."*
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*One listener complained of the word damned as frivolous swearing. But I mean exactly what I say-nonsense that is damned is under God's curse, and will (apart from God's grace) lead those who believe it to eternal death.
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
To love means that a person does not want to exist only by himself but with the object of his love.
Karl Barth on God by Sebastian A. Matczak
in His love,
~Lisa
Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk. Perhaps we feel inclined to disagree with Him. But there is a difficulty about disagreeing with God. He is the source from which all your reasoning power comes: you could not be right and He wrong any more than a stream can rise higher than its own source. When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on. If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will - that is, for making a life world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings - then we may take it it is worth paying.
(and)
You must believe that God is separate from the world and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will. Confronted with a cancer or a slum the Pantheist can say, "If you could only see it from the divine point of view, you would realise that this also is God." The Christian replies, "Don't talk damned nonsense."*
--------
*One listener complained of the word damned as frivolous swearing. But I mean exactly what I say-nonsense that is damned is under God's curse, and will (apart from God's grace) lead those who believe it to eternal death.
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
To love means that a person does not want to exist only by himself but with the object of his love.
Karl Barth on God by Sebastian A. Matczak
in His love,
~Lisa