Christianity

Dear Sir,—I feel I must try to answer "Deist's" objections to Christianity.

1. The Bible is neither a textbook for the historian nor a literary masterpiece. It is the story of God's dealing with man, written by fallible human beings, whose insights were often warped by their pagan background. It is not with our own enlightened age that the religion of the Hebrews must be compared, but with the surrounding poly-theistic and animistic religions. The spiritual insights of the prophets, such as Isaiah's insight of "the suffering servant," Job's insight of the righteousness of God, stand out boldly in an age of pagan ritual and sacrifice.

In considering much of the Old Testament, the Hebrew mode of thinking should be borne in mind. The natural response of the twentieth century mind to the miraculous elements in the history of the Hebrew people is "Did this actually happen?" "Was Jonah actually swallowed by the whale?" But the first response of the Hebrew mind was "What does this story mean?" We must recognise that the thought of Jonah composing a hymn in the whale's belly, or of a mysterious hand writing on the wall, posed no problem to people who thought normally in terms of symbol and image.

2. Our "Deist" finds it difficult to believe that God loves man when so much suffering is in the world, afflicting the God-fearing and ungodly indiscriminately. But surely a God that punishes only those who do not love Him is a denial of love. If God is Love, then He will not force men to love Him by appealing to their fear. He wants all men to love Him but only if that love is freely given. God has given us free-will at the risk of losing us.

3. Morality and faith are better kept apart says " Deist." He adds that the ideal of a perfect society is sufficient motive for moral living. In reply to this I would say that the future happiness of mankind is not going to inspire many to moral living. Is it right that we should be used as the means to future happiness? Surely we are as important in God's sight as later generations? The Christian view is that man is not a means to an end but an end in himself. The Christian places emphasise on the present, on the responsibility of each individual for his own life and behaviour and for his attitude to his fellow men. It opposes the Communist belief that present evil is a necessary prelude to future happiness, that any individual today can be "used" tor the future happiness of many. Please don't think that I accuse "Deist" of being a Communist. But I am only showing him how an ideology which holds the ideal of the perfect society can in fact justify many immoral actions. But if our "Deist" replies that for the present happiness of society morality is sufficient without faith, in other words, morality is justified by its present utility, then I reply—utility alone is Insufficient motive for moral living. It only provides a negative morality, i.e., I will not hit my brother because he or society will hit me back. Utility will only make someone love another if it pays. But it will not make a person love his enemy. It is only the suffering love of Christ, that is prepared to go to the Cross if necessary, that will provide sufficient motive and power for purposeful living,