journey of an atheist 5 -- narrow straights
2/17/2007 09:18:00 PM
The Third was the logical outgrowth of accepting the Absolute and the newly found discovery. To Lewis, Humans have appearances of the Absolute, thus are rooted in the Absolute. This allows mortals to experience Joy. For Lewis, "Joy was not a deception. It's visitations were rather the moments of the clearest consciousness we had, when we became aware of our fragmentary and phantasmal nature and ached for that impossible reunion which would annihilate us or that self-contradictory waking which would reveal, not that we had gad, but that we were, a dream" (Checkmate) This statement is somewhat ambiguous language, but it seem he is saying that our existence apart from the Joy is rather dismal, and an encounter with Joy wakens one to the ultimate reality beyond oneself.

The Fourth and Final Move was the step into full-fledged theism. To explain, Lewis uses an extended metaphor of Shakespeare meeting Hamlet. At first God was not personal. Lewis says, "I could no more "meet" him than Hamlet could meet Shakespeare" (Checkmate), but later he theorizes, "If Shakespeare and Hamlet could ever meet, it must be Shakespeare's doing. Hamlet could initiate nothing." (Checkmate) He concludes with this:
The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to the prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape? The words, 'compelle intrare' (which means is forced entry into the church), compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder to use them; but properly understood, they plumb the depth of Devine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation. (Checkmate)

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