Man or Rabbit?

Please forgive me,Professor Ribeiro, but I don’t entirely agree with C.S. Lewis here.

I don’t disagree with his logic. From my vantage point, Lewis quite clearly points out that the question “Can’t I be good without believing in Christianity?” is an attempt to evade Christ, to actually delve into matters. Those who ask such a question simply want to justify their lifestyle without exposing themselves to the rather unsettling possibility that Christianity must be true.

No, I fault Lewis not for anything he does, but for his manner of approach. This is not altogether his fault. I believe that Lewis’s premise, that it is “obviously the job of ever man (that is a man and not a rabbit) to try to find out which, and then to devote his full energies either to serving this tremendous secret or exposing and destroying this gigantic humbug” is not correct. I believe it is the job of every man to seek the truth and follow it whole heartedly. But I do not believe that this task is necessarily obvious to this current world.

I would suggest that the question asked by the postmodern world is not “Is it true?” but “Is it good and useful?” To illustrate, a professor once told me about debates a famous atheist, Richard Dawkins I believe, would have with various Christians. Dawkin’s knockout blow was always “What trait do Christians have to offer the world that non-Christians cannot?” I don’t desire to answer the question here (but I dare say it is an interesting question). Instead, the fact that this question was asked (and unanswered!) signals that this is a world of pragmatism. If something is of little use, it is quite outdated and worth throwing out.

So I think Lewis’s assumption that people have an over whelming desire to know the truth is somewhat outmoded by pragmatism. Or at least, this desire is very much obscured by questions of “What’s the use if it doesn’t make a difference.”

But this is not a criticism of Lewis, because it is unfair to ask him to foresee this rise of pragmatism. I just think it is important to understand the difference of people’s approach to Christianity then and now. From the little I’ve seen, people are disenchanted with the Church as intolerant and self-serving. They see it as a crutch for hypocrites. Its mission of justice and mercy has been tainted by those seeking it as a placebo to ease their conscience as they continue about their lives unchanged. And the pragmatism of the day is not impressed. “It is useless,” it says, “let us shed this Church altogether.”

To my mind, the only argument we can make to pragmatism is one of action. We must have good news, justice, and mercy to offer this world.