Mere Christianity, chapter 4

This is the part of our book club discussion on Chapter 4 of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. We are taking a sentence, paragraph, or passage that inspires, encourages, or challenges and writing about it.  Head over to Jason Stasyszen's blog  for all the other perspectives on chapter 4. Whether you've read the chapter or not, please share your thoughts.

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C.S. Lewis has been building quite a crescendo in these first four chapters.

He started off with stating there are two fundamental points – simply put that there is a moral law and we break it. Then he went on to explain that people will try to explain away these points but there is no way around them. They are absolute truths. He then continued by saying that this moral law is a reality beyond anything ordinary we experience. And now in chapter four he boldly states that based on everything thus far there must be something directing and guiding the universe – and that something should arouse our curiosity.

Humans are curious creatures, some more than others. But we can all admit there's a point where our senses and our logic can't satisfy the curiosity. Mark Batterson says this about the curiosity:

"We love having a God that we can measure and manage with our mind. But there will come a point when sensory things and rational things won't satisfy our holy curiosity."

I agree with Batterson, this curiosity is a holy one.

I won't settle for a God I can measure and manage with my mind – which turns out, isn't God at all. When we reduce God into manageable terms we are not following the Almighty God, we're following ourselves. Yet so many of us settle for that type of God and that type of muted faith.

I am curious about the "Something" that placed the earth on a perfect 23.4394 degree tilt soaring around the Sun at 108,000 km/h. My curiosity desires to know who trapped the moon in just the right pattern for the earth to maintain its seasons and tides. I want to know the mysteries behind who measured the oceans and formed the earth.

However, this curiosity is more than just a cosmic one. It is a curiosity which draws me in on the smallest of levels. Frederick Buechner wisely stated,

"The message is not written out in the starlight, which in the long run would make no difference; rather it is written out for each of us in the humdrum, helter-skelter events of each day; it is a message that in the long run might just make all the difference. Who knows what he will say to me today or to you today or into the midst of what kind of unlikely moment he will choose to say it. Not knowing is what makes today a holy mystery."

Lewis concludes that there is a "Power behind the facts, a Director, a Guide." And this Power, this Something, stirs our curiosity from within. It cares deeply about the humdrum, helter-skelter events of each day but it is far beyond our manageable senses and rational logic. It is both a holy curiosity and a holy mystery.

Are you curious?

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