I have been engaged in a study of apologetics recently, more specifically the "apologetic method" of Francis Schaeffer( Though I know he would hate any kind of formula with his name attached to it), and, by extension, I have been studying the definition "Presuppositional Apologetics" for a Bible study this Friday night, but in truth this post begins long ago at the budding of my freshman year...
I had just met my new roommate, Howard M. Wellons, a most ostentatious Episcopalian from North Carolina. As we got to know each other through the usual pleasantries of society, he informed me that he has to sleep with an audio-book, or his sleeping patter would be much disrupted considering audio-books were always involved in his nocturnal resting. I thought it would be somewhat annoying; however, most promptly, the concept grew on me, and now I must listen to something as I go to sleep. My selection, coming from my theological inclinations, had been to listen to church history lectures as I fade to dream land, yet this was too stimulating for me and I decided a change of venue was in order. I found lectures on the life and writings of C.S. Lewis, and began to think to myself that these would be interesting, yet not enough to keep me awake all night. I must conclude that my hypothesis was wrong, for it it now 2:37 A.M., and I am wide awake. Yet I do not think I would trade this time for any amount of sleep, for sleep can only rejuvenate the body... I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep when the lecturer proceeded to discuss Lewis' concept of "First and Second Things". Lewis describes his search for joy, and relates that he was always disappointed because his search was misdirected. He, before his conversion, looked for joy, but not what caused the joy. Lewis sought the side effect of the object rather than the object Himself. As an example, he spoke of his wife whom he loved dearly. He said that he could never love his wife if he loved her for her own sake. The more he "loved" her, the less he really loved her, for his wife is not "first", rather she is "second". One cannot love a creature if one does not first love the creator, and out of that "first" love, the "second" then flows. Loving someone for the sake of that person will turn into hatred, for it is unbridled. If God's reigns be not upon it and guide it, that "love" will be doomed to fail. And so, Lewis concluded that the death of his wife saved the both of them from a form of Idolatry, and was a blessing of God's providence.
Now, let me put my spin on this. Nothing in this universe is autonomous. No, not one thing. Everything that is, was, or is to come must be based on one of two presuppositions: The Holy Triune God, or Autonomous Man. Either one interprets anything and everything as God requires, or you try to form your own interpretation. No gray. Only Black or White.
Funny, how we humans try to compartmentalize life, when we really can not do it. I put the concept of Christ's Lordship over all in apologetics, but not in life. Not in love. Yet, the truth is, one cannot separate apologetics from life. One thing is true in both:No neutrality, no brute facts. In my life, I now see where I have loved because of the second thing, and not the first. I am guilty of my love beginning on earth and leading me to heaven. What a fool! Love, for anything or anyone, must begin with the Beginning, the Triune God who is there and who is not silent, and from that love, all others must flow. Evil must be hated, not because of what it is, but because of who God is. Heresy must be beaten with all violence, but only because of the character and holiness of God, not because it is "just wrong". As Christians we, I, must strive to subject all of life to God's sovereignty as Lord of all. All thoughts, loves, wills, and actions must begin in the throne room of the Almighty. If they do not, then we admit that there is "neutrality", there is a brute fact that exists without being contingent upon God. I have loved dead relatives because of "who they were", and not because of who God is. Perhaps that is why they are here no longer, I think God would not have another in His place. I have loved my friends, my sister, mother, father, all with too much autonomy. Have you? O Brother, O Sister, let us draw nigh unto God. Let us look upon the world with the glasses of Theism, no more to filter the world through the vain lenses of Humanist pride.
We shall never love one another more, till we love Christ more. You can talk about the "Eucharist" till you are blue in the face. You can try to make all people think they are "elect" just because they were sprinkled as an infant, but to no good end. Away with such vanity! Away with all such heresy! I would say, my friends, that I would love you more... Yet, I think the only way to do so is to think more of Christ, and then, only then, shall the second things become elevated. Perhaps, one might think of this as "Presuppositional Life"...yeah.
Labels: Life. Lordship of Christ, love, presuppositions