On Preconceptions

Among my goals for the summer: make it through a too-daunting list of "serious reads." By "too-daunting" I really mean "too long," but that's normal.

I prefer to read several books at once. So, among other fantastic reads, I've tackled C.S. Lewis's "Screwtape Letters." In addition to joining "Narnia" as the most readable of Lewis's books I've dipped into, I've found a lot of food for thought.

One of the thoughts I keep coming back to is quoted below in the form of "advice" to one who wishes to turn the believer away from God:

"Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man..."

Among my thoughts on this book, and this quote in particular, I have come to a deeper understanding of why logic and knowing what we believe and why is so important. No one will, after all, find a voice with any normal, reasonable human being unless there is something that sounds logical in their message. We must understand logic so we can discern between "sounds reasonable" and "is reasonable." And we must understand what we believe because it is possible to believe the wrong thing for logical reasons IF you have started with a false preconception.

That, for example, is why a cultist may teach a system of belief based on the premise that human bodies are vehicles to help us on our journey. As thinking human beings, we must believe something about our bodies. Starting with a philosophical idea of the "correct" view of our bodies, one can easily build a logical sequence such as this:

All human bodies are vehicles.
All vehicles should be dispensed with if a more efficient vehicle comes along. [it's in the economics!]
Therefore, human bodies should be dispensed with if a more efficient vehicle comes along.

The preceding example is a valid logical sequence (syllogism) as illustrated by substituting the words with those in the following:

(if) All cats are carnivores.
(and) All carnivores eat meat.
(then) All cats eat meat.

We know based on Scripture that the idea of a human body being dispensed with at will is wrong. But how many of us, when confronted with the statement, "human bodies should be dispensed with" will begin by arguing that human bodies aren't dispensable? If we do, we risk loss because we are really combating not a single statement but a whole sequence of thought that must be true provided that our premises is true. More wisely in this example, we should identify and take issue with the root premise that "human bodies are vehicles."

Which brings me back to Lewis. How many of the errors we make in Christian life are from our use of false human preconceptions to create a logical sequence in our minds? For example, let's assume that Christians should conquer the world.

All Christians should conquer the world.
The world is conquered by our faith.
Therefore, Christians conquer the world by faith.

We have strings of "conquering verses" to quote and we are ready to prove to anyone that Christians should conquer the world by faith. But, have we examined our root idea? We are saying, after all, that we are responsible for victory over the world.

In fact, though, Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus overcomes the world.

This requires that we redevelop pattern of behavior based on a new sequence of thought:

(if) Jesus conquers the world.
(and) The world is conquered by our faith.
(then) Jesus conquers the world by our faith.

Our new conclusion is not an entirely comprehensive summary either of world-conquering or of faith. But it still dictates a different way of life than our first thought progression. We now realize we are not responsible for utilizing our faith to conquer the world. In fact, we can't do it! He does it! If that's what we understand, then we'd better take world-conquering off our to-do list and move on to doing the things He actually does command us to do!