journey through Narnia...

Our faith is only as firm as its object. Many people have faith, but many have no thing or no one in mind worthy of being trusted. Peter and Susan so desired to believe in Narnia as Lucy was proclaiming it. Yet, they could not bring themselves to trust in what to them seemed like a fantasy. They struggled so much with the concept that they even dared enter the professor’s study in the house and spoke with him about it. Their conversation concluded with thoughts that we hear elsewhere in Lewis’ writings… 

The professor debated with Peter and Susan over these three issues: First, was Lucy known to lie frequently? Peter and Susan responded in the negative claiming that Lucy was rather truthful. Second, was Lucy known to be crazy? Once again, Peter and Susan were forced to answer in the negative. Then according to logic states the professor, “There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.” Peter and Susan had a reasonable object or person (Lucy) of faith in which to trust.

Lewis remarks elsewhere that we must view Jesus the same way. We have three options with Jesus’ claim to be God. One, Jesus was a liar. Two, Jesus was nuts. Or three, Jesus was telling the truth. The Scriptures give us quite a remarkable picture of Jesus who time and again claimed to be God and time and again proved that He was God in flesh. Many believed, many more doubted... The first ones to believe however were the most unlikely...  

In Eastern religions, there is a general religious belief in 'pantheism' that proposes that god is all and in all. It is not far fetched that god could take on the personality of a human. In the Roman world in which Jesus lived there was a religious belief of 'polytheism' where there were a multitude of gods. And these gods would visit from 'heaven' from time to time. In fact, Paul and Barnabas were mistaken for gods on one of Paul's missionary journeys. The disciples, however, were Jewish.... that is their religious system was monotheistic. For a Jew to believe in anyone being a God was the unpardonable sin. This is a chief reason the Jews crucified Jesus. 

For monotheistic Jewish men to believe, from what they saw and heard of Jesus, makes their claim credible. It makes the object of their faith worthy of trust. They had to come to grips with a conclusion: was Jesus lying, nuts or was He God? They gave their lives assenting to Jesus being God. 

One of the things that attracts me to Christianity is that, yes, it is a matter of faith. We are called to be ‘sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see’. However, we also have quite an object of our faith. We worship a God who, while on earth, has a credible testimony of truth and was commended, not as one who was crazy, but as one who was wiser than all around Him. 

I pray that we would realize that ours is not a blind faith. While there are large parts of our faith that are based on things we cannot see, it is equally true that large parts of our faith are based on reason. May your faith be strengthened by the strength of its object.