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God Quote 4
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Patrick
Dec 30, 2009, 12:52:48 PM12/30/09
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My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust.
But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line
crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing
this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and
senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part
of the show, find myself in such a violent reaction against it?... Of course
I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a
private idea of my own. But if i did that, then my argument against God
collapsed too--for the argument depended on saying the world was really
unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Thus, in the
very act of trying to prove that God did not exist - in other words, that
the whole of reality was senseless - I found I was forced to assume that one
part of reality - namely my idea of justice - was full of sense. If the
whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no
meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no
creatures with eyes, we should never have known it was dark. Dark would be
without meaning. C.S. Lewis
But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line
crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing
this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and
senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part
of the show, find myself in such a violent reaction against it?... Of course
I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a
private idea of my own. But if i did that, then my argument against God
collapsed too--for the argument depended on saying the world was really
unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Thus, in the
very act of trying to prove that God did not exist - in other words, that
the whole of reality was senseless - I found I was forced to assume that one
part of reality - namely my idea of justice - was full of sense. If the
whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no
meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no
creatures with eyes, we should never have known it was dark. Dark would be
without meaning. C.S. Lewis
ar...@hobbiton.net
Dec 31, 2009, 9:28:01 AM12/31/09
to
On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:52:48 -0500, the slug <bark...@erinot.com>
wrote:
>My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust.
>But how had I got this idea of just and unjust?
wrote:
>My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust.
>But how had I got this idea of just and unjust?
Ask K'ung-fu-tzu, Meng Tzu, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Francis Hutcheson,
David Hume or Adam Smith.
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