Matt Bennett » religion

Matt — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:24:44 +0000

If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and are not in the least likely to do any better tomorrow, and so our case is hopeless again. We cannot do without it, and we cannot do with it. God is the only comfort, Heis also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from.He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger – according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way.

- C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity

Matt — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:17:44 +0000

In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth – only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.

- C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity

Matt — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:50:18 +0000

Religion is not a fantasy flung upward but an intuition of something far greater than ourselves. Everyone who lives with open eyes has reason to question. In the search there will be missteps, even cruelties and division, but also sublimity, kindness, beauty, wonder and faith. - David Wolpe, rabbi