Too good to be true: is a polite way of saying that the modern world zeitgeist demonises Christianity as a blind backward faith in myth and miracles that defy the real world of science. But it was Christian’s belief in a rational God that promoted and developed science and industry and brought freedom, democracy, prosperity, schools, universities etc.
So what went wrong?
We used the excuse that science demonstrates that there is no god: that universe life and mankind are just one big cosmic fluke. Lyell, the armchair Geologist who influenced Darwin, admitted that his aim was “to rid the science [of geology] of Moses” - effectively to ditch the authority of the Bible.
Despite the gaping holes in the theory, Evolution rapidly became the dominant belief in universities, and soon spread to clergy - Catholic Priests and Protestant Pastors - and thence, more slowly, to the pews. Slowest of all to succumb to evolution were Bible Scholars: it was not until about 1970 that the first English translations corrupted Genesis 1:26,27 to become compatible with claims that God created mankind as a group rather than creating the first couple Adam and Eve.
The irony, is that science actually points to a god: One law of science says matter plus energy is constant - hence the universe must be eternal; but, another law of science contradicts that and says that everything runs down until there is no available energy - but since we exist, the universe must have had a beginning because it still has available energy.
So now we have that majority belief that absolutely nothing (no time, space, energy, matter or intelligence) turned into the universe via the Big Bang against all the known laws of science and that the dead matter became alive, and eventually evolved intelligence. But that involves countless miracles happening for no reason.
That is blind faith on steroids.
It is more rational and takes less faith to believe that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth’. Furthermore, even the simplest life has hardware and software with many thousands of words in the DNA language, so clearly intelligence did not eventually evolve, rather it pre-existed all life. Which ties in well with John 1: In the beginning was the Word and the Word (Jesus) was with God and the Word was God and without him, nothing was made that was made.
"The detail over which these monks went mad with joy was the universe itself, the only thing really worthy of enjoyment. The white daylight shone over all the world, the endless forests stood up in their order. The lighting awoke and the tree fell and the sea gathered into mountains and the ship went down, and all these disconnected and meaningless and terrible objects were all part of one dark and fearful conspiracy of goodness, one merciless scheme of mercy. " --GK Chesterton, Francis, in "Twelve Types"
Do we have a word in English for a thought or work of narration or art that is both deeply painful and at the same time bursting with joy? For such is this essay. It is accomplished by the craft of the author. His arrangement of the material is so natural it escapes notice, and that material is electrifying. We can picture so vividly how it must have been, at least to the sincere spirit, to live in a community of faith, and at the same time to feel the closer suffocation of life in the modern world. Oh, what we have lost! But at least we have these words to relay to others what might be again, if only we try.
There's a word in Welsh that somewhat corresponds: "hiraeth" (pronounced hi-ryeth). It's supposedly untranslatable, but refers to a deep longing, more profound than nostalgia, for what is lost but which gives joy as well as sadness when calling it to mind. I agree with you that this essay is electrifying, and I want to share it with as many people as possible...but which people? That will take a little thought, casting pearls etc.
We meet people every day who are disgusted and frightened. We could tell them about this lost world! I have suggested to them that we begin with a campaign to stop usury (through a series of steps outlined in chapter 7 of Dr. Brian McCall's great book, The Church and the Usurers). And then the enticement would be Robert's brilliant yet concise presentation here. People are desperate now. They are suicidal. I think they are ready to listen. Or I hope so.
ONce again, VM, you hit a very real, very raw, almost unimaginable and unatainable state: there is no transcendent joy anymore, only material, practicable: my football team won, the girl i like agrees to a date, my coffee is now at the store again, ad infinitum..I go to MASS regularly, I do not feel any joy, only inexplicable mystery, a craving that I might truly believe what I am compelled to say, either the Major Doxology, Gloria in excelsis, or the Credo...I am in a constant state of examining, why? the very ethos of our times is just that. Trust not, doubt all, constantly skeptical. As I write this, I think, maybe only children know the joy you speak of.
Robert, you are a true apologist--in the deepest sense of that calling. You make faith come alive and beautiful.
I love your proposal, put in my impoverished words: Many people today do not entertain the possibility that Christianity is "the true myth" because it is simply too good to be true. For all of the reasons that you articulate so well.
Recently, I attended a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in G Major, with a dear friend, who is a Jewish rabbi--a deeply thoughtful, well educated, wise man. After the performance, which culminates in Mahler's musical rendering of a child's vision of heaven, my friend asked: "Does that seem too simple? How about the complexities of adulthood?"
I recall thinking about St. Thérèse of Lisieux's spiritual childhood--the radical loving-trust of the child for a caring and protective father, who bends down to pick up the little child who is attempting to climb the stairs.
Thank you for this truly lovely essay, Robert. By the way, the visuals are worthy of comtemplation in themselves!
Robert, you have inspired a sticking notion,"joy where are you": thus, I am reading Goethe's Faust, and in "First Part of theTragedy", I , Night, lines 16 and 17 blew we wide awake.
" I have no fear of Devil or Hell, Wherefore I'm shorn of joy as well"
How can we have joy when there is no material fear: big gov, big medicine, welfare, a drug for weight loss (really??), a drug for abortion, a society utterly shorn of shame (in the West anyway), instant talk to anyone anywhere, reading your thoughts instantly, everywhere.
What mystery is life, except in our imaginations. Safety everywhere, no fear, no joy.
Compare to Middle ages...every day was a role of the dice, death, the devil, hell on earth was part of daily breath. Joy was actaully being alive at the end of each day, unlike your child, your neighbor, other whole families. Plagues everywhere and arbitrary. Death equally so. thus the sacraments, a joy, a real joy that you could attend to them.
NOw? Just man made horrors such as Covid and those hellish shots, yes, evil and the devils work, but is there joy in surviving those, self inflicted mass murders. No just unbelievable remorse to those who succumbed, an unbearable sadness no one is held accountable. 'No fear of devil or Hell, wherefor I'm sorn of joy as well"
Excuse me, It’s so good it has to be true! Yes, eternal hope in the future but in the here and now the present known, inward reality of the Holy Spirit as pure gift, life , and joy is assumed in Acts and the Epistles
Lovely post. I'd love some help in understanding the penultimate image. In particular, I can't make out what the thing is in the upper right hand quadrant, which the man in the gray cape seems to be staring at.
It's an angel! With its back to us and the man. It's wearing a white cap of some sort. You can see its wings. It seems a large, rather chunky, corporeal kind of angel. The man is staring at the angel, which is looking up at an intriguing gap in the stone wall: maybe a glimpse of the eternal world beyond?
Too good to be true: is a polite way of saying that the modern world zeitgeist demonises Christianity as a blind backward faith in myth and miracles that defy the real world of science. But it was Christian’s belief in a rational God that promoted and developed science and industry and brought freedom, democracy, prosperity, schools, universities etc.
So what went wrong?
We used the excuse that science demonstrates that there is no god: that universe life and mankind are just one big cosmic fluke. Lyell, the armchair Geologist who influenced Darwin, admitted that his aim was “to rid the science [of geology] of Moses” - effectively to ditch the authority of the Bible.
Despite the gaping holes in the theory, Evolution rapidly became the dominant belief in universities, and soon spread to clergy - Catholic Priests and Protestant Pastors - and thence, more slowly, to the pews. Slowest of all to succumb to evolution were Bible Scholars: it was not until about 1970 that the first English translations corrupted Genesis 1:26,27 to become compatible with claims that God created mankind as a group rather than creating the first couple Adam and Eve.
The irony, is that science actually points to a god: One law of science says matter plus energy is constant - hence the universe must be eternal; but, another law of science contradicts that and says that everything runs down until there is no available energy - but since we exist, the universe must have had a beginning because it still has available energy.
So now we have that majority belief that absolutely nothing (no time, space, energy, matter or intelligence) turned into the universe via the Big Bang against all the known laws of science and that the dead matter became alive, and eventually evolved intelligence. But that involves countless miracles happening for no reason.
That is blind faith on steroids.
It is more rational and takes less faith to believe that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth’. Furthermore, even the simplest life has hardware and software with many thousands of words in the DNA language, so clearly intelligence did not eventually evolve, rather it pre-existed all life. Which ties in well with John 1: In the beginning was the Word and the Word (Jesus) was with God and the Word was God and without him, nothing was made that was made.
"It is more rational and takes less faith to believe that 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth'"—well said, and I agree.
"The detail over which these monks went mad with joy was the universe itself, the only thing really worthy of enjoyment. The white daylight shone over all the world, the endless forests stood up in their order. The lighting awoke and the tree fell and the sea gathered into mountains and the ship went down, and all these disconnected and meaningless and terrible objects were all part of one dark and fearful conspiracy of goodness, one merciless scheme of mercy. " --GK Chesterton, Francis, in "Twelve Types"
This passage is superb, thank you Rachel!
Do we have a word in English for a thought or work of narration or art that is both deeply painful and at the same time bursting with joy? For such is this essay. It is accomplished by the craft of the author. His arrangement of the material is so natural it escapes notice, and that material is electrifying. We can picture so vividly how it must have been, at least to the sincere spirit, to live in a community of faith, and at the same time to feel the closer suffocation of life in the modern world. Oh, what we have lost! But at least we have these words to relay to others what might be again, if only we try.
There's a word in Welsh that somewhat corresponds: "hiraeth" (pronounced hi-ryeth). It's supposedly untranslatable, but refers to a deep longing, more profound than nostalgia, for what is lost but which gives joy as well as sadness when calling it to mind. I agree with you that this essay is electrifying, and I want to share it with as many people as possible...but which people? That will take a little thought, casting pearls etc.
We meet people every day who are disgusted and frightened. We could tell them about this lost world! I have suggested to them that we begin with a campaign to stop usury (through a series of steps outlined in chapter 7 of Dr. Brian McCall's great book, The Church and the Usurers). And then the enticement would be Robert's brilliant yet concise presentation here. People are desperate now. They are suicidal. I think they are ready to listen. Or I hope so.
ONce again, VM, you hit a very real, very raw, almost unimaginable and unatainable state: there is no transcendent joy anymore, only material, practicable: my football team won, the girl i like agrees to a date, my coffee is now at the store again, ad infinitum..I go to MASS regularly, I do not feel any joy, only inexplicable mystery, a craving that I might truly believe what I am compelled to say, either the Major Doxology, Gloria in excelsis, or the Credo...I am in a constant state of examining, why? the very ethos of our times is just that. Trust not, doubt all, constantly skeptical. As I write this, I think, maybe only children know the joy you speak of.
I sympathize with what you're expressing here, Peter. Thank you for this insightful comment.
Robert, you are a true apologist--in the deepest sense of that calling. You make faith come alive and beautiful.
I love your proposal, put in my impoverished words: Many people today do not entertain the possibility that Christianity is "the true myth" because it is simply too good to be true. For all of the reasons that you articulate so well.
Recently, I attended a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in G Major, with a dear friend, who is a Jewish rabbi--a deeply thoughtful, well educated, wise man. After the performance, which culminates in Mahler's musical rendering of a child's vision of heaven, my friend asked: "Does that seem too simple? How about the complexities of adulthood?"
I recall thinking about St. Thérèse of Lisieux's spiritual childhood--the radical loving-trust of the child for a caring and protective father, who bends down to pick up the little child who is attempting to climb the stairs.
Thank you for this truly lovely essay, Robert. By the way, the visuals are worthy of comtemplation in themselves!
Daniel
You're welcome, Daniel, and thank you for this reflection. I think that authentic spiritual childhood is in dangerously short supply these days.
Wishing you joy.
Amen. Beautifully said.
Beautiful post! Thank you!
Robert, you have inspired a sticking notion,"joy where are you": thus, I am reading Goethe's Faust, and in "First Part of theTragedy", I , Night, lines 16 and 17 blew we wide awake.
" I have no fear of Devil or Hell, Wherefore I'm shorn of joy as well"
How can we have joy when there is no material fear: big gov, big medicine, welfare, a drug for weight loss (really??), a drug for abortion, a society utterly shorn of shame (in the West anyway), instant talk to anyone anywhere, reading your thoughts instantly, everywhere.
What mystery is life, except in our imaginations. Safety everywhere, no fear, no joy.
Compare to Middle ages...every day was a role of the dice, death, the devil, hell on earth was part of daily breath. Joy was actaully being alive at the end of each day, unlike your child, your neighbor, other whole families. Plagues everywhere and arbitrary. Death equally so. thus the sacraments, a joy, a real joy that you could attend to them.
NOw? Just man made horrors such as Covid and those hellish shots, yes, evil and the devils work, but is there joy in surviving those, self inflicted mass murders. No just unbelievable remorse to those who succumbed, an unbearable sadness no one is held accountable. 'No fear of devil or Hell, wherefor I'm sorn of joy as well"
thank you. It seems we only have a lingering bare thread memory of joy, as of a pet dog who died in one's youth
Excuse me, It’s so good it has to be true! Yes, eternal hope in the future but in the here and now the present known, inward reality of the Holy Spirit as pure gift, life , and joy is assumed in Acts and the Epistles
This is wonderful. I am one of those who has not seen this before, and I am so very grateful you decided to repost it.
I'm really glad that you enjoyed it, Elyse, thank you for taking the time to write this comment.
Great article. I particularly enjoyed your historical journey
Lovely.
Lovely post. I'd love some help in understanding the penultimate image. In particular, I can't make out what the thing is in the upper right hand quadrant, which the man in the gray cape seems to be staring at.
As Hilary said, it is an angel, or a person dressed up as an angel. You can see the full-resolution image here:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Roman_de_la_Rose%2C_London%2C_Harley_4425.jpg
The angel is holding a lady's hand and seems to be simply included as one of the dancers. The headpiece is quite strange, I can't explain it.
It's an angel! With its back to us and the man. It's wearing a white cap of some sort. You can see its wings. It seems a large, rather chunky, corporeal kind of angel. The man is staring at the angel, which is looking up at an intriguing gap in the stone wall: maybe a glimpse of the eternal world beyond?
I agree with you I enjoyed reading this again. Merry Christmas!