"Man or Rabbit"

"But to evade the Son of Man, to look the other way, to pretend you haven't noticed, to become suddenly absorbed in something on the other side of the street, to leave the receiver off the telephone because it might be He who was ringing up, to leave unopened certain letters in a strange hand-writing because they might be from Him--this is a different matter. You may not be certain yet whether you ought to be a Christian; but you do know you ought to be a Man, not an ostrich, hiding its head in the sand." C.S. Lewis answered the controversial question of whether or not a non-believer can really be a good person. When I first read this, I thought it quite obvious that there are good people who do not believe in Christianity. As I further read Lewis' argument, I began to understand that there is a much deeper question here than whether or not a man can do good without believing in Christianity. Lewis states, "The question before each of us is not 'Can someone lead a good life without Christianity?' The question is, 'Can I?'... If he hadn't heard of Christianity he would not be asking this question." Sure a man can do good without being a Christian, but ultimately, his morality will become tainted because of his rejection of the ultimate good; God.

I thought Lewis did a good job of presenting such a controversial topic. In the end, I agreed with his standing on the issue because the man had not just been ignorant of God, he instead fully rejected the idea of God. Goodness and God are one in the same, so if a man chooses to discount God then he discounts goodness as well. Luke 18:19 states, "'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered. 'No one is good-- except God alone.'" God cannot be separate from good in this world.

"The people who keep on asking if they can't lead a decent life without Christ, don't know what life is about; if they did they would know that 'a decent life' is mere machinery compared with the thing we men are really made for." I am completely humbled by the fact that God has created me to do good in this world for Him. Sometimes I feel as though I look more to myself as the good person, when in fact, the good inside of me is God Himself.