Chesterton and Comparative Religion

I have ramped up my reading of late and have been delighted with a book bought years ago but never actually read:  The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton.  I encourage you to open and read your own books.  Many treasures sit unknown or forgotten on our own shelves as we place another online order of books.  Spread your branches far, but recognise depth of root is needed to support the growing weight of knowledge.  In the priceless gem that is Spurgeon's Lectures To My Students, he gave this exhortation:  “Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and reread them…digest them. Let them go into your very self. Peruse a good book several times and make notes and analyses of it. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books he has merely skimmed. Little learning and much pride comes from hasty reading. Some men are disabled from thinking by their putting meditation away for the sake of much reading. In reading let your motto be ‘much not many.”

G.K. Chesterton was a journalist, prolific author, and brilliant thinker.  Those who tackle his books must be prepared for long paragraphs and deep thinking, but it is worth the effort.  In The Everlasting Man, Chesterton exposes many fallacies in thinking which impact the world today.  He exposes the "...habit of a rapid hardening of a hypothesis into a theory, and of a theory into an assumption."  (Chesterton, G. K. The Everlasting Man. 1925 ed. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2008. Print. page 75)  He explores the place of myth, legend, and comparative religion to the rational mind.  I was particularly intrigued by his claim that paganism is the only legitimate rival of the Church of Christ.  To introduce his point, Chesterton explained how Christianity is often and incorrectly lumped in with other religions:

Comparative religion is very comparative indeed.  That is, it is so much a matter of degree and distance and difference that it is only comparatively successful when it tries to compare.  When we come to look at it closely we find it comparing things that are really quite incomparable.  We are accustomed to see a table or catalogue of the world's great religions in parallel columns, until we fancy they are really parallel.  We are accustomed to see the names of the great religious founders all in a row:  Christ; Mahomet; Buddha; Confucious.  But in truth this is only a trick; another of these optical illusions by which any objects may be put into a particular relation by shifting to a particular point of sight.  Those religions and religious founders, or rather those whom we choose to lump together as religions and religious founders, do not really show any common character...In truth the church is too unique to prove herself unique.  For most popular and easy proof is by parallel; and here there is no parallel.  It is not easy, therefore, to expose the fallacy by which a false classification is created to swamp a unique thing, which it really is a unique thing.  As there is nowhere else exactly the same fact, so there is nowhere else exactly the same fallacy. (Chesterton, G. K. The Everlasting Man. 1925 ed. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2008. Print. pages 84-85)

I am glad God gifted men like Spurgeon and Chesterton to think deeply, logically, and communicate persuasively.  The truth of God lies in plain sight for all to receive and believe, and holding fast to Biblical truth is not faith against knowledge but according to it.  When you find an author who has a firm grasp of truth with genuine faith, those are the books to read.  There is no shortage of skeptics today who are most glad to inoculate others to truth with their skepticism.  Sowing doubt is their ultimate aim without ability to guide to truth.  They have no sure answers about anything - except they are right - and smugly adjust their agnostic badge.  I exhort all seekers of truth to go to the source of all truth:  Jesus Christ and the Word of God.  In this world you will find no parallel.

The Law and Grace

"I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the Law.  The Law is the needle, and you cannot draw the silken thread of the gospel through a man's heart unless you first send the needle of the Law to make way for it."

C. H. Spurgeon

A man must see the enormity of his sin and his offense before God before he can truly repent of it.  There may be many clever analogies used by preachers unfortunately without a basis in scripture, but this is not one of them.  Paul wrote, "I would not have known sin except by the Law." (Romans 7:7)  Sin is so natural to a human being we would never recognise it as wrong without the clean mirror of God's Law.  Without knowledge of sin there can be no repentance, and without repentance there is no hope for forgiveness or salvation.  A man must submit to the reality of his deadly disease before he will seek and receive the cure.  Unless a man submits to his condemnation under the Law, spiritual regeneration by the Holy Spirit - the Living Water Jesus spoke of - could not be received.

The truth of Spurgeon's claim is presented in a remarkable passage in the book of Numbers.  The children of Israel had been delivered by the mighty hand of God from Egypt, and God provided water from a spring in a miraculous fashion.  Numbers 21:16-18 says, "From there they went to Beer, which is the well where the LORD said to Moses, "Gather the people together, and I will give them water." ¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well! All of you sing to it-- ¹⁸ the well the leaders sank, dug by the nation's nobles, by the lawgiver, with their staves." And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah..."  The Moabites had refused to provide the Israelites with water, but God would give them water.  He commanded them to gather together and sing.  God was the lawgiver who committed the Law to Moses who then passed God's directives to the people.  As the people sung in obedience and the nobles dug with their staves into the wilderness - which were symbols of authority - living water burst from beneath their feet.

Our hearts are naturally a dry wilderness, devoid of life.  It is significant God is called the Lawgiver, for the staff of Aaron which budded was proof of God's authority (Numbers 17).  God wrote the 10 Commandments on tablets of stone and effectively rendered the entire world guilty before Him (Romans 3:19).  The Law can only condemn and is compared to a schoolmaster which leads us by the hand to salvation through faith in Christ.  The Good News of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is only good news when a man recognises he is damned and cut off without hope for eternity because of his sin.  When the Law breaks through the heart of stone of a guilty sinner, only then is the way cleared for repentance and salvation.  Drinking from the clear spring of Beer did not prevent eventual death for the thirsty Israelites, but Jesus promised Living Water who brings salvation in John 4:13-14:  "Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  The needle of the Law makes the way for the Gospel, even as the staff directed by the Lawgiver made way for Living Water to flow forth.  Amazing truth from an awesome God!

Why Do You Weep?

God knows perfectly all motives and intentions of people.  We are called, as followers of Jesus Christ, to examine carefully ourselves with the probing sharpness of God's Word.  A splinter of wood covered by a callous of skin can be uncovered and removed only with a sharp instrument, and the sin which festers in our hearts is revealed by the sterilised scalpel of scripture in the hand of the Holy Spirit.  Our actions are more easily observed and judged than our motives.  Because it is outwardly visible our aim can be mistakenly on modifying our behaviour rather than dealing with the underlying sinful motive hidden within.  Man's tendency is to focus on relieving symptoms and with little thought of the root source.

Nothing is hid from God's sight, even when it is our motive in grief.  Tears do not fall from our eyes without a reason.  David recognised God's careful observance and divine documentation of his troubles and tears.  He wrote in Psalm 56:8, "You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?"  While this verse can be used to offer consolation to those who mourn and weep (and there is real comfort here), it is important we recognise not all tears are equal in God's sight.  There are tears flavoured with love and compassion for others, tears of repentance which mourn our sin before a holy God.  These tears are accepted by God.  But there are tears of self-pity, pride, hatred, and bitterness without the motive of love which are detestable and abominable, evidence of a heart opposed to God which only add to our guilt.

This fact is proved by Esau, a man who despised his birthright and was denied his blessing.  His only thoughts were for himself, his loss, and nursed a murderous grudge toward Jacob his brother (Genesis 27:38-41).  Further insight into Esau's weeping is seen in Hebrews 12:14-17:  "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶ lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears."  Esau wept much, but he did not weep tears of repentance.  He was sorrowful, but it was a work of the flesh.  His tears were the result of a sinful heart, and he was rejected - despite his show of contrition.  God knew his heart, and He knows our hearts too.

Consider the connection between God-honouring motives borne of faith and those of the flesh mentioned in Jeremy Taylor's classic book The Rules and Exercises of Holy Living:

Hezekiah repeated his good deeds upon his sick-bed, and obtained favour of God; but the Pharisee was accounted insolent for doing the same thing:  because this man did it to upbraid his brother, the other to obtain a mercy of God.  Zacharias questioned with the angel about his message, and was made speechless for his incredulity; but the blessed Virgin Mary questioned too, and was blameless:  for she did it to inquire after the manner of the thing, but he did not believe the thing itself:  he doubted of God's power, or the truth of the messenger; but she only of her own incapacity.  This was it which distinguished the mourning of David from the exclamation of Saul; the confession of Pharaoh from that of Manasses; the tears of Peter from the repentance of Judas:  for the praise is not in the deed done, but in the manner of its doing.  If a man visits his sick friend, and watches at his pillow for charity's sake, and because of his old affection, we approve it; but if he does it in hope of a legacy, he is a vulture, and only watches for the carcass.  The same things are honest and dishonest:  the manner of doing them and the end of the design makes the separation.

Holy intention is to the actions of a man that which the soul is to the body, or form to its matter, or the root to the tree, or the sun to the world, or the fountain to a river, or the base to a pillar:  for without these the body is a dead trunk, the matter is sluggish, the tree is a block, the world is darkness, the river is quickly dry, the pillar rushes into flatness and ruin; and the action is sinful, or unprofitable and vain. (Taylor, Jeremy. The Rules and Exercises of Holy Living. New York: E.P. Dutton. Print. pages 12-13)

Take care to examine your heart as well as your tears:  why do you weep?  Do your tears spring from a pure source, as when Christ wept over the city of Jerusalem, longing to gather the beloved of His soul?  These tears were evidence of great love.  Or is your spring of tears polluted with selfishness and spite as with Esau?  Only the LORD can give a man a new heart and purify our motives from within.  Invite the searching gaze of the Holy Spirit to examine your feelings and tears, for He is a faithful and true discerner of hearts.  Psalm 139:23-24 says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴ and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Cut Off Sin

"Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! ⁸ If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. ⁹ And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire."

Matthew 18:7-9

Jesus spoke these words to show the gravity of sin's consequences.  It would be better to endure pain or lack on earth than deny yourself the ultimate joy of eternity shared with God in heaven.  Jesus was not suggesting men should mutilate their bodies, for the whole of scripture makes clear what is needed is inner transformation, not outer reformation.  Cutting off a hand or gouging out an eye does not eliminate the source of sin in a man:  his depraved heart and mind.  Only when one is born again can he be forgiven of sin, walk uprightly in the power of the Holy Spirit, and be deemed righteous before God. 

Hands and eyes are part of a human body, and those who have these functional body parts use them almost continually during waking hours.  They can represent, then, any part of the flesh which causes us to sin.  Sinful behaviour is as natural to a man as using his hands or eyes.  A baby does not need to be taught to rely upon his hands or eyes, and no person born with the fallen nature of Adam need be taught how to lie, cheat, or steal.  The sinful tendencies we rely upon to gain advantage for our flesh must be cut off as we learn and adopt God's ways.  Whatever causes us to sin must be willingly cut off, or else we cut ourselves off from fellowship and life with God.

The second important point is this:  we are called to cut off what causes us to sin.  This is something every man must do for himself.  I am not called to cut off the hands or feet of others, and no one has been granted permission to cut off my own.  All men will stand before God to give account for their lives, and I will never need to answer for another man.  No sailor who stands at attention must provide an explanation to his superior why his shipmate's shirt is wrinkled and shoes unpolished.  He must answer for himself and face the consequences.  God has taken the initiative to reveal His perfect will and ways, and we are each called to respond appropriately in obedience concerning ourselves.

Sin brings infinite woe, and only Jesus provides the atonement and reconciliation with God all men need.  When we take seriously this call to cut off ourselves from sin - not sharpening our swords to dismember others from their sins - we save ourselves from much future pain!