Christlieb: the amorphous idol

Saturday, June 2, 2018
Meditation:
    For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
    “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
    the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
    Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
    —1 Corinthians 1:18-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    You meet a thousand times in life with those who, in dealing with any religious question, make at once their appeal to reason, and insist on forthwith rejecting aught that lies beyond its sphere, without however being able to render any clear account of the nature and proper limits of the knowledge thus derived, or of the relation in which such knowledge stands to the religious needs of men. I would invite you, therefore, to inquire seriously whether such persons are not really bowing down before an idol of the mind, which, while itself of very questionable worth, demands as much implicit faith from its worshipers as divine revelation itself.
    ... Theodor Christlieb (1833-1889), Modern Doubt and Christian Belief, Ediburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1879, p. 69 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 1:19-21; Isa. 29:14; 41:28-29; 44:24-25; 53:1; Rom. 1:20-23; 1 Cor. 1:22-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach me to trust You more fully. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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