Who knows?

I’ve just read the Chronicles of Narnia again. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a great series of books by C.S. Lewis about another world with all kinds of talking animals and magic and the adventures of children from England. It’s a lot of fun, and the author uses these stories as allegories to talk about human nature, our relationship with God, and His love for us. It’s an easy read at the 5th grade level, and I highly recommend it.

The final book of the series is called The Last Battle, and in it the author refers to the end of the world. He’s got characters to represent God, Satan, the anti-Christ, believers, non-believers, etc and of course the title refers to the battle of Armageddon as mentioned in Revelation. What’s got me thinking are these silly talking animals and how easily they are fooled by the ”anti-Christ”. Their downfall is the reasoning that God is above them and that they cannot understand His ways and cannot require Him to be as they think He should be.

But isn’t that good? I mean, it’s practically the reason I started this blog! So many Christians in America think they know exactly what Jesus would do. He’d vote republican, or democrat, or not at all. He’d be protestant, catholic, or even zen buddhist. But fact is, my God is an awesome God who defies description. I can’t predict what he should do, and as the talking animals put it, “he’s not a tame lion.” Does that mean I’ll get taken in by the beast who calls himself god?

In the book, it seems to have no effect how much you know about God. The bear (a little slow in the head) is too simple to see through the lie, while a dwarf (also a simple creature) finds the lie too complicated to be real. On the other hand, the shrewd mice can appreciate the intricate reasoning supporting the false god, while the astrologer centaur reads the truth in the stars above. Similarly, in a recent discussion with friends we asked how educated Christians ought to be. Should we have a simple faith in what we’re told, or should we all be Bible scholars? Does it even make a difference?

I guess what concerns me is the question, Can I know who God is? Part of me says no. God is awesome and majestic and outside of my understanding (Is 55:8,9). But a part of me also says yes. By His grace, I have a relationship with Him and He has told me about Himself (Ex 34:6,7).

I guess, as with most things, there’s a healthy balance of those two attitudes. God is holy and ought to be treated as such, but He’s also near and very familiar. Maybe it’s the difference between knowing about Him and just knowing Him. I can’t define Him, but I can recognize Him. I can live with that. It’s a privilege and a comfort.

Can you recognize God? If not, I don’t think I could describe Him. Nobody, not a pro-life zen buddhist farmer or a pro-choice presbyterian politician could define Him. But I’d be more than happy to introduce you.