Theological Storms
C.S. Lewis once said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” It reminds me of the concept of the Platonic idea or ideal. The idea was the blueprint, and the thing in the world was intended to be a replica of it. But things are not perfect. They have defects, deviations away from the Platonic ideal, it’s ideal form or shape. This is why we often call these defects “deformities.” C.S. Lewis subtle use of this idea demonstrates that full knowledge of the truth does not come through words alone. Rather, full knowledge is arrived at through a complicated process known as “experience”.
To know something, we must have had actual experience with it. This is why people learning a new language are encouraged to go and live in the country that speaks that language so that they can understand idioms and cultural references that you cannot fully grasp from the language alone. Similarly, this is why there are pilgrimages every year to the Holy Land. Being there is part of how you deepen your understanding of the words on the page in your Bible. As you have experiences in the culture and traditions of that land, your understanding is deepened and errors are resolved.
It’s this way with doctrine as well. When Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will rebuild it.” The disciples did not fully understand what Jesus was saying. More time and historical developments were needed before they would fully realize the substance of their Lord’s teaching. They heard Him, but they did not understand Him. Then, when their Resurrected Lord appeared, all ignorance, error, fear, and in the case of Thomas, doubt, dissipated. They are redeemed and anointed with the breath of God, and the ministry and authority of Christ continues through them (Jn. 20:19-23).
This is the formula for coming to understand something. Being, form, and matter. Being: There must be something that exists. A word that corresponds to something that does not exist doesn’t make sense. If Christ did not exist outside of the words in the Bible, then we are to be most pitied.
Form: There must be an intelligibility about the thing in question. Beautiful images exist in the artists mind before he ever paints. But his image is unintelligible to us until he informs us of the image through one of his paintings. Mary is the mold in which Christ was formed.
Matter: The physical stuff that takes on the form of the being in question. Our being is known to us and others because our bodies indicate to the observer our human form. Christ’s body and blood are the matter through which we experience a taste of God (i.e. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”, Ps. 34:8)
Our understanding does develop, but that does not mean that reality has changed. It means that we have changed, for the better or for the worse. When it comes to issues of doctrine, how do we know that our doctrines are developing towards God or away from God? For example, how can we have confidence that our Bible has all the books God wanted in there? Is there one missing, are there too many? Are there translations that are dangerous? For more information on this topic particularly, you can check out this video by
, Heroes or Heretics?Many Catholics will say, “God didn’t leave us a book; He left us a Church.” The only way that we can know if doctrine is moving forward or backwards, is to look to the Church.
If the Church is just another institution that can mess up doctrine and morality like any other denomination out there, then we have no way of knowing what should be normative for the Christian or not. Furthermore, we have no idea what to do when we mess up. We are not seeing in a mirror dimly at this point, we are literally in the dark. Especially, considering that new issues and phenomenon are popping up all around us: gay “marriage”, female ordination, artificial fertilization technologies, etc. When the atheists are saying that your morality permits them to play God, one ought to reconsider their theological disposition.
C.S. Lewis’ opening quote is true. We believe in Christianity, not because we see it, but because by it we see everything else. But what does Christianity entail? It cannot be defined at the subjective level. What are it’s boundaries, and what does heresy even mean if we can all just say Christianity means whatever I want it to mean? For our answer, we look to Christ, who is a type of the Church (a.k.a, the Body of Christ). Which is why Christ says to His disciples: “If they reject you, they reject me.”
Theology does develop, but history shows that heretical groups come and go. This begs the question, if there is a Church that has outlasted every major global catastrophe and persecution, should we not consider that this might be the actual body of Christ? It seems this is the only logical conclusion one can make if they desire to have Christianity mean more than conjuring a mental mirror in our minds and calling the image within it “Jesus”.
Belonging to the Church does not mean it’s all sunshine and rainbows; there will be storms, more so than those who are in the world “for they have already received their reward.” The disciples experienced one of these storms with Jesus in the boat, a foreshadowing of their doubt and Christ’s eventual resurrection. Like His disciples in the boat, we too will have to go through the passion of Christ, but we are not to do that alone. We are to do that in His body, not whatever body suits our preferences. At times, we may wonder if the body is dead, but what would our Lord say in such cases? “Oh, ye of little faith, the Gates of Hell shall not prevail.”
— DR