The Human Story

Nate Brees

IDIS 150-07

Profs. Ribeiro & Ribeiro

1/25/11

The Human Story

Examined through the writings of C.S. Lewis and Cornelius Plantinga Jr.

            “Creation is neither a necessity nor an accident…Creation is an act of imaginative love” (Plantinga, 23). The human story begins with “an act of imaginative love.” God decided that he desired to the universe because he is a creator God, and at the pinnacle of his creation was mankind. Alone of all creation humanity was declared “very good”. So begins the greatest story of all, a story of horrific crime and cosmic conflict, of romance and a jilted lover, with the greatest plot twist imaginable. It is a story which both never ends and of which the end is already known. A hero beyond our comprehension will return to restore that perfect world that was created and the story will begin again as it was intended to be all along. But all of that was indeed only, as Lewis says, “the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of The Great Story… which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the last” (The Last Battle, 184).

            Not only did humanity begin in perfection, it also began in the image of God. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27, NIV). To be made in the image of God is to be made with a purpose and thus humanity bears that purpose. Lewis refers to that purpose as the “weight of glory”. “To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain” (Weight of Glory, 6). As we see from this definition, our purpose is more dependent upon God than it is upon ourselves. It is true that we have a small part to play but it is like the moon reflecting the sun. We create no light of our own; we are only to reflect the light that shines on us. In his book, Waking the Dead, John Eldredge writes, "We were created to reflect God's glory, born to bear his image, and he ransomed us to reflect that glory again...your heart bears a glory". What a glorious beginning (pun fully intended).

            Along with our glorious nature as image bearers, we also reflect God through our desire for unity. Human beings have a deep desire within them that they cannot fulfill with anything of this world. It is a deep desire for the source of our glory, a desire to get in. Lewis writes, “We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it” (Weight of Glory,8). Plantinga deals with longing as well quoting Augustine saying, “O Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Plantinga,6). This desire is so deeply rooted that even after sin enters the world this desire is still there, leaving us unsatisfied with sinful desires. We may bury it deeply but it always leaves us unsatisfied with the world. Lewis calls it “the inconsolable secret in each one of you—the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence” (Weight of Glory, 3). This longing plays a key role in the human story and features prominently in the chapters of the fall and redemption.

            So far, it may seem that humanity is the subject and even the protagonist of this greatest story ever told. That is not at all the truth. Mankind is in no way the protagonist, and is generally much more an object, in fact the object. Mankind is at the center of a cosmic struggle between God, who is both author and protagonist and Satan, the antagonist. Humanity is indeed the subject however, in regards to the fall. It is a sad truth that when humanity becomes the subject, divinity seems to lose ground. For it is in the fall that humanity can claim full responsibility they were tempted yes, but the James tells us that “each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed” (James 1:14,NIV). It seems that human beings have developed a habit of choosing precisely what will do them the most harm. Plantinga notes, “human beings…have so often chosen to live against God, against each other, and against God’s world. We live even against ourselves” (Plantinga, 50). The fall has fully corrupted humanity; we are now totally depraved. 

            In its depravity, the earth fell to the enemy. Satan took over and became “the prince of this world” (John 16:11, NIV). Lewis writes in Mere Christianity of this world as enemy territory, and Christ as the invader. In an almost unbelievable move, God sends the best he has to try to reclaim the earth, he sends his son, but not as the omnipotent king that he is, but as a human being. For 33 years, Jesus was a part of this world that he had created and for the final three years, he launched a crusade against the devil. Satan was pushed back and suffered losses on every front. The sick were healed, his demons were driven out, the hypocrites were exposed, and hundreds and thousands began to follow Christ. It was short lived though and it seemed disaster struck. Humanity once again made a choice and this time they chose to kill their greatest hope. The Son of God hung on a cross, condemned by sinful men. The devil rejoiced, and Heaven wept as darkness covered the earth.

            Yet the battle was not over and the story has hardly begun. In the greatest turnaround in history, Jesus rose triumphant on the third day, bringing redemption to the world. Keith Green in his song “The Victor” appropriately describes the most spectacular espionage ever perpetrated.

His plan of battle fooled them all

They led Him off to prison to die

But as He entered Hades Hall

He broke those hellish chains with a cry

Just listen to those demons screaming

See Him bruise the serpent's head

The prisoners of Hell

He's redeeming (Oh!)

All the power of death is dead.

Redemption arrived and God was restoring the original paradise he had planned. Hope was restored. Mankind now had a way to escape from the kingdom of darkness. This is where desire returned to play a role, where longing could lead the sinners to repentance.  Plantinga writes, “Jesus entered the world to offer the penance we refuse” (81). Jesus took our place and paid for our sins, bridging the gap between God and us and giving us a chance to fulfill the longing that we feel so intensely.  Plantinga writes about this regeneration and portrays it as becoming who we truly are, who we were made to be. "In the terms Jesus used to describe the prodigal son, regeneration is the mysterious turn of the heart towards home "when he came to himself"(Plantinga, 90). Lewis confirms this by writing of a return to our original glory, “When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch” (Weight of Glory, 8).

            What is left for us then is to join the redemptive invasion. Humanity now can choose between Heaven and Hell and there is a cosmic battle over every soul. For those who have chosen Heaven, our job is then to fulfill our purpose:  To reflect that glory which God is shining upon us and if possible by that glory to bring out the glory in others. Lewis explains our task by saying, “The load, or weight or burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on my back” (Weight of Glory, 9). We are to work to redeem all of creation, “Indeed it is God’s plan to gather all things in Christ” (Plantinga, 122). God gives each of us a task in this invasion, a vocation, in which we are to seek to redeem both the people and materials we work with. The people are given special importance because they are eternal. Lewis points out that we are all either “immortal horrors or everlasting splendours” and that we “have never met a mere mortal.” Everyone is progressing towards either Heaven or Hell and as redeemed Christians; we are called to add to the numbers destined for splendor.

            Thus, the part of the story that we know draws to close. We have been whispered the ending, or rather the lack of ending, and look forward to it with great excitement, if we side with the invader, or else great trepidation, if we have chosen the side of the prince of darkness. The oft quoted line of the hymn by Doyle Lawson, “Life has many choice, Eternity has two” rings true. The human part of the redemption effort is small but it is necessary. As Lewis writes in The Great Divorce, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it” (69).

Bibliography:

Eldredge, John. Waking the Dead. Nashville: Nelson Books, 2003. Print.      

"Eternity has Two." Help is on the Way. Crossroads, 2008. CD

Green, Keith. "The Victor." Keith Green: The Ministry Years 1977-197. n.d. CD.

Lewis, Clive S. Mere Christianity. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1952. Print.

Lewis, Clive S. The Great Divorce. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1946. Print.

Lewis, Clive S. The Last Battle. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1956. Print.

Lewis, Clive S. "The Weight of Glory." Church of St Mary the Virgin. Oxford. 8 June 1942. Lecture.

Plantinga, Cornelius. Engaging God's World: A Reformed Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002. N. pag. Print.

Student Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. Print.