Favorite Writers

[JohnDced]

(01-06-2011 07:09 PM)Darrell Wrote:  

(01-06-2011 06:45 PM)JohnDced Wrote:  I appreciate how Lewis tried to lay out his argument in terms of logic and reason. He doesn't say "just take it on faith" but he can't stop himself from falling into that error, at the same time. There is a middle ground between Jesus being crazy or being evil and deliberately leading people astray, which is "he believed something which was incorrect". There is no space for that within Lewis's books, but it's a condition which every human finds themself in. That was a central problem I had with the book.

when a person honestly believes that they are God and can walk on water and raise the dead back to life but can do none of those things...we call that 'crazy'.

Hah yeah, bad description. I have bipolar disorder and in my "up" moments I believe all kinds of amazing things. I see signs on walls and on doors and I interpret them. I'd believe I could walk upon water, if that was my mindset. Which I know sounds like craziness, but it's not using Lewis's way of thinking, where Jesus would have had to be delusional all the time (very few of us are). This is very difficult to explain, but I think it might be possible that Jesus believed he was filled with God's power as a background thought which didn't prevent him living day to day, and maybe sometimes he had an episode of mania which presented strongly to others. But if he acted like a complete weirdo (which I do when I'm manic, sadly) he wouldn't have followers. He would be like the man in the tombs who tore his clothes.