Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

• John 16:33

You have shaken the land and torn it open;
    mend its fractures, for it is quaking.

• Psalm 60:2

“ ‘The secret of happiness is to face the fact that this world is horrible, horrible, horrible.’ – Bertrand Russell”

• Bryan Magee, The Story of Philosophy

“Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”

• C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was an English philosopher, logician, and mathematician.  He believed in Jesus as an historical figure, but not His deity.

I cannot find the quote, but C.S. Lewis said something a bit different than the Russell quote.  He said that if we see this world as a place where we will find happiness, we will find it intolerable.  But if we find this world to be a training ground for something better, we will get along nicely.

I did not put any of that in quotes, since I cannot remember the quote word for word, so maybe this is my official paraphrase.

To Russell’s defense, he thought that if we accepted this horrible world as reality, then our failure and struggles would not seem completely intolerable, but where is the hope?

We often hear about these rich people who have all they could ever dream, but they are empty inside.  We see all these people with great potential and the drive to accomplish something great and they fail miserably.

But then Thomas Edison claimed that he never failed.  He just found thousands of ways that the thing would not work.

So, there we have the key.  We have to have hope.  Jesus Christ provides that hope.

And someday, this world, or its replacement, will be fixed.  It will no longer be broken.  No longer horrible, horrible, horrible.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.