“[I]t differs from ours not as white from black but as a perfect circle from a child's attempt to draw a wheel.” C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, p. 30
The thrust of this book has to do with, “If God is good, why is there pain?” That seems to be one of the eternal questions of faith, along with, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” In this short book, Lewis breaks down a variety of positions, moving from the omnipotence of God through human wickedness and eventually to heaven.
In the chapter, “Divine Goodness,” he discusses how the goodness of God is different from the goodness of man, as well as the total “otherness” of God. In other words, if God is so totally “other” from us, can it be possible that what we consider good God considers evil, and vice versa?
But as he breaks down the goodness of God, he comes to a point where he basically says that God is not so much “other” from us, but that God is complete; and he uses the above example.
We were created in the image of God. We all carry a spark of the imago dei, that we have innate qualities which allow God to be manifest in and through us. Like parents are something other than their children, the children sill carry a piece of their parents within them. So, yes, God is other, but not alien.
Among other things, this has implications for acts of repentance. In a number of places in Scripture we are asked to repent and return to the Lord. If we believe that God is something wholly other and different from ourselves, how shall we repent and return to that which is wholly other, different, and unobtainable? But if we believe that we were created in the image of God, that we each have the spark of the divine within us, then we have some understanding of what it is to which we are returning.
If we believe the latter, might we see ourselves as a child's attempt to draw a wheel – rough and uneven, maybe a little flat on the bottom? Repentance becomes an act where we erase some of those rough spots, smoothing them out, making them more circular.
This just doesn't apply to acts of repentance, but could also apply to our entire lives. Can we work to change/modify/perfect our poorly shaped, self-drawn circles in such a way that we are erasing our rough spots in order to become more godly-shaped circles?
This is really how we differ from God: we are shaped in the divine image, but we are not perfect; but hopefully we are willing to work at smoothing out our imperfections.
Blessings,
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