After having eaten the forbidden fruit, the Lord sent forth man from Paradise, to till the ground from which he was taken. But man, who is more subtle than any other creature that God has made, what did he do? He undertook to build a Paradise by his own might, and he is driving God from his Paradise.
Setting aside the somewhat awkward phrasing, isn't this the perfect summation of the chutzpah involved in the whole modern project?
"Oh yeah? Well, I'll show you!"
Yes, so much of modernism really is characterized by that kind of petulant nonsense. I recall once a Christian friend of mine asking what he would do if he died only to find himself face-to-face with Christ. His response was something along the lines of, "I'd try to beat him up for not letting me know he existed!"
ReplyDeleteThere's like eight things wrong with that sentiment.
My second most favorite of Rabbi Heschel's sayings is the one where he comments on the idea that God is hidden from us and not doing enough to let us know He exists.
DeleteIt isn't so much that God is hiding from us, Rabbi Heschel said, but that we are hiding from Him.
Genesis 3:8-10