G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) author, humorist, lay-theologian and futurist. H.G. Wells told Chesterton’s widow that his only chance of going to Heaven was that he (Wells) was a friend of Chesterton.
From his classic book “Orthodoxy”
“Modern masters of science are much impressed with the need of beginning all inquiry with a fact. The ancient masters of religion were quite equally impressed with that necessity. They began with the fact of sin—a fact as practical as potatoes. Whether or not man could be washed in miraculous waters, there was no doubt at any rate that he wanted washing. But certain religious leaders in London, not mere materialists, have begun in our day not to deny the highly disputed water, but to deny the indisputable dirt. Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.”
I’m amused by his frequent use of the word “modern.” At the end of the 19th Century! Moderns at the turn of the century—pick any one right after the most recent—are about disputing all that has preceded them and inserting their own wise suggestions.
“And the moral of the story is…”
“Son, how did the day with the substitute teacher go?”
“I liked her stories because they had no morals.”
There is no moral to this story. Well…other than to ask who the “modernists” of 2020 are and if they lead to inevitable ends like, “For the earth to survive, humans must become extinct.”
For a further look into the Jesus Follower named G. K. Chesterton
©2020 D. Dean Benton—writer-wonderer-witness
(Hannah, you are right.)
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