Because it is Bewitched
Here is a chreia on the quote where the blog title comes from:
G.K. Chesterton once said, “Water flows downhill because it is bewitched.”
One of the most well read men, G.K. Chesterton was a man of profound insight and skillful pen. He traversed the centuries with his search for knowledge, finding that, in an age of empirical epistemology and rampant materialism, truth lay only in the charm of Christianity.
G.K. Chesterton affirms natural laws are not the “driving force” for this world; instead, there is magic causing water to fall downhill.
When the world was made, God directly and personally spoke the world into existence. And is that not magic? He made this beautiful creation of light and darkness, land and sea, plants and animals, men and angels, both out of love and for his glory. Because he is the creator, because he loves this world, because he made it for his glory, because he is a personal God, he is the reason all things occur. His hand is everywhere. Just as He “magically” made the world, so he magically “upholds all things by the word of his power.”
But imagine for a moment, the effects of assuming only natural causes. Suppose that the only reason things fell down – including water – was because some impersonal, distant deity set up this world to plod along “thinking” for itself (which then led to the aimless habit of always falling down). Or further, suppose all we see are various molecules of gas condensing – some faster then others. This disenchanting “thinking” leads to no purpose, no morality, and no hope.
Its like babies. From a fertilized egg to a walking, talking toddler, the natural process of child development is gloriously regular or, shall I say, natural. On the other hand, it is magic that from a man and a woman comes a baby. Yet the God who brings a child into the world, whose hand is continually “growing” the baby, is the same God who continually cares for his creation. Magic is in the air.
We read in the Old Testament that Israel was God’s chosen people. God led his people out of the land of Egypt and took the waters called the Red Sea and piled them up. He made the ground dry and they walked across the sea, walls of water on both sides. If this was magic, that by God’s hand the water no longer flowed down, why should we not say it is magic when by God’s hand the water does flows down out the tap and into the drain?
The author of Psalm 104 says the same thing in verses 7-10: “At thy rebuke [the waters] fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth. [The Lord] sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.”
In an age where the creator god “science” is often unwittingly worshipped, we would do well to remember Chesterton’s explanation of fluid flow, being thankful that the Lord is orderly, personal, and utterly enchanting.
G.K. Chesterton once said, “Water flows downhill because it is bewitched.”
One of the most well read men, G.K. Chesterton was a man of profound insight and skillful pen. He traversed the centuries with his search for knowledge, finding that, in an age of empirical epistemology and rampant materialism, truth lay only in the charm of Christianity.
G.K. Chesterton affirms natural laws are not the “driving force” for this world; instead, there is magic causing water to fall downhill.
When the world was made, God directly and personally spoke the world into existence. And is that not magic? He made this beautiful creation of light and darkness, land and sea, plants and animals, men and angels, both out of love and for his glory. Because he is the creator, because he loves this world, because he made it for his glory, because he is a personal God, he is the reason all things occur. His hand is everywhere. Just as He “magically” made the world, so he magically “upholds all things by the word of his power.”
But imagine for a moment, the effects of assuming only natural causes. Suppose that the only reason things fell down – including water – was because some impersonal, distant deity set up this world to plod along “thinking” for itself (which then led to the aimless habit of always falling down). Or further, suppose all we see are various molecules of gas condensing – some faster then others. This disenchanting “thinking” leads to no purpose, no morality, and no hope.
Its like babies. From a fertilized egg to a walking, talking toddler, the natural process of child development is gloriously regular or, shall I say, natural. On the other hand, it is magic that from a man and a woman comes a baby. Yet the God who brings a child into the world, whose hand is continually “growing” the baby, is the same God who continually cares for his creation. Magic is in the air.
We read in the Old Testament that Israel was God’s chosen people. God led his people out of the land of Egypt and took the waters called the Red Sea and piled them up. He made the ground dry and they walked across the sea, walls of water on both sides. If this was magic, that by God’s hand the water no longer flowed down, why should we not say it is magic when by God’s hand the water does flows down out the tap and into the drain?
The author of Psalm 104 says the same thing in verses 7-10: “At thy rebuke [the waters] fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth. [The Lord] sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.”
In an age where the creator god “science” is often unwittingly worshipped, we would do well to remember Chesterton’s explanation of fluid flow, being thankful that the Lord is orderly, personal, and utterly enchanting.
posted by Charlie at 4:36 PM
4 Comments:
This is a great chreia - I found your blog by searching for Chesterton's quote. It's a beautiful quote, and a great reminder in our materialist age, and your chreia highlights and expands on the best things about it. Are you perchance a teacher at a classical Christian school?
You guessed right. Do you have any connections to classical christian education?
You guessed right. Do you have any connections to classical christian education?
I do. I graduated from Providence Classical Christian School in Lynnwood. Which school do you teach at?
And it's great to see the progymnasmata at work here. Reading your chreia helped me see that when the writing exercises are well-written, the different requirements and sections of the exercise don't seem awkward at all.
Post a Comment
<< Home