The thing that got me into horror movies was the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. His mythos is so disturbing yet so well written. For someone in his novels to cross a field is not just someone going from point A to point B. It is a journey from ignorance to understanding about the nature of the universe. In his novels, everyone gets zapped when their curiosity gets the better of them. I guess that one could say that they maybe similar to Adam in that they want to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Yet I do not believe that God zaps us for wanting to understand Him or His world, it is a sin when we want to eat it to be more than or equal to Him. That was really Adam’s sin.

I believe God wants the opposite for us. He wants us to know Him and all that He has created. Yes, God wants us to be in relationship with Him. And yes, some people when they question God come out of the questioning farther away from Him than before. Sometimes very far away. Christopher Hitchens was an example of this. However, his brother was not. He questioned God and came to an understanding and deep personal faith. Many people argue that questioning God, asking God the hard questions e.g. why am I here? Why did you let XYZ to happen? Are you really there? Is such and such wrong? The hard questions are important questions to ask and we will all probably have to ask them to ourselves and our perception of God in our lives. However, God does not zap us when we question His very existence.

However, some argue that these questions leave one sad and, “adrift in a sea of existential angst” as I liked to say.  They become disappointed that a relationship with the One Above All does not mean that everything in life will be easy, all their prayers will be answered positively, etc… They become embittered, angry, and sad. Oftentimes this leads to them thinking that God is not there. And then when some people leave God they become happier. They become like the person who has just adopted the Vegan lifestyle and they want to tell everyone and convert them too! Oftentimes, others avoid them for a while until they get through their preaching phase. However, that is not usually until they are fully on the other side. But it is not always true.  A visit to an atheist “church” will tell you that for most atheists, their “wisdom” does not give them happiness.

It was Sophocles who said:

Alas, how terrible is wisdom
when it brings no profit to the man that’s wise!
This I knew well, but had forgotten it,
else I would not have come here.”

A paragraph from H.P. Lovecraft’s Celephias demonstrates this as well. It speaks of the longing for youth and the unhappiness of life gained from “wisdom”:

There are not many persons who know what wonders are opened to them in the stories and visions of their youth; for when as children we listen and dream, we think but half-formed thoughts, and when as men we try to remember, we are dulled and prosaic with the poison of life. But some of us awake in the night with strange phantasms of enchanted hills and gardens, of fountains that sing in the sun, of golden cliffs overhanging murmuring seas, of plains that stretch down to sleeping cities of bronze and stone, and of shadowy companies of heroes that ride caparisoned white horses along the edges of thick forests; and then we know that we have looked back through the ivory gates into that world of wonder which was ours before we were wise and unhappy.

However, I believe that God defines wisdom differently. As we age and get “wiser” in the knowledge of God, joy is ours. It is guaranteed as fruit of the spirit. I believe that we need to take seriously the fact that Jesus commanded us to have faith like little children. The beliefs that God is in control, He loves us, and is actively involved in our world are beliefs we must cultivate and take on faith. Was that not what He was saying when He said:

Mathew 18 2-4: Jesus called a little child to come to him. Jesus stood the child before the followers. Then Jesus said, “I tell you the truth. You must change and become like little children {in your hearts}. If you don’t do this, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

——————————————————————-W.