Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
A Journey Towards Spiritual Fulfillment {Reflections}
Can our deepest longings point us towards a divine reality? This episode promises to explore the compelling idea that our unfulfilled desires hint at a spiritual world beyond our earthly experience. Inspired by the writings of C.S. Lewis, we consider how our innate desires for wholeness, love, and acceptance might suggest we're made for another world. We'll investigate how earthly pleasures are mere reflections of a greater fulfillment found in the divine, encouraging a heartfelt appreciation for these glimpses of eternity.
Join us as we navigate the existential yearnings that many people feel, often perceived as a longing for a connection with God. We delve into the notion that these inherent desires for a sense of home and security indicate the presence of a higher power. Reflect on these philosophical themes with us, and consider becoming part of our community gatherings in Elk River, either in person or online, to continue this profound exploration. Your spiritual journey awaits, and we're excited to explore it together.
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What is up everybody and welcome to our Reflections podcast. I am Ryan and I'm in studio, the podcast studio, aka Mike's office. We also call it A-K-K-A, a-a-k-k-a, a-a-k-a, anyway. The third name of it is Mike's Beats Laboratory. I think I'm the only one that calls it that, but he does have a sign on the door that says it.
Speaker 1:Anyway, hey, we're in week number three of our Arguments for God. We've already given you, you know, the fine-tuning argument. The cosmological argument. Today is more of an experiential argument for God. I mean, it's sort of philosophical, not so much based on empirical data, but sort of our experiences in the world. So this argument comes from a lot of places, but most poignantly probably from cs lewis.
Speaker 1:He writes about this in his book mere christianity and he says this have you ever noticed that we have the things that we have desires for in the world, generally have an object, that that meets or satisfies those desires? For the most part I'll come to that in a minute, but for the most part. So. For example, he says, like a baby feels hungry, there is a thing that exists in the world that satisfies that hunger food, right. He writes that a duckling wants to swim. I've never asked a duckling. Hey, duckling, do you want to swim? But I guess we're just going to assume is what he writes. He says well, there's such a thing as water. He says men feel sexual desire, while there is such a thing as sex. He says men feel sexual desire while there is such a thing as sex. He says and then you know all kinds of, you know, men are thirsty, women are thirsty, people are thirsty, and there is such a thing as drink. And so he argues that all these things that we have sort of innate desires for, not like man, I desire for a Porsche 911 twin turbo, red, with a soft top convertible that's a desire of mine but rather like innate desires that are for more, for like, um, you know, for survival, these kinds of things because we have a desire for them, the world, the world, has a matching satisfactory element that satisfies that, that hunger.
Speaker 1:Now here's the one caveat he argues for is there are some things that are innate in us longings, we have desires, we have that actually don't have anything in this world to satisfy them. So here's what he writes. He says If I ever find myself in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, so if I'm in the world and I have a desire for something and nothing in the world can satisfy it. Maybe you've been there, maybe you've had like this deep longing in your soul for something and nothing can satisfy. You've tried everything and you cannot find something in this world that can meet that longing, he writes. Well, the most probable explanation then is that I was made for another world.
Speaker 1:If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, he says. That does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. Now he's not just pause for a second, he's not demeaning earthly things like food. I mean food is a necessary thing for survival. He's just saying there are some longings that are sort of deeper that the presence of earthly things sort of arouse. So hunger is a great example. Many of us might have a deeper hunger, not just for food, but something deeper like an existential hunger, a longing deep in our soul that no Chipotle burrito, as good as they are, can satisfy. So he says that probably these earthly pleasures, as good as they are, and I don't think he would argue that they're not good, they're good Food, good Sex, good, water, good.
Speaker 1:But he says that these pleasures were never meant to satisfy these deeper longings, only to arouse them or to point to a real thing. So if that's so, then he says I must take care, on the one hand, never. If that's so, then he says I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise or be unthankful for the earthly blessings. So now we thank God for burritos and watermelons, and sex and water and Dr Pepper, if that's your thing, so thank God for these. On the other hand, though, never to mistake these for something else, something deeper, of which they're only kind of a copy or an echo, or a mirage. So there's something deeper, and so these things that we long for and that we can have satisfied in this world hunger and thirst and so on, and the things that satisfy them, we should never sort of mistake those for the real thing that we're deeply longing for.
Speaker 1:He says I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country to be home. I'm adding this part to be home with the Father, to belong, to be accepted and loved and secure in the love and the acceptance of the Father, he says, which I shall not find until after death. There's a part of our experience of God that we cannot have on this side of death. It's just not possible. And no matter how many burritos we eat and they're good they won't satisfy that deeper longing we have in our souls. So he says, I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true home. I must make it the main object of life to press on to that home or that country and to help others do the same. Here's what he's saying.
Speaker 1:There are all kinds of things in this world that have, you know, longings. We have desires, hungers, thirst, that have a corresponding thing to meet that hunger, and that's a sign of something. But there are also, these deeper longings that we have that cannot be satisfied by a Porsche 911 twin turbo, red, candy, apple red, with a soft top, convertible, or a burrito or sex or whatever. The things are right, those are good, we give thanks to God for those things. But those cannot satisfy the deepest longing in our souls. Those longings must point and indicate that we are made indeed for another world, another home, another place, another experience. And he argues that that's only found after we die and are in communion fully, without all the extra stuff in the way in communion with God. And that God, because we have that longing, that deeper longing God is the only thing that can satisfy that.
Speaker 1:I remember talking to my therapist a long time ago and just about how there's always a part of me, like a 5% part of me, that just has this deep longing and loneliness or sadness in my like and it never goes away. As much as I'm with my family and I love them dearly, I'd give my life for them, as much as I feel fulfilled in my work and my job, have close friends, eat burritos, but none of those things can ever satisfy this haunting, lingering, shadowy kind of hunger I have deep in my soul. And he goes, ryan. I just think that and he pointed to this quote he goes, ryan. I think that's just the part of you that longs to be whole with God and he goes. Some of us feel it deeper than others because it tends to kind of live just beneath the surface of my own life. But he goes. Some of us feel it deeper, but we all have it, ryan. It probably indicates that we are made for something else Not to negate this world, but there's a part of us that will only ever be fully at home. We are at home when we are at home with the Father on the other side of the age to come, whatever that looks like and man. That's so compelling for me because I just feel like in my own life I have that experience and I think a lot of other folks do as well.
Speaker 1:There's this great writer in England called Julian Barnes, and Julian Barnes once wrote and he's like the poster child for atheism Grew up going to prep schools in England in sort of this you know, very academic setting and grew up not believing in God. And much of the West, you know, in his culture and time have really divorced themselves from religion and God. And so here he is, but he writes in one of his books. He says I don't believe in God. But then he says but I miss him and I think he's getting—and when you listen to people and you hear him talk even the most I don't know self-proclaimed atheists.
Speaker 1:I think for many of them there's a deep hole in the pit of their being, that sort of is this longing for something that they can't have or grasp here in this time and place, and I would argue it's to be home, to be whole, to be loved and accepted and secure and to be welcomed home, and to me that's God. So to me this is a beautiful philosophical existential. You know it's not foolproof or whole proof, but it's it's like this thing that pulls at the threads of our very existence, that why there probably is a God in my opinion. So okay, there you go, let me know what you think. Love you guys, peace. Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends. Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends. And don't forget, you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 830, which is our liturgical gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering, or you can check us out online at clcelkriverorg. Peace.
