Plantinga’s first chapter from his book “Engaging God’s World” articulates very well the idea that all humans have an innate need for something more. In class, we talked about how C.S Lewis refers to this as Sehnsucht, which Plantinga mentions too. For C.S Lewis, this longing led him on a search for true and real joy. But often, this longing leads people to try to fill it with all sorts of things- materialism, romance, success, even learning. Ultimately, we know that only God can fulfill this longing. The chapter connects very well with the article “We have no right to happiness” that we just read by C.S Lewis. This longing for something often makes us think that by pursuing happiness, we can fill the void ourselves. But as we talked about in class, even people who achieve the things that they believe will make them happy, are still left unsatisfied.
Sometimes it is discouraging to watch the world we live in turn to so many things besides God to fill the longing. The fact that we, as Christians, know where to turn to for fulfillment gives us a unique opportunity in this world. Plantinga says, “To be a Christian is to participate in this very common human enterprise of diagnosis, prescription, and prognosis, but to do so from inside a Christian view of the world.” This means acknowledging that God, as Creator is the only one in whom we can have hope that the world will be restored and our longings will be satisfied. Then we must share- point others in the right direction, toward the One who truly satisfies.
I was struck by the presentation “Has God left Europe?” as they talked about the way that people might not call themselves Christians, but still pray or believe in a higher being. The longing may seem dormant at times, and it may seem that the world has become “secular”, but we know that no human can get away from the longing for more.
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