C.S. LEWIS, LOVE, AND THE OPPRESSION OF IDEALISM

 

When we have Christ's forgiveness, love, and His gift of righteousness, we have peace. We are no longer obsessed with having to prove ourselves to the world. Instead, we grow in the assurance that we are beloved.

If we don't have this peace and assurance that comes through Jesus, we are forced to find it from another source such as becoming a crusader for the good of the world. When this idealism is driven by inner compulsion instead of wisdom, the results are often costly.

Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis has observed that such idealism is often more costly than purposeful criminality:

• Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

The idealism of a desperate conscience is oppressive. Why? Because its primarily focus is not on the needs of others but on the needs of the self to prove their worthiness and goodness in the face of their accusing conscience.

Consequently, they become Hitlers, Maos, Stalins, and Pol Pots who sacrifice everything and everyone in their mad dash to prove their significance.

In contrast, when we are confident of God's love, we are freed-up to love others.