What we can learn from children and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Am I kidding myself?
I am really tethered to God by my heart, even more so than by my beliefs alone. Both are important: My beliefs change my mind -- but my heart changes my life. So where does that come from and how does a person get it?
We need for our belief in God to be true, because it is true.
In his essay, Tolkien outlines the elements he used to draw in the reader through what he believed was a "memory trace" -- a heart Truth that we are born with but gets "deleted" as we morph into this physical world. And so through his writings, he made a way for us to remember what we lost, and what we desperately want to get back.
Remember when you were a child ...
Children are born with a spiritual nature and a natural capacity for tuning into the unseen world. We may call it imagination, but it is probably more accurately described as their soul -- which, for a time, is more accessible and often more real than the physical world. Children love and crave fairy stories and super-heroes -- and based on book sales and movie blockbusters, so do adults.
And Jesus said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3)
According to Tolkien, here is a list of the elements that most people, at some level, wish were true, and that speaks to the 'memory trace' that God placed inside of each of us.
- Conquering death
- Overcoming evil
- Existing outside of time as we know it
- Communication with non-human beings
- Perfect love with no parting
If this sounds familiar, then you are probably a Christian.
Truth overcomes disappointment.
He made us for His unfailing love,
and nothing else will do.
I have a song for everything:
Books about Tolkien's faith and writings:
"The Gospel According to Tolkien" by Ralph C. Wood
"The Ring and the Cross" by
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