“I fled him down the nights
and down the days.
I fled him down the arches of the years.
I fled him down the labyrinthine ways
of my own mind.
And in the mist of tears, I hid from him.”
– Francis Thompson’s “The Hound of Heaven”
In matters of the spirit, there are four groups of people in the world. The first group, which is the largest, have a faith which is based on their belief that there is a Supreme Being who created everything that exists. Members of the Christian churches call him “God” in English, in Spanish “Dios,” in French “Dieu,” etc. etc. Members of the Islamic faith call him “Allah” and, the original settlers of North America, dubbed Plains Indians by the subsequent settlers of those lands, call him “Manitou.”
The second group, almost as large as the first, believe in the philosophies of Ramakrishna and Buddha. Their lives are ordered in accord with their teachings, to which they are faithful.
The third group, by far the smallest number, comprise those who once believed in God and have lost their faith. It is really amazing how many different reasons people have for losing their faith. A goodly number of the once believers experienced some great tragedy which made them ask themselves, “How can a loving and compassionate God let these things happen, or what have I done to deserve this?” And, they answer, “If God was loving and compassionate, he would not allow the wicked to prosper and the good to suffer.” Obviously, they have not read the Book of Job or have not learnt the lesson it contains, if they did.
The last group does not believe in God. They say if He ever existed, He is now dead. In any case, they can do very well without Him. They look down with pity on believers, and when they are kindly disposed, write books like A Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, to convince those misguided believers to join their ranks. And, what ranks they are. Some of the great T.V. talk show hosts like George Carlin and Bill Maher, great writer/philosophers like George Bernard Shaw, great men of science and a mathematical genius like Bertrand Russell, all belong to the irreligious group called secularists. Secularists believe in the theory of evolution, that man was not created by God but descended from the apes, which descended from a one-celled organism that lived in the sea, to which all living things owe their existence. They never ask how that one-cell organism came into being.
To which of these groups do you suppose that the author of Thompson’s magnificent poem belongs? I’ll give you a clue. The first two groups are strong in their faith, and so there is no need for the Hound to pursue them. The last group is almost as strong in their un-faith and it will take a miracle to convert them, but there is hope for the third group, because, once you are a believer you cannot totally become an unbeliever. It is clear that Thompson’s pursuer is our Lord, Jesus Christ who, if you have read this poem, you know that He is relentless. And if you have not read it, I strongly recommend that you do. It is a masterpiece. This essay is really about the last group and I am only using this poem as a jumping off point, because I felt it was my duty to share it with my readers.
People have the wrong idea about fools. Because a man does foolish things doesn’t make him a fool. The term is applied freely to people we don’t like or despise or envy, or for any other reason or for no reason at all. Puck said in A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream, “What fools these mortals be,” disparaging the whole human race. In many of Shakespeare’s plays, jesters to the King’s Court are called fools. In fact, we have all been careless in the use of the term. Our literature and songs abound with it. Such sayings as, “Fools rush in, where angels fear to tread” and, “The fool doth think he is wise but the wise man knows himself to be a fool,” are thought to be either philosophical or witty. George McKesey’s classic line, “This fool fool fool, fool fool” is as far as I can go in light-hearted drollery. And yet, if you reflect on the matter seriously, as I now ask you to do, you will see that throughout the ages the term has been grossly misapplied.
I refer you to what our Lord said in Matthew 5:22, “Whosoever says to his brother ‘Raca’ is in danger of the Council, but he who says ‘Thou fool’ is in danger of hellfire.” Why was the use of that term, when said in anger, so serious an offence as to put the one uttering it in grave peril? The answer might be found in Psalm 14:1, “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” Can it be that the term can only be properly applied to the fourth group, the unbelievers? I think there is a good argument to support this view.
There was a time when all the nations of the earth, except the Israelites, believed in the rule of supernatural beings, which they called gods. The foremost civilizations then were the Greek and Roman. The Romans worshipped a pantheon of Gods headed by Jupiter. The same for the Greeks, with Zeus at the top — even though, three hundred and eighty years before the birth of Christ, a Greek philosopher named Aristotle, a pupil of Plato who was a disciple of Socrates, wrote a treatise, with the light of pure reason, proving conclusively that there was only one Supreme Being, whom he named the First Cause. Aristotle discovered this great Truth because he was searching for it and, he did so without divine revelation.
Aristotle had the benefit of studying the Socratic method of philosophical inquiry and he was obviously a great scholar. But the native tribes of North America, without any formal knowledge of philosophy, were able to discover the existence of the Deity, which suggests to me that they were a spiritual people, not savages as portrayed in popular American literature.
If you declare yourself to be an agnostic, which means that you don’t know that there is no God and, are not sure that He exists, and are sincere in your uncertainty, I think that you are entitled to the respect of your peers, especially if you are searching for knowledge to decide the question in the affirmative or the negative. However, if you are of average intelligence and are certain that there is no God, you are to be pitied and are in need of charitable instruction. But if you are gifted (not blessed) with a superior intellect and are sure that there is no God, after reading the history of man, natural and religious, including divine revelation and above all, you have read the writings of Aristotle, which you must have if you are to be regarded as well-educated, then, you have to allow us who cannot understand how anyone with your superior mind can be so obtuse, to think that you are a fool.