God Arises
Review
~ 66 ~
Conviction of the reasonableness of theism
and the tenuousness of atheism usually in
itself does not cause a man to accept practical
theism. There seems to be an almost innate
suspicion that the recognition of Deity will
somehow rob one of freedom. To the Scholar,
who cherishes intellectual liberty, any thought
of abridged freedom is especially dreadful.
13
In much the same vein, the concept of prophethood
has been described by Julian Huxley as an
‘intolerable demonstration of superiority’. That is,
the acceptance of someone as a prophet implies his
elevation to such a high status that his word
becomes the word of God, giving him, in
consequence, the right to impose his will on the
people, the right to make people accept his word as
law. But then that is what it means to be a prophet,
and when man is the creature and not the Creator,
he is in the position of being the humble slave of
God, and not God, how can this situation be
changed or avoided simply on the basis of concepts
which are the result of ignorance or wishful
thinking?
