Monday, March 5, 2012

Why Are People So Unhappy?

In his book, Knowing God, J. I. Packer illustrates why so many people are confused and unhappy.  He asks what would happen if you took a member of a primitive tribe from the Amazon basin and flew him to London and dropped him off in the middle of Trafalgar Square.  With no knowledge of the language and culture, how would he fend for himself?  And even if you dressed him in modern clothes, wouldn't everything he said and did be nonsensical to those around him? Surely none of us would be so insensitive!

However, as Packer says, "We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is.  The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place...for those who do not know God."  Later he writes:  "As our knowledge of God increases, so does our peace, our strength, and our joy."

Are you confused and unhappy?