crazy-lady-says-words:

“Even atheists rebel and express, like Hardy and Housman, their rage against God although (or because) He does not, in their view, exist: and other atheists, like Mr. Huxley, are driven by suffering to raise the whole problem of existence and to find some way of coming to terms with it which, if not Christian, is almost infinitely superior to fatuous contentment with a profane life. No doubt Pain as God’s megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.”

— C.S. Lewis

“The Problem of Pain”

Chapter 6 “Human Pain”

An analogy if you will:

This Saturday you have highly anticipated plans.  You plan all week, you call all of your friends and all of you are just anxious — absolutely anxious.  Saturday comes and a storm warning is issued for your county.  The storm warning eventually becomes a supercell thunderstorm.  There is thunder, lightning and rain galore.  Tell me, would you blame Zeus in this situation?  He was believed to be the god of the sky, thunder and lightning, but of course, you don’t believe that.  Thus, you cannot express your rage against Zeus and rebel against him.  Well, that’s exactly how atheists feel about your god; we don’t believe in him and therefore, we cannot express our rage against him and we cannot rebel against him.  Being that Lewis began his argument with a false statement, it is thus unsound.