文档介绍：GOD THE INVISIBLE KING
GOD THE INVISIBLE
KING
by H. G. Wells
1
GOD THE INVISIBLE KING
PREFACE
This book sets out as forcibly and exactly as possible the religious
belief of the writer. That belief is not orthodox Christianity; it is not,
indeed, Christianity at all; its core nevertheless is a profound belief in a
personal and intimate God. There is nothing in its statements that need
shock or offend anyone who is prepared for the expression of a faith
different from and perhaps in several particulars opposed to his own.
The writer will be found to be sympathetic with all sincere religious
feeling. Nevertheless it is well to prepare the prospective reader for
statements that may jar harshly against deeply rooted mental habits. It
is well to warn him at the outset that the departure from accepted beliefs
is here no vague scepticism, but a quite sharply defined objection to
dogmas very widely revered. Let the writer state the most probable
occasion of trouble forthwith. An issue upon which this book will be
found particularly promising is the dogma of the Trinity. The
writer is of opinion that the Council of Nicaea, which forcibly
crystallised the controversies of two centuries and formulated the creed
upon which all the existing Christian churches are based, was one of the
most disastrous and one of the least venerable of all religious gatherings,
and he holds that the Alexandrine speculations which were then
conclusively imposed upon Christianity merit only disrespectful
attention at the present time. There you have a chief possibility of
offence. He is quite unable to pretend any awe for what he considers
the spiritual monstrosities established by that undignified gathering.
He makes no attempt to be obscure or propitiatory in this connection.
He criticises the creeds explicitly and frankly, because he believes it is
particularly necessary to clear them out of the way of those who are
seeking religious consolation at this presen