…They Became Fools
The comics are meant to give us a lift. Rarely does a comic strip intend to make a serious point. Yet, even when the comics are meant to be funny, they can say something profound. The Calvin and Hobbes comic here is a case in point.
At first glance, the comic simply seems funny. Bill Watterson’s character Calvin is being cheeky with his teacher. He doesn’t know the answer to the question, so he tries to come up with an answer which may get him off the hook. Both Christians and non‑Christians will catch this point, since both Christians and non‑Christians fully agree that “2+7” has a definite right or wrong answer.
But I’m convinced that if Christians look closer at this cartoon they’ll see something profound. It lies in Calvin’s response: “I cannot answer this question as it is against my religious principles.” We shouldn’t read too much into this. We know from the context that Calvin isn’t really refusing to answer the question on the basis of his religion. But let’s imagine he was.
What religion would Calvin call his own? From Watterson’s other Calvin and Hobbes strips, it’s clear Calvin isn’t a Christian and Watterson is isn’t working from a Christian worldview. Certain comic strip artists are Christians and their Christianity is often reflected in their work. But Watterson is definitely not working within the context of a Christian worldview and Calvin does not reflect Christianity in any visible way (the irony is that Calvin is named after John Calvin!).
We might try to label Calvin’s religion. But we’d be wasting our time, since the only important thing is that Calvin isn’t a Christian. Why is that important? Because it is only the Christian way of looking at the world (worldview) which can provide the foundations for knowledge, logic, science, morality, and…mathematics. The apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 quotes with divine approval the Greek poet Epimenides, “For in him [God] we live and move and have our being.” It is because God is who he is that we live in and move in this world. The Muslim worldview cannot provide a basis for mathematics, neither can the Hindu, Buddhist, or Sikh worldviews, since all of these worldviews deny the God of the Bible who provides the solid rock of reality. All of these religions, consistently lived out, deny the possibility of mathematics (or any other human endeavour). The same could be said of every other non‑Christian religion and philosophy (including atheism, existentialism, and secular humanism).
Calvin’s response to 2+7 takes on new meaning when we understand this important truth. If Calvin is being consistent with his non‑Christian worldview, it would be correct for him to assert that he cannot answer the question. For the non‑Christian who lives consistently (an impossibility since such consistency would lead to non‑existence), mathematics is an impossibility — it is against his religious principles! From a philosophical perspective, Calvin is epistemologically self‑conscious. He is self‑conscious of the fact that his theory of knowledge (epistemology), his worldview, prevents him from answering a simple math question, since it eliminates the possibility of mathematics.
But as we noted at the beginning, both Christians and non‑Christians agree that there is an answer to 2+7. Why? It’s because non‑Christians are inconsistent with the way that they say they look at the world. They believe they are autonomous, laws unto themselves. But their actions indicate otherwise. The unbeliever will rigorously assert that 2+7 has a definite answer in 9. But he does so in spite of himself and his professed worldview. The Christian can use this to point out the foolishness of unbelief (Psalm 53:1).
Calvin’s response was meant to evoke an innocent laugh. But it also leads us to reflect on the seriousness and foolishness of unbelief. Unbelief is so incredibly foolish. To be consistent in unbelief is to deny all meaning; it is to affirm chaos and lawlessness. The consistent unbeliever must be a nihilist – nothing matters. Few unbelievers rise to that level of realizing what it means to be consistent in their worldview. This is nothing for Christians to laugh about. Rather, we must be eager to demonstrate the foolishness of unbelief. May the One who sits in the heavens laughing at this foolishness (Psalm 2:4) give us a rich measure of his Spirit that we may fulfill this calling.
