Lewis says in “Learning In Wartime” that, “Life has never been normal.” Indeed it isn’t. We live in a glorious world that seems magical and is full of things to explore. The magic never ends. I have spent the last three weeks reading works of C.S. Lewis and Engaging God’s World by Cornelius Plantinga. Lewis is one of the greatest apologists of history and perhaps ‘Thee Christian Writer’ of the 20th Century. Once one believes in God and Christianity there is still so much left to know; how to live, how to act, what laws to follow… As well as defending the faith, Lewis wrote answers to the questions that people have about how to live a Christian life in this world. These past three weeks have benefited me by answering my questions and showing me how I should live and view the world around me. All of the things I have read from Lewis have been extraordinary insightful; I am going to go over my reaction to the collection of what I have read and what it has taught me.
So many topics have been covered in what I’ve read that it’s hard to know where to start, but as I studied Lewis to learn, I am going to start with learning. Lewis describes learning in “Our English Syllabus” by differentiating in from education. Learning goes beyond learning skills and training our minds to where we actually delve into some subject and try to understand it and discover its secrets. Lewis didn’t like the idea of a liberal arts core selected by a college because it simplified a subject to where there was more teaching of certain facts than of actual learning on the part of the student. As a student I often feel like I am just learning certain points that the college thinks I should know rather than exploring a subject. In Philosophy I felt that exploration of how we think about the world. I now see that my choice of Chemistry as a major is probably a good one as that’s an area for which I push myself past my required studies to learn.
I think that learning is linked with passion. Lewis says we need to have a thirst for knowledge and that should be our reason for attending college. Without passion we would have no reason to go beyond what we are required to know. Lewis seems to say that in order to learn we have to be passionate about our subject and learn about all which will help us in this endeavor, not just what somebody says we should know about other subjects.
Lewis says, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us…We are far too easily pleased.” We aren’t too passionate but rather not passionate enough. It seems that we have to be more passionate to fulfill our vocational calls. Vocation is a big idea at Calvin College. Lewis says that we don’t just need Christian pastors, but Christian authors, nurses, chemists, lawyers, and so on. The bible teaches that God created and saw that it was good. All goodness is just tainted evil according to Lewis and Plantinga, so the idea of having Christians in all areas is to try and ‘un-taint’ these areas. This is the reformed perspective from which Calvin was created. Calvin is a great institution in that it prepares students for their desired careers so that they may glorify God in that career.
In my Organic Chemistry class we had what were termed “bad science Fridays.” We would discuss poor ethics and poor portrayals of science in an attempt to teach us how to be ethical chemists. In my honors O. Chem. Section we went further into ethics, yet both are still examples of what kind of people Calvin wants its students to be. My parents tell me that Calvin is expensive, but you get what you pay for. This is because regardless of what skills I learn, Calvin is a place to develop a Christian mindset and grow in my faith.
I think sometimes we are being pushed as the next Calvin graduating class to go out and change the world, but I remember a prelude reading stressing that no matter how much we change the world it will change us more. In the closing plenary for DCM the speaker talked on this point and how we are bound to feel like failures. We are never going to accomplish shalom which we are seeking to turn the world into. Becoming disheartened is a serious problem if one seeks to change the world. As children we are sometimes told, “Be the best you that you can be.” Undoubtedly this sounds cheesy, but the speaker seemed to agree. If we try to follow Christ and act as positive influences in our community being good spouses, parents, council members, and employees then we will have made a difference in our world. We may not bring as many people to Christ as Billy Graham, but we will have brought glory to God.
One of the readings that I found most interesting on Lewis was “The Weight of Glory.” Lewis contended that there would certainly be glory in heaven. Glory is seen as God being delighted by us. Here on earth we try to please God with our lives as Christians, but we don’t actually experience God’s reaction to our attempts to please him. Lewis talks about proper goals when writing on education. A proper goal is the consummation of an act, as marriage is the consummation of Eros. We strive to please God and the perfect ending to that would be the discovery that God is pleased by us. It’s the consummation of our lives here on earth.
Here on earth we are also looking for happiness. We are hardwired to seek validation because we want God to be pleased with us; we want to be liked. People often look to be validated physically through sex, or in “The Inner Ring” Lewis talks about how people will do wrong in order to get into a select group of people. We will ultimately find no happiness by these means. These are simply ways by which we attempt to find the validation by which we ultimately need from God, even if one doesn’t believe in him. Lewis’ article “We Have No Right to Happiness’ argues that there is no way we are guaranteed happiness. If we go out of our way to get it we often trample on others. However; if we affirm God in our lives then we will have happiness. In the Garden I think that Adam and Eve were definitely happy because they were with God. We will again be with God in heaven, so happiness will be attained in heaven. If we walk with God here on earth then we can and will have happiness. When I am lacking happiness in my life it’s often because I have an internal issue or am not allowing God to walk with me.
When God is in a person’s life God brings happiness to his follower through the things in their life. One of the most intriguing messages in my last three weeks of reading is that people don’t receive happiness from the things in their life but through them. God’s creation and healthy relationships are two fruitions through which God gives me Joy.
In blogging I have twice mentioned the Discovery Channel “Boom Deh Yah Dah” song. A song created by the network to show how much they love the world, so much that they just want to break into song. The commercial ends with the caption, “The World is Just Awesome,” and I add so is the God that created it. Love of the world and of God is essential the reformed perspective. It is Lewis that said there is no evil only spoiled goodness. That’s this creation goodness that has been contaminated. I have a passion for removing that contamination. I love to hunt, fish, and camp. When outside I feel close to God, he is bringing me happiness through his creation. God created man in his image and set us over creation, that’s an incredible gift. There are sects of Christianity that try and separate themselves from the rest of the world, but there’s an important connection that we must have with the world.
There are many evils out there, but we know it is warfare. The Screwtape Letters brings this out in a way that chills my bones. The idea that the devil is actively trying to drag us on away from God without our knowing is frightening, but it is foolish to ignore this disposition. Passion with the right direction wins this battle and helps others in theirs. That’s the kind of person I want to be. One example given of how Wormwood’s patient is falling from God is that he is embarrassed to lay his sin before God in prayer. I too feel this same way. There is a certain reluctance I have to name my sins. I feel like I have to win my struggles before I mention them to God when I need him to help me work through them. I want to win my inner battles and be honest to God in prayer and follow the law.
We sometimes fail to live out God’s wishes for us in our relationships with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. When I look back to high school there was a lot of ‘drama.’ Everybody thought of themselves first and in their path was heartache for people all around them. One of my best qualities by the end of high school was that I was a good friend. I liked to please people. I cared about their needs and feelings. I wasn’t always thinking about myself first. What I took away from The Four Loves is that if we do this then God will bless our relationships and bring us happiness through them. These four types of Love are all gifts from God if we live them in the right way.
Lewis’ integration of reason, imagination and faith has helped me to develop a more Christian mindset and remember God’s love. There is something magical about love, something magical about God and his love for us. A love that would save Noah, bless Abraham, and sacrifice a blameless son. The magic never ends.
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