the problem of pain and the abolition of man

"Now the proper good of a creature is to surrender itself to its Creator--to enact intellectually, volitionally, and emotionally, that relationship which is given in the mere fact of its being a creature."

"Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us. We 'have all we want' is a terrible saying when 'all' does not include God. We find God an interruption. As St. Augustine says somewhere, 'God wants to give is something, but cannot, because our hands are full--there's nowhere for Him to put it.' Or as a friend of mine said, 'We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; its there for emergencies but he hopes he'll never have to use it.'"

"We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities; and anyone who has watched gluttons shovelling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they are eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

"Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God: the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger."

"If God were a Kantian, who would not have us till we came to Him from the purest and best motives, who could be saved?"

-- All from The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis



"The operation of The Green Book and its kind is to produce what may be called Men without Chests. It is an outrage that they should be commonly spoken of as Intellectuals. This gives them the chance to say that he who attacks them attacks Intelligence. It is not so. They are not distinguished from other men by any unusual skill in finding truth nor any virginal ardour to pursue her. Indeed it would be strange if they were: a persevering devotion to truth, a nice sense of intellectual honour, cannot be long maintained without the aid of a sentiment which Gaius and Titius could debunk as easily as any other. It is not excess of thought but defect of fertile and generous emotion that marks them out. Their heads are no bigger than the ordinary: it is the atrophy of the chest beneath that makes them seem so.

"And all the time—such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more 'drive', or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or 'creativity'. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful."

-- The Abolition of Man, by C.S. Lewis

kill the fly. kill the dog.

"A goal is a dream with a deadline." - unknown

Well if that doesn't ruffle some of my feathers, nothing will. I now wonder if my goals have anything to do with who I am, or if they have more to with who I think I should be. It is the question of the hour. The question of this day. This week, month, year...my life.

I sense a night of earnest contemplation ahead, where the weighings of what is and what isn't battle to fill the void of my future. Sleep can wait. I'm not enthusiastic with life at the moment, so let's hope tomorrow isn't just another day, but is a different day. Like a musical track on repeat, my life is becoming annoying and predictable. For me, and for others. Now we don't want that, now do we? I think its time I freak myself out and jump the plank off of this sail-less, rudder-less ship and join the rest of humanity in the shark invested waters of growth and opportunity.

"Conscience is a nuisance. A fly. A barking dog." - Captain Argall, The New World

Kill the fly. Kill the dog.

the cause of spiritual stupidity

I began reading C.S. Lewis's George MacDonald: An Anthology a few nights ago and I am nearly finished already! It has been a long while since I have been able to sit and finish a book in a reasonable amount of time, and it will be refreshing to reach the end of this book and be reminded again what such an accomplishment feels like. I have been sick (with a cold, but I'm mostly better now) for over a week now, so other than work and school I have otherwise spent most of my time at home filling waste baskets with goobered tissues and hawked spit wads of unspeakably nauseating phlegm. All with the book in my hand. (A bonus of being sick?)

This is the first stuff I have read of George MacDonald. And I like his stuff.

The short excerpts that Lewis has compiled from MacDonald's sermons and fantasy novels can be witty at one moment and violently piercing the next, but still a quenching well of truth in either circumstance. I quickly began to mark the excerpts that spoke to me the most, only to realize twenty pages in that I had marked off more than half of what I read, a mark (or two or three) on every page. So I stopped marking, and just accepted the fact that the entire book spoke to the each eager fiber of my being and it would be pointless to distract a future reader with a sleuth of black inkpen soaking every page.

"The care that is filling your mind at this moment, or but waiting till you lay the book aside to leap upon you--that need which is no need, is a demon sucking at the spring of your life. 'No; mine is a reasonable care--an unavoidable care, indeed.' Is it something you have to do this very moment? 'No.' Then you are allowing it to usurp the place of something that is required of you this moment. 'There is nothing required of me at this moment.' Nay but there is--the greatest thing that can be required of man. 'Pray, what is it?' Trust in the living God....'I do trust Him in spiritual matters.' Everything is an affair of the spirit." - from The Cause of Spiritual Stupidity, an unspoken sermon

"A man is in bondage to whatever he cannot part with that is less than himself." - from The Way, an unspoken sermon

"So long as we have nothing to say to God, nothing to do with Him, save the sunshine of the mind when we feel Him near us, we are poor creatures, willed upon, not willing....And how in such a condition do we generally act? Do we sit mourning over the loss of feeling? Or worse, make frantic efforts to rouse them?" - from The Eloi, an unspoken sermon

I'll be the first to admit my frantic search to rouse feelings. Much of this disease is not the result of some unequipped childhood or a single traumatic event, but is a direct result of the fact that so many aspects of my life have been completely absolved of the guidance of God through my unwillingness to have anything to do with Him. So instead, I forfeit my will to be, and I am "willed upon" by unhealthy outlets that own me and govern my time. Time that I could otherwise choose to spend by saying something to God and having something to do with him, sure acts to the regain of feeling.

I remember walking out of one of my classes the other day and reaching unconsciously into my bag for my iPod, but alas(!), it wasn't there. I remained calm on the outside, but inside I was daunted and uncomfortable by the fact that I'd be spending the next 30 minutes (until I got home) without my iPod! This is slightly disturbing and deserves the amount of thought I am putting into it (again) because the silly thing still owns me; I do not own it. I have enslaved myself (and my feelings) to a plastic device with wires and a shiny screen. "Oh, but it plays music." Yes, yes it does. But all in moderation. My iPod went "out of tune", so to speak. It wasn't there to passively enhance my active thoughts, but to actively encourage passive thoughts. And this is just a 3-by-2 inch object. I have other much bigger and grander items at my disposal, such as my computer, television, dvd player, mirror (I gawk at my pretty self daily...), and the incredibly annoying and time sucking world wide web (including my own blog...). Maybe it's time to pull the plug on a few distractions and say something to Him. You know...have something to do with Him more often than when its merely convenient or expected.

"Never wait for fitter time or place to talk to Him. To wait till thou go to church or to thy closet is to make Him wait. He will listen as thou walkest [without thou's iPod]." - from Righteousness, an unspoken sermon

be inspired, live life and give it

And to think...if it were possible to determine before birth whether or not someone is going to become autistic, many people would encourage abortion for the "benefit of the child".

Bull.

This kid just made my day and he wouldn't have been able to do that if he had his brains sucked out and his body disposed of.

OPERATION TERMINATION: 81 days and counting

http://www.helpmybabylive.com/

I'm curious. If this was proven legit, would you donate?
-------
-thanks to shelia west for pointing this out.

are you lucky?

About a month ago I wrote a post about living effectively and how things do not "just happen." I had gotten to a point in my life where I decided that the fastest way out of guilt or responsibility was to shrug my shoulders and say "eh, things happen." But oh sweet contraire, that was not the case and it never has it been. My life is my responsibility, not the responsibility of some superstitious notion of luck. If I want something (at the time I was speaking of righteousness) I have to actually go out and get it. It won't just happen to me.

Anyhoo, the reason I bring this up again is because on friday night ABC's "20/20" ran a broadcast about luck and how some people just seem to have more of it than others. Very interesting stuff. The conclusion at the end of the broadcast: we all create our own luck.

They did numerous studies and observations and realized that the "lucky" people are the most persistent for and the most open to new opportunities. By lucky people, they mean financially and relationally successful. In short: those who are envied most often.

An example of one of their observations involved six people (three of which you'd consider lucky people, and the other three not-so-lucky). They placed money on the ground in each of their paths. The money was put in the same spot every time and therefore equally visible to the lucky and not-so-lucky individuals. All three of the lucky people saw the money and picked it up. The other three, the not so lucky ones...walked right on by, oblivious to what lay on the ground.

In another observation, they studied a few lucky people and a few not-so-lucky people in a small, cramped donut shop (or something similar, I can't remember). When a separate individual would come into the restaurant, they were more likely to sit near one of the lucky people as opposed to one of the not-so-lucky people. Why? Because the not-so-lucky person looked uninviting and detached. They were either frowning, had their arms crossed, or were so engrossed in their newspaper the outside world meant absolutely nothing to them. Who wants to sit by that? Nobody, including other not-so-lucky people (they just find their own corner to individualize and wallow in.) Who wants to invest their time (or money) into someone who appears apathetic to outside encounters? Nobody. So instead, the new customers gravitate towards the lucky guy. The guy with the smile (or at least not a frown), uncrossed arms, and an over all optimistic demeanor, both in dress and attitude.

This opens a huge door for this lucky guy. So what does his do? He starts talking to the person who sat next to him. Is he actually thinking "I wonder what this guy can do for me"? Probably not. It only comes natural for lucky people to see an opportunity and take it. This opportunity: a conversation with another human being. This instigation of converse could lead to something more than a simple ten minutes of stress relieving conversation. It could lead to a business deal, another person (even more possibilities there), or even a life long relationship.

You never know.

So you can see that the lucky people weren't lucky in the superstitious sense, but were given more chances of being lucky because they were always in search of a new opportunity. Even the small amount of opportunity of a few dollars on the ground or a short exchange of words with a stranger can change some of your decisions for that day, the week, or your life. In other words, the lucky people increase their chances of being lucky by taking more of the opportunities that might create that luck for them. They go and get the luck, it doesn't come to them. They go and get the success, it doesn't come to them. They go and they get what they want because they know it isn't going to come to them. They go. And they get.

Meanwhile, the not-so-lucky people are so busying watching and complaining about others getting lucky that they (dis)miss their own opportunities to be lucky. Instead of being proactive, they are reactive.

The only reason I bring this up is because it has been on my mind alot lately and the 20/20 show only sparked more thoughts for me to chew on. I don't think I would be where I am now if I had taken a more proactive role in my own life. Don't get me wrong, I am not in a terrible position. But I am still living at home when I would much rather be out on my own. It is only one of the annoying problems at the moment that would not otherwise have arisen if I had taken a more proactive role a long time ago.

Anyway, if you are reading this and find yourself often blaming other people, objects, and ideas (luck) for your own shortcomings...stop it. Eventually you'll run out of ideas, you'll run out of objects, and worst of all, you'll run out of people.

Your financial, physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual success all depend on your willingness to depend on others and the "luck" that they may be willing to offer you. Open your eyes, see an opportunity, and go after it. Don't listen to the naysayers...they are just bitterly unlucky. Ask them, they'll tell you.

a humble billionaire.

Bill Gates.

Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for sharing his short, paradoxical experience.

Gates makes cheap, crappy venues and rich men look good. Both of which/whom should be thanking him at the moment. The crappy venues seem inviting all of a sudden and rich men don't seem quite a stereotypically snobbish and hog-like. Actually, I guess I should be thanking Gates, shouldn't I? Huh.

Dear Billy,

Thank you. You are the man!

-raymond, a humbled peasant.

effective living

"Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or swerve from them." - Proverbs 4:5

I am just now beginning to understand the power of being intentional about the things that I do. My life up until now has merely been a string of circumstances, some good, some not so good, but all of which "just happened". Instead of taking responsibility for my actions, I have made a habit of pulling the "God's will"-card whenever I feel like I have lost control of something. And I usually, conveniently "lose control" when things aren't going well. That way, I don't have to take responsibility for my part in the equation of life. I just hand all the power over to God and say "Oh well, Your will be done"--a passive shift of responsibility.

But I think I get it now. God's will isn't so much an inescapable plan for my life as it is an optional source, or blueprint, that I have the choice of tapping into. When I accept his blueprint on which to create my life, the result is nothing short of majestic. An effective and beautiful way of living emerges gloriously like a sunrise in a world of darkness.

"The path of righteousness is like the first gleam of dawn,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
But the way of the wicked is like the deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble." - Proverbs 4:18-19

I have not been righteous. I stumble often. And that isn't an accident. That is what I have chosen. In Proverbs 4:5 Solomon writes, "Get wisdom, get knowledge." If I want wisdom, if I want knowledge, I have to actually to go and get it and not sit around hoping that maybe someday it will just fall in my lap: "Hello, I am wisdom!"

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe describes what happens when we pursue righteousness:

"The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred...unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way."

God's will doesn't "just happen". I have to choose it. The guy next to me has to choose it. Everyone on the planet has to choose it. And when just one person chooses to build their life according to the blueprints of God, beautiful things happen and his glory shines through, piercing the darkness like a new sun, a new day.

I choose righteousness.

the artist/art divide

Last summer I spent a weekend at my great aunt's house in Visalia, CA (near Fresno) because of some financial problems with my grandma's sister's niece. Ya, its complicated, messy, and all that jazz, but thankfully all I had to do was drive and look pretty, so I didn't have to deal with all the paper and phone calls. Well, with nothing to do (seriously, only the God of Sarah could make the place less barren) my sister and I decided to go see a movie. While we were trying to decide what to see, one of my family members decided to chime in: "You can't see War of the Worlds, I won't allow you, I'm boycotting that film because Tom Cruise is in it."

"That's ok," I said, "I've already seen it anyway. I didn't like it."

"Good," they replied.

This is way back when Tom Cruise went couch hopping on Oprah and everything he said was either about Scientology or Katie Holmes and her openness to Scientology. So this person was either reacting unfavorably to his Scientology antics or his woman antics. If I thought it worth it, I would have continued the conversation and found out which, but I could immediately see that their emotional stance would have gotten in the way of a possibly enriching dialogue. So I just let them do their thing.

The reason I bring this up is because of a recent article I read at Christianity Today Online about one of the actor's in last year's movie End of the Spear. The movie is about the five missionaries who were speared to death in the quest to evangelize a tribe in jungles of Ecuador. I haven't seen the movie, so I can't comment on its merit, but I do have a few words to say about the gay actor Chad Allen who took the role of one the five missionaries. Ya that's right, gay. The article, titled "Christian Studio Explains Hiring of Gay Actor", was written to... well, explain the hiring of a gay actor.

And I think they do that quite well. But the bone I am eager to pick is the fact that they had to explain it at all. We Christians can be so egotistical at times. Our "greater-than-though" demeanor is the reason so many people don't give Christianity a second thought. And why should they? If we are always huddled in our holy buildings talking about how lost "those sinners" are out there and how much they need us and our message, we are bound to eventually piss them off.

I may not agree with the lifestyle of Chad Allen, but since when has anyone's life really been "agreeable". Mine certainly isn't. And, dare I say, your's isn't too shiny either. So to suggest that a sinner can not be a part of the declaration of love, goodness, truth, and beauty is to suggest that the whole world shut up.

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. - Romans 3:23

To say that a sinner, a homosexual in this case, has nothing of value to contribute to the world is a statement based on nothing but discomfort and hate. We don't like the idea that a homosexual might have something to say or show us that might be enlightening, so we just label him an outcast. We avoid talking to them, and distance ourselves from them in hopes that they will never come around and make us feel uncomfortable or wary.

I am a fan of classical music. All music really, but especially classical. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Piano Concerto No. 1 are absolutely beautiful, and I have yet to find someone to disagree with me. But Tchaikovsky was a homosexual. So that's it. Your kids can never listen to Tchaikovsky again.

And while were at it, why don't we just take all of Michael Jackson's records and burn them in our back yards whilst chanting "Jackson's going to hell!!!" like good little soldiers of God.

The Passion of the Christ, a movie about the very act that has given humanity a ticket out of the fiery lake of hell, was created by a self-proclaimed drunk. Mel Gibson.

A lying and conniving drug addict has brought many people to Christ. Ted Haggard.

And some of the greatest men (and writers) of the Bible were liars, adulterers, polygamists, and murderers who went on to become warriors of God that put most of us to shame.

Am I suggesting that we overlook sin? Absolutely not, but we also shouldn't overlook God's knack of using the most sinful of us all for some of his greatest of achievements. Boycotting a movie because an actor's life isn't the way we'd like it to be is just as foolish as boycotting books of the Bible because some its writers' lives were not the way we would have liked them to be.

As far as my venture to the theater that day, we ended up seeing Fantastic Four. Oy vey! I would much rather have seen the disappointedly mediocre War of the Worlds again...

"Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Oops'" - dave burchett

Excellent post. It put me in my place.