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

lame

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=6906635

There has to be a better way to keep our kids in school.

vegansexuals

Words cannot express enough how dumb (yet twistedly smart) I think this is...

Vegansexual? I can just see the painful circumstantial transition now...

"Sweety, let's have sex tonight."

"I'm sorry, didn't you have a hamburger for lunch?"

"Well....yes...but..."

"Ah, no fun tonight for you darling, my love, my husband/wife (c'mon, as if a real man would give up sex over a cow) of 25 years. Maybe next week when your body is rid of the flesh of the poor creature that was slain for your few moments of pitiful, selfish, lingua enjoyment I'll sacrifice myself for you. Until then, goodnight, sleep well, and keep your tongue inside the vegan cart at all times and enjoy the rest of your night here at Disneyland Veggyland, where cows reign and the black market smells of spoiled chicken breasts and In-N-Out." (If you get my meaning.)

What an incredibly powerful ploy to "convert" your significant other to a vegetarian diet. Mother was right: vegetables do make you smart. Maybe even cunning. A bit narcissistic to beat, as well.

Shun the non-believer!!

my castle

When I received the last installment of the Harry Potter series in the mail last week I also received a few advertisements, which I barely noticed, if at all. In my eagerness to open the book, I flung the useless pieces of paper out of the box, over my shoulder (not really, but its more dramatic when its over the shoulder and not pathetically to the side), and onto the floor where they sat for over a week contributing to the process of entropy that seems to have a continual and foreboding hold on my bedroom. (I like to blame my laziness and apatheticism towards picking up after myself on a philosophical term. It makes the whole mess less grotesque and less my fault.)

But today when it became dangerous beyond adventuresome to get out of bed I decided I needed to do something about this "natural" process that has suppressed the force (choice) that could keep my miniature fortress tidy. And lo and behold, what should I run into during my all out war on "nature" but an interesting advertisement (yes, one of the "useless" ones from last week). It was so interesting it threw me off my guard, I immediately surrendered to "nature", let the mess be, and have since then plotted myself down here in my wooden chair to tell you all about the poignant, funny, and maybe even useful (and yet ultimately pointless in the same way that a microwave TV might be) message of this advertisement.

I almost hate to go on now for the fear that the headline may not be worthy of the above two-paragraph introduction, but humor me if you will and forgive my embellished way of saying "I found a piece of paper on the ground and here is what it said: 'When you leave your castle, take your life with you.'"

Ba-dum cha!

Ya, that's it. It's an advertisement for a Seagate external harddrive. You know, the little tiny box thing you hook up to your computer for more storage space. What I found interesting though (and maybe even convicting, you know, yada, yada, the usual), is that it references your computer as your castle, your life. Sadly, I know exactly what the advertisers are referring to. The feeling of dominance and royal-ishness that comes with owning a computer and abusing the privileges it provides is akin to the feeling (in as much as I can speculate) of owning a castle, a fortress that stands for my might and ability to conquer. Or, like Lord Farquaad's castle-complex from the first Shrek movie, it could merely be a compensation for something, which is more likely in my case.

Funny? No?

Oh well....I guess you had to be there. It was much more useful and humorous when I read it the first time. So much so I just couldn't help myself and had to get on my computer and spout about it. You know, conquer a bit of space on the web, create a tower, and a portable one at that.

I'm sure there is a philosophical concept/term I could find to blame for my propensity towards creating and depending (you should see me when the power goes out) on my electronic, intangible, but PORTABLE(!), fortress. The term escapes me at the moment, but I'm sure their is one. There has to be. My actions, surely, couldn't be my fault.

Damn the English language! I need a term!

Behold! The beast itself......like a bubble getting read to POP and wither.

if you haven't heard already...

here
here
here
and here.

I feel a bit awkward even mentioning it because I haven't even seen any of his films (that I know of), but its all I have been hearing and reading about all day so its clear this guy has had an impact on many. He must have been onto something and I look forward to partaking in the apparently powerful food for thought he has left behind in his wake.

Thanks to Netflix, that's financially possible.

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.

I gave up on myspace last year and just started Facebook in June. Myspace was more annoying than it was helpful with all the crazy colors and blasting music. It confused my simple brain. I thought Facebook was going to be the same, but I was wrong. Its clean and sophisticated...like me. Stop laughing.

(Speaking of clean and sophisticated...there's this b!*$%-slapping and sheep-throwing feature that's fun...)

Look me up. Heaven knows the only reason we aren't friends yet is because I haven't found you...*stalk, stalk*

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

Happy Fourth of July!

This is when everybody should stop complaining (like this and this) and acknowledge the fact that they otherwise have the FREEDOM to do so. Please, America can't be all bad. Think positive (for one day)!

And of course, what would we do without YouTube...?

Get your groove on. It's INDEPENDENCE DAY!

church for the masses :: here it comes :: thursday

church for the masses :: drive-thru nation :: wednesday

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.

church for the masses :: me worship :: tuesday

church for the masses :: me church :: monday

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.

ice water in hell

So the commercials are wonderful. The old and outdated "PC" in his hospital robe showing his undesirables to a young, hip, and fresh "Apple" is funny stuff. They speak volumes about the creative force that has thrusted Apple Inc. into the gleaming limelight the past few years. But none of them comes close to seeing the actual big daddies of each tribe smirk, taunt, and bombast in front the entire world. Like the commercials, "Apple" is more charming, is wearing tennis shoes, and steals the show without even trying that hard. The "PC"--in a shirt, dress shoes and slacks--is at a bumbling loss for words more often than not.

But they are both incredibly intelligent. Watching these great minds cogitate and theorize is invigorating, and it puts the commercials (as great as they are) to shame. Enjoy.

Digital Conference 2007 Prologue:


Steve Jobs Interview (watch 'til the end, its worth it, trust me):


Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Interview (1 of 10):


You can get the rest of them here.

i've been robbed!!!

I'm not sure if the theaters are trying to make my Pirates of the Caribbean experience actually feel more Piratey, but since when did it become legal to show a film before its release day? I treasure my midnight showings. The film could be a gawd-awfully smelly hunk of monkey crap, I never really care (although excellent films are an added bonus). It is the midnight showing experience that I actually go for. The communal buzz is infectious. It makes the film going experience more of a festival than an art gallery.

But now, to my horror, I have discovered that the theaters are showing 8:00, 8:15, 9:00, 9:45, and 10:00 o'clock showings before the midnight showing! This is...catastrophic! Sure, the buzz will still be there, but it won't be as strong and we won't be "the first" in our region. Not only that, but we'll hear all about the movie from the people walking out as we sit in line and wait to go in. Booooo!

*insert initial tremor of inspirational speech music here* The theaters have jumped our ship and stolen our treasure!!! Those filthy, greedy, piratey scumbags! We shall fight back! We shall fight to the death! *music swells* We shall stay our course *music swells some more* and not abandon our precious ship of ritual. Join me my fellow crazies and protest this monstrous and deceitful act. Grab your loins, laddies, let us hunt some theater managers!!! *insert "fields of pelennor" charge music here*

*grabs loins* Chaaarrge!!

***DISCLAIMER UPDATE***
It was 4 in the morning. Forgive me.

what's worse than losing a limb while bathing in a vat of liquified salt??

--One Tivo-less TV.
--One On-the-Lot premiere.
--And a grandmother addicted to Dancing With the Stars.

...all in the same house, all at the same time...

Frick!

according to our friendly neighborhood environmental nazis...

traveling is a sin:
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/article/2007/may/06/travelnews.climatechange?print

you are a virus:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21684156-5009760,00.html

your babies are bad for the environment:
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2007/20070506180903.aspx

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...