Ought, ought, ought!

“Remember that there are only three kinds of things anyone need ever do: Things we ought to do; Things we have to do; Things we like to do.”
C. S. Lewis in a letter to his godchild, Sarah.

I will add, it is a blessing when the things we ought to do and the things we have to do are the things we like to do. And it is a great accomplishment when we are able to resist doing something we ought not to do even though we might enjoy doing it.

Colossians 3:15-17
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Outside Natural Progression

“You have to go outside the sequence of engines, into the world of men, to find the real originator of the Rocket. Is it not equally reasonable to look outside Nature for the real Originator of the natural order?” C. S. Lewis Who Was Right—Dream Lecturer or Real Lecturer published as Two Essays in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics

Lewis is refuting the argument that a self-creating Universe is as plausible as an uncreated creator. In other words, to posit an uncreated Universe, one begins with no natural order and no laws of physics to drive the evolutionary process. An uncreated creator is the originator of order and natural progression.

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

It Never Fails

"Christian love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will." C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

I Corinthians 13: 4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

From Hope to Hope

"The natural progression of the mind is not from enjoyment to enjoyment, but from hope to hope."
Samuel Johnson, as sometimes quoted by C. S. Lewis, from Boswell’s Life of Dr. Johnson

Romans 12- A Living Sacrifice
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
     “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
     if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
     In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

God's Poema

Only science can tell you where and when you are likely to meet an elm; only poetry can tell you what meeting an elm is like. The one answers the question Whether, the other answers the question What.
C. S. Lewis, The Personal Heresy.

Ephesians 2:10 (KJV)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The Greek word from which "workmanship" is derived, is "poema" or poem. So we are God's poetry! What we will be, has not yet been made known.

1 John 3: 1-2
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Gone Fishing

"I have been suspected of being what is called a fundamentalist. That is because I never regard any narrative as unhistorical simply on the ground that it includes the miraculous." C. S. Lewis in Reflections on the Psalms.

John 21- Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

All That I Need!

“We—or at least I—shall not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have learned no habit of doing so on the lowest. . . . Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy.” C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

http://youtu.be/60o3UP4Kjwg

Unique Defeat

On this day in 1942 in an informal Socratic club debate, C. S. Lewis was handed his only recorded defeat by Elizabeth Anscombe, professor of philosophy. [ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anscombe/ ] Her point prompted him to make a small revision in his book Miracles. [ www.cslewis.org/resources/.../Study%20Guide%20-%20Miracles.pdf ]

Lewis’ apologies in defense of Christianity endure and resonate with those of Christian philosophers and theologians beginning with the Apostle Paul.

I Corinthians 15:12-28
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

Ephemera

January 31, 1919, C. S. Lewis was elected secretary of the Marlets Society, a select literary group at Oxford.

“If I am forgotten of all else, at least a specimen of my handwriting will be preserved for posterity.” C. S. Lewis’s comment upon his new office, based on his belief that the Martlets Society minutes were permanent University property.

For C.R.  -  Becky Wooley

“Define love,” she said,

knowing he couldn’t.
And he didn’t, though he tried,
not even to his own satisfaction.
If he admitted that MAN,
a super-evoluted animal,
another product of infinity and fortune,
could feel
anything more than reactions to chemicals released haphazardly
in his brain and body,
he must admit to a love
undefined, unevolved, primordial. NEVER.
But he knew he felt something more.

Define hope,” she said,
knowing he couldn’t.
And he didn’t, though he tried,
not even to his own satisfaction.
If he admitted that MAN,
a speck in the cosmos,
another organism destined for extinction,
could want
anything more than mentions
in equally ephemeral historical records,
he must admit to a hope
beyond death, beyond time, beyond history. NEVER.
But he knew he wanted something more.

“Define faith,” she said,
knowing he wouldn’t.
And he didn’t even try,
not even for her satisfaction.
If he admitted that MAN,
a self-sufficient child of the universe,
another deity in charge of destiny,
could need
anything more than reflections of his own image
to light the way,
he must admit to a faith in something,
somewhere, someone other. NEVER.
But he knew he needed . . .

[This poem was published in a slightly different form in the 1981 edition of “Pickwicker,” the literary journal of Abilene Christian University.]

Good Morning!

“What’s the matter with him this morning? He’s quite above himself!” C. S. Lewis’s comment upon Tolkien’s high spirits on the morning of January 30, 1945.

J. R. R. Tolkien was cheerfully enduring miserable ice and slush from passing cars, anticipating letters from his son that awaited him at home.

Christians have more than enough awaiting us at home to make this life secondary and joyful.

Romans 8:18-25
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Wisdom, Love and Fear

"'Charles Williams gave his first lecture at the Divinity School at Oxford on this day in 1940; he spoke on Milton.'
“'I have at last, if only for once, seen a university doing what it was founded to do: teaching wisdom.' C. S. Lewis, describing the second Williams lecture to Warren Lewis." Around the Year with C. S. Lewis and Friends, compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog

“The end of all learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love and imitate Him.”
― John Milton

Proverbs 9:10-12
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
For through wisdom your days will be many,
and years will be added to your life.
If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.

Amazing Grace
‘Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear,
And Grace that fear relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear,
The hour I first believed.
 -- John Newton

I have nothing to add.

Eating the Shewbread

On this day in 1954, C.S. Lewis dined with Joy Davidman Gresham (his future wife) [ http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001188.cfm ] and Ruth Pitter (winner of the Queen’s Medal for Poetry).

“I’m not a man for marriage, but if I were, I would ask Ruth Pitter.” C. S. Lewis to Hugo Dyson. [ http://www.crlamppost.org/dyson.htm ]

At fifty-eight years of age, C. S. Lewis married divorcee Joy Davidman. Their unusual marriage is well-chronicled and mostly acknowledged as a “match made in Heaven,” but at the time it was widely regarded as a sin.
God’s regulations for sexual matters are given in 1 Corinthians 7 and elsewhere in the Bible and are an ideal toward which we should strive. Missing the mark is sinful, but God is our judge.

Matthew 12: 3-8
He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”

1 Corinthians 7: 1, 2 - Concerning Married Life
Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband . . .
1 Corinthians 7: 8-11
Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

Long Books

“Things need to be treated at length not in so far as they are great but in so far as they are complicated.” C. S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century. Quoted in Around the Year with C.S. Lewis and Friends, compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog.

“‘You can’t get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me,’” said C. S. Lewis to Walter Hooper. In that case, Lewis should have been pleased with English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama. A 696 page tome with a thirty-three page chronological table and ninety pages of bibliography, it taught him that a long book might be a joy to read, but it could be a burden to write.”
Donald T. Williams, PhD in a draft of an article for Lion and Logos: The Life and Legacy of C. S. Lewis, ed. Bruce L. Edwards, Jr.    doulomen.tripod.com/topics/DTWtopics_csl_ohel.pdf

When I think of the heady literary and philosophical discussions among the Christian scholars at Oxford who called themselves the Inklings (http://www.mythsoc.org/inklings/), my jealousy is boundless, but I don’t believe that I will ever read Mr. Lewis’ 696 page tome. Several things would stop me. I will list three: First, I am not familiar with Sixteenth Century literature, excluding drama. I am the grateful recipient of an excellent education, but my classical studies are limited almost exclusively to the realms of drama and rhetoric. Second, I much prefer Lewis' fiction. Third, a used copy on Ebay is $275.

Ecclesiastes 1:18- For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

White as Snow

“Warren and C. S. Lewis attended Walt Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ on this day in 1939.” Around the Year with C. S. Lewis and Friends, compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog
Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat at her widow sewing . . . And after a while she gave birth to a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony; and she named her Snow White. The Brothers Grimm, Fairy Tales, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

 My sister Paula was born with unusually large, blue eyes, rich dark hair and a beautiful voice. When she was quite young, maybe eight, she took vocal lessons and performed in a recital. She sang “Someday My Prince Will Come” from the Disney movie, Snow White. The song has a vast range and is difficult to sing even for adults. She sang it beautifully. She still has a lovely voice.
As children, my sister and I were trained to envy and ridicule each other. We have struggled to become friends as adults.


Matthew 18:21, 22 - New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."

Tintern Abbey

Monday, January 2, 2012

Warren and C.S. Lewis saw Tintern Abbey on their first annual walking tour on this day in 1931.

“While here I stand, not only with the sense
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years . . .”
William Wordsworth, “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” 1798

 A friend and I walked across the Highway 41 Bridge over Nickajack Lake, Saturday, to mark its passing. The old metal bridge is an especially pleasing work of engineering and art that rests at the base of a spectacular portion of the Tennessee River. It is scheduled to close Jan. 9th and will be demolished within a month or so. Its beauty and setting struck me as unique the first time I saw it and I enjoy its simple existence every time I drive past or over it. The new span, if the other bridges around Chattanooga are indicators, will be a nondescript flaw on a beautiful landscape and will prevent enjoyment of the view either at or from it.

I am getting old, but I will enjoy the present and look forward to the future in spite of the decay and destruction around me.
Proverbs 31:25 – She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

2012 - The Year of the Dragon

Sunday January 1, 2012
Daily quotes are taken from a “Book of Days” entitled “Around the Year with C.S. Lewis and His Friends” compiled by Kathryn Lindskoog and published by the C.R. Gibson Co.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations if you live near him." J. R. R. Tolkien, "The Hobbitt.
 Never discount the reality of the supernatural.
Job 41:1-34  New International Version (NIV)
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3 Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words?
4 Will it make an agreement with you for you to take it as your slave for life?
5 Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
6 Will traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
9 Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering.
10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me?
11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form.
13 Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor[b]?
14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?
15 Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;
16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.
17 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.
18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
21 Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth.
22 Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it.
23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
24 Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.
25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing.
26 The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
27 Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it.
29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is its equal— a creature without fear.
34 It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”

New Year's Resolutions

I don’t make them, because I don’t keep them. A resolution is a promise to yourself, and I hate disappointing anyone including myself. So the following list is NOT a list of resolutions, just some things I need to do:


1. Walk or swim everyday to prepare myself to be able to do all I want to do when Bruce and I go to Zambia in April. (My doctor says you can improve your fitness and energy level in eight weeks.)

2. Lose weight. (The doctor says up to 20 pounds. I’m aiming for at least 10.)

3. Finish my book by the end of March so I can spend April getting ready for the trip. (And I don’t want any of the several dozen--maybe 300 or so--people who read Non-Prophet Murders to die waiting to read Murder Intelligently Designed.)

4. I finally have a daily devotional book that I can get excited about. Each day has a quote from C.S. Lewis or one of the many writers from whom he drew inspiration. The page for each day includes space to add my own thoughts. I intend to find a scripture to go with each one and post the result on this blog.

The Shack

“The Shack” by William P. Young, as over two-million readers now know, is an allegory which portrays the Godhead as three indivisible persons: an African American woman (think Ethel Waters in the movie and Broadway musical, “Cabin in the Sky”), an ethereal dancer (patterned after George MacDonald’s “grandmother” in “The Princess and the Goblin”) and a folksy carpenter. This tale of horror, guilt, pain, forgiveness and redemption is a blending of suspense and fantasy that mirrors C. S. Lewis’ “Screwtape Letters” from the view of Heaven and the Godhead rather than from the view of Satan and Hell.

The theology is Biblical and spot-on until the nitty meets the gritty and Mackenzie, the main character and father of a brutally slain six-year-old, is told that Christ’s death on the cross means that everyone is forgiven unconditionally and that those who refuse to accept Christ’s sacrifice and forgiveness are not sentenced to some final punishment but simply sentence themselves to a life without full relationship with God in the here and now. In other words the only “justice” doled to the man who raped and murdered his daughter will be whatever is administered here on earth—“God loves all of his children too much” to eternally banish any one of them. Justice is neither here (before death) nor there (after). According to Young's carpenter, Christianity is a man-made system irrelevant to relationship with God or man. Young’s gospel of forgiveness and grace does not include nor require the great commission.

The main message of the book, that it is not in man to judge God and that God’s love will explain it all some day, is valid, but “all things work together for good” only for “those who love Him and are called according to his purpose”. Romans 8:28

Just as an aside, Christian Publishers rejected this New York Times bestseller as too controversial and secular publishers rejected it as too religious. I find myself in the same predicament with my Grit and Grace book. I also take note that Young’s book went through four major revisions after its initial self-publication and limited sales.