Every time you make a choice
"People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, 'If you keep a lot of rules, I'll reward you, and if you don't I'll do the other thing.' I do not think that is the best way of looking at it. I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a Heaven creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other."~C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
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Wow...didn't think I'd miss this as much as I did over the weekend! The weekend is the only time I have lots of computer time.
"People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, 'If you keep a lot of rules, I'll reward you, and if you don't I'll do the other thing."
Very interesting that you chose that quote, cause thats what my teacher was just talking about (I forget which class, they've kinda all meshed together in my mind). He put it something like this: Man says "We'll obey if everything is perfect!" God puts man in the garden of eden with ONE rule, man blows it. Than man says "give us a list of rules to follow and we'll obey you." Second half of Exodus is a list of rules God gives Israel, and they STILL blow it! And then few hundred years later, Jesus walks on the earth, and man still doesn't obey. Conclusion: Man is a sin sicked shriveled up soul who's only hope for salvation is in Jesus Christ (exa John 3:16)
forgot to say...the above post is by me.
~Joelle
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Aww...glad you missed it Joelle. I aim to please!
I like the way that Lewis is describing the way to God as a process. That one's life is constantly being improved towards the heavenly, or is sliding downwards toward the hellish. Or if you are a computer programmer, you would look at it as an infinite decision tree, each branching decision taking you to the next branching decision point. But I think he also means that no matter how far one slides down into the hellish, there is always the decision available to begin the climb back.
Nope, sorry, Joelle, need to disagree with you (or your teacher or John or wherever that quote is from that says man is sick and shrivelled as sin or whatever). I think that one of the most important things one can achieve is a balance, especially between our earthly and spiritual sides. (I wonder, am I little too young to think something like that up? I was, like, 14 when I decided that.) And so, we must maintain a balance between our good half and our evil half. If what Lewis says is right, which is quite appealing, and I agree with, then as we make decisions, we lean toward one side and another. Man does not start out as shriveled, but he may become that. If he rejects one thing, then perhaps his descendants will accept it. There are always second chances.
I actually like what Pico (Renaissance philosopher) said: that man is better than all living beings, even God, because he has the power to make choices and change. A balance between free will and ordained fate.
Actually the "quote" "man is a sin sicked shriveled up soul" isn't a quote, it's a saying of my dads. So you can disagree with my dad. ;) BUT...it does say in the Bible (in Jeremiah 17:9)
"The heart is deceitful above all things,And desperately wicked; Who can know it?"
So...I've made a personal decision to believe everything the Bible says, so that's where I'm coming from.
The Bible also says, "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6)
We can try till we're blue in the face "appeal to our good half", but it says in Isaiah "all our righteousness are like filthy rags".
Those two verses (and others I can't remember at the moment) are what I base my claim that man is a "sin sicked shriveled up soul"
~Joelle
Well, that's rather bleak.
And could you really believe ALL that it says in the Bible? Remember that one of the reasons church officials refused to believe in a heliocentric system is because there are certain passages in the Bible that say that the Earth is the center of the universe.
Ok, "Anonymous". First of all, if you are going to call another person's beliefs "bleak", which to me sounds like a criticism, you should at least sign your post.
This site is not about putting down each other's beliefs. It is for having rational, open discussions about the works of C.S. Lewis, his books and letters, and talk about what he has stated as *his* beliefs. Now, I'm not saying you can't tell us how you feel about his beliefs, but let's try to play nice with each other, okay?
I've changed the blog rules so that one cannot post anonymously anymore. Sorry. I feel that I need to keep track of who is saying what in case things get out of hand.
Sorry Arevanye...didn't mean for you to have to get rid of anonymous posting. I had thought that "Anonymous" had just forgot to sign her post (as I did a few posts up). Oh, and I wasn't offended in the least of her calling my beliefs "bleak". She's right! It did sound bleak, but that goes back up to my other post saying that Jesus Christ is only hope for salvation. If I was easily offended I'd keep my mouth shut on my beliefs. =)
But I would like to answer her question with a question real quick: Anonymous, can you give me the reference for that verse? I've just spent the last week reading through Genesis and Exodus, and I sure didn't see it! For that matter, could you give me any referance to a verse that has been scientifically proven wrong?
Now...I can't prove this (please someone, If I'm wrong, point out my error), but I do believe that Lewis also believed in the inerrancy of the Bible.
I was almost positive that was you!
Yah, if you could look that up for me and tell me where it says that in the Bible, that'd be great, I'm really curious now.
Oh, and no offense taken whatsoever. =)
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