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One thing I've learned from CS Lewis

The man. The myth.

One thing I've learned from CS Lewis

Postby Stylteralmaldo » February 9th, 2007, 5:07 pm

Last edited by Stylteralmaldo on February 22nd, 2007, 8:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
...[God] uses material things like bread and wine to put new life into us. We may think that rather crude and unspiritual. God does not: He invented eating. He likes matter. He invented it. - CS Lewis...Mere Christianity
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Postby Karen » February 9th, 2007, 5:57 pm

I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. -- Jorge Luis Borges
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Postby nomad » February 9th, 2007, 7:23 pm

Oooh, that is tough. Right now I'd say that valuing one thing above another (say eternal life above temporal life, or God above family) does not mean de-valuing the second thing.
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"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.
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what I've learned?

Postby carol » February 9th, 2007, 11:09 pm

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Postby girlfreddy » February 10th, 2007, 12:14 am

How would telling people to be nice to one another get a man crucified? What government would execute Mister Rogers or Captain Kangaroo?
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Postby nomad » February 10th, 2007, 2:48 am

He's not a tame Lion.

(yeah, I know that's two.)
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"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.
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Postby CoinOperatedChristian » February 10th, 2007, 3:54 am

I frequently refur to Lewis on his distinctions between FEAR and DREAD and PAIN and SUFFERING.

In the first, we learn there are two kinds of fear... If I say there is a poisonous snake let loose in the room, then there is something REAL to be afraid of, snakebite can be dangerous or deadly. But if I say that the room we are in is haunted, there is a different kind of fear reaction... But then what can a "ghost" do to you? This is dread, the fear of the unknown, and that which is possible in our imaginations, but might never happen.... A fear of the "UNREAL"....
In other words, there are REAL things to send time being afraid of... and there are those things which may or may not happen to us, which if we should waste our time being afraid of, until there is something to BE afraid of. I would call this NEEDLESS WORRY.

In the second... Not all pain causes suffering. I can hit my thumb with a hammer and I will be in pain, but I'm not necessarily suffering. Suffering is a reaction to pain.
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Postby A#minor » February 10th, 2007, 3:09 pm

I guess the biggest thing that I learned from Lewis is that reality as we perceive it is such a small part of what is really happening. It's a recurring theme in most of his books.

In Screwtape Letters, I learned that every action, every circumstance in my life, even something as small as a decision to eat lunch instead of pray, could be turned into a weapon for the Enemy if I'm not careful. There's a battle going on behind the scenes of daily life of which we are barely aware.

In The Four Loves, Lewis talks about loving other people for what they could be rather than what they are. We need to see what God sees when He looks at them, rather than what we as mere humans can perceive on the outside of a person.

In The Problem of Pain, Lewis explains that God uses pain to get our attention and to help us grow and mature and have empathy with others. There's a deeper purpose than we can see.

Those books and others woke me up to the fact that although things might look a mess on the outside, behind the scenes God has everything under control. And that is a comforting thought. :pleased:
"My brain and this world don't fit each other, and there's an end of it!" - G.K. Chesterton
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Postby john » February 10th, 2007, 4:16 pm

Children like things explained to them, and are to be spoken to...not spoken at.
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Postby mgton » February 11th, 2007, 1:17 pm

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Postby jo » February 11th, 2007, 5:12 pm

"I saw it begin,” said the Lord Digory. “I did not think I would live to see it die"

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Postby Roonwit » February 12th, 2007, 6:50 pm

The moral of the story is not to listen to those who tell you not to play the violin but stick to the tambourine.
-- Jose Mourinho

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Postby Larry W. » February 12th, 2007, 11:47 pm

Aim for earth and you'll be very deprived and disappointed. Aim for heaven, and you'll get earth and everything else thrown in. Perhaps not an exact quote, but it is very close to what Lewis originally said. He showed us where to place our priorities.

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Postby gameld » February 14th, 2007, 3:23 am

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Postby Solomons Song » February 22nd, 2007, 2:03 am

That Christianity can make logical sense.

That myth is actually the truth that has endured.

That we are what we read.

That Christianity, though it may look like a meager helping to the secular world, is actually a feast for the intellectual.

That originality will come when we aren't trying to be original.

That tea should not be "iced".

That it is imperative to be more informed about dragons than about exports, imports, governments, and drains.

That an author doesn't have to write huge books to leave behind him/her a posterity of good books.

That our ancestors left us both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest begger, and shame enough to bow the head of the greatest emperor on Earth.

That once we are a king or queen in Narnia, that we'll always be a king or queen in Narnia.

My apologies, that is more than one thing. I just found it so hard to narrow it down to one thing.
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