The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 6

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters.

In this chapter Lewis talks about how we must be concerned with the things we can control, and the things present in our life. We have a tendency to focus on the things that are out of our control, or the things that "might happen," and this can cause us to neglect the here and now.

"He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them." (28)

Lewis talks also about what we think of when we picture "carrying our cross," which Jesus tells us is necessary if we want to follow Him. When we think of it, we might think of the fears that we have, or the things that might happen but we are trying to mentally prepare ourselves for.

But then, at the same time we are preparing ourselves, we are complaining about some work project, or how we think we should make a little more money, or that so and so said something rude to us. And on and on. But those are the crosses we are called to carry, those are the things where we must simply submit to the Lord's will.

Let us then focus on the things that are in our control, the trials that we currently face in our life and just can't seem to get over or stop thinking about. Let us focus on the things we can change, and the people we can help. Then we will be doing the will of God and carrying out His plan.

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 5

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters.

In this chapter they are discussing a war that is going on in the world. Initially, Screwtape is happy because he believes it an ideal time to make the person "bad," but Wormwood warns him to not think it so easy.

It reminds us that there can be good through any circumstance and any trial. Even terrible things such as war, we can learn and grow from them. We know that God means to bring out a positive in any situation. We must look at all of the hardships in life, and all of the bad things around us, as opportunities to grow closer to God and grow in virtue.

There is another line in this chapter that really hits home for me:

"And how disastrous for us is the continual remembrance of death which war enforces. One of our best weapons, contended worldliness, is rendered useless. In wartime not even a human can believe that he is going to live forever." (27)

This was good for me to read because I am still at the point in life where it seems like (in my mind) I will live forever. And most definitely that can lead to a sense of complacency, and that I will have forever to do the things that I want, to help who I want to help, and become the person I want to be.

But the funny thing about life is that we don't actually have all of that time. Things can change in an instant... the only certainty in life is that it won't go as planned. It reminds me of a quote from Steve Jobs Commencement Speech (emphasis mine):

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

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Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma–which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Today is the day to start doing the things you really want in life, to become the person you've always wanted to be.

How To Quit Your Job

A lot of people don't like their jobs. They would love to quit, do something else, retire, or any number of things. But they don't, usually because they can't (or don't think they can) afford to quit their job. Sometimes, they are right.

However, the disappointing thing is that most people in this situation don't actually do anything to try and change their life. This generally is because they have a fundamental misunderstanding about money, and the affect that it has in their life.

After reading Your Money or Your Life, it has driven the point very hard into me - our society does not understand money and what it does to people. We are ruled by materialism, and it is making a lot of people lead unhappy lives. We live in a society where "more is better," and where it is looked down upon to live a simple life where you don't need new gadgets.

This type of attitude seems to make people think (in my opinion) that they need certain things, or that their life will be happy if they can only afford [new car, huge house, etc]. No longer is it enough to simply take care of your needs, we need more and more stuff (even if it doesn't make us any happier).

Of course, this has an averse effect on our life in the big picture. If we buy more stuff we don't need, we will have less money for savings, for retirement, for having some money just in case we decide we want to pursue a different direction in our career.

In the long run, we buy things we don't need (or really even want) with money that would be better used for savings, which means we have to work more and longer at a place we don't like. Seems kind of funny, no?

If you find yourself in a situation where you are dissatisfied with your career and your job, you have a choice. You can look for another job, and you can also rein in your spending as best as you can, to put yourself in a better position for you to make changes.

After all, cutting back on some non-necessities sounds a whole lot better to me than continuing in the rat race you never wanted to run in the first place.

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 4

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters

This chapter deals with prayer. Oftentimes we find our prayer simply meandering... our mind focuses on something else, and all of a sudden we are not really praying, we are thinking about what is on our to do list. It is then that we stop listening to God for advice, and simply try to follow our own path, which does not lead us anywhere.

Lewis writes:

"He may be persuaded to aim at something entirely spontaneous, inward, informal, and unregularized; and what this will actually mean to be a beginner will be an effort to produce in himself a vaguely devotional mood in which real concentration of will and intelligence have no part." (20)

For me, this definitely is true at times. I will go in with the intent of praying, and leave not really sure I actually listened to what God was trying to tell me. I let myself be distracted and therefore miss the prayer itself.

We must focus on aligning our wills with God when we pray. Focus on talking and listening to Him, and what He wants to tell us. When we are able to zone into this... and not simply think about what we have to do when we stop praying, that is when prayer can and will have a transformative affect on our life.

Remembering Our Dreams

I am reading a book called "Your Money or Your Life" (which I very highly recommend!) and there is a great part in the book where it talks about fulfillment and dreams. I will quote from the book (all emphasis mine):

"For many of us, however, 'growing up' has meant outgrowing our dreams. The aspiration to write a great book has shrunk to writing advertising copy. The dream of being an inspiring preacher has evolved into being an administrator and mediator between the factions of the congregation. Instead of really knowing who their patients are, how the patients live or the challenges in their lives, doctors today are plagued with back-to-back fifteen minute patient visits and malpractice suits. The dream of traveling around the world becomes two weeks a year of hitting the tourist traps. Living a fulfilling and meaningful life seems almost impossible, given the requirements of simply meeting day-to-day needs and problems. Yet, at one time or another practically every one of us has had a dream of what we wanted our lives to be.

Wherever you are, take a few moments now to reflect upon your dreams. So many of us have spent so many hours, days and years of our lives devoted to someone else's agenda that it may be hard to get in touch with our dreams. So many of us have whittled away at our uniqueness so that we could be square pegs in square holes that it seems slightly self-indulgent to wonder what kind of hole we would be inclined to carve for ourselves. Indulge yourself now. Stare out a window. Shut your eyes. And envision what would be a truly fulfilling life for you. To help you get started on your journey, ask yourself the following questions:

- What did you want to be when you grew up?
- What have you always wanted to do that you haven't done yet?
- What have you done in your life that you are really proud of?
- If you knew you were going to die within a year, how would you spend that year?
- What brings you the most fulfillment - and how is that related to money?
- If you didn't have to work for a living, what would you do with your time?" (109-110)

I think those are powerful thoughts, powerful questions.

Spend some time thinking about them. Not only right now, but tomorrow, and next week, and periodically throughout your life. Focusing on these things, and how to make them a reality, can change your life in amazing ways.

On The Power of Reading

I love reading and literature, in part because it feels like you are experiencing something new with each book or story that you read. You are (in a sense) reliving what the author has experienced, or what the author thinks and believes.

“To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company.” - Andre Gide

An article I read a while back explains this feeling better than I can. Charles Pierce wrote:

"When Dan Jenkins wrote about an Oklahoma game, he could make you think, well, screw Paris in the '20s — Norman, Okla., is the only place to be. While I was at The National, I finally made it to Norman. I realized that what had made Norman great was that Jenkins was there."

Reading is a great way to experience the world and the thoughts of those you would otherwise never get the chance to interact with. This is why reading is so great.

Any book recommendations?

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 2

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters
, a book by CS Lewis in which a senior demon named Screwtape is writing to his nephew, Wormwood, giving him advice on leading a man to damnation.

In our religious life, we will often have moments where we feel most on fire for our faith, most sure of it, and most excited to really live it out. It can happen in the initial turning of our hearts toward God, or in many of the silent turns toward God that we will make in our religious life. Often, this time of excitement is replaced by our normal everyday lives. Our resolve is gone, we are back into the same habits.

This is what Lewis talks about in chapter 2 of The Screwtape Letters. Lewis writes:

"In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing." (13)

We must also keep our focus on God and His teachings, not on how well everyone around us is following them. Remember, all are sinners, we cannot let the sins of fellow Christians make us question the faith in anyway. This can be our tendency.

"Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion therefore be somehow ridiculous." (12)

I think this is a big reason why people who are not Christians have a problem with the faith, or think that the faith is not true - they see those people that profess to be Christians doing wrong, or living unholy lives. For our own part, we cannot let this fact detract us from our faith. Those Christians around us will continue to sin - that does not make the faith any less true.

Lastly, we must remember that our aim is to be perfect as Jesus is perfect. It is not to simply be a more ardent follower of Christ than our neighbor, which might not even be that hard depending on who we hang out with. Again, Lewis:

"What he says, even on his own knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At bottom, he still believe he has run up a very favorable credit balance in the Enemy's ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he's showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these "smug", commonplace neighbors at all." (14)

This is a trap that is easy to fall into, especially if you do not know many Christians. We may see those around us living a life of sin, and believe that by simply going to church once a week we are living a holy life. Not so fast. We must strive to do God's will every day at all time, no matter how those around us act, no matter how good we may think we are.

A lot of great lessons from chapter 2 of The Screwtape Letters.

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 1

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters, a book by CS Lewis in which a senior demon named Screwtape is writing to his nephew, Wormwood, giving him advice on leading a man to damnation.

In Chapter 1, the message Lewis is trying to convey is clear - we need to fill our minds with higher things, and constantly be challenging ourselves. If we stand still in life and be content with the "ordinary," we are susceptible to a fall. Lewis writes:

"You begin to see the point? Thanks to processes which we set at work in them centuries ago, they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. Keep pressing home on him the ordinariness of things." (10)

The world that we live in is quite extraordinary. We seem to have lost that sense of wonder, and regard almost everything that we come across as being ordinary. We are content to live our little lives, and never challenge our brain to learn and grow, never try to see things in new ways.

Last week, I was on a flight... and there I was, flying above the clouds, looking down on the Earth... WOW! It just struck me how amazing, how incredible it was, that we can fly to different places around the world. We have the technology to build an airplane and fly it around the world safely. It blows my mind. Looking down on the clouds rather than looking up at them... how can that not fill you with wonder?

We should constantly be trying to learn more about the world in which we live in and try to see it and understand it in new ways. After all, since God created the world we live in, when we understand that better (and the things that happen in it better), we can understand Him better.

When are content with ordinariness, we are missing the point... we are missing the grandeur that is all around us, and we can even begin to miss God.

Be Careful To Not Judge

I just read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, and it struck me about how different we look at things based on the results of the action.

I thought of it because, on the surface, trying to climb Mt. Everest is, in a word, nuts. At 29,028 feet, it is the highest mountain in the world. If you make it to the top (or really, anywhere on the mountain), you will be battered with high winds and cold temps. The threat of frostbite, or altitude sickness, or any of a number of other things that you wouldn't want happening to you are pretty high. (They said in the book that if a person was taken from sea level to the top of Mt. Everest, they would be unconscious within a few minutes because they couldn't breathe, and a few minutes after that, they would be dead.

If you are planning on climbing Mt. Everest, you better be ready to pony up tens of thousands of dollars (for the permit to hike it) and block off a couple of months of your time (to get to the mountain and especially to get acclimated to the altitude). Oh, and even if you do everything right, if there is a storm at the top on the day you are trying to reach the summit, you will likely either not actually be able to make it, or you will die. If you do make it safely, you will not enjoy it. It will be a miserable time getting up and experiencing the conditions.

Now, picture a person that is not all that experienced in climbing, but is a go-getter and is able to afford the time and money that it takes to hike Everest. If that person dies while climbing, people around them will likely wonder what they were thinking. If they make it, they will be lauded for their toughness and determination. In reality, the difference between these two outcomes is often luck or chance. And yet we would likely look at the people differently.

In the same way, we need to be careful about judging people in all walks of life. Often, the reason they are where they are is because of some bad luck, or chance. This seems to be true all the time in how people view homeless people - they might think them simply bums that are afraid of hard work. In reality, for many homeless people there is a bad set of circumstances that led them to where they are. In other cases, it might seem as if the people almost never had a chance.

We can't know the circumstances of how people got to where they are and the people they have become. Because of this (among other things) we should strive not to judge these people, but to understand and help them.

Lessons From Mere Christianity: Recap

I finished writing my series on Lessons for Mere Christianity... and here is a brief recap, or all of the links...

Introduction
Mere Christianity Quotes

- Charity
- Creating a Christian Society
- Help From Others
- Judging Others
- Living A Perfect Life
- Love
- Pride
- Self-Improvement
- Trust In God
- Turning It Over to God
- Using Our Gifts
- Virtue

Take a look and let me know what you think! If you haven't already, read the book!

Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?

In Peter Kreeft's enlightening book called "The Handbook of Christian Apologetics," he addresses the Resurrection, the most central important event in Christian history. With Easter right behind us, it is time to address a question that is of central importance: Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

St. Paul wrote: "But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen again. And if Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." (1 Corinthians 15: 13-14) Thus, the question is of the greatest importance to Christians, because if Jesus did not rise, then the faith is futile.

When non-believers think of the Resurrection, they surely must think it is a wild notion, rooted in mythology. Indeed, it is miraculous, that someone would be dead, and 3 days later rise from the dead. Without faith, it is difficult to prove that the Resurrection occurred, because it is not observable. However, in can be proven in that for all of the existing information, the fact that the Resurrection occurred as Christians believe is the only adequate explanation.

Kreeft says this:

"We believe Christ's resurrection can be proved with at least as much certainty as any universally believed and well-documented event in ancient history. To prove this, we do not need to presuppose anything controversial (e.g. that miracles happen). But the skeptic must also not presuppose anything (e.g. that they do not)... We need to presuppose only two things, both of which are hard data, empirical data, which no one denies: the existence of the New Testament texts as we have them, and the existence (but not necessarily the truth) of the Christian religion as we find it today.

He looks at 5 possible explanations of the Resurrection: that it happened and Christianity is correct, that the Apostles hallucinated, that Jesus' resurrection was a myth, that it was a conspiracy by the Apostles, or that Jesus was not really dead, but simply appeared to be dead. So, to take a look at the other theories, and why [I believe] they are not adequate explanations:

The Swoon Theory
- The Romans were very good at crucifixion, they did it often. Plus, the Roman soldiers had plenty of incentive to make sure the job was done right - they could face severe punishment (even death) if the prisoner escaped.
- Accounts show that blood and water poured out of Jesus' side when he was pierced, which is a sign that he would have died from asphyxiation.
- If Jesus merely resuscitate and was not resurrected, how did he get out of the tomb? He would certainly have been extremely weak, so how did he overpower the guards at the tomb? How did he inspire the disciples to spread his message and eventually die for the cause? How did he move the boulder to get out of the tomb?

The Conspiracy Theory
- If this was true, it is certainly the greatest conspiracy in human history, and laughably so far above the 2nd biggest. None of the Apostles ever told, through torture or bribe, that Jesus was not really resurrected. They were martyred for their faith, whereas if they had simply said that the resurrection was a conspiracy, they would have saved their lives. But none of them said that.
- Think about the Apostles of the Gospels... fishermen, tax collectors, meek, cowardice... and then after Jesus' death they are confident, spreading the Word throughout all of the lands, facing down powerful enemies. Would a lie and conspiracy have so transformed them all?
- There is the obvious question... why would the Apostles have done this? What motive would they have had? They got no earthly benefit out of this. Logically, it is not rational that they would have created this conspiracy.
- If it was all a conspiracy, the Romans simply could have produced the body, and it would have been proven false. Yet they never did this. Why? They would have had no motive to hide the body.

The Hallucination Theory
- It was said that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at once. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, including that most of the people he appeared to were still alive at the time, meaning it could have been easy to refute by asking people if they saw Jesus or not. 500 people do not all have the same hallucination.
- The Apostles needed to be won over, they did not believe that Jesus was there at first, thinking He was a ghost. They were only convinced when they were able to touch him and see him eat. A hallucination would not eat real food.
- Once again, all of this could have been put to a stop if the body of Jesus had been produced. Or if the Apostles had gone to the tomb and found His body, they would have known that it was simply a hallucination. One has to imagine that they checked.
- As CS Lewis writes, "Any theory of hallucination breaks down on the fact (and if it is indeed invention [rather than fact] it is the oddest invention that ever entered the mind of man) that on three separate occasions this hallucination was not immediately recognized as Jesus. Even granting that God sent a holy hallucination to teach truths already widely believed without it, and far more easily taught by other methods, and certain to be completely obscured by this, might we not at least hope that he would get the face of the hallucination right? Is he who made all faces such a bungler that he cannot even work up a recognizable likeness of the Man who was himself?"

The Myth Theory
- If the Gospels were simply a myth and work of fiction, then four men who are historically seen as a fisherman (John), tax collector (Matthew), doctor (Luke), and "young man" (Mark) independently created stories strikingly similar in a style that was radically different than any other myth of its time. The more plausible explanation is they observed the things that they wrote about.
- Not enough time passed between the life of Jesus and the writings of the Gospels (and letters of Paul) for this to be a myth. If it was simply a myth, it would have been easily refuted.
- All of the writings and accounts from that time period point to Jesus being resurrected. There are no other explanations or stories from that time which talk about the story of Jesus and provide a different explanation.
- Logically it would not hold true that the Gospels could be a myth, because Peter specifically said that they were not a myth. Thus it is either the truth or a lie, it cannot be a myth.

Thus, I believe, it can be proved that the Resurrection is the most adequate explanation for what actually happened.

What are your thoughts? Have you heard other arguments, or do you believe something else? I would love to hear it.

"Mere Christianity" Quotes By CS Lewis

In following with my series called Lessons From Mere Christianity, here are quotes from Mere Christianity.

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- "But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man." (28)

- "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' This is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic - on a level of a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (52)

- "But unfortunately we now need God's help in order to do something which God, in His own nature, never does at all - to surrender, to suffer, to submit, to die." (57-58)

- "The perfect submission, the perfect suffering, the perfect death were not only easier to Jesus because He was God, but were possible only because He was God. But surely that is a very odd reason for not accepting them? The teacher is able to form the letters for the child because the teacher is grown-up and knows how to write. That, of course, makes it easier for the teacher; and only because it is easier for him can he help the child. If it rejected him because 'it's easy for grown-ups' and waited to learn writing from another child who could not write itself (and so had no 'unfair' advantage), it would not get on very quickly." (58-59)

- "But supposing God became a man - suppose our human nature which can suffer and die was amalgamated with God's nature in one person - then that person could help us. He could surrender His will, and suffer and die, because He was man; and He could do it perfectly because He was God. You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us; but God can only do it if He becomes man." (58)

- "There is a different between doing some particular just or temperate action and being a just or temperate man." (79)

- "But the truth is that right actions done for the wrong reason do not help to build the internal quality or character called a 'virtue,' and it is this quality or character that really matters." (80)

- "When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house."

- "Love in this second sense - love as distinct from being 'in love' - is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit' reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other, as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be 'in love' with someone else. 'Being in love' first moved them to promise fidelity; this quieter love enables them to keep this promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it."

- "A Christian society is not going to really arrive until most of us really want it: and we are not going to fully want it until we become fully Christian. I may repeat 'Do as you would be done by' till I am black in the face, but I cannot really carry it out till I love my neighbour as myself: and I cannot learn to love my neighbour as myself till I learn to love God: and I cannot learn to love God except by learning to obey him. And so, as I warned you, we are driven on to something more inward - driven on from social matters to religious matters. For the longest way round is the shortest way home."

- "If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditures excludes them." (86)

- "That is why Christians are told not to judge. We see only the result;s which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it." (91)

- "Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-state of mind." (122)

- "Nearly all those evils in the world which people put down to greed or selfishness are really far more the result of Pride." (123)

- "In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that - and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison - you do not know God at all." (124)

- "Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all." (128)

- "Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him." (131)

- "Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of." (132)

- "If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next." (134)

- "Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither." (134)

- "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." (136)

- "All this trying leads up to the vital moment at which you turn to God and say, 'You must do this. I can't.'" (146)

- "Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which always has existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life we also shall be Sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us. He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has - by what I call 'good infection.' Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else." (177)

- "When you are not feeling particularly friendly, but you know you ought to be, the best thing you can do, very often, is to put on a friendly manner and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. And in a few minutes, as we all have noticed, you will be feeling really friendlier than you were. Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already." (188)

- "If there were no help from Christ, there would be no help from other human beings. He works on us in all sorts of ways, not only through what we think our 'religious life.'" (190)

- "But I cannot, by direct moral effort, give myself new motives. After the first few steps in the Christian life we realise that everything which really needs to be done in our souls can be done only by God." (193)

- "The more you obey your conscience, the more your conscience with demand of you. And your natural self, which is thus being starved and hampered and worried at every turn, will get angrier and angrier. In the end, you will either give up trying to be good, or else become one of those people who, as they say, 'live for others,' but always in a discontented, grumbling way - always wondering why the others do not notice it more and always making a martyr or yourself. And once you have become that you will be a far greater pest to anyone who has to live with you than you would have been if you had remained frankly selfish." (197)

- "For what we are trying to do is remain what we call 'ourselves,' to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be 'good.' We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way - centred on money or pleasure or ambition - and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do." (197-198)

- "When he said, 'Be perfect,' He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hardly but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder - in fact, it is impossible... May I come back to what I said before? This is the whole of Christianity. There is nothing else." (198-199)

- "In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose." (199)

- "And yet - this is the other and equally important side of it - this Helper who will, in the long run, be satisfied with nothing less than absolute perfection, will also be delighted with the first feeble, stumbling effort you mmake tomorrow to do the simplest duty... every father is pleased at the baby's first attempt to walk: no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son. 'God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy." (202-203)

- "I think many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one of two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel though we do not put it into words) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted Him to do, and we should be obliged if He would now leave us alone. As we say 'I never expected to be saint, I only wanted to be a decent ordinary chap.' And we imagine when we say this that we are being humble." (203)

- "We may be content to remain what we call 'ordinary people': but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility: it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania, it is obedience." (204)

- "That is why we must not be surprised if we are in for a rough time. When a man turns to Christ and seems to be getting on pretty well (in the sense that some of his bad habits are now corrected) he often feels that it would now be natural if things went fairly smoothly. When troubles come along - illnesses, money troubles, new kinds of temptation - he is disappointed. These things, he feels, might have been necessary to rouse him and make him repent in his bad old days; but why now? Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than he ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary: but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us." (204-205)

- "Everyone says you are a nice chap and (between ourselves) you agree with them. You are quite likely to believe that all this niceness is your own doing: and you may easily not feel the need for any better kind of goodness. Often people who have all these natural kinds of goodness cannot be brought to recognize their need for Christ at all until, one day, the natural goodness lets them down and their self-satisfaction is shattered. In other words, it is hard for those who are 'rich' in this sense to enter the Kingdom." (214)

- "If you are a nice person - if virtue comes easily to you - beware! Much is expected from those to whom much is given. If you mistake for your own merits what are really God's gifts to you through nature, and if you are contended with simply being nice, you are still a rebel: and all those gifts will only make your fall more terrible, your corruption more complicated, your bad example more disastrous. The Devil was an Archangel once; his natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above a chimpanzee." (215)

- "If there is a God, you are, in a sense, alone with Him. You cannot put Him off with speculations about your next door neighbors or memories of what you have read in books. What will all that matter and hearsay count (will you even be able to remember it?) when the anaesthetic fog which we call 'nature' or 'the real world' fades away and the Presence in which you have always stood becomes palpable, immediate, and unavoidable?" (217)

- "The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more ourselves we truly become." (225)

- "Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishesevery day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in." (226)

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Do any of them speak to you?

Lessons From Mere Christianity: Living A Perfect Life

This is a post from my series called Lessons From Mere Christianity.

This will be the last post in the series, and it involves what I think is the most important lesson in the book, as well as one of Lewis' main themes from the book. That lesson is living a perfect life, or, perhaps more accurately, seeking to be like Christ and to follow His example in all things that we do.

Lewis says that this is the purpose of Christianity - sharing in the life of Christ. The way that we can do that is by doing the will of God, and following His example in all things, no matter how difficult.

"Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which always has existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life we also shall be Sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us. He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has - by what I call 'good infection.' Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else." (177)

Of course, we know that achieving such perfection is an impossible task in our earthly life. We will, no matter how holy we become, no matter how hard we try, fail to live up to the perfect standard of Jesus at some point in our life. However, that should not stop us from trying.

"But when a thing has to be be attemped, one must never think about the possibility or impossibility. Faced with an option question in an examination paper, one considers whether one can do it or not: faced with a compulsory question, one must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very perfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone." (101)

We may also be intimidated by the enormity of the task, and feel like if (and) when we fail, we will be letting God down. However, it is of course not how many times you fall, but how many you get back up. If you are a great sinner, God is especially pleased with you when you repent and seek perfection, for He knows how far You have come. He can see in your heart - even if you fail, God will know if You are trying to do His will.

"And yet - this is the other and equally important side of it - this Helper who will, in the long run, be satisfied with nothing less than absolute perfection, will also be delighted with the first feeble, stumbling effort you mmake tomorrow to do the simplest duty... every father is pleased at the baby's first attempt to walk: no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son. 'God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy." (202-203)

In my life, I find that I simply focus on trying to be "good," and hopefully it won't interfere with the things I really want to do and the things I really want to accomplish in my life. It seems to me that my natural way of thinking is that these things are in opposition somehow - who God wants me to be and who I think I am meant to be. Of course, this could not be further from the truth. God wants us to become the best that we can be and fulfill our purpose in life. If we find what we think our purpose in life is to be at odds with what direction God is pulling us in, well, chances are He is not the one that is confused. We must give up this way of thinking, that we will do God's will just enough to be "good," and then keep the rest for ourselves. In the end, that doesn't work.

"The more you obey your conscience, the more your conscience with demand of you. And your natural self, which is thus being starved and hampered and worried at every turn, will get angrier and angrier. In the end, you will either give up trying to be good, or else become one of those people who, as they say, 'live for others,' but always in a discontented, grumbling way - always wondering why the others do not notice it more and always making a martyr or yourself. And once you have become that you will be a far greater pest to anyone who has to live with you than you would have been if you had remained frankly selfish." (197)

"For what we are trying to do is remain what we call 'ourselves,' to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be 'good.' We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way - centred on money or pleasure or ambition - and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. (197-198)"

No matter how much progress we make, we are still going to encounter hardships and troubles in our quest for heaven. However, we should not let that get us down or discourage us or think that God is displeased with us and our feeble efforts. He may be merely calling us to a higher level, to a change and holiness we may have never thought possible.

"That is why we must not be surprised if we are in for a rough time. When a man turns to Christ and seems to be getting on pretty well (in the sense that some of his bad habits are now corrected) he often feels that it would not be natural if things went fairly smoothly. When troubles come along - illnesses, money troubles, new kinds of temptation - he is disappointed. These things, he feels, might have been necessary to rouse him and make him repent in his bad old days; but why now? Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than he ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary: but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us." (204-205)

In the Book of Matthew, Jesus tells us to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. Most people don't really take that literally, or they skip over that passage, but it is vitally important.

"When he said, 'Be perfect,' He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hardly but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder - in fact, it is impossible... May I come back to what I said before? This is the whole of Christianity. There is nothing else." (198-199

"In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose." (199)

This leads us to the final, overriding theme of this... we should seek perfection and to be Saints. Striving for anything else is not what God intends for us, it is not a proper use of our gifts. I will let Lewis say it, because I believe these are some of his most powerful, most challenging, most poignant lines in the entire book.

"I think many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one of two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel though we do not put it into words) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted Him to do, and we should be obliged if He would now leave us alone. As we say 'I never expected to be saint, I only wanted to be a decent ordinary chap.' And we imagine when we say this that we are being humble." (203)

"We may be content to remain what we call 'ordinary people': but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility: it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania, it is obedience." (204)

This will never be an easy task... we will always experience difficulties. But if we always strive for sainthood and to perfectly do the will of God, we can't help but became closer to Him and grow in holiness. If we can do this, we can enjoy eternal life with Him.

Amen.

"The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom Quotes

Mitch Albom's books The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie are very well-known and well read. I personally, at the risk of sounding an elitist, didn't care all that much for Tuesdays With Morrie (it was ok but certainly not life-changing), but I liked The Five People You Meet in Heaven more. Here are some selected quotes from the book:

- "'Strangers,' the Blue Man said, 'are just family you have yet to come to know.'" (49)

- "You didn't get it. Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices. A mother works so her son can go to school. A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father." (93)

- "Through it all, despite it all, Eddie privately adored his old man, because sons will adore their fathers through even the worst behavior. It is how they learn devotion. Before he can devote himself to God, or a woman, a boy will devote himself to a father, even foolishly, even beyond explanation." (106)

- "Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. The moments that used to define them - a mother's approval, a father's nod - are covered by moments of their own accomplishments. It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand." (126)

- "Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves." (141)

- "Lost love is still love, Eddie. It takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it." (173)

Do you have any favorite quotes from the book? Have you read the book? What did you think of it?

St. Therese of Lisieux - "Story of a Soul" Quotes

One of the best books I have ever read was "The Story of a Soul" by St. Therese of Lisieux, one of the most famous and inspiring books in Catholic (or more, so Christian, but it was written by a Catholic Saint) literature.

Her nickname was "The Little Flower," and on the surface there was nothing that was necessarily extraordinary about her. She was a simple nun, who placed all of her trust, hope, and love in the Lord, and it allowed her to create this book that has been an inspiration to countless people.

If you have never read it, I urge you to get it and read it. If you have read it, read it again. And again. And again.

Anywho, here are some of the quotes from the book that really stuck out to me as I read the book:

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- "This desire might seem presumptuous, seeing how week and imperfect I was and still am, even after eight years as a nun, yet I always feel the same fearless uncertainty that I shall become a great saint. I'm not relying on my own merits, as I have none, but I put my hope in Him who is goodness and holiness Himself. It is He alone who, satisfied with my feeble efforts, will raise me to Him, will clothe me with His infinite merits, and will make me a saint." (37-38)

- "She showed me how one could achieve sanctity by being faithful in the smallest matters." (39)

- "Sometimes I felt lonely, very lonely, but then peace and courage would come back to me if I repeated the line: 'The world's thy ship and not thy home.'" (48)

- "It's absolutely true that 'nothing is impossible to love, for love is convinced it may and can do all things.'" (64)

- "I realized very clearly that happiness has nothing to do with the material things which surround us; it dwells in the very depths of the soul." (79)

- "I know that every soul cannot be alike. There must be different kinds so that each of the perfections of God can be specially honored." (109)

- "He knows very well that although I had not the consolation of faith, I forced myself to act as if I had. I have made more acts of faith in the last year than in the whole of my life." (118)

- "For is there any greater joy than to suffer for love of You? The more intense and hidden the suffering is, the more pleasing it is to You." (118)

- "There my only aim would be to do the will of God and to welcome every sacrifice He wished. I know I should not be disappointed, for the slightest pleasure is a surprise when one expects nothing but suffering. And suffering itself becomes the greatest of all joys when one seeks it like a precious treasure." (121)

- "But now I realize that true charity consists in putting up with all one's neighbor's faults, never being surprised by his weakness, and being inspired by the least of his virtues." (122-123)

- "When a soul has been captivated by the intoxicating odor of Your ointments, she cannot run alone. Every soul she loves is drawn after her - a natural consequence of her being drawn to You." (149)

- "I want to be fascinated by Your gaze." (165)

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We should all desire to be fascinated by the Lord's gaze.

Lessons From Mere Christianity: Jesus

This is a post from my topic called Lessons From Mere Christianity.

CS Lewis talks a lot about Jesus in Mere Christianity, as you would imagine based on the book's title and topic (it would be strange to have a Christian book and not talk about Jesus). Included is one of the most oft-quoted literary passages about Jesus, which talks about how me must view Jesus, or, how we cannot view Jesus.

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' This is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic - on a level of a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (52)

This, of course, is often cited as the liar/lunatic/Lord theory.

Next, I am sure the question has been asked many times, if Jesus is the Son of God, why did he have to die? The human race was suffering and in need of saving, but why did God choose this manner of saving us, as opposed to any other manner (as he is omnipotent). Lewis tackles this topic.

"But unfortunately we now need God's help in order to do something which God, in His own nature, never does at all - to surrender, to suffer, to submit, to die." (57-58)

Lewis goes on to say that we need God's help more than ever, but in God's normal nature and state of being, how can He show us? Because we are with sin and He is not, it is very unnatural for Him.

"But supposing God became a man - suppose our human nature which can suffer and die was amalgamated with God's nature in one person - then that person could help us. He could surrender His will, and suffer and die, because He was man; and He could do it perfectly because He was God. You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us; but God can only do it if He becomes man." (58)

God became man to show us the way to Him. By being fully God and fully man, He is able to experience all of the temptation that we face, but He is able to show us how to resist them, by placing full trust and surrending to God's will.

Of course, this will lead some people to wonder if Jesus is really any help to us. Since he is God, is He really a model that we can legitimately follow?

"The perfect submission, the perfect suffering, the perfect death were not only easier to Jesus because He was God, but were possible only because He was God. But surely that is a very odd reason for not accepting them? The teacher is able to form the letters for the child because the teacher is grown-up and knows how to write. That, of course, makes it easier for the teacher; and only because it is easier for him can he help the child. If it rejected him because 'it's easy for grown-ups' and waited to learn writing from another child who could not write itself (and so had no 'unfair' advantage), it would not get on very quickly." (58-59)

Jesus, I Trust In You

The Pursuit of Knowledge

There is a lot to be learned in the world - the pursuit of knowledge is literally endless. However, I don't think that should stop us.

In a book I read, "The Best American Travel Writing," there was this little nugget in the introduction that I thought was very interesting. It read:

"The more we know of particular things, the more we know of God." (xii)

In this case, it was something to inspire you to travel more, and I think it works in that capacity. In my opinion, the more that we travel, the more we understand of other people and places, and this allows us to understand God. When we know more of His creation, we can know more of him. (Of course, and hopefully this goes without saying, this does not mean that those who travel more by default know more about God).

I think this goes for all walks of life. On the surface, what is the point of reading a fiction novel, or in learning math, or science, or history, or any other such thing that we can learn about? In order to love and worship God, we do not need these things.

However, anything, everything, can help us understand God better. If they did not, then they would never have been created. But the more we know of God's creation, the better it may help us to understand Him.

It's All In How You Look At Things

I read a quote from the book "Pippi Longstocking" by Astrid Lingren that I thought was a great image of embracing things that others might see as weaknesses... and a great example that life is all about how you look at things.

The section from the book is:

"The children came to a perfume shop. In the show window was a large jar of freckle salve, and beside the jar was a sign, which read: DO YOU SUFFER FROM FRECKLES?

What does the sign say?” ask Pippi. She couldn’t read very well because she didn’t want to go to school as other children did.
It says, ‘Do you suffer from freckles?’” said Annika.
Does it indeed?” said Pippi thoughtfully. “Well, a civil question deserves a civil answer. Let’s go in.”

She opened the door and entered the shop, closely followed by Tommy and Annika. An elderly lady stood back of the counter. Pippi went right up to her. “No!” she said decidedly.

What is it you want?” asked the lady.
No,” said Pippi once more.
I don’t understand what you mean,” said the lady.
No, I don’t suffer from freckles,” said Pippi.

Then the lady understood, but she took one look at Pippi and burst out, “But, my dear child, your whole face is covered with freckles!”

I know it,” said Pippi, “but I don’t suffer from them. I love them. Good morning.”

She turned to leave, but when she got to the door she looked back and cried, “But if you should happen to get in any salve that gives people more freckles, then you can send me seven or eight jars."

Quote taken from here.

Not that having freckles is a weakness (obviously it is not), but it is seen in the story as something to be "suffered." Instead, she says it is a strength, and something for which she is extremely proud. Instead of it being a weakness or something she is ashamed of, it is a strength.

Life is all about how you look at things.

"It doesn't matter what you look at, it's what you see." - Henry David Thoreau

Lessons From Mere Christianity: Heaven

This is a post from my series called Lessons From Mere Christianity.

Hopefully, our biggest goal is to have eternal life with God in Heaven. This is a broad goal, and yet a goal that would not be more specific. CS Lewis offers some insight on the road there.

Some people may see heaven as a far off notion, something to be worried about later. Life on earth is busy enough, who has time to worry about heaven? Of course, it should come as no surprise that our priorities should be the exact opposite.

"If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next." (134)

Lewis says that we have become enamored about success in this world, and if that is our focus, ultimately we get neither heaven nor the joy that earth can provide.

"Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither." (134)

Many of us seem to go through our lives always searching for the next big thing, or believing that the next thing, next idea, new job, new relationship, etc. would make us happy. But ultimately, we will continue to find that nothing in this world will make us perfectly happy, that will always be that little extra we are searching for.

If you do not feel completely fulfilled in this life, there is nothing wrong with you. There is a reason you feel this way.

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." (136)

Of course, one of the easiest ways to get bogged down in this life is to constantly compare ourselves to others, to judge others, and constantly focus our mind and attention on the things of this world. But when we come face to face with God, certainly none of that will matter one bit.

"If there is a God, you are, in a sense, alone with Him. You cannot put Him off with speculations about your next door neighbors or memories of what you have read in books. What will all that matter and hearsay count (will you even be able to remember it?) when the anaesthetic fog which we call 'nature' or 'the real world' fades away and the Presence in which you have always stood becomes palpable, immediate, and unavoidable?" (217)

Are you focused on Heaven?

Lessons From Mere Christianity: Using Our Gifts

This is a post from my series called Lessons From Mere Christianity.

We tend not to focus enough of our thoughts on the gifts that we have, and the best ways that we can use them to be a better person and to impact others. We focus on what we do wrong, or how we can get better... but is it important to use the gifts that God has given us.

If you have been given great gifts, we must be careful not to attribute our good qualities as being of our own doing, but as given to us by God.

"Everyone says you are a nice chap and (between ourselves) you agree with them. You are quite likely to believe that all this niceness is your own doing: and you may easily not feel the need for any better kind of goodness. Often people who have all these natural kinds of goodness cannot be brought to recognize their need for Christ at all until, one day, the natural goodness lets them down and their self-satisfaction is shattered. In other words, it is hard for those who are 'rich' in this sense to enter the Kingdom." (214)

I think this is one of the most hard-hitting and also scary parts of the whole book. For those who are talented, of a friendly disposition, of whom things come easily... there is no less need for God. We do not need God less if we are more talented or if more people like us... it just makes it harder to recognize that need.

Without God, you would have no talents, no gifts. A total self-reliance is needed more than ever.

Lewis goes on to talk about how the fall could be greater for those with great talents.

"If you are a nice person - if virtue comes easily to you - beware! Much is expected from those to whom much is given. If you mistake for your own merits what are really God's gifts to you through nature, and if you are contended with simply being nice, you are still a rebel: and all those gifts will only make your fall more terrible, your corruption more complicated, your bad example more disastrous. The Devil was an Archangel once; his natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above a chimpanzee." (215)

I think there are two main things that I take away from this:

- We need always strive to be perfect. There is no such thing as good enough (well unless you have made it to heaven, in which case you hardly have need to read my feeble writings). If you have been given great gifts, do not judge yourself in comparison to others (especially those to whom lesser gifts have been given)... much is expected from those to whom much is given.

- Your actions do not affect just you. He writes that your bad example will be more disastrous. Again, for those popular people, friendly, etc... they will likely have more people watching them, and more people that will be influenced by what they do and who they are. Each bad action is seen by others, who in turn think that that action is acceptable and encouraged. When you do something to turn your back to God, you are not only affecting yourself, but all of those around you.

God Bless!