"It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." –C.S. Lewis
Throughout this course, this quote has stuck with me. I went into this course thinking that it was just a core that I had to get out of the way, and that sounded interesting but I did not expect to get anything out of it. However, looking back on these last three weeks it is very obvious that God had something different planned for me. On the first day after reading “Meditation in the Toolshed” I realized that maybe I was getting more than I bargained for. It had never occurred to me before that day that one needs to look along something. I mean what is that? I have always said to myself it is what it is, and now someone was challenging me to something totally different.
C.S. has one reoccurring theme and that I believe is this quote, saying that we as Christians are far too easily pleased, and I think it is because we do not have the capacity to fully understand what God has in store for us. I think that because we are not able to understand the things that God has in store for us we as Lewis says are like the “Ostrich with our head in the sand.” Lewis points out that we are constantly trying to find things to fill this void with Earthly things, but we have never experienced the joy of eternity so we cannot find anything to fill this void.
We are like children making mud pies; we try to fill this void with things that will not give us everlasting joy. Like in “We Have no Right to Happiness” we will try to fill this void with whatever we can. We will destroy the lives of other people in order to try and secure our own happiness. “We fool around with drink and sex.” How many Christians do we know that go out and party on the weekends and then go hung over to church on Sunday? Not only are we not being Christ like we are using other things to substitute for him. This also reminds me of the “Screwtape Letters” where Screwtape is telling his nephew Wormwood that it is actually beneficial for their patient to keep attending church. His patient is to feel the “dim uneasiness,” so that he is uncomfortable enough to keep attending church and associating with other Christians, but not too uncomfortable to think that he needs to repent. He is demonstrating the typical lukewarm behavior that Christians have. We want to have that relationship with Christ, but it is so often that we do not want to do what God calls us by giving up Earthly things. We want to keep the things of this Earth, and we want the things of God’s kingdom. However, Revelation 3:16 says “So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Even though we feel content right now, God says that he will disown us when judgment day comes. Screwtape himself says “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” We will have our fate secured in Hell before we even realize it if we become too easily pleased. Some Christians may want to say “Being a dedicated Christian is too hard!” However, we learn in “Mere Christianity” that it really all starts very simply, even those who are not Christians can agree that we need to all live by the same moral code. However, we tend to slip back into the tendencies of sin and instead of acting as a body of Christ we start to break each other down, and sometimes competing with one another to see who the best is. Within the church we try and see who can be on the most committees, give the most to the church, and volunteer the most. However C.S. Lewis says "It is not for us to say who, in the deepest sense, is or is not close to the spirit of Christ." It comes to my mind that sometimes we seek the approval and praise of our peers over our God. We want that immediate Earthly gratification.
Like I have been saying, this theme from Lewis occurs time and time again in his writing, he tells us that we are not realizing the joy that awaits us. We are perfectly content with acquiring the things of this world, but what good will these do us? We can’t take our corvette to heaven. Lewis again brings this up in “The Poison of Subjectivism.” He tells us that if water stands to long, it begins to stink. So, if we as Christians become stagnant in our faith, we will begin to stink. The devil will take hold of us, and we will be on that gradual slope to Hell.
Also, during this interim we read Engaging God’s World. I found that Plantinga and Lewis had a lot of the same views. When reading Chapter three I was surprised by the statement that Plantinga makes saying that evil needs good to be evil. Evil is not something that comes about on its own, it is because of our sin and the fall that there is evil. When our good intentions get misconstrued is when evil occurs. Also, I have learned how easily we sin without even thinking, I started to re evaluate how I did things throughout this course and I realized that I was sinning without even thinking about it. I also realized that the biggest way I sin is judging people before I have a chance to meet them, and ultimately judging how I was better than them. It is just as Screwtape says a slow and gradual road into Satan’s arms.
Even though sin is overwhelming, and the inability to remain pure for God and his kingdom is impossible in my Earthly lifetime there is also an overwhelming hope.
"The glory of God's good creation has not been obliterated by the tragedy of the fall, but it has been deeply shadowed by it" (Plantinga). How wonderful! All is not lost, even though we have done absolutely everything that we can to disappoint God, and really do the worst things a child can do to their father we are told that all is well. We are not lost; God is still going to save us. He will welcome use with open arms and say “Well done my good and faithful servant,” Even though we have not been faithful the entire time. We have been faithful in our repentances, in saying “God I was wrong, please forgive me and guide me in your way.”
Even though this Earth seems to be more that I am made to handle, I have this everlasting hope, and someday it will be joy in my redemption. God has shown me that this life is a gift, and if I live my life for him, someday I will be rewarded. I, and all Christians need to keep this hope alive in our hearts so that we do not become too easily pleased, and we keep striving to live our lives for God.
The world shall live with the lamb. the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them" (Plantinga).
Works Cited
Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters. N.p.: HarperOne, 2001. Print.
Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. N.p.: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Print.
Lewis, C.S. The Weight of Glory. N.p.: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Print.
Lewis, C.S. The Poison of Subjectivism N.p.: HarperOne, 2002. Print
Plantinga, Cornelius. Engaging God's World. N.p.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002. Print
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