C.S. Lewis - The World’s Last Night: And Other Essays
Paul got me into a great collection of essays by the highly quotable C.S. Lewis called The World’s Last Night: And Other Essays. Beautiful.
A few especially quotable excerpts:
On the implications of God being who He says He is.
If human life is in fact ordered by a beneficent being whose knowledge of our real needs and of the way in which they can be satisfied infinitely exceeds our own, we must expect a priori that His operations will often appear to us far from beneficent and far from wise, and that it will be our highest prudence to give Him our confidence in spite of this.
C.S. Lewis from “On Obstinacy in Belief”
An excellent take on Jesus’s response to “doubting Thomas”.
The saying “Blessed are those that have not seen and have believed” has nothing to do with our original assent to the Christian propositions. It was not addressed to a philosopher inquiring whether God exists. It was addressed to a man who already believed that, who already had long acquaintance with a particular Person, and evidence that that Person could do very odd things, and who then refused to believe on odd thing more, often predicted by that Person and vouched for by all his closest friends. It is a rebuke not to skepticism in the philosophic sense but to the psychological quality of being “suspicious.” It say in effect, “You should have known me better.”
C.S. Lewis from “On Obstinacy in Belief”
Why I wish I was a Libertarian (which, I’m not, because real Libertarians don’t exist.)
I fully embrace the maxim (which he borrows from a Christian) that “all power corrupts.” I would go further. The loftier the pretensions of the power, the more meddlesome, inhuman, and oppressive it will be. Theocracy is the worst of all possible governments. All political power is at best a necessary evil: but it is least evil when its sanctions are most modest and commonplace, when it’s claims no more than to be useful or convenient and sets itself strictly limited objectives. Anything transcendental or spiritual, or even anything very strongly ethical, in its pretensions is dangerous and encourages it to meddle with our private lives. Let the shoemaker stick to his last. Thus the Renaissance doctrine of Divine Right is for me a corruption of monarchy; Rousseau’s General Will, of democracy; racial mysticisms, of nationality. And Theocracy, I admit and even insist, is the worst corruption of all.
C.S. Lewis from “Lilies that Fester”
i like it. i haven’t read this one.
“If human life is in fact ordered by a beneficent being whose knowledge of our real needs and of the way in which they can be satisfied infinitely exceeds our own, we must expect a priori that His operations will often appear to us far from beneficent and far from wise, and that it will be our highest prudence to give Him our confidence in spite of this.”
This quote reflects my own thoughts the past few months. In summary, I have found myself challenged to give God my confidence and put all my eggs in HIS basket, in spite of desire to control my own life. Lessons I am in the midst of appear in a number of areas of my life. Dawn H. and I were discussing this recently and she said, “Wendy, He is a jealous God and will go after anything we put our hope in other than Him.”
One of the most challenging aspects of this is how my obedience to Him can affect others. I am learning in a much deeper way if I believe He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do I can trust Him for the outcome not only in my life, but also in the lives of others around me no matter what their response or how situations appear.
This reminds me of the passage in Deut 30:11-20 where Moses is talking to God’s people about His covenant with them:
“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Sounds like yet more good stuff from C.S. Lewis. I’ll add it to the to-read pile.
Matt, someday we’ll have to have that “real Libertarians don’t exist” conversation… I’m interested to hear you out.