True Love

     Lewis wrote this for his wife...it is simply brilliant and touching....and honest...which is wonderful.

As the Ruin Falls

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.

I never had a selfless thought since I was born.

I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:

I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,

I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:

I talk of love --a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--

But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.

I see the chasm. And everything you are was making

My heart into a bridge by which I might get back

From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains

You give me are more precious than all other gains.

________________

this reminded me of a quote from the play Shadowlands, that is about Lewis' life.

Jack(lewis) says: "Why love, if losing hurts so much? I have no answers anymore: only the life I have lived. Twice in that life I've been given the choice: as a boy and as a man. The boy chose safety, the man chooses suffering. The pain now is part of the happiness then. That's the deal"

Another quote from the play that the poem reminded me of is this,

Jack: "Will you marry this foolish, frightened old man... who needs you more than he can bear to say... who loves you, even though he hardly knows how"

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 th.e.nd

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ehh whats up Doc? [Man or Rabbit?]

I was a little disappointed that Tony wasn't in class the day we talked about this essay because he was the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland... what a shame. [anyway]

I thought this was interesting... Lewis always compares humans to animals... which is great because he makes some excellent points from it.  

i especially liked this quote:

"If christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it might be: if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it even if it gives him no help at all."

Lewis says that even if something isn't helpful at all but is still true, an honest person who basks in the truth will want to believe it. 

I also liked this quote:

"One of the things that distinguishes man from the other animals is that he wants to

 know things, wants to find out what reality is like, simply for the sake of knowing. When that desire is completely quenched in anyone, I think he has become something less than human"

My favorite quote from this essay was this:

"All the rabbit in us is to disappear -- the worried, conscientious, ethical rabbit as well as the cowardly and sensual rabbit. we shall bleed and squeal as the handfuls of fur come out; and then, surprisingly, we shall find underneath it all a thing we have never yet imagined: a real Man, an ageless god, a son of God, strong, radiant, wise, beautiful, and drenched in joy." 

so, are we men and women....or rabbits?

THeND

(sorry tony...i couldn't help it...)

Priestesses in the church?

I always hate topics like this... whether women should hold position in the church or not. Personally, i think that God calls us all to many things, whether that be to be teachers, or artists, or parents, or missionaries, or preachers/pastors. So i think i must disagree with lewis on this one...i do really struggle with the passage from 1 corinthians 14: 34- 35 where it says, "As in all the congregations of the saints, 34women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."  

Its hard to comprehend that passage. Personally I am an outspoken independent woman and I feel that I have the right to speak my mind, especially in church. And if i felt called b

y God to be a pastor, why wouldn't i want to pursue that? If a woman is more capable than a man in a certain situation, why not take the woman?

i just get really easily frustrated with topics like this. The whole "women must be submissive" is just really hard for me to accept... or agree with. 

It's just frustrating. 

[ all you women who independent throw your hands up at me! ]

| thend |

The Necessity of Chivalry

"He his not a compromise or happy mean between between ferocity and meekness; he is fierce to the nth and meek to the nth."

- the necessity of chivalry -

-C.S. Lewis-

i really enjoyed this essay by lewis. I liked how Lewis started off by saying "The word chivalry has mean at different times a good many different things..."  I find this st

atement very true. Lewis points out that there is a lack of chivalrous men in society, which is a legitimate statement because its not easy to live a life of chivalry, not just doing chivalrous things, but making chivalry a solid characteristic of oneself. Lewis says, "the man who combines both characters- the knight- is a work not of nature but of art; of that art which has human beings, instead of canvas of marble, for its medium."  

Lewis also writes, "Knightly character is art not nature - something that needs to be achieved , not something that can be relied upon to happen."

So i would agree with lewis that it is rare to find a true chivalrous man; a man who not only opens doors or pulls out a seat but has integrity and shows respect and it honest and fa

ithful, that is a chivalrous man.

Also, when reading this, and listening to the class discussion, i thought that a man is not restricted to being chivalrous to only women, he can be chivalrous to his fellow men. He can be respectful when dealing with confrontation, still stand his ground but still having integrity. 

I am sure, however, that there are many men at Calvin currently being shaped and formed into chivalrous men of God....We are the Calvin Knights aren't we?

 | thend. |