Human Wickedness

Hi everyone. My blog is going to focus on some points in Chapter 4 of the Problem of Pain. They are points that I found interesting and points that I felt were connected to my own life.

To start if off...

I found this point interesting "love may cause pain to it's object, but only on the supposition that that object needs alteration to become fully lovable." ((Page 48)

In trying to make sense of this world and the pain I have seen in others and in myself. I find myself questioning God and in all honesty, sometimes saying some very harsh words to Him. At times the world seems so unfair and when I dont get the things I want or things dont work out they way I want, I become extremely angry and I direct it towards God. The passage above has really helped me to understand the "why". It isnt God's fault because I am the one who needs alteration. I need alteration and there is going to be pain in the alteration. I guess its hard to look at it that way when stuff is going down...but nonetheless, it feels like thats the true reason behind pain. So I found that interesting and helpful in trying to understand God, pain, and myself.

Another point I found interesting ties in to the point above.

"And when men attempt to be Christians without this preliminary conciousness of sin, the result is almost bound to be a certain resentment against God as to one always inexplicably angry." (Page 50-51)

So maybe the reason why I get angry at God is because I do not have that foundational conciousness of sin. Lewis says that a recovery of the old sense of sin is vitally important to Christianity. What is the old sense of sin? It seems to be the assumption that we are terrible and its true! We are sinful creatures. So when I get angry at God I am really just frustrated because I am putting the blame in the wrong place and my anger stems from another form of frustration which is ignorance.

"We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin" (Page 54)

How true is that!? Well at least it feels very true for me. I have believed that illusion many times and maybe I still do. I always felt that if I stopped sinning and turned from it the whole thing would disappear and the shame would go as well.

Lewis says next that "The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ. If we have repented of these early sins we should remember the price of our forgiveness and be humble." (Page54-55)

And this to me is the answer to the debacle. Nothing is going to take away the guilt, not time, not good deeds, not anything like that. You need to repent from your sin, turn from it completely, and then trust in the healing power of Christ. That is how your guilt leaves. And along with this we can see where we came from, the sins that Christ has given us power to conquer, and we can appreciate our forgivness greater and be humbled in the fact that we were given a precious gift.

This next point hit close to home for me (No pun intended as you will see!).

"But when we emerged form that bad society we made the horrible discovery that in the outer world our 'normal' was the kind of thing that no decent person ever dreamed of."

I am originally from California. What some Iowans might deem "a bad society". I myself have made the discovery that what I considered to be normal behavior out in Cali, is here a thing that no decent person would ever have dreamed of. I dont really have anything more to say about this other than it really stood out to me being from California and now living in the "bubble" we call the city of Orange!


"The emotion of shame has been valued not as an emotion but because of the insight to which it leads"

Shame feels like a terrible thing. Anyone who has felt it probably doesnt like it and doesnt want to ever feel it again. But shame in a way, can be a good thing. It leads us to greater insights. That terrible feeling you get when you sin that we call shame, allows you to greater understand the consequences of your actions and by providing that terrible feeling...you naturally dont want to do it again.

"No-depend on it; when the saints say that they-even they-are vile, they are recording truth with scientific accuracy."

I seem to forget that even the saints say that they are vile. So when I get caught up in trying to be perfect and then I mess up and get mad at myself. It would probably help to remember that even some of the most godliest men of all times considered themselves vile. "What a wretched man am I. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to Jesus Christ."

I hope you liked my blog. Since we are all humans, a lot of our experiences are universal, so I am sure that in the way that these points connected to my own life, they probably might hit close to home for you as well.

God bless

Jordan Keckler