That's all

C. S. Lewis asked wrote about some serious issues. He raised more questions than he proposed answers. What answers did you find in your personal faith that Lewis helped you in through out this course?

God the Father

One thing that I've thought about for some time and even more in this class is what God looks like to me. God is an all powerful thing that has no equal and is entirely good. I remember my parents looking the same way to me when I was a child. I propose that God is a parent. God is a true parent. He takes care of us, teaches us, punishes us in hopes that we learn and grow and it's all done out of love. I see a parent doing the same thing. I'm curious to find what others think about this.

So, we have read several works by C.S. Lewis and the other Inklings, I'm curious to find out what everyone's favorite book was. My favorite book was The Great Divorce. I really enjoyed all the imagery dealing with those that have given their lives to God. They are fuller people than those that are lost within themselves and their desires. So, what does everyone think?

The amazing Blog, no one will ever read.

I would like to right an amendment blog to one I have previously written. It turns out there was a section in Four Loves that I came across while writing my final paper that answers a question I posed about God and Need love, and it turns out Lewis was way ahead of me and I must say I agree with him.
He says of our need love for God, basically that we are foul weather fans, when we need God we cry out to Him, but the instant that our life gets back on track we leave the religiosity we had clung to and go back to our normal lives. I think this is true, and something we always seem to do, but Lewis points out, that the need for God never goes away, only our realization of it. How amazingly awesome was this man guys? He was totally right, as I sit here, pulling an all nighter to get this final paper to were I want it to be, and taking a “study break” to write this blog post, I’m thinking how can I refocus my life on how I need God today? Because it says so so so many times in the bible that God strength is shown through our weakness. I don’t have to be strong, I don’t have to know all the answers, I can just trust that God does, and there can be part of my need. Although if at this point He could grant me a little bit more energy that doesn’t come from a glass bottle that would be nice too.
So yeah there is a question I will take with me from this class, were do I need God today? Because, I should always recognize my need love for Him, because He is my Creator and my Lord. And all God’s people said Amen.

P.S.
I love the quote “The Devil was sick, the Devil a monk would be.” Totally priceless.

Mine!

The notion of ownership in America is incredibly skewed. No, not skewed. Our notion of ownership is purely mistaken. We, as human inhabitants of this earth, cannot own any material good, any time, or any right. We are supposed to act as biblical stewards in regards to possessions, we operate inside of God's created time, and what rights we presume to have are merely granted us by the societies we live in. Therefore, any combination of suppositions as ridiculous as "I have a right to leisure time" is embraced by Satan's forces. In The Screwtape Letters, Uncle Screwtape affectionately encourages Wormwood to encourage such socially constructed assumptions in his patient.

In designing The Screwtape Letters, Lewis seemingly drew upon observable destructive Christian practices, and based demonic encouragements upon these common negative habits. I think he observed the fact that false belief in our earthly ownership affected Christians negatively and inferred that demons would greatly enjoy us to continue to believe that we can own anything on this earth.

As always, I think we need to examine our suppositions. I think we need to analyze our ideologies. I think we need to think realistically about counter-cultural Christianity.

The Last...sigh...

My friends, the end has come, and since this is about a day and a half late, it's probably the last one to be posted. But I just wanted to say, for those still reading, that it's been a pleasure to read and sit and think with all of you. Anyway, back to the post:

So the very last chapter: Probably my favorite of the whole book. Here we see what happens when the patient dies and chooses to go with God. My favorite line is probably, "You die and die and then you are beyond death. How could I ever have doubted it?"

My only issue with this part and, well, the whole book, is that the angels and demons can't see each other until the very end of the human's life. Maybe that's far from the point, but we see examples in the Bible of angels and demons knowing each other's names and wrestling against each other over countries, or rulers, etc. And the whole book kind of alludes to the idea that one side can't see the other, but then at the very end, it's like everyone's eyes are opened, not just the human's. And somehow I don't know if I believe that humans have that kind of...I don't know... power?

It's obvious that I really liked this book if I had to stretch that far just to come up with something I didn't agree with. In fact, I'd say that this has definitely jumped up to one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it once before, but I was too young to get most of it. So this time actually felt like the first time, and wow, I was blown away. I must say that a lot of times (almost the entire book) I felt like Screwtape and Wormwood were discussing what to do with ME. I think me and that patient have a lot in common.

Anyway, thanks for a great semester and to whomever is still reading (probably just you, Dr. Jensen), I look forward to taking more classes with you in the future!

Shalom!

Taylor

Screwtape in general . . .

I have been struggling for a while now, trying to find something to blog about over Screwtape. I have officially given up trying - there is no "one specific moment" in the entire book that I wish to pull out and study. So instead, I have decided to blog about the book in general.

I had never read Screwtape before this class. At first, I was a bit confused. (This will give away my blonde-ness . . .) I neglected to read the back of the book for a synopsis, and combined with no prior knowledge of this book, it made me think that Lewis had an uncle named Screwtape and that this book was going to be a type of correspondence series between Lewis and his uncle. Understandably, I thought at the beginning that I was getting a whole new side of Lewis. Then I read the back cover. :) That changed everything!

I was able to really get into my reading once I was reading it from the correct perspective. The imagery in this book is amazing! Chapter after chapter, I could picture everything Lewis was trying to portray.

I especially enjoyed the imagery of God and Satan being in battle over "my" (used as a general term here) soul. I had always thought of temptations being directly invented by Satan. This newfound knowledge of temptations being deviations of something God created as good has really changed my views. Isn't it interesting what Satan can use to bring us away from God? Something such as unselfishness can be twisted and made into a characteristic to be used to Satan's advantage!

I just really enjoyed this entire novel and the class discussions that went with it. I may not have talked much (ok, at all) in class, but I really enjoyed being there and listening to what the rest of you had to say about it.