DCM: C.S. Lewis

The Inner Ring

2009-01-28T13:56:00.001-05:00

Lewis quotes a passage from “War and Peace” to make his point about the Inner Ring. Using the example of the army, he points out that there are two systems of hierarchy in society. In the passage from “War and Peace,” a decorated general respectfully waits to be acknowledge by the captain and lieutenant before him to make a contribution to the conversation. Now, in the military's published system of hierarchy, this should never be the case. The decorated general should always have the higher priority. However, under the circumstances, the general became subjected to the authority of the men who were ranked lower. Perhaps they were discussion a military operation in an area the general did not know well. Maybe they were discussing using equipment that the general did not yet know about. What ever the case was, the two 'lower' men had the respect of the general at that time because he realized that they were the authority.

We can see society organized this way in many places. In offices you can see corporate executives listening to the opinions of lower ranking employees because those employee may specialize in a certain field and have essential knowledge that the executives need to make a decision. A lot of this depends on respect. In 'War and Peace,' the general clearly respected the two other men as knowledgeable, level headed men who could make important contributions. If the general did not have this respect, he could pull rank and make his word final, but when people respect those lower than they are, they will tend to make decisions that benefit everyone, and not just protect their own ego. It is this way that Jesus told us to respect those lower than us. Jesus even rebuked two of his disciples because they asked to be seated on his right and left sides when he returned in all his glory. This story is a warning to all the followers of Christ. He tells us to not become wrapped up in our own importance because in heaven, the last will be first and the first will be last.

Engaging God's World: Redemption

2009-01-28T13:55:00.001-05:00

Perhaps the most important theme of Christianity is Redemption. As Christians, we believe that Jesus was the Messiah who was sent to redeem Man's sins by living a perfect, sinless life and then suffering an excruciating death to take the pain of man's sins onto himself. As Lewis points out in the beginning of Mere Christianity, there are many different denominations of Christians, all with some differences in their doctrine, but all agree that Jesus was the Messiah and that, by believing in Him and living by His teachings, men can be saved. Plantinga reminds Christians that as long as there has been misery, there has also been God's grace. He also talks about the importance of the entire church to work as one body. Even when a Christian is communing with God alone, he or she is still part of the whole church and has an important role to play. In the Apostles Creed, Christians declare that they believe in the “holy catholic church.” The word catholic, meaning universal, tells Christians to remember their brothers, no matter where they are from or what denomination they are a part of, and to commune with them as followers of Christ.

Plantinga reminds us not to forget the Redemption of Christ. As Christians, we sometimes forget and take for granted what Christ suffered to redeem the sins of man. We need to be active member, spreading the word and each day remembering to worship and thank God for the sacrifice He made for the sins to man. We are warned in the Bible not to have 'lukewarm' faith. This is seen as worse than wholly rejecting God. We must passionately live for him in the glory of Christs redemption.

The Problem of Pain

2009-01-25T16:29:00.001-05:00

“We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it's there for emergencies, but he hopes he'll never have to use it.”

This is, unfortunately, the state that many Christians live in today. We only call upon God when we want something and rarely to never remember to thank him for the blessings in our lives. St. Augustine put it a different way when he said “God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full – there's nowhere for Him to put it.” In The Problem of Pain, Lewis tells us that pain and suffering is God's megaphone; he uses it to get our attention. Lewis says “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain[.]” It is possible for us humans to ignore pleasure, but impossible to ignore pain. It is something that we must attend to. God needing to use pain as a megaphone is really a terrible thing, it can cause people to go into a rebellion against God, but it also offers the only opportunity for a bad person to mend himself.

As Christians, we must learn to think of God as more than just our parachute. We need to remember to thank Him for His blessings as well as asking him for His intervention. We must acknowledge that the world really is beyond our control. A man may think he is secure in life and is in control. This man must learn to remember that he only has what he does because God allows him to have it.

Man or Rabbit?

2009-01-25T15:08:00.001-05:00

“Can't you lead a good life without believing in Christianity?”

This is a question that Lewis was often confronted with, and at one point or another, I believe every Christian is confronted with. Lewis says that the question sounds like it has been asked by a person who has said to himself “I don't care whether Christianity is in fact true or not. All I'm interested in is leading a good life.” Lewis points out that the one of the main reasons humans are different from other humans is that they want to know simply for the sake of knowing. However, with this mindset, the person asking the question has no intention of finding the answer and does not want to really know. That is something “less than human” according to Lewis. Now, there are many things two men, one Christian and one not, could agree on. Lewis provides the example that both men would approve of an efficient sewer system and good hospitals. However, they come to differ on many subjects. While both may agree that education is very important, what they want taught in school may be very different. The Materialist will only ask “how will this improve one's happiness?” while the Christian will ask “what is the right way?”
Now, we all know there have been good men throughout history who were not Christian. Socrates and Confucius are just naming two. There are men in the world, like J.S. Mill who honestly could not believe the teachings of Christianity. But those men have clearly decided what they do and do not believe. But the men asking if they can be good without being Christian are avoiding the question altogether. They do not want to face it. As Lewis says, “The man is shrinking. He is deliberating trying not to know whether Christianity is true or false, because he foresees endless trouble if it should turn out to be true.” A person who remains an unbeliever for this reason is in a state of “dishonest error” as Lewis calls it. And this dishonesty will spread to all his thoughts and actions. He is evading the Son of Man, burying his head in the sand.

Engaging God's World: Vocation in the Kingdom of God

2009-01-25T13:36:00.000-05:00

Pater noster qui es in caelis,
sanctificetur nomen tuum;
adveniat regnum tuum,
fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in caelo et in terra.
Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie,
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.
et ne nos inducas in tentationem
sed libera nos a malo.
Amen.

The Lord's Prayer, written in the Latin translation by St. Augustine above, is the prayer taught to us by Jesus Himself. Plantinga says that in Biblical times the believers passionately prayed from redemption and for the returning of the Kingdom of God. But today, contemporary Christians, when saying “Your kingdom come” really mean add in their hearts “but not right now.” When we find comfort in our own, personal, earthly kingdoms, we forget about God's kingdom. “Our prayers for the kingdom fade,” as Plantinga says. We forget to ask for God's kingdom, because we forget that we need it. The Kingdom of God always sounds good to those living miserable lives, but it loses some of its glamor on those who are comfortable. Plantinga reminds us that we must always be passionate when it comes to the Kingdom, as the writers of the Bible were. When Jesus first ascended back into heaven, some were sure that he would be returning soon, and immediately went out to evangelize the world. They hurried to spread the word and prepare the world for his coming. I think that today, we have lost that passion, because we have a more leisurely mindset instead of the hurried panic that Jesus may return at any time. We are called to incorporate God into our lives as a vocation, part of our everyday being. We forget this when we get comfortable with life. We need to rediscover that passion of the early evangelists and be truly ready for the Kingdom of God. We must mean it when we pray “Your Kingdom Come.”

The Abolition of Man

2009-01-25T13:19:00.001-05:00

In The Abolition of Man, Lewis addresses the concept of “Man's Conquest of Nature.” This is used to describe how science has enabled humans to to control their environment. For example, in the United States, we have eliminated whooping cough and rabies. The swarms of locusts that used to ravage northern Nevada have been wiped out. We have pesticides to kill bugs that damage crops. We are truly the dominate species on the planet. Lewis talks about three particular technologies: the airplane, the wireless, and the contraceptive. He says that in a civilized community, these technologies are available to whoever can pay for them. But he also points out, that these are not truly available to all humans. A powerful man can deny these things to the poorer communities. So, when someone uses these technologies, he is not exercising his personal power to control nature, but only using the power that he can pay for. A small number of men can withhold technology from an vast number of people.
Lewis speaks in particular about the contraceptive. When someone uses a contraceptive, they are denying life to the babies that may have been born. Lewis says “all possible future generations are the patients or subjects of a power wielded by those already alive.” Contraception can even be used for selective breeding, and the current generation decided who is born. Lewis later speaks of the possibility of having “one dominant age.” This will be the pinnacle of man's existence in an immoral world. This is the age that has successfully resisted all the teachings and traditions of the past, effectively making their own, rebellious rules. They will also have power over all the future generations. They will decide who is born, what is accomplished, and how everything is completed. This generation will truly dominate the human race. But not only that, this will be accomplished by the few men who hold all the keys to technology. So, Lewis contends, the entire human race, with its billions of people, will eventually be ruled by only the few hundred scientific planners that decided how the human race should be. Lewis says “the final stage has come when Man by eugenics, by pre-natal conditioning, and by an education and propaganda based on a perfect applied psychology, has obtained full control over Himself.”

The Four Loves: Eros

2009-01-22T22:30:00.001-05:00

Eros is the kind of love that two lovers are “in.” However, it does not merely refer to the sexual element of a relationship, which Lewis calls Venus. When only Venus is involved, we see men in the streets who “want a woman.” However, they do not want a woman, they simply want the pleasure that a woman can provide. As soon as the sexual act is performed, they will no doubt treat the woman with scorn afterwards. As Lewis put it, “One does not keep the carton after one has smoked the cigarettes.” Bu Eros involves more than just sex. Lewis describes the beginning of a relationship involving Eros as simply a preoccupation with the “Beloved.” At this point, a man hasn't even thought about sex. He is just concentrating on her totality and is less concerned that she is a woman and more concerned that she is herself. He simply wants to be with her. Society tends to tell us that all men desire from women is sex, but this is not true if a man respects women. At a later stage in the relationship, a sexual element will awaken, but this will not have been the root of the whole relationship. When a man is affected by Eros, he truly “wants A woman.” Not only that, she is THE woman. He truly wants the Beloved herself, not just the pleasure she can give.

Learning in War Time

2009-01-21T21:44:00.001-05:00

During World War II, many young men would leave school to join the military and fight for their country. Some would say that there was no need for things like school because they were not living in normal times, and drastic measures had to be taken. Lewis contends that there is no “normal” life. People compared the “war time” to the “normal times” and this simply is not correct. No time is normal. For us today, it is normal for families to own multiple automobiles, several cell phones, and probably have some iPods laying around. Ten years ago, children owning cell phones was almost unheard of and nobody knew what an iPod was. Fifty years ago, families had one car, unless they were particularly. What we consider “normal” at any one time, is completely different from the “normal of any other time.
Now Lewis cited three major reasons why people did not see a reason to continue their education during the war. The first “enemy”, as he calls them, is excitement. When the war came, it was something new, and in a way exciting. Young men clamored to sign up for the military because of their “duty” to defend their country. Lewis says that education and scholarship is also a duty, for some. The second enemy is frustration. Some young men felt as if they would probably not come back from the battlefields and be able to finish their education. Lewis' response is that, no matter how hard one studies, he will never truly know everything, so nobody truly completes his education. The third enemy is fear. Some people fear the death and pain that war brings. Lewis says that, in a way, dying on a battlefield can be more merciful than dying of old age. We all know that we will one day die, but a machine gun bullet on the battlefield can be much quicker and less painful and a slow agonizing death at an advanced age. But as Lewis said, education is a duty, and we cannot give it up just because we thing the times are “abnormal.”

The Poison of Subjectivism

2009-01-18T23:09:00.001-05:00

“Perhaps,” thinks the reformer or the educational expert, “it would be better if we were. Let us improve our morality.”

Lewis says that this sounds like an innocent idea, but starts a movement than must be crushed or may well damn our souls. It operates under the assumption that men can create values and can choose their own ideology. Lewis points out, that unless we have some standard of good, we have no right to look down upon the war crimes committed by the Germans or the Japanese in WWII. If there is no standard, they Germans were well within their right to come up with their own ideology. As Lewis says, “unless the measuring rod is independent of the things measured, we can do no measuring.” Lewis says that every attempt to create a new value just involves selecting one maxim from the others of the traditional value system and raising it up as the only one. As an example, he uses the precept that tells us to keep promises and to also feed the hungry. He points out that if you only take the second part and forget the first, you have the Communism ethic. Modern minds try to say that traditional morality is different in different times and different places. They say that there is more than one morality. As Christians, we believe in the laws laid down by God, and this is our basis for morality. We believe that it does not change, no matter what the time and place is.

One modern objection, Lewis says, is that different cultures have different ethical standards, and that there is no common tradition. Lewis points out that if you study all the cultures though the ages, you will find that they are all opposed to things like murder, treachery, and falsehood. They also call for kindness to the elderly, alms giving, and honesty. There are differences in different cultures, but they do share many core values.

Engaging God's World: The Fall

2009-01-18T22:23:00.000-05:00

When the world was first created, God said that it was good, and even went on to call it “very good.” But it is clear that we have fallen from this state of grace. Every day there are bad events presented on the news. There is genocide and theft, murder and other forms of violence. As Romans and Genesis both say, the human race “has a habit” when it comes to sin. We are like an addict, we know it's bad and that we shouldn't sin, but we still do it anyways. We sometimes even intentionally hurt others to get what we want. Plantinga describes evil as “any spoiling of shalom.” He says that sin is just a subset of evil, it's the evil for which somebody is to blame. He uses the example of a two year old with a gun, if a two year old picks up a gun and accidentally kills someone, it is not a “sin”, but it is still a presentation of evil. However, if someone premeditates and carries out a murder, this is evil and sinful. Many people say that if you are good to other people, they will also do something good, but Plantinga points out that this applies to evil too. Each generation reaps what was sown by the generation before and will sow what will be reaped by the next generation.
There is the question that many people struggle with: Who is to blame? Some say there is something about God that causes us to sin. Others say that the devil makes them do it. Christians reject these, saying that they are a way of simply trying to pass on the blame. First of all, in Christian theology, God is only good and light. His holiness is not negotiable. So he is not the source of sin. The New Testament also says that the devil only deceives those who are already self deceived. So Satan does not compel people to sin. The problem is that people stray away from God and put their faith in nature or themselves.

Mere Christianity

2009-01-16T22:43:00.000-05:00

I actually found the preface of Mere Christianity to be the most interesting part for me. Lewis says that he is not there to tell people which denomination is correct. His goal is to focus only on the “mere Christianity.” When looking at the Christian denominations, there are more similarities than differences. We all believe that Jesus is the Savior and died for our sins. We believe in the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We all even read the same Bible. Lewis contends that, when trying to bring people into Christianity, we should provide a unified front and only present to the world what we agree on. Once a person is “in the hallway,” he or she can decide which denomination fits him or her the best and what they believe represents the truth. But the open division between the churches is not healthy for the church as a whole. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are all after the same goal. We may have slightly different ways of doing it, but we should focus on our similarities, rather than differences.
This part stood out to me because, in my life, I have been part of a Methodist Church followed by an Evangelical Free Church. I have also attended an Adventist elementary school, a Catholic high school, and now a Christian Reformed college. I have been immersed in several different denominations and it is surprising how similar the doctrine. Or maybe it isn't surprising, because we all use the same Holy book. The main differences are mostly in the rituals practices by each denomination. There may be different way that communion is offered, and some denominations have the washing of feet ceremony, but in the grand scheme of things, is it really worth bickering over? Our core beliefs about Christ are the same, and that is the most important part of our doctrine. We should try to show the world a unified front, rather than a divided front. As Lewis says: “When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall.” Right now, I would describe myself as “in the hall,” searching for the room I see as correct.

The Screwtape Letters

2009-01-16T20:20:00.001-05:00

The Screwtape Letters were a tool used by Lewis to show how the devil works to manipulate us and turn us away from the path of God. In the letters, an experienced demon, Screwtape, is instructing his young nephew in the arts of turning men away from God. As Screwtape says: “the safest road to hell is a gradual one.” When men turn away from the path of God, it usually starts off as a small sin, but when a person feels that he or she got away with that small transgression, they move on to a slightly larger one, and eventually the person has turned completely from God and is consumed by sin. In the letter, Screwtape actually expresses gladness when he discovers that the “patient” is still attending church. Many people have a mentality that if they still attend church, they can let some things slide the rest of the week. They use it as an excuse to stray away from God. There are many people who believe that being a good Christian only involves attending church once a week. However, the bible says that faith without action is dead, showing us that simply going to church and saying you believe is not enough. Being a Christian is not merely a habit of driving to and from church every Sunday. Some people even profess to be believers, when their faith only goes as far to attend church on Christmas and Easter.
In the letter, Screwtape refers to the manipulation as a game. For the devil, pulling humans from God is nothing more than a game, good entertainment. It is his goal to pull as many away from God as possible, as if winning more souls means getting more points in a game against God. The devil knows how to go for each person's individual weaknesses and exploit them to turn us from God. In the book The Exorcist, the demon, Legion, has possessed a small girl. Father Karras is confident he can help cast out the demon. However, Fr. Karras' mother has recently died and he was having a crisis of faith at that time. As soon as he set foot in the room with the possessed girl, the demon used that weakness and his mother's death against him and Karras lost all control of himself. This shows us that even in the hard times in life, we cannot lose faith and must always be alert for the devil's work. As Screwtape says, “Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.” It doesn't matter to the demons how small or big the sins are, as long as they distract a human from seeking God.

Engaging God's World: Creation

2009-01-15T22:22:00.001-05:00

The best part of creation is the fact that we were created by God because He wanted to create us. We were not created out of necessity, because God does not need us. But we also were not an accident. God intentionally and lovingly created each of us. We are also the pinnacle of God's creation. He created us in the image of God and gave us dominion over the Earth. He told us to “be fruitful and multiply” and to “fill the earth and subdue it.” Some people use the latter line as an excuse to use the earth in any way that they please, without any thoughts about the consequences. However, that is not what it means. We are meant to be stewards of the earth, to care for it. Christians are called to care for and respect the world without worshiping it.
Since we are created in the image of God, we are given the responsibilities of stewardship, but also given inalienable rights like the right to life, the right to respect, and the right to certain freedoms. No human being granted these rights and no human can take them away. The fact that we are images of God makes us reject the idea that we are merely products of entirely random genetic mutations. We were placed here with a purpose by a creator.
In the beginning, God had been silent over the void, and he finally spoke after long contemplation, and said “let there be light.” He then went on to create the rest of the earth, rhythmically creating during the day, and silent at night. Then, after finishing his project, God spent the entire seventh day resting. This shows that, even when God is silent, He is not inert. God puts his plans into action only when the time and place are exactly right. Even when God seems silent to us, it is merely giving us time to think and makes us long for goodness.

The Weight of Glory

2009-01-15T15:14:00.000-05:00

St. Augustine said “the rapture of the saved soul will flow over into the glorified body.” Scripture says that we will to be like Christ and we shall have glory. This means that to have the glory of God, we must each day be actively trying to follow Christ's example. Lewis says that “glory” can be crudely described as being noticed by God. As we follow Christ's example and try to live by his teachings in the world, we are glorified by God. Now, as humans, it can be difficult to always be working for God and we all have moments of weakness. We need to remember that we are always working to bring about God's plan in the world, and try not to stray away. We must be like children to know God; you can see the look of intense happiness on a child's face when he or she is praised for having done something correctly. We must be the same, and be willing to work for God we must find comfort and happiness in doing His will.
There are people who try to say that working for God is a mercenary affair, with the “payment” being access to heaven. This is not so. Lewis distinguishes between two types of rewards. There are the rewards that have no natural connections with what was done to earn them. For example, if a man marries a woman for her money, he is a mercenary. However, there are also natural rewards. But if a man marries a woman out of love, marriage is a natural reward. We must work for our own benefits and try to remain true to the laws of God. Lewis says that heaven is not mere bribe, but the consummation of earthly discipleship. Although it may seem mercenary at first, as we grow in faith, gospel replaces law, and fear and mercenary desire fall away.

Our English Syllabus

2009-01-12T21:29:00.001-05:00

“The proper question for a freshman is not 'What will do me the most good?' but 'What do I most want to know.'” Lewis is referring to students that, when they are deciding what to study in college, make their decision based on where they may get the best general education or where they might get the best training for a job. Learning and education are not the same thing. Schools are institutions set up to educate minds, and learning is a tool of that. But to learn, a person does not need to be in school. I learned how to change the oil of a car one day because I asked my dad to show me. We spent an hour out on the driveway and he taught me how. (It should have only taken 20 minutes, but I put the filter on wrong and ended up pumping four quarts of oil onto the drive way. But I can guarantee I'll never make that mistake again.) The point is I wanted to learn how to do it. Now I didn't need to go to class or enroll in a school to learn how to do it. Now, when it comes to institutional education, the students will really only learn if they are studying what interests them. There is a very good argument that students should have a broad knowledge of everything before they specialize in one area, but if students spend too much time taking classes on subjects that don't interest them, they will not really 'learn' anything. A student is best served by trying to find a subject which he or she is interested in and trying to learn as much as possible about it. Now, that doesn't mean that the student will like every little part about a complete education. An engineer may need economics classes to learn how to market a product. An English major may need some philosophy to improve his or her writing. But as long as the subject matter always has some application to the subject the student wants to learn, he or she will be willing to learn. And learning can only take place if the student is willing to receive the knowledge.

Engaging God's World: Hope and Longing

2009-01-11T17:15:00.001-05:00

St. Augustine was one of the greatest thinkers of the Christian Church. Plantinga says that Augustine is to Latin as C.S. Lewis is to English. As a great scholar, Augustine spent years studying philosophy, trying to find the target of human longing. After years of living a life full of lust, he reached the end of his search and found that God was the only good that did not “fade away.” Plantinga goes on to define the difference between longing and hope. He points out that Lewis observes that when humans long for something, they are seeking union with it. Some people are nostalgic and long for the past, because they want to be in union with that time and want things to be as they were back then. Plantinga points out that many of the things people long for are impossible to be fulfilled. For the nostalgic person, it is impossible to return to the past and live it over again. Augustine found that at the root of it all, humans want God, and in the beginning of his Confessions, he prays, “O Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
Plantinga says that longing is an ingredient for hope. To hope for something, you must long for it, but hope also requires action. A hopeful person longs for something and also believes that it is possible to achieve. A hopeful person will work to bring about the state of affairs that he or she longs for. Martin Luther King Jr. longed for equality for people of all races. He also believed it to be possible and became one of the most outspoken and recognizable leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. He was even willing to give his life for the cause he believed in.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, the prophets had hope on a grander scale. They imagined an age where God, humans, and all of creation were united together by justice, fulfillment and delight in shalom. This is peace that goes far beyond the peace between two armies. Shalom is the way things were meant to be, before the fall of man. We see small images of this shalom with events such as the Civil Rights Movement striving to bring about Justice, but it has never been fully realized. Christian faith stands around Jesus Christ, as the one who will right the wrongs in the world, and will one day bring the world back to the way it is meant to be.

You Have NO Right to Happiness

2009-01-10T23:15:00.001-05:00

I agree with Lewis when he says that having a right to happiness is like having a right to good luck. There is no manuscript or law that says every person has the right to be happy. I like how Lewis makes the distinction between “the right to happiness” and “the right to persue happiness.” Every human should be allowed to go about life in a fashion to try and find happiness, but within limits. Lewis says that yes, we have the right to persue it, but adds that it must be by lawful means. If a person only feels happy when stealing from others, that does not give him or her the right to steal. Lewis also makes it clear that when he says “law”, he is referring to natural law in addition to man's laws. He gives the example of a man who leaves his wife for another woman so he can be “happy.” Although this was an act within his rights given by man's laws, he acted immorally and violated natural law.
Lewis goes on to state that when people like Clare in the essay refer to happiness, they merely mean sexual happiness. Many of Clare's friends said it would make them feel happier to if they could box her ears, but Lewis doubted that Clare would hold true to her argument in that situation. People want to treat sex differently from every other activity. Nearly every person would say that lying and stealing and cheating are wrong. So if a person finds happiness in these activities, they still do not have the right to do them. However, society tells us that we should be allowed to have sex as much as we want and with whomever we want. There is no need for restraint or to reserve it for a special union called marriage. Society tells us that it makes us feel good, so it must be okay.
Sex cannot be treated any differently. For Christians, God's law is very clear that sexual activity is reserved for a union of marriage. It is a privilege, not a right. Lewis also points out, that even though right now “the right to happiness” usually refers to sexual impulse, but if an exception is made just for this, it will eventually spread to other activities, and the world will fall into a state where stealing and drunkenness are accepted, as long as the people are “happy.” That would be a sad world to live in.

Bulverism

2009-01-10T17:56:00.001-05:00

Bulverism is a word invented by C.S. Lewis to describe the concept of argument where one simply assumes his or her opponent is wrong and simply by explaining why his or her error will win the argument. This is seen in many arguments where someone says something to the extent of: “you only say that because you are a .” Fill in the blank with any noun you find appropriate. This can been seen often in political discussions, ranging from a small debate between two students to a nationally televised debate between two presidential candidates. By simply accusing someone of thinking a certain way because he or she is republican or democrat, one can ignore the issue being discussed and simply try to discredit the other person to “win” the debate.

Lewis argues that the purpose of discussions and debates are to find truth, not victory. It is not a contest to see who can win, it is a way for two opposing viewpoints to present their arguments and try to find out what is true or valid. Bulverism is destructive and if our generation continues to use it as the primary tool for arguments, it will become a very sad place indeed. If one can “win” an argument by just stating something personal about the opposing party such as “you think that way because you're a man,” there will be no real discussion left in the world, and no more pursuit of truth.

Meditation in a Toolshed

2009-01-08T18:19:00.001-05:00

In “Meditation in a Toolshed,”, Lewis describes two different perspectives of observing the world around us: looking at something and looking along something. An example he provides is an example of a young man in love. When the young man meets a girl, he sees the whole differently around her and believes her more precious than anything else in the world. However, a scientist looking at the young man, may simply attribute his behavior simply to hormones and biological functions occuring inside the body.
An example that predominately came to my mind is the example of religion. Born and raised a Christian, I have been taught and follow the teachings of Christ found in the Bible. I, and others members of the Christian community share a common bond in these teachings and have a common faith that these teachings are true. We have experiences that we share that would be extremely difficult to describe to someone who has not experienced them. But someone can look at the Christian community, read every commentary written on Christian theology, know exactly what our beliefs are, and still will not be able to know the true essence of our religion. You cannot observe the faith that we share or the community that we have, those things only come through the experience of it.
As Lewis says, how would you describe pain to a person who has never felt pain? In an episode of House M.D., the doctors are treating a patient who cannot feel pain and, during the course of running tests, the patient asks what pain feels like. All the Dr. Foreman could say was something to the extent of “well,it hurts.” That would have no meaning to a person who has never suffered physical pain.
We must be able to both look at thing and along things and not rely on simply one method of observation or the other. If one can move past simply just relying on the scientists definition of love, and move on to the experience of it, the world will seem like a much better and prettier place.