Show and Tell

C.S. Lewis:
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."

"It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost him crucifixion."
-Surprised by Joy

"Whenever you find a man who says he doesn't believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later."
-The case for Christianity

Lewis Speech

Given the choice between reading and listening to C.S. Lewis, I'd take reading any day. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think he's such a great speaker. He has such powerful words, but the way he delivers them just doesn't quite do it.


To love is to risk suffering. What more needs to be said? Lewis is so right on with this statement that I can find nothing to disagree with. People everywhere suffer from broken hearts. This is not a disease, it is life. Life is only worth living when we are able to risk loving others. If we don't love anyone and choose to tightly wrap our love inside us to keep it safe, we avoid getting hurt by others, but end up hurting ourselves. Life is about Love, and Love is about risking it all.

The Real Inner Ring

Except for the last bit on Friendship, Lewis seems to not like the idea of inner rings at all. they are a vain pursuit and don't lead to excellence in life. He is forgetting one thing, however, and that is the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is the greatest inner ring that ever existed. Do not be deceived, however. The Church is not the Kingdom. They are similar, but the Church is made of sinful people, it is acknowledged, and it is often the exact same as the rings Lewis describes. The Kingdom, on the other hand, is full of people who know something that no one else knows. They know the love of God, and they know the rewards of living with the fruits of the spirit. One essential difference, however, is that the people of the kingdom make it a group goal to include everyone, instead of exclude.

The Four Loves: Philia

Friendship, says Lewis, is actually experienced for real by a very few people. In my experience, this is true, and I would go even further with it. I would say that in general, more females experience the friendship Lewis describes ("In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out"). Guys can have loads and loads of companions who they can joke with, have fun with, and get along with, but they might never get down to discussing life and life's problems with their companions. Some male companions can become friends and some men might have a number of good friends, but in my opinion, more girls will have good friends than guys. Girls also might have companions to share fun times with, but because of how females behave, they are more prone to have good friends.
In many cases, girls create conflicts among companions much easier than boys do, and because they are required to work through their conflicts, they in turn become less of companions and more of friends, because they see each and every emotion of each other. Guys generally show one or two sides of themselves with their companions and keep the rest of themselves hidden. I do not suggest that there are no exceptions. There are many exceptions. Though Lewis says this friendship is 'non-natural', it is also part of being a child of God. Unnatural though it may be, friendship should be a part of ever Christian's life, since friendship as Lewis describes it is intimacy, which is vulnerability, which is sharing yourself with others, which is being a servant.

Eros and Agape

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son." -John 3:16.
We discussed in class like C.S. Lewis discusses in "The Four Loves" that Eros is the most similar to Agape of all the forms of love. Most people who take time to consider this and perhaps read his book would agree quite easily, but many of them do not know from experience. I know from experience. Let me explain.
Rachael and I began dating on February 15, 2007. It didn't take long for us to realize how big our God was in our relationship. Providence that brought us together, for starters, but in those first few months i learned more about God than I ever have. For example, one of her favorite movie quotes is from Kevin Costner's Robin Hood, and it goes like this:
Marian: You came for me... you're alive...
Robin: I'd die for you.
Eventually, I came to feel the same way as Robin Hood, and then I thought of John 3:16, and how that is exactly what God did for us.It was a very big deal to be able to relate to who God is personally, and i consider it a huge gift to experience it personally. God would do anything for us, and that is his Agape love. I would do anything for Rachael, and that is Eros, planted in God's Agape.

P.S. I don't really like C.S. Lewis' choice to use 'Eros', since Eros was the Greek god of love, and he was all about sex, and not really about love. Oh well.