Going back is the quickest way on:
I only underlined about three quotes in Mere Christianity that really stuck out to me. This was one of them.
In this passage, Lewis makes a last ditch effort to convince his audience of the apparent need to admit to one's mistakes. I appreciate this quote firstly because it's one of those lines in the book that is simply poetic. For some reason, these quick memorable lines really resonate with me. It seems odd that after writing two hundred pages of philosophical hard material and metaphors, it's a seven word sentence that affects me most deeply. I cannot say precisely why I found this line so appealing psychologically but I image it happened something like this: the contrast between the long phrases with the intense diction and this short precise one forced a trigger to go off in my head that first alerted me to the difference. At this point, my mind tries to make some sort of connection between the two sentences thus putting it on high alert for any other shred of significant information. In the end, by switching on the turbo in my brain, Lewis raises his chances of getting his point across to a much more receptive reader.
Once my mind is fully engaged, I can take the quote from a closer analytical point of view. Immediately I say to myself, "Lewis obviously just used this contrast to grab my attention. Now what does he want me to take away from it?" (I only add all of the previous thoughts because Lewis' style of writing has taught me quite a lot about how to argue a worldview through the medium of literature). After thinking about it more, I can't imagine this line is any truer than from a religious standpoint. To accept the grace that Christ offers, we have to completely deny ourselves and recognize that we are utterly imperfect. By doing this, we must literally unlearn the basic instinct that every human has to keep moving forward. Christ offers a new start, but we have to be willing to relinquish what we've built up in our towers as less. It's difficult. The whole idea of the phrase implies that our concept of life is messed up and that we need help. Why is it so hard to ask for help sometimes?
This line challenges me and I hope to find it helpful. Lewis compares our entire personality to being flawed like a math problem. Sometimes I wish it was only that easy, but that'd be kinda boring wouldn't it.
I feel like you're dipping your toes in the chilly waters of soul-baring. How does it feel so far?
ReplyDeleteYou're right: it's maddening, annoying, peevish, etc. to hear someone say that the best way forward is to scrap all the supposed progress we've devoted our lives to making. And for people (like you?) who have a knack for making fast progress, this is especially hard to swallow.
Still, if the tower has fallen, then there's really only two options: get on the boat with Jesus, or turn your back and walk away.
When I was faced with that choice, I glared at Jesus, dug my toes in the sand for about 17 minutes, sighed angrily, and then came to the same basic conclusion Peter did in John 6:68: Where else is there to go? His are the words of eternal life.
Has the tower fallen yet? How are you feeling about Jesus' boat?
You said at the end, "I hope to find it helpful." I hope you do too.
Praying.
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