Christopher Thyberg
IDIS 150-07 - DCM - C.S. Lewis
January 24th, 2011
Professors Paulo and Adriana Ribeiro
Over the past three weeks we have been given a great deal of knowledge. We have received wisdom from C.S. Lewis, Cornelius Plantinga, as well as from both our professors. We have read a multitude of works, discussed a variety of topics, and have participated in some deep self-discovery. The question that now arises is; how does this new information shift our views on life, and more importantly how does it change the way we live from here on out? Because we were given such a wide array of knowledge there is no conceivable way that I could thoroughly discuss each subject to a satisfactory degree. Instead I will discuss Lewis’ works: Weight Of Glory, Mere Christianity, and The Screwtape Letters. In addition to this I will evaluate Plantinga’s work with a focus on vocation. It is my hope that I can find ways to integrate these pieces, not just together, but also into our every day lives.
The first piece that I want to discuss is Mere Christianity. This piece is one of the best apologetic writings I have ever read. Our moral conscience is something that we generally just accept. We feel guilt and remorse for our actions, as well as frustration when people act in ways that we deem unfair, but we don’t often stop to question why some things are considered fair and others aren’t. If some things are fairer than others, than there must be some sort of standard to compare them to. Even on a global scale throughout different time periods and cultures, our basic morality has stayed the same. Certainly details, names, and some reasons have changed, but the basic principles remain. Lewis explains this more in his piece The Abolition of Man where he describes the morality of different cultures, finding them to be far more similar than different. From his findings there seems to be a natural law that transcends time and culture. It has been said that our moral law is nothing more than a pack instinct where we want to do what is best to preserve the group. But this is not fully satisfactory. When we hear a man’s cry for help we have two instincts. The first is the self-preservation instinct; we don’t act because we want to keep ourselves safe. The second is the pack instinct that wants to help the man. In addition to these two impulses, there is a third thing, which tells you that you ought to follow the impulse to help, and suppress the impulse to run away. Since this thing judges the two instincts, and decides which should be encouraged, it cannot be either one of these two instincts. "The Moral Law tells us the tune we have to play: our instincts are merely the keys." (Lewis, Mere Christianity) Lewis believes that our moral code comes from a higher being. He uses all of Mere Christianity to explain why it is a higher being, and then from there he explains why he believes it is the god of the Christian religion.
With a strong apologetic argument in place for why we should believe in God, it can now be examined for what this means for each of us in our daily lives. Stated plainly, it changes everything. Our lives are not based on simple chance and a random accident. We were created by God, to live in community with Him for eternity. In his work The Weight Of Glory Lewis describes the potential that is found in each and every one of us. We are all souls, not only that, but we are immortal souls. We have the opportunity to find eternal peace with God, or everlasting pain in Hell. But we don’t often work like that do we? "Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like and ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." (Lewis, Weight Of Glory) In our lives, we find satisfaction in half-hearted exploits. We seek simple, passing happiness that dissipates in the wind through time. This is not how God intended us to live. These things are not in themselves bad. In fact, they are often attached to God in some way. But we cannot mistake them for the real thing; our life in eternity is on the line. The next important part of this is that what we do to either help or hinder others in their personal spiritual journeys has a significant impact on their future. We must treat each other with the utmost care. We are not dealing with passing objects or mortal beings; each human being is an immortal spirit that should be treated with respect.
If there is an all-powerful God, and we are immortal souls created to live with Him, we must live in accordance with this design. In The Screwtape Letters Lewis shows some of the ways that we as Christians often fail in this task. The story is of a Head Devil, Screwtape, writing to his nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood is in the process of tempting a “patient,” a newly converted Christian man. Throughout the entire book Lewis lists countless different aspects of human weakness and how we can be manipulated by the devil, however in our class we focused on Chapter 12. In this chapter Lewis delves into how small habits can be used against us to pull us away from God. When we become complacent with our situation and do not strive to get closer to God we will drift away. Our faith cannot stay in one place. It either grows or it recedes. If the devil can have us satisfied with basic temptations he can draw our attention away from God. Screwtape even goes as far as to tell Wormwood that, “indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." (Lewis, The Screwtape Letters) We do not need to commit major sins, if a minor one is enough. Every action, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant is pointless. Everything we do has an effect and can never be undone, we can change our situation and fix things certainly, but we cannot go back in time to stop it from happening. From The Screwtape Letters we see the danger of us become idle in our faith. We should not fear the pleasure in life that God gives us, because many things in life are God’s gift to us. But we must be conscientious of what we follow and if it distracts us from God. And we must always be aware of the “dim uneasiness” we feel when we become distant from God. We cannot let the uneasiness grow; rather, we should face it head on in prayer. That is the only way that we can become fully aware of our situation.
In addition to Lewis’ works, Plantinga’s book, Engaging God’s World, allows us to view the world from a Christian Reformed view. The chapter that is most useful to our everyday application is vocation. Plantinga explains that vocation is so much more than just our job. It is our deepest calling in life; it is our role in the plan that God has made for us. God has dominion over everything, but He also gives us power over our own kingdoms. “In fact, to some extent we are all rulers just because God has created us in his own image to have responsible dominion.” (Plantinga, 107) Our vocation is to integrate our kingdom into shalom with God’s kingdom. This will transcend every aspect of our life. Family, friends, church, jobs, hobbies, and all other parts of our existence will come into place. “Successful living in God’s world depends not only on taking responsibility for our own realm and preserving it if we can. Success depends on meshing our kingdom with the kingdoms of others.” (Plantinga, 108)
In my opinion, vocation is the answer to how we integrate what we learned from C.S. Lewis and Plantinga into our everyday life. From Mere Christianity Lewis makes a decisive argument to the existence of God. This puts a huge impact on how we live life. The moral code is no longer an animalistic instinct, it is the law of God. Therefore, our vocation should be in the pursuit of justice. We do not all need to become police officers, but morality and integrity should be ingrained in the way we conduct ourselves, be it at work or with our loved ones. Following this in Weight of Glory, if God created us as immortal souls, we deserve each other’s respect. Part of vocation is bringing our personal kingdoms into harmony with others. We have the potential to help others to Heaven or Hell, and it is part of our duty to be a strong a supporter to them as we possibly can be. And finally as described in The Screwtape Letters, there are the distractions offered by the devil to lure us away from our vocation. Satan wants nothing more than to lead us from the light. We must always be aware of our state with God, praying constantly, so that we can be sure that we are right with Him, following our vocation.
College is the time for us to learn about our vocation, and to see the plan that God has for us. College is our time for training and preparing ourselves for the future. College is where you get the skills for your new career, it is where many people meet their future spouse, and it is where people “discover themselves.” This can be done at any college, but at Calvin College we are offered the unique opportunity to grow spiritually, looking at the world from a different perspective. Calvin gives us the chance to take our theology and integrate into every inch of our life. Every piece of literature we read, every math problem we solve, every friendship we make, every Bible passage we discuss, all of this is a part of our vocational training. We integrate what we learned in this class the same way we integrate anything we learn, we pray and we use our discernment for God’s judgment, and then take that knowledge to make us more of the person that God intended us to be.
WORKS CITED
Lewis, C.S. “The Weight of Glory.” Calvin College ~pribeiro. N.p.: n.d. Web. 24 January 2011
Lewis, C.S. “Mere Christianity.” Calvin College ~pribeiro. N.p.: n.d. Web. 24 January 2011
Lewis, C.S. “The Screwtape Letters.” Calvin College ~pribeiro. N.p.: n.d. Web. 24 January 2011
Plantinga, Cornelius. Engaging God's World. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2002. 103-137. Print.
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