Integrative Essay

At the beginning of this Interim course I did not think that there was any way that C.S. Lewis and Cornelius Plantinga Jr. would relate to each other, other than the fact that they are both Christians. I found most of the writings by Lewis to be appealing, new, and very applicable to my life, whereas I found Plantinga’s book, Engaging God’s World, to be quite boring and uninteresting because I have grown up learning all of these concepts already, and none of it was new to me. Despite the fact that I was not excited to read Plantinga’s book, there were some similarities between the two authors and they actually complimented each other quite nicely.

I think one of the most influential essays, for me at least, by Lewis that we looked at is called “Meditation in a Toolshed.” In this essay Lewis talks about the differences between looking “along” something and looking “at” something. He says, “You get one experience of a thing when you look along it and another when you look at it” (2). He says that looking along something is like when you actually experience something, whereas looking at something is when you just observe something from a distance and do not actually experience it. He then goes on to say, “One must look both along and at everything…we must start with no prejudice for or against either kind of looking” (2). I found this essay to be very relevant to my life because I sometimes make decisions or judge things just based on one of these ways of looking at something. Lewis tells us that that is not a wise thing to do though; we must look at everything from two different perspectives.

In his sermon entitled “The Weight of Glory”, C.S. Lewis says many profound things that tie in nicely with some of the concepts that Plantinga talks about in this book. Lewis scared me a bit in this sermon when he talks being “noticed” by God, and he mentions a passage in the New Testament that deals with people that never really “knew” God. He says, “There we are warned that it may happen to any one of us to appear at last before the face of God and hear only the appalling words: ‘I never knew you. Depart from me’” (4). I like this quote from Lewis a lot and I think it ties in with some things that Plantinga talks about, but it also frightens me quite a bit as well. Plantinga says that God wants us to have relationships with Him, He always has wanted that, but it has become much more difficult since evil has crept into our world and infected all of us. He defines evil as “any spoiling of shalom” (1). This “spoiling of shalom” that Plantinga talks about is important because this means that shalom, the way things were always supposed to be, has been ruined now. There is nothing we can do now but to ask for forgiveness from God and try to move on.

I also appreciate what Lewis says towards the end of “The Weight of Glory” sermon when he says, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal” (4). This is a great quote, not only because it is simple and thought provoking, but also because it is insightful. I have never thought of other people in this way before. I believe that here Lewis is indirectly hinting at the fact that we are all created in the “image of God”, and I think that Plantinga would appreciate that as well. Plantinga states that all of humanity is created in the “image of God” and, even though we have sinned, we have the opportunity to be redeemed (1). I have always been taught that we are all human and we have all been created in the image of God, but what Lewis mentions in his sermon made me think and reflect more on this idea. If we are all made in God’s image, then when we disrespect someone else, we are really disrespecting God and His creation. This is an interesting concept because we are all humans, and most of the time we think we are nothing more than mortals. This quote by Lewis connects to another thing that Plantinga says, and that is that God is “King of kings” (1), which also implies that we are kings and queens and we rule over our own little kingdoms. Plantinga says that we are not mere mortals, indirectly of course. If we truly believe that we are all kings and queens and we are created in God’s image, then I think we would not only have a different outlook on each other, but on God’s creation as well.

One of the most applicable pieces of Lewis’s writings that can be used today by many college students is entitled “Our English Syllabus.” In this essay Lewis explains the importance of education and the difference between education and vocational training. He says, “You see at once that education is essentially for freemen and vocational training for slaves” (3). Here Lewis weighs in on the importance of education because through education an individual can learn so many different things that can be useful for the rest of one’s life, but vocational training limits an individual because here a person is only learning about one certain subject, they are not learning a good foundation of information that can spill over into other areas of learning.

Plantinga also mentions vocation in his book. Plantinga says that our vocation is our calling, and a Christian’s main vocation is to be a “prime citizen” of the kingdom, which means we are to passionately yearn for the kingdom (1). I think that these two glances at vocation are related in an important way. God calls us to “passionately yearn for the kingdom”, and I think that if we learn as much as we can we are at least trying to become prime citizens. If we do not learn very much from a broad range of topics I think that we are not taking advantage of all of the gifts that God has given us, and we are not fulfilling our calls to be prime citizens.

One of my favorite quotes from this essay is when Lewis talks about students needing to figure things out for themselves. He says, “Do not tell me that you would sooner have a nice composite menu of dishes from half the world drawn up for you. You are too old for that. It is time you learned to wrestle with nature yourself” (3). I like this quote a lot because this is where Lewis tells us that we, as college students, should begin to learn on our own. We do not need a professor to be holding our hands and feeding us spoonfuls of information, we need to “wrestle with nature.” I think that this not only happens in our school work, but the opposite happens in our faith. God has made us right with Him by justification, so now all we have to do is ask for His help. It seems that too many times we think we can do things on our own without God’s help, just like Lewis mentions in the essay when he was talking of a professor’s help, but that only leads to us making an even greater mess of things. We need God to walk next to us and hold our hand, which is what Jesus is for. If we “wrestle with nature” without God’s help, we are going to be completely lost.

Also in the essay “Our English Syllabus” Lewis talks about the importance of a liberal arts education and he stresses the need to learn a bit about many different subjects. He says that a liberal arts education is necessary because, as impossible as it may seem, we need to have knowledge of everything (3). We must apply several subjects together to be well-rounded (3). It may be difficult to know a little of everything, it may even be impossible, but we must attempt this important feat. Plantinga also talks of the importance of a liberal arts education in his book, and he specifically talks about how Calvin College began and the troubles that it faced early on when the college was forming. Plantinga would agree with Lewis that a liberal arts education is extremely important so that you may have“knowledge of everything.” I think that Plantinga would not disagree with Lewis when Lewis says that we should not limit our learning to college (3), instead we should learn new things every day even when we are not in school anymore.

I used to have a soccer coach in high school that would ask me how my day was going every single day. When I replied, “It was okay, nothing special,” he would ask me if I had learned anything that day. I would say, “Of course I did.” Then he would just nod his head and tell me that it was a good day. I never thought much of his odd question until I read this essay by Lewis, and I now understand that it is important to take advantage of all of the knowledge around us and we must try to soak in everything we can because it may be beneficial later in life.

I knew going into this course that I would learn quite a bit of new information, what I did not realize was all of the ways that this new knowledge will hopefully benefit me in the future. I knew C.S. Lewis was a great writer even though I had not read many of his books or writings before I took this class. This class has taught me that knowledge is extremely important and that I must try to learn as many things as possible while I have the opportunities. My professors were great as well, and the discussions were very helpful in helping me learn different views and perspectives on these interesting and provocative writings.

Works Cited

1) Jr., Cornelius Plantinga. ENGAGING GOD'S WORLD A REFORMED VISION OF FAITH, LEARNING, AND LIVING. Boston: William B. Eerdmans Company, 2002. Print.

2) Lewis, C. S. God in the Dock Essays on Theology and Ethics. Boston: Wm. B. Eerdmans Company, 1994. Print.

3) "Our English Syllabus," in Rehabilitations and Other Essays. London: OxfordUniversity Press, 1939.

4) "The Weight of Glory." Google. Web. 23 Jan. 2010. .

Human Pain

In this work by C.S. Lewis he talks mainly about pain, which should come as no surprise to anyone because it is mentioned in the title of the essay. Lewis says that there are two different kinds of pain, and only one that he wants to really talk about. His second definition of pain is "any experience, whether physical or mental, which the patient dislikes." He goes on to say that pain in this sense "is synonymous with 'suffering', anguish', 'tribulation', 'adversity', or 'trouble, and it is about it that the problem of pain arises." I found these couple of quotes to be interesting because most of the time when I think of pain I think of physical pain, not really the mental or emotional aspect of it. Lewis goes on to say that when we are dealing with our greatest pain, that is what brings us closer to God. I always find it amazing to see people in 3rd world countries that have almost nothing but they still sing and praise God with all their hearts. It's so difficult to find people like that here in America because we are never satisfied and we just want more and more. We don't have anything to really worry about here, so we don't "need" to talk to God as much, at least that's what many people think. Because the people in 3rd world countries are so poor they depend on God for everything, so they must constantly talk to Him. They have so much pain in their lives, and I think that is one reason for why they are so close to God.

A lot of this essay is dedicated to instances when people are doing well and they don't think that they really need God; this is when they forget about Him. Lewis says that when everything is going well with us it is hard to turn to God and thank him for what He has given us. Lewis says, "We 'have all we want' is a terrible saying when 'all' does not include God. We find God as an interuption." I found this quote to be extremely powerful because we all do this at one time or another. I know I do this sometimes and I'm not even aware of it when I do it. I think Lewis's friend said it best when he said that "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 analogy seems perfect because I can easily relate it to my life. It seems that when I have a lot to be thankful for and everything is going well for me, then I don't have as much to say to God in prayer, but when things aren't going well for me then I seem to spend a lot more time in prayer. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm the only one that falls into this problem either.

Man or Rabbit

I thought this was an intersting little essay that Lewis wrote because he starts off acting like he is going to answer the question that asks if it's possible to lead a good life without believing in Christianity. He doesn't just answer the question though, he goes into reasons why he thinks the question is a bad question and who would ask it. Lewis doesn't answer the question right away though, he goes about it indirectly and he answers a series of other questions along the way. He says that Christianity must either be fake or true, and a person should decide which of these two choices they believe is true after thinking about the question for a while. They shouldn't decide that Christianity is, in fact, true just because they can benefit from being a Christian, it's something that an individual must struggle with. When Lewis talks about this I am reminded of Pascal's Wager. Pascal came up with a simple suggestion, based on probability, which shows the possible outcomes for a Christian and non-Christian related to whether God exists or not. If God exists and someone lives as a Christian then when they die they can look forward to eternity in heaven and they gain everything. If a person lives as a Christian and God doesn't exist then they lose nothing. If a person lives as a non-Christian and God doesn't exist then they lose nothing, but if someone lives as a non-Christian and God does exist, they they lose everything.

I first heard of Pascal's Wager in high school and I thout it was interesting because it simplifies a choice we have here on earth of whether to believe that God exists or not, and what "happens" to us if God does or does not actually exist. I thought that what Lewis argues in this essay related to this Wager because Lewis talks about not becoming a Christian just for the benefits of Christianity. I too agree that someone should not become a Christian just so that in the end if God does exist then they have eternity with Him and enjoy the benefits of Christianity, but I think that is a bonus that comes with Christianity. I think someone needs to struggle with their faith and talk to God to see how He can speak to them in their lives.

Getting back to Lewis's essay, he talks about people that weren't Christians but have lived as good people. He says, "We all know there have been good men who are not Christians; men like Socrates and Confucius who had never heard of it..." Lewis says these men were in a state of honest error and he hopes that they have a chance to get into heaven. I have often wondered that too. Why are there so many people that have never even heard of Jesus Christ and what happens to them when they die? Do they have a chance to go to heaven as well? This is a tough question and we won't know the answer until we get to heaven ourselves. Until then I think we should continue to be missionaries for Christ and try to spread God's Word to as many people as possible.

The Inner Ring

The concept of an inner ring is pretty simple. I think that a clique of friends in high school can fit into what is called an inner ring. There is nothing wrong with having a close group of friends and there is nothing wrong with an inner ring, as Lewis points out. Lewis says that "the existence of an inner ring in (not) Evil. It is certainly avoidable." I found this quote to be interesting because Lewis says many things about these so called inner rings, and it seems like most of what he says about them are negative. It was good when he pointed out that not all inner rings are evil, and I agree with that. I think that a clique of friends is not evil at all, in fact I think that it is good to have a good group of friends that you can trust and enjoy hanging out with. I do believe that a clique can become evil though when the group, or certain members, won't allow others to join the group. When a clique discriminates against someone or other people I think then that clique is acting evil.

I think we are all member of inner rings, whether we know it or not. The more I think about it, the more I figure out that I am in many different inner rings. I am in the inner ring for my floor, and because I am on the baseball team I am in the baseball inner ring group. There are many more examples, and many more that I don't even really know about.

Another quote by Lewis that struck me was when he used the analogy of peeling an onion to get into an inner ring. He says, "You are trying to peel an onion: if you succeed there will be nothing left. Until you conquer your fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remian." I found this quote to be true for the most part. In my experiences I have found that when you try really hard to get into a group and you are afraid that you won't make it into the group, then if you actually do make it in it isn't as great as you thought it would be and you feel like you don't belong there. If this is the case then you still feel like an outsider because you feel out of place.

One final part of this essay that I liked was when Lewis said, "You yourself, once you are in, want to make it hard for the next entrant, just as those who are already in made it hard for you." When we discussed this essay in class one of my group members used the example of freshmen in high school. When we were freshmen we all, generally speaking, got mocked by the upperclassmen just because we were freshmen. When we became upperclassmen, generally speaking again, wegave the freshmen hard times just because we got the same treatment when we were their age. I think this is a very good example of what Lewis was talking about, and I think that it is unfortunate that this is the case in many high schools.

Plantinga Chapter 5

Every time I go to my church we recite the Lord's Prayer, but the words in that prayer never really hit me and I don't think about them too often. In chapter 5 Plantinga explains to us what Christians actually mean when the say "Your kingdom come." He says that they "are not asking for the kingdom to come into existence," because God's kingdom has been in existense forever. He says that the actual meaning of "Your kingdom come" means "Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven" which should come as no surprise to us because these two phrases are back to back in the Lord's Prayer. Plantinga doesn't stop here though, he goes on to describe how this is to happen. He says "hearts will have to be regenerated, and much more besides." I like this quote by Plantinga because he not only tells us that God's Kingdom needs to come to earth, he gives us an example for how we can try to accomplish that. When Plantinga refers to God's Kingdom here he means the whole world, or the sphere of everything. God wants all of His creation to be redeemed and it must start with us.

Another part of this chapter that I found interesting was Plantinga's take on "Vocation in the Kingdom of God." He says that any vocation that serves the Glory of God as a prime citizen is a great job, no matter what that job may be. He says that it is more important how you do a certain job instead of what that job may be. God doesn't call all of us to be pastors, and I am thankful for that. As long as we pick a job that we do with all of our hearts, then God is happy with us and we are attempting to bring God's Kingdom closer to earth.

I was a little surprise when Plantinga talked about something that John Calvin believed that were the two pitfalls of changing the world without doing God's will. He says, "John Calvin believed that an unredeemed life keeps oscillating back and forth between pride and despair." I found this quote a little shocking because I am guilty of both of these feelings many times, not just once in my life have I been guilty of these. As Christians we need to find that middle ground where we must learn to live in a state between both pride and despair, and that can be difficult at times. We can't "oscillate back and forth," we need to find a place in between these two where we are comfortable.

The Four Loves: Eros

C.S. Lewis defines Eros as "love between the sexes." He says that this is the love between a couple and it deals a lot with sexual desires and feelings towards one another, although Lewis didn't seem to address this as much as I thought he would, which I liked. Even though this book was written many years ago it still can apply to our lives today, especially because our culture is so fixated with sexuality. I think that Lewis's life, after he converted to Christianity, is a great example of how we as Christians should live. He remained celibate for many years after he converted, then he married Joy and remained faithful to her. After Joy passed away then Lewis became celibate again. I find this aspect of his life to be so fascinating because it seems like our culture today shoves sexuality down our throats and makes it seem like it is okay to have sexual relationships outside/before marriage. I completely dissagree with this aspect of our culture because God calls us to remain sexually pure, it's even included in the commandment that says not to commit adultery. Even though Lewis lived many years ago, the culture back then was still aimed towards that more aggresive sexuality, maybe not as aggresive as our culture now, but it was still evident back then.

One quote I really liked from this book was when Lewis said that "falling in love happens to us, being in love is something we have to do." I completely agree with this statement. He goes on to say that falling in love is "easy", while being in love is "hard" and you need to work on it. He compares the idea of being in love with a garden. A garden can be beautiful, but it must be worked on constanty, it cannot simply just be planted and left unnattended, it needs attention or else the weeds will overrun it. This is just like a good marriage. Too many people go into marriage thinking that it will be easy and that they won't have to work very hard to keep it, and I think that is one of the reasons for why the divorce rate in America is so high. The couples that get divorces don't want to take the time to work on their marriage, so it's easier for them to just quit it and start over with the easy part of love, and that is the part where you fall in love.

I have heard of the word Eros before, so I had an idea about what this chapter of the book would be about, but Lewis surprised me...again. I'm glad that he didn't just focus on sex in this chapter, even though that is a big part of Eros, he explored the idea of marriage and falling and being in love, which I found interesting. In my experiences I have found that falling in love is mush easier than actually being in love, but I have also learned that being in love is one of the most rewarding and best things that one can ever be a part of. Lewis forced me to rethink my own ideas of falling in love, and I agree with his ideas for the most part. This was a tough chapter to read at times, but I know I will come back to this many times in the future.

"An Inconvenient Truth"

The other day I watched the movie "An Inconvenient Truth." I had never seen this movie before, but I was well aware of what the main idea that this movie was based on. Former Vice President Al Gore is the spokesman for this documentary, and he tries to show all of us that global warming is an issue that needs our attention now, if not it will get drastically out of hand. I thought this movie was pretty decent, Gore said some things I agree with and some other things that I am skeptical of, but I admire his courage to call this issue to our world's attention.

There were a few parts of the movie when he tried to play off the emotional appeal when he talked about his son dying and him growing up on a farm. While some of these stories were interesting at some points, I didn't understand the direct connection that these events had to global warming. I thought that some of his quips towards the Bush Administration were humorous at times, including his opening line, "I am Al Gore; I used to be the next President of the United States." I can understand his frustration after the year 2000 elections, but again I couldn't find any connections here with global warming. One graph that confused me a little bit and that Gore didn't really explain was one that he showed at the beginning of the film that was just a jagged red line with a positive slope that was on the rise with no end in sight. The part about that graph that I didn't understand was the fact that he didn't really explain what the Y-axis was, it was just an increasing graph that seemed like there was no data to support it with.

Despite the fact that there were some parts of the film I disagreed with or didn't fully understand, there were parts of the film that were interesting in bringing this issue of global warming to our attention. Some of the animations that he used were frightening because they showed what will happen to our world if we keep treating it the way we are treating it today. I also liked some of the videos and photos he had, such as when some of the polar ice caps were falling into the ocean, or when he compared glaciers in our world today to how much bigger and more incredible they were many years ago. The similulation that grabbed my attention was when he showed what would happen if the polar ice caps melted. The simulation should the Netherlands under water and Manhatten flooded along with many other coastal areas being devestated by such an extreme disaster.

I thought this film did a good job of calling our attention to this growing issue in our world, and I think we should treat it seriously and with caution. We need to trust our scientists that are studying our world to figure out if this is truely an issue, and we must all do our share to help stop global warming.