Integrative essay

Agents of Shalom

 Agents of Shalom.  We hear this phrase a lot around Calvin and Cornelius Plantinga not only advocates this shalom in Engaging God’s World, but he also incorporates it into the written “Calling” of Calvin College that is posted on the website for all to see (8, 9).  Calvin has, and will continue to teach us how to grow in our relationships with God, each other, and the earth, all of which have been tainted by sin and abandoned by shalom.  If we are to be “agents of shalom” in these fallen relationships, how should we go about redeeming them?

What even is shalom?  Plantinga says in his book:  “shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, all under the arch of God’s love.”  In simpler words, shalom is when things fit the way they are supposed to (8). 

It is quite apparent that the world is not in a state of shalom.  What with the ravaging wars, natural disasters, poverty, starvation, species extinction, homicides, suicides, divorce—it is clear to see that our planet is anything but peaceful.  In order to get a picture of shalom, we have to go back to the Genesis account of Creation when God created all things good, the way He wanted them to be.  The picture of Adam and Even in the garden, taking care of each other and the plants and animals all the while directly communicating with and glorifying the Creator of them all, is the way things were supposed to be. 

Not only is glory something we give to God, but it is also something we can receive from Him.  In The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis says, “either glory means to me fame, or it means luminosity.”  After the initial instinct of seeing “fame” as a direct link to pride, Lewis explores what it really means for us as Christians to receive glory from our Father in heaven.  He gives the example of the joy a child exhibits when he receives affirmation from an elder.  Lewis concludes that the “fame” side of glory “is in fact the humblest, the most childlike, the most creaturely of pleasures--nay, the specific pleasure of the inferior: the pleasure...a child before its father...a creature before its Creator” (7).  Shalom in our relationship with God should include a childlike wonderment and be worthy of a final “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

In The Screwtape Letters: XII, Lewis writes from the perspective of Screwtape, an experienced devil, who is scheming with his nephew, Wormwood, to lead a new Christian (the patient) down the wrong path, away from his newfound faith.  Screwtape writes about the patient having a “spiritual state” that is “much the same as it was six weeks ago” and how he has a “dim uneasiness.”  As Christians, we need to be aware of the tricks and games the devil plays with us as well as with others so that we can help each other retaliate (6). 

Lewis also points out in Man or Rabbit how necessary it is for every man to explore what he believes (3).  It’s important to realize that even though our friend is a good person, he is not going to heaven unless he has accepted Christ as his Savior.  Our responsibility as Christians is to lead our brothers and sisters to Christ and quite often to keep that seed growing.  God originally created us to care for each other and to help each other flourish.  Plantinga uses the term perichoresis; the persons within God show each other a divine hospitality.  Plantinga suggests that we introduce this element into our relationships with each other; we should “make room for others and then help them flourish in the room we have made” (9).  

C.S. Lewis also gives plenty of wisdom about how to achieve wholeness and delight in a relationship with the opposite sex.  In Have No ‘Right to Happiness,’ Lewis expands on the statement, “a man has a right to happiness,” said by a man who recently left his wife to be with another woman.  The man’s statement indicated not only that he had a legal, but also a moral right to leave his wife and pursue a sexual relationship with another woman; and this is not something that Lewis or I agree with.  Lewis says that this man’s behavior was one of “cowardice” and “an offense against honest…good faith…gratitude…and common humanity.”  If the man claims to have been happy with his previous wife at one point in his life, and if that happiness managed to wear off over time, the chances of him being happy with this new woman for the rest of his life are poor.  And if that happiness continues to wear off in all his relationships, then perhaps happiness cannot be found in sex alone (2). 

Lewis suggests that there are more aspects of male-female relationships, beyond Venus (sexuality); he calls this love “Eros.”  He says that “sexuality may operate without Eros or as part of Eros,” whereas sexuality within Eros is a by-product.  A successful marriage needs more than Venus because what Venus really desires is “it (sex)…for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus,” whereas Eros wants to be with one specific woman and wants her herself, with or without sex (5). 

We can see how this Eros is necessary in Lewis’ Meditation in a Toolshed in which he gives the example of a man falling in love and being blinded to the woman’s flaws.  This experience seems absolutely ridiculous to outsiders, since they are not infatuated with this woman as he is; they are able to see her brokenness by looking at her and not along her.  If he doesn’t come to this realization until after he has married and had children with her, he might be in trouble.  In order to have a well rounded relationship, both members need to look at it while looking along it (a realization Lewis had while looking at and along a beam of light, and realizing that his view changed depending on where he was standing relative to it).  The two lenses complement each other and protect the pair from unrealistic views and expectations of each other so they can enter into the marriage safely (4).   

As we can see, and so Lewis notes in The Four Loves, “falling in love is something that happens to us, and being in love is something we do.”  Lewis describes marriage using the metaphor of a garden.  In order for a garden to grow, it needs to be weeded regularly or else the weeds will choke out the plants beyond the point of recovery.  Constant weeding out of the evils of distrust, anger, and temptations that so frequently threaten a marriage as well as constant watering of scripture, prayer, and compassion will keep the bond between a husband and wife strong (5). 

Another relationship that has been tainted by sin and is in desperate need of shalom is our relationship with the earth.  The two ways God reveals Himself to us are through general and special revelation; general being Creation, and special being scripture.  If all Creation is tainted by sin, the only way we can get a perfect picture of God is to redeem it, and every time we do something harmful to the earth, it’s like tearing out a piece of scripture.  Therefore, as Christians, it is our duty, says Plantinga, to have “responsible dominion” over the earth and its flora and fauna (9).

Often times, the dominion that God gave us Homo sapiens is misinterpreted.  Let me suggest we look back at the ancient Hebrew word that was originally used in Genesis 26-28; this word is “radah,” and we have translated it to mean “have dominion” (1).  However, the word is also used in Ezekiel with a negative connotation when God condemns such behavior: 

              Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled [radah] them harshly and brutally." (Ezekiel 34:2-5)

Thus I think we should rule in such a way that the earth and its creatures benefit; if we take care of it, it will take care of us in return.  Now, I do not think that everyone has to be a vegan hippie living in a yurt with their own vermicomposting system, but I do think we need to make more conscious decisions about what we eat, throw away, and how we live.  This is what I believe true Shalom would look like in our relationship with planet earth.

                It is our responsibility as Christians to redeem the earth back to its original state of shalom, a mission that God began when He sent Jesus to die for our sins.  Once we have been justified by his blood, we need to also sanctify ourselves by striving for prime citizenship in the Kingdom.  We should not make this a extracurricular activity but instead incorporate it into everything we do so that being “agents of shalom” is our primary vocation (9).

 Works Cited

1.       Basden, Andrew. "'Radah' - For the Other." Index Page for the Frodsham Basdens. 20 Jan. 2002. Web. 24 Jan. 2011. <http://www.basden.demon.co.uk/xn/radah.html>.

2.       Lewis, C. S. "Have No ‘Right to Happiness.”  God in the Dock; Essays on Theology and Ethics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970.

3.       Lewis, C. S. "Man or Rabbit." God in the Dock; Essays on Theology and Ethics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970.

4.       Lewis, C. S. "Meditations in a Toolshed." God in the Dock; Essays on Theology and Ethics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970.

5.       Lewis, C. S. The Four Loves. London: Collins, 1963. Print.

6.       Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters,. New York: Macmillan, 1944. Print.

7.       Lewis, C. S. "The Weight of Glory." Sermon.  Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, England. 8 June 1942.

8.       Plantinga, Cornelius. "Calvin College - About Calvin - Educating for Shalom: Our Calling as a Christian College." Calvin College - Distinctively Christian, Academically Excellent, Always Reforming. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. <http://www.calvin.edu/about/shalom.html>.

9.       Plantinga, Cornelius. Engaging God's World: a Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2002. Print.

The Problem of Pain

The first statement in Lewis' chapter on human pain was "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."  I think this is a really powerful statement because so much of my spiritual growth has taken place during painful times in my life and it reminds me of a song that really helped me get through some hard times in my life called "Beauty from Pain" by Superchick.  Thy lyrics to the chorus are:

After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

Sometimes our "deserts" can seem overwhelming and it can feel like God is just out to get us.  I've struggled a lot with resentment toward God for making me go through so much pain in my life while some people never have to deal with anything.  My school guidance counselor told me that God was putting me through those things to teach me something that would be really important in my vocation and maybe not as important in someone else's vocation.  This can seem really obnoxious-like, why can't God teach me patience by giving me an untrained puppy?  But I've come to find out that the things that you remember often come with some sort of extreme experience-good or bad.
     The other thing that stood out to me from this writing was "we cannot therefore know that we are acting at all, or primarily, for God's sake, unless the material of this action is contrary to our inclinations or (in other words) painful."  This seems to contradict what Lewis said in his Our English Syllabus when he was talking about how God gives us passions for certain things and pursuing those passions are often following his will.  These two contradictory statements left me in a very confused state and have me questioning what I'm doing here are Calvin.  I don't really know what to take from that statement.

Plantinga Ch. 5: Vocation in the Kingdom of God

     One thing that really stuck out to me in this chapter was the quote:  "Jesus invited all of his followers, including any of us today who believe in him, to participate in the kingdom as its agents, witnesses, and models."  I find that we as believers tend to focus on our actions and things we can do and say to show Christ's love to others.  However, notice that it also says "witnesses."  Witness is defined as "someone who sees an event and reports what happens."  I think we tend to look past this part of our calling because we don't really see the benefit of it.  Let me try to explain the importance of it using my experience in Guatemala on a "vision" trip as a model.
     On our trip in 2009, our team was challenged to look for visions of God's kingdom in our mission work and every evening when we had our meetings and worship time, we would discuss what we saw and figure out ways that we could take this back to our home towns.  I didn't really think that I would be able to learn much from these people, after all, they had next to nothing, what could they possibly have to teach me?  The first day we visited El Boqueron prison in Guatemala--home of one of the two top gangs in Guatemala, the Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as MS-13.  The other gang is the 18th Street gang.  These two gangs have a long history of violence towards each other including a massive prison massacre which caused the splitting of them into two different prisons because of the danger imposed from them being near each other.  At this maximum security (a lot less "maximum than U.S. prisons) prison was one of the most notorious MS-13 leaders called "Psycho" and his buddy "Diabolico."  The day before we arrived, an article had come out in Guatemala papers talking about how awful these two men are and what they did and where they were currently residing.  This article basically condemned these two men and their families to death because the other gang now knew where these two big leaders were. 
     We gave up our passports and were frisked before going into a large room with the gang members and some of their families.  I remember smelling lots of pot (which made most of our team basically high, just from inhaling it secondhand) and urine; the place was filthy and most of the men didn't have shirts on and were covered all over their heads, necks, and chests with tattoos.  Since it was family day in the prison, we set up crafts for the kids and sang songs and had time to socialize with the gang members.  While we were doing this, my youth pastor and another pastor who was with us went into Psycho's cell (we learned later what really happened) where he told them his story.  Psycho told them how this article was a death wish for him and his family and told them how he had recently realized his need for something more and had come to accept Christ.  He provided oil for our pastors to anoint him with and they prayed for him.  This big, muscular, tattoo-covered, gang member was kneeling on the ground in his own prison cell bawling his eyes out was fasting and praying to God.  Psycho also told them about a vision he had about being the voice of God to his gang. 
     This is only one example of God's scandalous grace.  There are many more people we met who were "embracing the pain of their past to repair the next generation."  Shorty - a former gang member from the streets who is now a pastor, and Tita - a former gang member, drug addict, and victim of abuse who started a school in Guatemala's most notorious slum, La Limonada.  My point is, that in even the seemingly ugliest places and situations, we were able to see incredible visions of God's Kingdom in action.  Not only can we learn from their incredible stories and deep faith in God, but we can also let this be a reminder to keep our eyes and ears open to our current surroundings so that we can see God's Kingdom around us.  Also, may we contribute our own Kingdom visions-and passionately act on them.  Dream big!

Man or Rabbit

     In Man or Rabbit, Lewis discusses the question, "Can't you lead a good life without believing in Christianity?"  Lewis suggests that often what people really mean by this question is more like, "I don't care whether Christianity is in fact true or not.  All I'm interested in is leading a good life. I'm going to choose beliefs not because I think them true but because I find them helpful."  This is the approach that many take toward religion these days; they don't bother figuring out why something they believe in is true, they just believe in it because it is convenient for them.  Lewis says that our desire to "find out what reality is" is on of the things that "distinguishes man from animal.," and when man doesn't quench that desire, he is not being "fully human."
    This reminds me of what Francis Collins (geneticist who lead one of the groups in the Human Genome Project) warns against in his book The Language of God.  He says that we have to be careful in only letting God exist in the aspects of realities that science can't explain.  Lewis was mainly talking in his paper about non-Christians being guilty of choosing to remain ignorant of Christianity because they don't want to deal with the hard questions.  But I think Christians are also guilty of not knowing why they believe what they believe and letting God take over when we don't have the answers to the same hard questions.  We need to be careful of this ignorance as well.  Yes, God is the answer, but we need to go beyond that and figure out why we believe in Him.
     Lewis says that the man asking this question is not really asking if he can lead a good life without believing in Christianity, but instead "Mayn't I just avoid the issue, let sleeping dogs lie, and get on with being 'good'?"  But how is a man to do good if he doesn't even know what good is?  For he cannot truly know what good is without investigating the possibilities-including Christian beliefs of good and evil.  Lewis says "He is like the man who won't look at his bank account because he's afraid of what he might find there."  This man is in the state of "dishonest error" and this dishonesty will "spread through all his thoughts and actions" and does not deserve God's grace.
     A good life will do us no good without Christ in our lives.  The man who remains ignorant and doesn't even bother to figure out anything about God is condemned to hell.  There's no nice way to put it.  This is a harsh reminder to us as Christians to reach out to our non-Christian friends and challenge them to find out for themselves what they believe to be true.  That is, if we want to see them in heaven.
    

The Inner Ring

     Lewis wrote this paper for the oration at the University of London in 1944.  Although things today are a bit different, "Inner Ring" still exists today the same (if not more) as it did back then.  People today are so driven toward success in school, their families, their workplaces; don't get me wrong, goals are important to have-but only if they're for the right reasons.  Lewis addresses this unwritten and unorganized system of hierarchies into which no one is actually formally admitted. 
     Lewis talks about how one intrinsically knows when he is outside or inside this ring, but it gets confusing when one lies on the borderline.  These rings exist everywhere in society and often one notices that when he makes it into the ring that "there was a Ring yet more inner."  Lewis says that "in all men's' lives at certain periods and in many men's lives at all periods between infancy and extreme old age, one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside."  These inner rings are unavoidable and can exist as good or evil.
     Lewis talks about the danger of what I think we call today "peer pressure" within these groups.  A man of good moral character may exist outside the ring but once he enters he chooses to follow suit of those withing the ring, thus making poor decisions in the eye of the group.  I myself am guilty of this.  Although I have always been blessed with very good friends who are strong in their moral behavior and relationship with God, there have been a couple times when I chose to go along with a different group.  For example, my roommate last year (who is no longer at Calvin) was a little bit (sometimes a lot bit) of a partier and I, coming from a small, Dutch CRC town and a private school where I very much avoided that side of things, was naiive to all that was going on.  One night I went out with her and some of her friends and went to a hookah lounge (I had no idea what that even meant) and although I had previously decided I was never going to smoke any substance, I set aside my moralities in order to look cool.  Now, I know there are far worse things to do than hookah and I will admit I kind of enjoyed it (but will never do it again for the sake of my lungs), it is still an example of what the inner ring does to you. 
     This is not a very serious example, but if I would have continued to hang out with that group of people, who's to know what other moralities such as those related to alcohol, drugs, and sex I would have set aside.  Every time you get into one of those "inner circles" it's like peeling off another layer of an onion, and once you get to the middle, there's hardly anything left (this is using the onion example in a different context than what Lewis originally had...)
     However, Lewis does say that these groups can be good.  Close friendships with people who share similar interests with you are important.  However, it is the intent of the group that makes it good or bad.  For in the Inner Ring, "exclusion is no accident; it is the essence."  Lewis makes the powerful statement "The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it."  I think that we need to be aware of what we are striving for and for what reasons.  We need to be careful in who we choose for friends, but we also need to sometimes reach out to people who we might not like because that is the only way the Ring can be broken.
    

Eros

     In C.S. Lewis' book The Four Loves, he addresses four different kinds of love.  Our assignment was to read the section titled Eros, that is, the love between the sexes.  Lewis does a good job of looking at this kind of love from different angles.  One would expect this passage to be all about sexual attraction, but Lewis says "sexual experience can occur without Eros, without being 'in love,' and that Eros includes other things besides sexual activity."  Not too long ago, marriages were arranged early on in life between two children; they never had Eros in their relationship.  Lewis says "the times and places in which marriage depends on Eros are in a small minority."  I think this is important to note because, especially this day in age, we put so much emphasis on finding one's "soul mate" or a girl falling dramatically in love with her "knight in shining armor."  This "falling in love" may happen (I wouldn't know) but it doesn't last.  This part of love is a privilege some people get to experience for longer than others. But Lewis points out that "falling in love happens to us" but "being in love is something we do."  I think that if we are always in the state we are in when we first fell in love, marriage is going to be a huge disappointment because we will realize that our partner is indeed not perfect.
      Another thing that Lewis says that I think is important is that "sexual desire wants it, the thing in itself;  Eros wants the Beloved."  Often a man thinks he wants a woman, but really, he only needs her to get what he really wants-sex.  Lewis compares this to a packet of cigarettes, for "one does not keep the carton after one has smoked the cigarettes."  Eros is so much more than this "by-product" of sex; in Eros,  a man desires one particular woman and sees within her what is admirable, not just what he can get from her physically.  Lewis even says that "Eros, without diminishing desire, makes abstinence easier."
     Another thing that we talked about in class is the role of the man and woman in the marriage and I really liked the comparison Lewis makes with a husband being to his wife "what Christ is to the Church.  He is to love her as Christ loved the Church--and give his life for her."  Unfortunately, I don't know what it's like to have a father or a husband (working on that...) who is a strong leader in the household.  My mom had a rough time in high school and settled for the first guy she could get (I do still love my father, although I don't like how he treated my mother).  My father did not take the initiative and their marriage fell apart.  I'm not saying that all marriages with this problem fall apart, but without the husband taking this role, there is a greater strain on the relationship.  I've learned from my mother (and my grandparents who have been married over 50 years (:  ) to not settle, and to work hard in my relationships.  I think it is really important for us to figure out exactly what we want in a husband (or a wife) before we even start dating because it can be so easy to end up in relationships that don't work out.  There are going to be problems in every relationship but it's how you deal with them that determines if it's going to last.
    Finally, Lewis gives us the beautiful picture of what love should be:  "Eros never hesitates to say, "Better this that parting.  Better to be miserable with her than happy without her.  Let our hearts break provided they break together."  No one is ever going to get that fairy tale happy ending.  There are going to be many struggles.  A person whom you love is going to stick by your side while you're going through life's storms and come out stronger with you on the other side.  We need to want to be with that person "for better or worse, in sickness and in health...etc."  These vows are more than just words--the sickness and the "worse" are for real going to come.  "To be in love is both to intend and to promise fidelity."
   

Learning in War-Time

Lewis addresses an issue in this book that I have spent a lot of time thinking about.  Why am I spending all my time and money at Calvin when the rest of the world is starving and dying without knowing about God? 
     The first point that stood out to me is stated as "The war creates no absolutely new situation:  it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it."  Lewis goes on to say that "If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun."  If we are going to wait for the whole world to be fed and at peace before we pursue an education, it is simply never going to happen, because we cannot create for ourselves heaven on earth-it will never happen. 
     Also, I would like to point out that by attending Calvin (although opposed to those who believe/get caught up in the Calvin "bubble") I don't think that we are ignoring the pain of the world.  We all know that attendance at Calvin does not make you a Christian and does not isolate you from the pain of the world.  There are many ways we can respond and reach out to people in the Calvin community AND beyond without even leaving the Calving campus.  If we look at the incident that happened last year in NVW with the pop bottle bomb, we know that the media is ready to pounce on Calvin if they receive any evidence of foul-play.  This puts a lot of pressure on our community.  But I think that we can show the love of Christ through things like that by the ways we respond to criticism from the outside as well as the ways we take care of each other within our community.  In the same way, Lewis says that "Christianity does not simply replace our natural life and substitute a new one: it is rather a new organization which exploits, to its own supernatural ends, these natural materials."
    Lewis goes on to talk about our "upbringing, talents, and circumstances are usually a tolerable index of our vocation."  If God wants us to do something with our lives, he will provide the resources and opportunities to get there.  He often leads us by putting certain passions in our hearts-sometime this appetite is for more knowledge-and "God makes no appetite in vain."  If I have an overflowing passion for biology, that's probably a good indication that God is calling me to study biology.  "The learned life is, for some, a duty."
     Finally, I really like the quote "The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable.  Favorable conditions never come."  Sometimes you have to dive into something you don't have the resources for and pray that God will provide the rest that you need to finish.  If He doesn't provide, then maybe you're doing the wrong thing.

Plantinga Ch. 4: Redemption

This chapter offered a bit more encouragement than the last.  One of the quotes that stuck out to me was when Plantinga was talking about Jesus being the "perfect penitent" and how he "absorbed evil without passing it on."  What would the world look like if we "absorbed evil without passing it on?"  I think this goes along with the part of the Beatitudes that says, "blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you for my sake."  This is the very thing that Jesus did, but he also absorbed our debts and paid for them in full.  Jesus refused to return evil with evil and instead offers love and forgiveness.  This reminds me of a quote by Martin Luther King Jr.: 

           “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of enmity. By its very nature, hate destroys and tears down; by its very nature, love creates and builds up. Love transforms with redemptive power” (Strength to Love).  

     I also was struck by "Everybody wants liberty.  The problem is that everybody wants it on his own terms."  This is of course talking about the liberty we receive in Christ-liberty from our sins.  Many times I pray, asking God for forgiveness and for help in living a better life from now on.  The problem is, I go about doing all the things I want, the way I want to do them.  Many people get confused with the verses that say "faith without works is dead" but "good works alone can't get you to heaven."  This is where the terms justification and sanctification come in.  Justification is the when we become free from our sins.  If that justification means anything to us as Christians, we will follow it up with sanctification-that is, becoming more Christ-like.  We often want all the benefits of Christianity (eternal life) without having to live a Christian life.  Every single day we need to die to ourselves, and become alive again in Christ. 
    We also need to constantly grow in our relationship with Christ-by "trying on our grown-up clothes."  If we clothe ourselves with the virtues of Christ every day, eventually they will fit.  This is how we become like Christ.  Every time we win a battle for God, whether it be in our mind or in our actions, these "clothes" fit a little bit better.

Plantinga Ch. 3: The Fall

     This chapter opens with the familiar Christian hymn "This is my Father's World," a perfect picture of shalom.  Plantinga then reminds us that although this is how God intended the earth to be in the beginning, sin did enter the earth; and now, Creation sings and rings AND groans.  In his book "Our Father's World:  Mobilizing the Church to Care for Creation," Edward Brown describes the Fall as a "shattering of relationships...like dominoes, they fall one after another."  He says that not only was our relationship with God broken, but so was our relationships with ourselves, each other, and the rest of all creation.  As an aspiring biologist/ecologist, this makes sense because everything on this earth is interconnected; it's the whole concept of interconnected-ness.  Much the same, since everything is infected with this sin, it is very hard to get rid of-like pulling out a plant whose roots are interconnected with another plant's-because "the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." 
     This chapter also challenged me to think about what evil is exactly.  According to Urban Dictionary, evil is (besides girls) "the essential ingredient for the making of humans."  Plantinga says that "evil is what's wrong with the world, and it includes trouble in nature as well as in human nature" or "a spoiling of shalom."  He also says that "sin is a subset of evil:  it's an evil for which someone is to blame...all sin is evil, but not all evil is sin." 
     I found it especially interesting when he talked about evil being a parasite on good.  Evil has no life on its own;  after all, we can't have evil unless we have good.  Plantinga says, "Badness can't be very bad without tapping deeply into goodness.  Badness is twisted goodness."  This evilness, as we've read in some of our C.S. Lewis papers, is something we are born into and cannot avoid.  This evilness "shadows" us from God's glory and the only way we can get back in the full light is through the one who created it all, because "such fixes are tainted with the same corruption that needs fixing."  Therefore, our only hope is "that God has addressed human corruption from outside the system."  We ourselves cannot save humanity, we can only plant the seeds and maybe water them.  Only through God can the shadow of sin be removed in order to allow the light to shine upon them.
    

The Poison of Subjectivism

     This paper brought up so many ideas and made me think hard about a lot of things after which I came to no greater understanding or conclusion of the matter.  This paper presented a lot of the same ideas about the Moral Law as Lewis talked about in Mere Christianity.  Lewis talks about there being "sentiments, or complexes, or attitudes, produced in a community by the pressure of its environment and its traditions, and differing from one community to another." and that our feelings related to good and evil "have been socially conditioned."
     We talked in class about how it used to be socially acceptable for men to have multiple wives and how that has evolved today (in most cultures) into being frowned upon by society.  Was that because our morality evolved?  When we look at Paul's letters, we see that this change in morality happened between the Old and the New Testaments.  I find this really interesting to have happened before the Christian church really exploded.  Could it be that the evolution of Greek and Roman culture changed and since our world has been so heavily influenced by Greek and Roman Culture that the rest of the world's view of polygamy changed as well?
     Lewis talked about an overarching standard to which all morality conforms.  The views of what is good and what is evil can vary from culture to culture, but there is some center that all humanity is drawn to.  Why is that?  Can man even "create values" or a can a "community choose it's 'ideology' as men choose their clothes."  I would provide some deep theologically influenced answer to this question, but as Lewis so often says in his writings, I have no theological background other than growing up in the church and I am merely human.  Usually I avoid these types of questions because I hate not having answers; but this class has stretched my thinking zone-almost to the point of insanity.  If we knew the answers to everything though, we wouldn't need faith and without faith-our whole belief doesn't mean anything.  I really liked how Lewis talked about how God is not a human and therefore cannot be comprehended by the human mind.  The important things we need to know about God have been presented to us in the Bible and Creation-everything else, we can only try to understand.  I'm still turning this over in my mind, but here's what I have so far :)  

Mere Christianity: Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe

     In the first section of this book, Lewis describes the Moral Law in vivid detail.  He begins by stating "Quarreling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong.  And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are."  Lewis proves ever so simply that there is some standard of morality in which all of the human race implicitly agrees on.  This "law" is different from the laws of gravity and chemistry in that man can choose whether or not to follow it.  Once again, I am reminded of a passage from my book, East of Eden:
   

     "The King James translation makes a promise in 'Thou shalt,' meaning that men will surely triumph over      sin.  But the Hebrew word, the word timshel--'Thou mayest'--that gives a choice.  It might be the most important word in the world.  That says the way is open.  That throws it right back on a  man.  For if 'Thou mayest'--it is also true that 'Thou mayest not.'  Don't you see?...and there are millions more who feel predestination in 'Thou shalt.'  Nothing they may do can interfere with what will be.  But 'Thou mayest'!  Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice.  He can choose his course and fight it through and win.  It is easy out of laziness, out of weakness, to throw oneself into the lap of deity, saying 'I couldn't help it; the way was set.'  But think of the glory of the choice!  That makes a man a man...The human soul.  It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe.  It is always attacked and never destroyed--because 'Thou mayest.'"

   
     This passage seems to fit perfectly with what Lewis is saying in this chapter.  We know what is the right thing to do, but we don't do it most of the time.  Lewis talks of the materialist view-that of everything just coming to be because of chance, or a series of chances-and the religious view-there is some sort of mind behind the universe that is conscious and has purpose-and neither of these laws can be proven correct based on science, because science only observes by experimentation and does not provide answers to questions like, "why is there a universe?" and "Why does it go on as it does?".  But since we can only look in ourselves to explain this, and since we are governed by laws and therefore do not exist on our own, there has to be some "Power behind the facts, a Director, a Guide."
       For some reason God has chosen humanity to bear His image and to live under this Moral law.  However, we do have a choice..."Thou mayest."  Why He chose us, I do not know.  But I think we should bear this honor with humility and respect and be conscious of our every decision because the Creator of the ENTIRE universe has bestowed it upon us.

Screwtape Letters

     In his 12th letter to his nephew, Wormwood, the "experienced devil" Screwtape gives encouragement and advice on how to lure away a "patient" (Christian) from the "orbit around the Enemy" (God).  Screwtape writes "He must be made to imagine that all the choices that have effected this change of course are trivial and revocable."  This is applicable to today in that the devil tries to convince us every day that the small choices we make that are dishonoring to God don't really matter and can be taken back.  This is especially tricky because as Christians, we know that our sins are forgiven and that the price has already been paid by Jesus on the cross; so in a sense (I want to be careful here), our sins are paid for before we even commit them.  However, it is soooo so important for us to realize that we can't use this as an excuse!  If God is our Father and our Creator, we need to fear Him and respect Him and not take advantage of the grace and mercy He has so freely given us.  We don't deserve this gift at all and can do nothing to earn it; if we truly accept that gift, we should not abuse it. 
      Screwtape mentions the "patient" as having friends whose "spiritual state is the same as it was six weeks ago."  This is convicting to me.  I so easily settle for mediocrity and too often become a "lukewarm" Christian.  This reminds me of a passage from the book I'm reading, East of Eden by John Steinbeck.  Samuel says to Adam, "There you have the difference between greatness and mediocrity.  It's not an uncommon disease.  But it's nice for a mediocre man to know that greatness must be the loneliest state in the world."  As Christians we should constantly be seeking to know God on a different level and looking for Him in the darkest places.  We should look for new ways to be challenged by entering those dark places and letting our light shine.  However, if we go after God with our whole heart here on earth, we will be rejected.  We will be hated.  We will be persecuted.  We will quite often be alone.  However, if we settle for this mediocrity in our faith, in our relationships, in our careers--we will never know what reward we could have gotten.  For the Bible says, ""Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." 
     Screwtape then talks about a "dim uneasiness" which "increases the patients reluctance to think about the Enemy.  All humans at nearly all times have some such reluctance; but when thinking of Him involves facing and intensifying a whole cloud of half-conscious guilt, this reluctance is increased tenfold."  Deep inside every one of us lies this "dim uneasiness."  Everybody doubts their faith or at times realize how sinful they are and lose hope.  These thoughts are straight from Satan, trying to convince us that God's mercy isn't big enough to cover what we've done.  In my life, I began to believe the lie Satan was feeding me that I was fat and ugly and would never have any guy ever love me.  I started making myself throw up after meals and exercising excessively.  Every night I would lie awake in bed thinking of the verse "glorify God with your body."  I would realize the abuse I was afflicting on my body and felt guilty.  Satan took that guilt and watered it, making me believe that I wasn't acceptable to God as I was, which made me feel worse about myself and then, as I talked about before, I would think, "well, I've thrown up lots of times already, God is just as likely to forgive me if I do it just once more."  This is why there are so many problems with addictions.  It's a whole cycle of guilt/remorse-->shame/depression-->re-commitments-->stress-->acting out.  The devil is tricky-he "prowls around like a hungry lion waiting for someone to devour."
     Finally Screwtape says, "Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one."  Satan does not only use the big things in our lives to consume us, he uses the small things even more.  We need to be alert and grounded in our faith and we cannot settle for mediocrity.  We also need to surround and be surrounded by other believers who can help us be aware and fight temptations when they come.

Plantinga Ch. 2: Creation

     Plantinga starts out this chapter talking about the intricate relationship between God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit which the Greek church called "perichoresis."  He especially emphasized the hospitality between the three and told of how each "made room for the others" and "helped them flourish in that room they had made."  This was convicting to me, especially in the state I'm in right now.  I feel like over the past few years especially (really, my whole life) I've been focusing only on myself.  Since my sophomore year in high school I was bulimic and until very recently had not been able to let go of that addiction.  I was going to different counselors and my conversations with my friends were mainly about my issues with my family.  My senior year was all about making myself look good on college and scholarship apps. and leading my school's orchestra on tour and performing my senior recital.  It was really all about me. 
    Then, when I came to Calvin, things started being not about me anymore.  My gpa was not as high as it was in high school, I was no longer the best violinist in the orchestra, I didn't have any family around or my  friends that I had known since kindergarten, and on top of that, I was trying to stop throwing up AND trying not to gain weight from dining hall food (all as a means of trying to make myself thinner so I'd be more attractive so the guys would like me).  What did this gain me?  Well, honestly...a crappy first semester, a night in the hospital after a huge overdose, a HUGE medical/ambulance bill to pay, and a bad relationship with my former roomate. 
      However, when I look back on my experience, I don't think I would change any of it.  There were things that I missed out on, yes.  But what I gained-an understanding that it's not all about me.  I'm not saying that I remember that all the time, because I probably am still thinking about myself 99% of the time; however, I know what problems I have to fix now and have the resources and the strength to get through them.  I have also come to realize the joy I can get from helping others grow in their faith; whether it's giving them a passage from Scripture, praying for them, or talking to them-it's so much more fulfilling than focusing on oneself, and so much more a picture of what God wants our relationships with each other to be like.
     Back to the book.  I really liked how Plantinga said, "Nothing internal or external to God compelled Him to create" and "Creation is neither a necessity nor an accident.  Instead...creation is an act that was fitting for God."  This goes back to the whole idea of Shalom-the way things are supposed to be, or when everything fits the way it's supposed to.  "The study of creation is a classic opportunity to read Scripture and the natural world together."  However, being the crazy environmentalist that I am, I know how tainted and ruined creation has become, especially since humans came into the picture.  Like I said in class, when a piece of nature is destroyed (and yes, there are things in nature that we cannot bring back once they are gone), it's like tearing out a page of Scripture-because it ruins another chance to see God.  "Nature is God's textbook.  To read God, we read nature."  Plantinga mentioned that the rainbow was a covenant between God and ALL LIVING creatures.  Not just humans.  It is true that we are made in the image of God and thus are in a sense "apart from" the rest of creation and have "responsible dominion;" but at the same time, we are supposed to be "a part of" creation-giving it room to be itself, just like each member of the Trinity gave each other room.
   I haven't even touched on near all that was in this chapter-so much CRC theology!  However, these are the parts that I am most passionate about.

The Weight of Glory

     There were so many phenomenal insights in this paper, I hardly even know where to begin.  The first thing that stuck out to me was his statement about us being "half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us...we are far too easily pleased."  This quote is made me think of the things I want and why I want them.  We talked in class about how we shouldn't ask for something to see what we can get but in order to bring glory to God.  As a woman who has experienced a lot of rejection and abuse by men in my life, I think my deepest desire in life is to be loved by a godly man and to have a relationship with him-the kind that I talked about in an earlier post.  However, I want this for myself.  I never really thought about wanting it for the purpose of bringing glory to God.
    Another idea that I took from this paper is "the scriptural picture of heaven is therefore just as symbolical as the picture which our desire, unaided, invents for itself."  I find myself daydreaming like, 90% of the time I'm awake.  My desire to be loved creates in my mind a modern day fairytale romance that quite often is unrealistic-that is, probably won't ever happen that way.  However, our relationships here on earth give us a picture of what our relationship with God will be like in heaven, only, that WILL be the perfect romance and nothing is unrealistic!
     Next comes Lewis' view of glory.  He says that there are two ideas of glory for him; "either glory means to me fame, or it means luminosity,"  the first of which "seems wicked and the other ridiculous."  Lewis looks deeper into the "fame" side of glory as not fame with fellow creatures but fame with God.  We all want to hear God say to us, "well done my good and faithful servant" just like a child takes pleasure in praise from an elder.  This, says Lewis "is in fact the humblest, the most childlike, the most creaturely of pleasures--nay, the specific pleasure of the inferior: the pleasure...a child before its father...a creature before its Creator."    I never thought about this either but it sure makes me feel better for desiring that affirmation and accepting it as an important image of heaven.  If we truly work to bring God glory, we will get that great reward of affirmation from the one who Created all! 
   The last quote I want to emphasize from this paper is "Nature is only the first sketch."  First of all, I think that Lewis meant all of earthly Creation-since Nature implies only the "natural" and I would like to think that the mountains and the ocean (abiotic factors) are part of the sketch.  I also think that relationships, culture, and other intellectual and leisurely activities are part of this sketch.  This made me shiver with anticipation.  I am already so in love with God from experiencing earthly creation.  If Creation is only the first sketch, and it already possesses an exquisite beauty that is in itself almost unbelievable to us as humans, I can't even imagine what heaven will be like!!!  How much greater are the relationships in heaven going to be?  Think of the most beautiful place you've ever been on earth and the time when you were so happy you couldn't stop smiling and laughing-and now multiply that times infinity-that is what heaven will be like and that is unimaginable to our mere human minds.

Our English Syllabus

In Our English Syllabus, Lewis discusses the differences between education and vocational training.  He explains education as the acquisition of general skills which every man must possess in order to act civilized in public and to be "prepared for leisure."  Vocational training on the other hand, "prepares for work," by teaching men specific skills he needs to be an electrician or a surgeon.  Lewis says that "education is essentially for freemen and vocational training for slaves."  The danger that Lewis points out, is "that equality may mean training for all and education for none...for if education is beaten by training, civilization dies." 
    Lewis also suggests that "the master is already human, and the pupil a mere candidate for humanity."  This quote reminds me of the first day of organic chemistry this past September.  Professor Tatko told our class that we were "merely shells of true human beings," because we didn't know any o-chem; but "soon, we would be filled and become real people, who know o-chem."  Now, he was slightly biased, since his chosen profession was synthetic organic chemistry; however, I think that what he said goes right along with Lewis.  In a sense, we are "shells of human beings" before we are educated.  Our minds are void of knowledge, the knowledge that our elders possess and in turn, pass on to us. 
    Next Lewis says, "Now learning, considered in itself, has, on my view, no connexion at all with education.  It is an activity for men--that is for beings who have already been humanized by this kneading and moulding process."  This statement seems a little odd.  I think that education is where learning begins and teachers are often the people who get us excited about a certain subject which we may or may not continue to learn about.  I know that I found subjects of particular interest while in middle and high school-subjects that I still pursue today.  Was I not "learning" back then?  I don't really see a difference between the two.
    He talks about learning being the activity for someone who "thirsts for knowledge," and thus attends the university.  I don't know if I'm misinterpreting Lewis, but I don't think I agree with this.  I don't think that learning only takes place at a university and just from an elder.  Many things can be learned by observing creation, talking to people-older or younger, and individual thinking, all of which can happen outside the university AND without one's consent.  I don't think one can "not propose to pursue learning all their lives."
    

Right to Happiness?

     In his essay Have No Right To Happiness, Lewis talks about a husband who leaves his wife in order to be with another woman who is leaving her husband.  Both couples were clearly not happy with their present partner due to changes they had undergone due to things like childbirth and the effects of war.  After the man's previous wife had committed suicide, he felt bad, but said to Lewis: "But what could I do?  A man has a right to happiness.  I had to take my one chance when it came."
     Lewis goes on to talk about how we as Americans have the "right to pursue happiness by all lawful means."  It is clear that what they are talking about is not just 'happiness' but 'sexual happiness.'  "They meant that sex was to be treated as no other impulse in our nature has ever been treated by civil­ized people."
     I don't agree at all with the man's statement.  Lewis even says something about a lot of happiness is outside of human control.  I myself am a victim of divorce; my father chose to pursue happiness outside his marriage by looking at porn-and after never truly satisfying that need, he soon became addicted.  The addiction grew and grew and progressed into exploration of homosexuality and he is now in a relationship with another man (I share this because I don't currently talk to him and I know he will not read this).  This goes to show that sexual happiness can never be truly met, and if that's true, then maybe 'sex' is not the thing that one is trying to fulfill.  I have never been in a relationship with a guy, but I'd like to think that romance is more than just sex all the time. Personally, I desire so much more in a relationship; deep conversations, praying together, encouragement (even constructive criticism-sometimes), and someone to go on adventures and have fun with.  When I see how my parents and lots of other couples' relationships end up, it terrifies me that there is nobody out there that wants a relationship like I do and are willing to work for it and at it.  Sometimes happiness is a choice.  If you're not happy with your present partner, it doesn't mean go out and find a new one.  For me, marriage happens once.
     As Christians, we are taught in the 10 Commandments that adultery is wrong and the sense of morality within us as humans should also hold us back from jumping from one partner to the next.  Even if the man was going to be happy with this other woman, so many more people were going to be hurt; his wife, her husband, their children (if any), and any close family members and friends that watch the relationship being broken--that hardly makes it worth it.  God also tells us in the Bible to put others before ourselves and clearly, these people are not doing that.  
    We talked in class about how skewed the picture of 'happiness' has become in the world today.  Most people today have been overtaken by the "American Dream" (getting rich, having a huge house, 3 children, a job that they love...etc.) and lost sight of what happiness really is.  Little does one know, happiness can never be permanently achieved here on earth.  Sure there are many things that temporarily make us happy; but when it comes down to it, as Plantinga suggested in his book, there is always something in us that wants more.  
     I find this a very hard thing to do!  What we need to do, is think of our actions and decisions in terms of the far (or possibly near, I guess) future--HEAVEN.  It's hard because none of us really know what it's going to be like, other than amazing :) Our time here on earth is like a dot compared to the time we'll spend in heaven.  Our job as Christians is not to pursue happiness (although we do receive frequent blessings from God-but not always).  We are called to be disciples of Christ.  I was told on a mission trip, during a point when everyone on our team was worn out, that exhaustion is what we should be feeling when we follow Jesus at His pace-it's INTENSE!  However, the reward we shall receive in the end is beyond anything we can imagine and that truly makes it worth the fight. 
Matthew 6:19-20, 33; Proverbs 28:10

Engaging God's World: Ch. 1

Plantinga opens the chapter talking about the book A Separate Peace; the character Gene Forrester talks about how he wanted to "break out crying from stabs of hopeless joy, or intolerable promise, or because those mornings were too full of beauty for me."  I can admit that I have these experiences ALL the time.  I'm a very dramatic and passionate person-especially when it comes to God's creation.  When I go hiking in the North Cascades back home in WA, I cannot contain my excitement over the beauty of the mountains and the meadows and the view of the San Juan Islands!!  Sometimes I literally throw up my arms and scream out of happiness.  I have a similar experience when I listen to certain music-particularly the Shostakovich String Quartet no. 8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjvTTfbpWjY)-since I am a violinist and avid listener of classical music; certain pieces of music make me start rocking out-which probably seems weird to most people.  I definitely have experienced this uncontainable joy.

   Plantinga goes on to describe how we often long to "get back" or "get in" those present or past experiences but explains how nature and music cannot "open her arms to receive us."  There is something in us that always wants more; and these things that make us so joy-filled are wonderful-but not final.  "Nothing in earth can finally satisfy us," Plantinga states, because our final joy lies, and he quotes Tolkien, "beyond the walls of the world."  Augustine suggests that the reason we can never be filled on this earth is because God "has made us for himself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."

This part was a bit hard to read because, as a human being, I want the world to fulfill the desires of my heart and often times I am so focused on my role here on earth that I forget about heaven and the wonders-beyond imagination-that it holds.  This being a book by a Calvin college professor, Plantinga of course brings in the idea from John Calvin of sensus divinitatus, or "sense of divinity;" the idea that humans always have a sense of God that "runs in us like a stream, even though we divert it toward other objects."  When I'm in my WA mountains, I often feel this sense (it is different for me however, since I already have faith and a relationship with God) that goes like "how can anyone NOT believe in a Creator after seeing beauty like this?!" or in one of my biology classes, learning about the complexity of cells, DNA, and enzymes such as phosphofructokinase (I just wanted to drop that word) that are so specific and essential to the function of our human body as a whole-"how could all of this be a result of chance?"

    College is a time to grow and discover those things that excite us and eventually develop into passions.  It is our responsibility as Christians to turn those passions into actions.  I have begun to see, particularly last semester, those things for which God has instilled in me a hope-a combination of faith and desire-which have/are developing into deep passions.  These passions all point to some sort of justice I want in the world; for me particularly-conservation of the earth, which I believe starts with educating people about the land on which they dwell and the problems that are destroying it.  If people know the land and experienced it (as I have, hiking in the mountains, and exploring tide pools) they will come to love if.  If they only knew the complex relationships of everything in the environment, they would see how little things they do percolate throughout the food chain or the water cycle (etc) and would start to think about this planet that God has allowed us to live on and how he wants us to treat it.  This is the way I want to be an "agent of shalom."

Bulverism

      "Bulverism" is a term coined by C.S. Lewis that is used to describe a certain ailment that is commonly used in society today.  Usually one would show that an argument is wrong by providing evidence; bulverism on the other hand, assumes that the argument is wrong and then goes on to distract and explain why the person came up with the argument.  Thus, instead of considering that person's argument, you dismiss it, saying that it was obtained irrationally.
    
     We talked in class about how this is used in modern day arguments.  As I mentioned before, I have recently become interested in evolution.  When I went home over Christmas break, I had my grandpa (a former biology teacher) read the Harlow article that I had to read for class and we sat down and discussed it rationally.  However, when I went to my dad's side of the family on Christmas day, I had mentioned that I took an evolution and ecology class this past semester and I mentioned that I had changed my previous beliefs on evolution and now believe that human evolution is a possibility.  My uncle immediately shot me down, saying that "you are wrong, because Genesis clearly states..."  He didn't even let me get a word in as to why I had changed my position on the issue.  This is one example of how bulverism is still alive today.  A lot of times I get really angry when I start debating evolution, not because I want them to agree with my opinion, but because I just want them to listen to the details of my argument.  I admit to being guilty of ruling out arguments many times before I even know the real reasons behind them.  We talked in class about humility playing a big part in arguments over issues such as evolution, and being able to admit that we could be wrong.  The Bible gives us guidance and examples but it does not give us the whole story.  We need to step back and see it for what it was back in the day it was written.  Even then, there are going to be issues-but if we knew the truth about everything, God wouldn't be so amazing!
    
      It was also mentioned in class that we need to know the background of the people to whom we are going to evangelize to-but I think that we also need to know the background of the people we argue with as well.  When I was in Guatemala a couple years ago, we talked a lot about "having eyes to see and ears to hear."  We need to listen to the stories of the least, last, and lost people and watch how they live before we can try to help them.  Sometimes just seeing and hearing them can in and of itself be a blessing to them.  Immigration is a huge issue in our country and I know a lot of people in the town where I live (Lynden grows a ton of raspberries) are against immigrants because they "come in illegally, take all our jobs, get all sorts of benefits, and don't even learn our language."  I think part of being a Christian, and even just being a member of a community, we need to be careful of making judgments; even if one migrant's immigration journey may not be justified, that does not mean that all migrant workers' stories are the same.  I think that this is also an example of bulverism.

Meditations in a Toolshed

       In C.S. Lewis' article Meditations in a Toolshed, he analyzes a beam of light shining through a crack in the door of a toolshed.  He starts out by looking at it and then moves so that he is standing in the beam ergo alternating the whole picture at which he was previously gazing.  He realizes that our experiences are very much the same in that we get one experience looking at something and another while looking at it.  He gives an example of a man meeting a girl and suddenly seeing the whole world differently.  He is intrigued by her and to him, she is perfect and all time spent with her is better than any time spent with other women.  However, if a scientist would view this relationship from the outside, he sees the young man's experience as "an affair of the young man's genes and a recognized biological stimulus."  Lewis goes on to talk about the two ways of viewing things being important for different situations as well as the two working together to gain a better understanding of something.
   
     I find myself guilty of looking at things the wrong way--using only one point of view which may be the wrong point of view or incomplete without the other.  Sometimes it is easy to judge situations while looking at them from the outside and never having experienced them ourselves.  I often look at the decisions people make with their lives or the situations they put themselves in and think they are doing the wrong thing, but without having experienced the situations that lead up to those choices, can I really make a judgment of their behavior?  I was raised in a small CRC church, one that my dad grew up in.  As a result, I never really saw any problems with it.  However, when my parents got divorced, I stepped outside that church and started going to another church and began to see a whole lot of problems to which I had previously been blinded.  Looking at things with only one perspective can often blind us from the whole picture.     
      
     Another thing that this article made me think about (which was also brought up in class) was our views on different issues within the church.  I have become especially interested in evolution after taking Bio225 last semester.  I attended a Christian school my whole life which was very closely affiliated with the CRC and was always taught in my science classes that human evolution was not a possibility because of what the Bible says.  However, after taking that class--particularly after reading the article by Calvin's religion professor, Harlow--I was able to see outside that viewpoint and look at Genesis and evolution as a tool from a whole new perspective and changed my belief drastically.  I'm not disregarding the Bible or the fact that we bear God's image, but I am reading Genesis in a different light than I did for the first 19.5 years of my life.
   
     Finally, I thought that Lewis' last comment "But the period of brow-beating has got to end" is very important to this post [post] modern way of thinking.  With all the advances in science and technology, perspectives on the world and human though and pretty much everything are changing and will keep changing.  As Christians, we need to be careful in misjudging AND in arguing about things that are not essential to our faith.  So what if I believe that humans evolved from apes; do I still believe that God created the earth?  Of course.  There is a lot more I could say about that, but what I'm trying to say is that we need to choose our battles wisely and not argue over the little things that will not keep us from salvation.  (Although, arguing about evolution can be fun-to a certain extent.