An Old Favorite

I've been reading C.S. Lewis lately and have been reminded once again why he is one of my very favorite writers ever. He's just such a genius. And completely British, which I can't help but love.

Mere Christianity has been on my reading list for a while because the last couple of times I started it, I trailed off for one reason or another and never finished. This time, I'm reading through it with one of the college students from church and am loving the extra discussion (and accountability).

A few quotes so far…

"There is nothing progressive about being pig headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on."

"My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?" 

"Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning."

Bry and I have also been reading Yours, Jack out loud together (one of our favorite things to do because I love to read and he loves to listen). It's a charming and thought-provoking compilation of Lewis' letters to friends and family, starting back in his university days while he was still an atheist. It has been very interesting following his train of thought (and sometimes not following it) as he slowly shifts from atheism, to acknowledgement of a God, and then to belief in Christ. Plus lots of random tangents on things like literature, the war, and being in love.

A few more quotes, because they're just so good...

"If there is an eternal world and if our world is its manifestation, then you would expect bits of it to 'stick through' into ours. We are like children pulling the levers of a vast machine of which most is concealed. We see a few little wheels that buzz round on this side when we start it up--but what glorious or frightful processes we are initiating in there, we don't know."

"Doesn't the modern emphasis on 'love' lead people either into divorce or into misery, because when that emotion dies down they conclude that their marriage is a 'failure,' though in fact they have just reached the point at which real marriage begins."

"As an author I recently read says of Love, 'It ceases to be a devil when it ceases to be a god'. Isn't that well put? So many things--nay, every real thing--is good if only it will be humble and ordinate."

I could go on, but that's probably enough for now.