Tag C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: The First Book I Remember

Todd R 4 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s the first book you ever finished and still remember to this day?
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While I don’t often respond to writing prompts, today’s WordPress prompt of “What’s the first book you ever finished and still remember to this day?” caught my attention.  I didn’t read a lot as a child except what I needed to do for school, and only really read as a hobby after school was behind me.  So, I think I remember a lot of what I read for fun.  I know I read quite a few of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, often re-reading them and making different choices until I got through all the different paths, but I have no idea which ones I read first and when.

Which leaves me with the first specific book I do remember reading, when I was probably about 10 years old: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis.  This fantasy tale can be approached and understood on many levels, but as a child it was just a great fantasy story.  It was easy as a child to identify with one or more of the 4 children who are the main characters: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.  On one hand, we can admire Peter for instance, but on the other hand it was easy to learn from the character arc of Edmund: to see that we can all fall to temptation and get our priorities wrong; to see that even the worst of us can be redeemed; to see that the noble Aslan, the lion king, is most noble when he sacrifices himself for Edmund.  These are all things our current culture can learn from.

The cover of the book I had as a child.

But it was only much later in life that I realized that Aslan was a representation of Jesus Christ, and that C.S. Lewis was a well-known writer of Christian apologetics (writings in the defense of Christianity).  Lewis had created, in his Chronicles of Narnia series, a set of books that operate well on multiple levels.  These weren’t just books for children with simple lessons, but books that can contribute to the faith of anyone at any age.  In fact, just last year I ordered the series of books because I couldn’t find them and started re-reading them, and I’m over 50 years old.  I’ve probably read a couple dozen books by C.S. Lewis, but these “children’s books” are still some of my favorites.

I even have a couple of Aslan’s quotes saved in my file of quotes:

“Oh Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good!”

“You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve. And that is both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth”

Have you discovered Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia?  If not, check them out whether you want an easy, relaxing read, or whether you’re looking for surprising theological insight.  The books work for both.  If you have read them, read them again!  Maybe you’ll find, as I have, that there’s always something new in them, or something it’s helpful to be reminded of.

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the rest of my blog where I post near-daily thoughts on Christianity and how it can affect our daily lives!

Popular Opinion: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R 1 Comment

Dear fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection, five quotes on the theme of popular opinion when it goes wrong:

“Those who call for Nonsense will find that it comes.” – C.S. Lewis

“We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first.” – Charles Mackay

“The struggle for freedom is ultimately not resistance to autocrats or oligarchs but resistance to the despotism of public opinion.” – Ludwig von Mises

“At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas of which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is “not done” to say it… Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the high-brow periodicals.” – George Orwell

“Woe to those who call evil good
            and good evil,
who put darkness for light
            and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
            and sweet for bitter!” – Isaiah 5:20

Strength in Trials: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R 1 Comment

Dear fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection, on the theme of suffering and trials:

“God had one Son without sin; but He has no son without temptation.” – Charles Spurgeon, on Luke 11:4

“When God permits His children to go through the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat.” – Warren Wiersbe, on 1 Peter 1:6-7

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” – C.S. Lewis, in The Problem of Pain

“Some things in the economy of grace are measured; for instance our vinegar and gall are given us with such exactness that we never have a single drop too much, but of the salt of grace no stint is made” – Charles Spurgeon

“Cheer up; you’re a lot worse off than you think you are, but in Jesus you’re far more loved than you could have ever imagined.” – Jack Miller

Goodness By Design: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R 2 Comments

Fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection, on the theme of “Goodness By Design.”  I did not group these together by accident…

Photo by Leighann Blackwood on Unsplash

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes” – Sherlock Holmes, in Hound of the Baskervilles

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” – Carl Sagan

“Even if you’re an atheist, you face…the problem of good…if the world is a chance assembly of accidental phenomena, why is there so much that we want to praise and celebrate?” – NT Wright

“A moment after they have admitted that good and evil are illusions, you will find them exhorting us to work for posterity, to educate, revolutionize, liquidate, live and die for the good of the human race” – CS Lewis, in Miracles

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Philippians 4:8

Letting God Set the Agenda

Todd R 1 Comment

One of the most significant ways the media influence us is by what’s called “agenda setting,” which means is that they tell us what is important and what we should care about by choosing what issues or topics to cover most often and most prominently.  For example, if a topic appears regularly on the front pages of newspapers or the covers of magazines or in the “Breaking News” of a TV news program, those editors have decided those items are more important, and want us to feel the same.  Unfortunately, there’s also an old saying in journalism that “if it bleeds, it leads,” meaning that bad news should get more coverage because it’s good for the business of journalism.

Related, but not the same, is “framing” which means the way the media covers something (the words they use, the sources they cite, etc.) affects our attitudes about it.  When the media consistently use words like “radical” or “extreme” to represent only the other side, or if they lump all the news that bleeds to a specific group of people and not another, they’re employing framing.

The problem is that the same issues aren’t always as important to all people, and often the media’s agendas don’t align with what should be each person’s agenda.  It’s like news coverage is designed to make us think the world is so evil that we can’t do anything about it, but also that very little is our own responsibility (or fault).  As Corrie ten Boom wrote about her time in a Nazi concentration camp: “this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one’s own secret sins didn’t matter.”

Is it really good or healthy to feel all the world’s problems are on our shoulders? However, all media have to make choices about what to cover and how to cover it, so there is no avoiding these problems…unless you have another source for your agenda and the framing of it.  That source is God, and here are some verses from His word that can guide us:

Cast Your Anxieties
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7

We can recognize that there is a sovereign God, and ultimately His agenda is the only one that matters.  With that knowledge, we know that there are many times where all we can do is pray to the One who sees all the bad news we do, and much more.  He is in control.

If It’s Worthy, It Leads
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Philippians 4:8

We can recognize that good news isn’t always easy to find, but we should seek it out, even if it’s in our own homes, families, or neighborhoods.  There is always something worthy of praise to pay attention to.

Frame Your Responsibility Locally
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10

Too much attention to the big picture problems of the world can distract us from the work God has put right in front of us, which we were created to do.  God wants us to be faithful, not to save the world (He has already done that!)

I agree with C.S. Lewis, who wrote: “I think each village was meant to feel pity for its own sick and poor whom it can help and I doubt if it is the duty of any private person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot help. This may even become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know. God may call any one of us to respond to some far away problem or support those who have been so called. But we are finite and he will not call us everywhere or to support every worthy cause. And real needs are not far from us.”

Yes, global problems matter and there is always a lot of bad news, but today let God set your agenda and frame it through the lens of His eternal victory in Christ.