Reflections on God … Man … Life
In my recent re-reading of C. S. Lewis’s The Four Loves, I came across a section that I had forgotten, which deals with one’s love of country—both the positive and negative aspects. This had a particular appeal to me as I prepare to teach American history once again to university students, many of whom are rather blank slates when it comes to knowledge of the past. “We all know,” Lewis begins, “that this love [of country] becomes a demon when… Read more »
Twitter is not inherently evil. Like all technological developments, it depends how it is used. I have few problems with it because I follow only those people and organizations that speak either God’s truths and/or are faithful to the principles He has established. There are some, however, who seem to see it as a weapon—and it comes from both sides of the political arena: President Trump stirred up controversy (again) recently with a couple of pointed tweets. One targeted a… Read more »
The Magician’s Nephew was the Narnia book that took C. S Lewis the longest to write. He conceived it as a way to explain the origin of Narnia, as well as an imaginative answer to how a wardrobe could have such magical powers and why a lamp-post seemingly pops up in the middle of a forest. I believe he succeeded admirably. As I’ve explained in previous posts, I have been preparing to teach the Narnia series at my church. Doing… Read more »
One of the events I talk about in my classes is the Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky back in 1801. That’s the subject of the e-mail I received yesterday from the Christian History Institute. I thought it was well worth sharing. On Thursday, 6 August 1801, the camp meeting at Cane Ridge, Kentucky finally broke up. Late in the eighteenth century, both pastors and Christian laity in Kentucky recognized the deep spiritual need in their region. Most peopl3 living on… Read more »
Those who come to the decision-point in their lives as to whether to commit themselves to the Lordship of Christ must first go through a soul-searching with respect to their sins. While all sin separates from God, some sins have greater impact not only on their own lives but the lives of countless others. Whittaker Chambers was a man who had to struggle through his former allegiance to communism before he could make his salvation decision. He had worked in… Read more »
I have no problem re-reading the works of C. S. Lewis. It’s been a few years now since I did an initial re-reading of The Four Loves. I’m now entering my second re-reading and finding things I didn’t remember. I’m the kind of person who marks up a book so I can go back to those particular passages that had meaning for me. As I’m going through The Four Loves again, I find myself adding to the markings—words and phrases… Read more »
As part of my devotions each morning, I’ve been reading short meditations from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. As a young man at Oxford, he developed “methods” of discipline for his Christian life. He was sincere. Yet after a failed experience as a missionary to Georgia, he knew his faith was lacking. God had to rework his faith into something that burned in his heart, not as just an outward discipline, as worthy as that discipline might be. I’m… Read more »