Josh Choi
C.S. Lewis DCM
“Passion is like a garden,” said C.S. Lewis “when it is left to nature it won’t be a garden anymore.” Though it is full of life and beauty, it cannot weed itself or fence itself. A man must constantly keep watch over it in order to keep it beautiful. Lewis was talking about passion in the romantic love, Eros, in the original context, but I believe this can apply for all sorts of passions in our lives, including passion for God. This passion must be nurtured and trained carefully in order to be properly used for the Kingdom of Heaven. Developing a Christian mind is crucial for a Christian to effectively live out their lives for the truth, I believe this past DCM interim has helped me immensely to develop a Christian perspective in the midst of this distorted world. I’ve learned very powerful and logical ways to defend and introduce our faith to others. Not only that, I also learned the tremendous importance of humility and what it truly means to seek after God.
Being able to defend our faith is a crucial part of being a follower of Christ. I Peter 3:15b says:
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
The most important thing in starting an argument is to find a common ground. C.S. Lewis says that the reality of the universal moral law is something that everybody must agree on. The postmodern idea of subjective morality cannot hold, because that idea of new morality can only derive from the preexisting traditional morality. From there, we could argue that someone must have put that law there since we know it’s not humans who have come up with it. Progressing our ideas this way, we can present God and Christianity in an understandable, logical way, although we do have to keep in mind that it is faith, not a convincing argument, that enables humans to believe in God.
It is also important, when we are defending our faith, to bring up the fact that science is simply not the right tool to find out the existence of God, because this is one of the areas where Christianity gets attacked the most. We cannot scientifically prove the existence of God, but maybe that is because science is not the right tool for us to find God. It is the job of a scientist to find out causes and effects in nature, but it is not their job to figure out if there is anything behind science itself. Also, not everything needs to be provable in order for it to be true. Certain events in history cannot be proven, but we all accept it as true.
Plantinga and Lewis both mention that we all have a certain unexplainable longing. We often mistake that these longings are for the material things in this world, but that is not so. Many will come to realize that the things that we enjoy in this world is only a glimpse of what we are truly longing for, and this may be a hint that we are actually meant for a place beyond this world that we know. Bringing up these points can lead us to introduce the gospel in a more understandable fashion.
Humility is an absolute necessity to understand God and our world. In Meditation in a Toolshed C.S. Lewis talked about the difference between looking at and looking along the beam of light. Depending on the point of view, the way each of us view certain things in this world can be very different. C.S. Lewis gives an example that a psychologist’s perspective on two people who are in love will be very different from the lover’s perspective. We cannot know for sure which of them has a more accurate view. We have to be humble and remind ourselves that what we perceive can be different from others and that it might not be the most accurate point of view. There is so much to learn if we are willing to listen to others.
Pride, which is the opposite of humility, is said to be the greatest of all sins. This is because pride was at the core of the first sin that has been committed by Lucifer, who believed he could be just as good as God. Pride is very unique compared to other sins, because it is not attached to any of our animal behavior. Other sins, such as sexual immorality or greed, derive from Satan distorting our animal behavior, but Pride is different. It is purely spiritual, and it makes us lose our capacity to see and know God. C.S. Lewis explains what happens:
“A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
We will not be able to see God if we are proud. We need to walk humbly before our Lord. The first step of overcoming pride is by admitting and realizing the fact that we are proud. This may seem like a simple task, but it will prove to be very difficult. But from here, we may be able to ask for God’s help to open our eyes and enable us to see ourselves as we really are and see Him as He truly is. Humility is essential in understanding God and our world.
Jesus once said, “Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find.” I used to think this was simply a very encouraging verse saying that God, in his abundance, will not hold back his blessings if we only ask Him. Although that is partially true, through this DCM course I’ve gotten a new insight on what it means to truly seek. When Jesus asked us to seek, he didn't mean it as slow, mediocre searching, he wanted us to give everything for this search for truth. Lukewarm, mediocre behavior won’t do. In Revelation He says that because we are lukewarm, He is going to spit us out of his mouth. It makes God sick when we are lukewarm about our faith. Through the Screwtape Letters Lewis tells us that the ongoing lukewarm behavior will slowly drag us away from God, and before we realize it, we might find ourselves tied down by the devil. Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl that is hidden in a field, and when a man finds out about it, he sells everything he has to buy that land. That is the kind of passion that Jesus wants from us.
Another very important question is: What are we looking for? According to C.S. Lewis, what we are aiming for can make the biggest difference even if everyone is engaged in the same outward activities. He said:
“Play to win and you will find yourself taking violent exercise; play because it is good for you and you will not.”
The same idea applies in our learning. We can miss out on so much if we only study to get good grades, but if we work hard and study in order to learn and acquire knowledge, there is so much we can get. Plantinga tells us that our current vocation is to learn and equip ourselves with knowledge not to earn good grades. Our report cards will not help us when we are challenged to share and defend our faith. Our grades won’t mean anything when we are out in the mission field. But the little skills that we have picked up along the way can be used to further God’s Kingdom. God will not let our efforts go to waste. What we aim for can change drastically our potential in being used for God’s Kingdom.
When we seek something, it means that our eyes are opened and we are aware of our surroundings. I believe that when we are told to seek, it also means to be awake and conscious of reality. We are to be conscious with the fact that we are truly at war, and this is not something that we just read from the books or hear from sermons; it’s reality. One of the biggest way the devil attacks us is by making us forget about his existence. That is why we have to awake and alert at all times. Church going can be a deadly weapon against us if we are not awake and conscious of why we do what we do. If church going just simply becomes a pattern in our lives, we will start fooling ourselves that our action of going to church is what assures that we have a relationship with God. One of the most challenging quotes that I found during this course was in Weight of Glory. Here, C.S. Lewis says:
“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. …it is with immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit…your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
I can only imagine how different our churches and communities would be if we were just conscious of this reality. When we are challenged to seek, we are meant to truly open our eyes and be aware of what is going on. There are powerful truths and realities that are waiting to be remembered and discovered!
The DCM interim course has truly helped me develop a Christian mind. I have acquired knowledge that could help me defend and share my faith more clearly and effectively, I learned the incredible importance of being humble in everything we do, whether encountering another person or even myself in light of God, and I have been challenged immensely to be awake and alert. My hope and prayer is that I will not forget what I have learned during this past month and that I can effectively live out what I been challenged with. This world and everything in it is the Lords, and I want to be truly passionate about bringing God’s kingdom here in our community.
References
C.S. Lewis. Mere Christianity (1944)
Weight of Glory (1941)
Our English Syllabus
God in the Dock (1970)
The Screwtape Letters (1942)
Plantinga, Cornelius. Engaging God’s World. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 2002.
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