I've been reading C.S. Lewis lately, and I came across the following in Mere Christianity. It reminds me of something you posted not terribly long ago (as well as our own conversations some time long before that).
"The idea that 'being in love' is the only reason for remaining married really leaves no room for marriage as a contract or promise at all. If love is the whole thing, then the promise can add nothing; and if it adds nothing, then it should not be made. The curious thing is that lovers themselves, while they remain really in love, know this better than those who talk about love. As Chesterton pointed out, those who are in love have a natural inclination to bind themselves by promises. Love songs all over the world are full of vows of eternal constancy. The Christian law is not forcing upon the passion of love something which is foreign to that passion's own nature: it is demanding that lovers should take seriously something which their passion itself impels them to do." (Book III, Chapter 6: "Christian Marriage")
Hmm. I don't remember what I posted, but I agree with that paragraph....
I'm changing pretty quickly right now (I hear college does that to people), so something I said more than a year ago may or may not still apply. At any rate, I do agree with the paragraph you posted from C.S. Lewis, but since I can't remember the context....
I hope I'm growing well, too. It's been a rough year.
I just finished reading A Case For Christ, actually, and will probably be reading some other books and doing some more in-depth research in the next few months. I finally realized that God isn't something you figure out in a week or two (I'm a person who wants to know things immediately--I'm working on taking things in stride and getting over my need to have things done NOW), so I plan on spending at least the next quarter or two reading books on the side and doing some extensive research on the topics of religion and faith. There are already a few books on the top of my "Religion Research" stack, but if I run low I may pick up Mere Christianity and see what Lewis has to say.
I'm glad to know you're giving this some serious thought. It really isn't something you can figure out quickly. In fact, it's something you will (hopefully) spend your entire life figuring out.
While you're reading religious stuff, I would strongly recommend Mere Christianity. It's probably the best general book on Christianity I've read… the only part that wasn't excellent was the 6 (or so) short chapters Lewis spends trying to explain the Trinity (obviously based on the Creeds). It would have made so much more sense for him (with his acceptance of theosis, etc.) to adopt a different interpretation of the Trinity.
At any rate, C.S. Lewis was an Atheist who eventually converted to Christianity and joined the Anglican Church. It is entertaining to read about his "memories" of these experiences.
One of my personal favourites: "You must picture me alone in that room at Magdalene, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." (from Surprised by Joy)
BTW, for annotation purposes, I believe he's referring to G.K. Chesterton, possibly the book Everlasting Man. This book seems to have heavily impacted Lewis.
One of my favourite concepts is Lewis' equation of "Sehnsucht" (what Lewis considers "Romanticism") with the human yearning for Heaven. It's an extraordinarily fascinating concept to me.
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chiming
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Date: 2005-08-29 01:12 am (UTC)From:"The idea that 'being in love' is the only reason for remaining married really leaves no room for marriage as a contract or promise at all. If love is the whole thing, then the promise can add nothing; and if it adds nothing, then it should not be made. The curious thing is that lovers themselves, while they remain really in love, know this better than those who talk about love. As Chesterton pointed out, those who are in love have a natural inclination to bind themselves by promises. Love songs all over the world are full of vows of eternal constancy. The Christian law is not forcing upon the passion of love something which is foreign to that passion's own nature: it is demanding that lovers should take seriously something which their passion itself impels them to do."
(Book III, Chapter 6: "Christian Marriage")
no subject
Date: 2005-08-29 09:07 am (UTC)From:I'm changing pretty quickly right now (I hear college does that to people), so something I said more than a year ago may or may not still apply. At any rate, I do agree with the paragraph you posted from C.S. Lewis, but since I can't remember the context....
Meh.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-29 10:42 am (UTC)From:I'd highly recommend you pick up Mere Christianity and give it a read sometime.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-29 09:44 pm (UTC)From:I just finished reading A Case For Christ, actually, and will probably be reading some other books and doing some more in-depth research in the next few months. I finally realized that God isn't something you figure out in a week or two (I'm a person who wants to know things immediately--I'm working on taking things in stride and getting over my need to have things done NOW), so I plan on spending at least the next quarter or two reading books on the side and doing some extensive research on the topics of religion and faith. There are already a few books on the top of my "Religion Research" stack, but if I run low I may pick up Mere Christianity and see what Lewis has to say.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-29 10:39 pm (UTC)From:While you're reading religious stuff, I would strongly recommend Mere Christianity. It's probably the best general book on Christianity I've read… the only part that wasn't excellent was the 6 (or so) short chapters Lewis spends trying to explain the Trinity (obviously based on the Creeds). It would have made so much more sense for him (with his acceptance of theosis, etc.) to adopt a different interpretation of the Trinity.
At any rate, C.S. Lewis was an Atheist who eventually converted to Christianity and joined the Anglican Church. It is entertaining to read about his "memories" of these experiences.
One of my personal favourites:
"You must picture me alone in that room at Magdalene, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England."
(from Surprised by Joy)
no subject
Date: 2005-08-29 10:43 pm (UTC)From:One of my favourite concepts is Lewis' equation of "Sehnsucht" (what Lewis considers "Romanticism") with the human yearning for Heaven. It's an extraordinarily fascinating concept to me.