Eros

The event of falling in love is of such a nature that we are right to reject as intolerable the idea that it should be transitory. In one high bound it has overleaped the massive wall of our selfhood; it has made appetite itself altruistic, tossed personal happiness aside as a triviality and planted the interests of another in the centre of our being. Spontaneously and without effort we have fulfilled the law (towards one person) by loving our neighbour as ourselves. It is an image, a foretaste, of what we must become to all if Love Himself rules in us without a rival. It is even (well used) a preparation for that. Simply to relapse from it, merely to “fall out of” love again, is—if I may coin the ugly word—a sort of disredemption. Eros is driven to promise what Eros of himself cannot perform.

Can we be in this selfless liberation for a lifetime? Hardly for a week. Between the best possible lovers this high condition is intermittent. The old self soon turns out to be not so dead as he pretended—as after a religious conversion. In either he may be momentarily knocked flat; he will soon be up again; if not on his feet, at least on his elbow, if not roaring, at least back to his surly grumbling or his mendicant whine. And Venus will often slip back into mere sexuality.

But these lapses will not destroy a marriage between two “decent and sensible” people. The couple whose marriage will certainly be endangered by them, and possibly ruined, are those who have idolized Eros. They thought he had the power and truthfulness of a god. They expected that mere feeling would do for them, and permanently, all that was necessary. When this expectation is disappointed they throw the blame on Eros or, more usually, on their partners. In reality, however, Eros, having made his gigantic promise and shown you in glimpses what its performance would be like, has “done his stuff.” He, like a godparent, makes the vows; it is we who must keep them. It is we who must labour to bring our daily life into even closer accordance with what the glimpses have revealed. We must do the works of Eros when Eros is not present. This all good lovers know, though those who are not reflective or articulate will be able to express it only in a few conventional phrases about “taking the rough along with the smooth,” not “expecting too much,” having “a little common sense,” and the like. And all good Christian lovers know that this programme, modest as it sounds, will not be carried out except by humility, charity and divine grace; that it is indeed the whole Christian life seen from one particular angle.

- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Friendship

"Lamb says somewhere that if, of three friends (A, B, and C), A should die, then B loses not only A but "A's part in C," while C loses not only A but "A's part in B." In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him "to myself" now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald. Hence true Friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend. They can then say, as the blessed souls say in Dante, "Here comes one who will augment our loves." For in this love "to divide is not to take away." Of course the scarcity of kindred souls—not to mention practical considerations about the size of rooms and the audibility of voices—set limits to the enlargement of the circle; but within those limits we possess each friend not less but more as the number of those with whom we share him increases. In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious "nearness by resemblance" to Heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah's vision are crying "Holy, Holy, Holy" to one another (Isaiah VI, 3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall have."

- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Whom Do We Preach?

Trevor, my good friend, brother and roommate, and I had a great conversation last night about the place of Biblical exegesis and citation in writing. These thoughts sprung from that conversation as well as my time in Colossians 2 this morning.
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...I wanted to clarify my thoughts on writing and when one should or should not cite scripture. I am a huge proponent of writing as an art; in fact, it is one of my favorite personal pursuits. Thus, poetry, fiction, and even creative non-fiction does not, and usually should not, be explicit biblical exegesis; they are completely different genres. For C.S. Lewis to pull out a biblical citation in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe would be like a baseball player going to bat with a tennis racket; the absurdity of the sight would detract from the beauty and purpose of the writer's (or batter's) intent, not to mention that it just wouldn't work in either case. On a side note, as a Christian writing in these genres, I believe without a doubt, a writer's pursuit should be revealing truth which ultimately leads to Christ, but that is a tangent worthy of another discussion. In these genres, more often than not, you will not see biblical exegesis, a reality which I will not debunk.

However, when a Christian writer takes on the task of teaching and instructing other Christians or defending the faith, his attempts must be saturated with the Word of God. They must be drenched in the Word for three reasons, because it is mandated by God, because the Word of God contains the message of Christ, and lastly, because the Word of God is life and salvation for the elect.

We see in the Word that we are commanded to preach the Word of God, publicly and constantly.(1 Timothy 4:6-13, Deuteronomy 31:11-13) A good minister, teacher, or writer must be "constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine,"(1 Tim 4:6) and he must also share that nourishment through his teaching. He must share the Word.

Moreover, the Word of God is about Christ; it is fulfilled in Him! (Luke 24:27) If all things were made by Him, through Him, and for Him, we must know everything about our Savior, Christ Jesus. Jesus is the Gospel, He is the good news.(2 Timothy 2:8-9) The good news of Christ is contained in the words of the Bible, God-breathed scripture.

Finally, the good news of Christ contained in the bible has the power to save. If we are to fulfill the Great Commission, the first thing we must do is preach the Word of God which has power, through the Holy Spirit, to regenerate hearts and cause rebirth.(James 1:18) The Word of God saves and through Christ only is there true knowledge that leads to salvation. All the mysteries of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him. Every believer must be taught Christ so that no one is persuaded by lies or falsehoods.(Colossians 2:1-4)

Christ is so great and so glorious; how can we preach anything other but the Son of God incarnate, crucified as the propitiation for our sins, resurrected, and seated in glory at the right hand of God the Father. There is nothing more glorious than the completeness of knowledge and truth wrapped up in Christ. There is nothing else to teach but Him. He is lovely, wrathful, beautiful, terrible, and He is glorious!