Looking back at the last few weeks of learning about Lewis' life, works, and theology is a daunting task. Between theology and philosophy, and frustration and peace, every emotion was confronted. Indeed, it would not be an extravagant claim to make that Lewis intentionally provokes emotions in his audience. Furthermore, after provoking, he challenges the soul to think biblically and logically. It is sometimes said that a man can only know what he knows only after he argues it. Appropriately then, the first lesson learned was respectful debate and opinion. After implementing respect, the discussions commenced to debating several of Lewis' writings. The writing most significant for a college student in a serious relationship on the marriage track , was The Four Loves. Particularly of interest was Lewis' conclusions on eros. Lewis points out sexual impulses, friendship beyond sex, and Christ as leader to emphasize eros. These three sub-topics of eros lay out the guidelines for a successful relationship.

The first topic of sexual impulses refers to Lewis' thought on the sexual tendencies that a man and a woman feel for each other. He gives illustration by way of lust and superficiality. He asserted that when a man lusts after a woman, he ceases to see her as a woman at all. Instead, the man assimilates his intense desire for a particular physical experience with an object that can bring that experience for him. Oddly to this generation, Lewis suggests that this is not the instinctual reaction for a man when he sees an attractive woman. On the contrary, not man and woman now a days instantly sense e the sexual impulses that their counter part may provide. Admittedly, this impulse seems true for every man and woman inside and outside of the Christian faith. However, at least in the Christian faith, this impulse is mostly suppressed. Also, this impulse does not destine relationships to failure. Some would even argue that this type of impulse—when in the appropriate confines of marriage—help the relationship bond flourish.

With this in mind, God gave us this impulse as a blessing, not as a curse. It is in the fallen nature of humanity that makes the sexual impulse a curse. As the weeks progressed, it was of ten said that the devil cannot create any thing, he can only distort that which already exists. In the same way, sex was created as a blessing to unify a man and a woman as well as to create life. The devil has taken this blessing and distorted it by perverting thoughts and feelings to something impure and unholy.

Secondly, Lewis talked about having a partner that transcends the boundaries—stereotypes—of his or her sex. This is a particularly crucial concept to embrace as young couples learn how to live with each other inside of Christ's will. Scripturally, Paul speaks of a world where relationships break free, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave nor free, there is no longer am and female , for all of you are one on Christ" (Galatians 3:28). Thus, our ultimate goal is to relate amongst one another as each is mutually of Christ. But, along the same lines, Paul concedes that there is a hierarchy within Christ's kingdom on earth. Then, Lewis' view of man seeing a woman for her personality instead of her "womanness" becomes a secondary issue. He knows that , on the one hand, Galatians 3:28 is the end goal. But, on the other hand, living in Christ's hierarchy is necessary until we reach the end goal.

Emphasizing a relationship that centers around personality instead of sexual impulse brings special attention to many Christian college students. Not only are college students looking for a single, eternal, sexual partner, but more they are looking for their best friend. This task brings a lot pressure to the individual, if he or she is intent on finding God's will for his or her life. But, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the individual can find peace in knowing that there is someone waiting. Looking for a best friend to grow old with then becomes spiritual disciplines of patience and self-control. In fact, practicing these disciplines enhances eligibility and future love of one another.

Thirdly, and most importantly of all, Lewis discusses Christ as leader of the relationship. To start, it has been said that a man and a woman should only get married when the two of them can glorify God better than they can individually. Then, if two are unevenly yoked, they should not be joined in marriage. When two can glorify God better together, then they will be striving (continually) to live with Christ as the head of their marriage. This concept is most critical because choosing to live in a marriage that glorifies God is not always known and certainly not always abided by. No one needs to be reminded of the current divorce rates. So, the end lesson here is, choose wisely by listening to the whisper of the Holy Spirit.

The heart of Lewis' message that reveals significant truth is the parallel between Christ and the husband with regards to submission in hierarchy. Seen in 1 Corinthians 11:2–16, the depiction of the hierarchy we have in Christ is demanded. Many times, this submissive hierarchy is misinterpreted and distorted. However, when Christ is at the head of the marriage, then submitting becomes a privilege. Further, submitting, which is the same as obedience, becomes glorifying to God. One of the many beauties of Christ's dying for and with the world is that the world does not have to live in slavery to sin any more.

Finally, Plantinga's, Engaging God's World, ties Lewis' thoughts on eros. Through out his text, Plantinga emphasized the four loves both directly and indirectly. For this reason, applying Plantinga's thoughts on love to Lewis' brings wonderful perspective to a college student's life. The obvious difference between Plantinga and Lewis is their structure of approach to the issue of love. Lewis deals with the topic sporadically and only when passion calls for it. Plantinga addresses love by first addressing the creation, fall, and redemption structure, which is so fundamentally Christian Reform Church as well as Calvin College. Thus, love anchors each part of creation, fall, and redemption.

For creation, God's agape love caused Him to act. He created humanity so that we may freely and completely love Him. Indeed, the ideal relationship that God desires between Himself and humanity—and humans amongst each other—centers around love. Jesus explicitly demands love in his "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the seconds is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:36–40). Further, Paul's famous quote in 1 Corinthians 13, "Love is patient, love is kind…Love never fails." Then, Plantinga's descriptions and thoughts on the fall reveals the raw emotions of eros that twist because of the fall. His lesson on corruption, and its components of pollution and perversion greatly applies to eros. This love should remain pure and that is not always easy. Appropriately, redemption is the result compassion of the creation and fall. We know that we cannot know God fully until Heaven, but through these authors e experience Him a little more clearly.

Biography

Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004. 117-

26. Print.

Lewis, C.S. "The Four Loves.” Calvin College 2006 Ed. Paulo Ribeiro. Calvin College, n.d.

Web. 18 Jan. 2010. .

Plantinga, Jr., Cornelius. Engaging God’s World: A Reformed Vision of Faith, Learning, and

Living. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002. Print.

Pomykala, Kennith. Class Lecture. Religion 223: Paul’s Letters. Calvin College, Grand Rapids,

MI. Fall Term 2009.

Plantinga 5

Plantinga 5

Plantinga starts off his chapter about vocation within the Kingdom with an insightful, yet simple statement: God’s kingdom has always sounded like good news for people whose lives are bad news. Basically, he acknowledges that the life Christ offers is most appealing to those of us who are farthest from it. Granted, we are all slaves to sin and must be freed, but there are some of us on earth who have it particularly bad off. Plantinga gives examples of slaves under harsh rulers, but I would suggest a more modern example of parents neglecting their children, spouses cheating on one another, and those who suffer the loss of loved ones prematurely. All of these (And, not to mention those under slavery of sin we do not always see: pornography, homosexuality, and pathological liars) have God’s moral law written on their hearts. When they hear the good news of Christ they are confronted with their reality, but more important they are confronted with a hope not available to them until now. That, in essence, is the good news.

Plantinga emphasizes the next step after accepting the good news, which is the life dedicated to knowing and implementing God’s will for our lives. For the “beginner Christian,” accepting the infinite nature of God’s sovereignty is critical. Initially, it may seem like they are swimming in a sea of new vocabulary, spiritual experiences, and social structure. To have a successful shift from the devil’s kingdom to God’s kingdom, within the context of God’s sovereignty, allowing the Holy Spirit to take over is necessary. The Holy Spirit is the primary source of spiritual guidance after Christ is accepted. Unfortunately, the church seems to have lost sight of the third entity of the Trinity. Thus, the nonbeliever is coming to church after conversion and only getting two-thirds of all that the good news intends.

Man or Rabbit

Man or Rabbit
Lewis gives a telling illustration to demonstrate the difference between Christians and Materialists. In the illustration of how to nurse a starving man back to health, Lewis exposes the fundamental differences between the eternal and the temporal. In short, the illustration is that a materialist, the temporal man, will stuff a starving man with a large meal to fulfill is immediate appetite. For the starving man, his appetite is filled, but he ends up dying. This end to the materialist’s help shows an important side of the spiritual end they face. True, their appetite may be fulfilled temporarily by the instant gratification of yoga, meditation, feng shui, and others facets of peace. But, the sad reality for these new agers is that the quick fix is just that, quick. It will fade, and their souls will be all the worse for it. As an opposing illustration, the Christian who feeds a starving man understands his need for everlasting food. Particularly, the Scripture that comes to mind is, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” Deuteronomy 8:3 and Matthew 4:4.
As the illustration eludes, the difference between a Christian and a Materialist is clear. Lewis admits that to a point both of these approaches have roots in compassion and love. The materialist does not come to a starving man with the intent to kill; in fact, they feed the man to cease his suffering. Lewis also points out, Christians and Materialists can agree on many things, like education, health care, and the judicial system. However, sooner or later the differences will be blatant and undeniable. The Christian lifestyle will never support or tolerate the materialist lifestyle. And, the difference lies with the source of their joy.
The Christian’s source of joy is far deeper than the Materialist’s source of joy. For the materialist, joy comes from superficial source and fails to withstand the trials of life. When life takes a turn for the worst, the Materialist wallows in self-pity or rebels even harder against God. When life takes a turn for the best, they take the good for granted and self-indulge where they should not. This, I would argue, is not joy at all. It is merely a delay of the inevitable.

Inner ring

Christ refused to be limited to the confines of an inner ring. To emphasize this point, he surrounded himself with men and women who sinned in every aspect of life. When asked about his limitless ring, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17). Here, Jesus explains that his purpose for refusing an inner ring is that his loving salvation is limitless. To put Christ in an inner ring would be to limit his saving power. On the contrary, this passage as well as many other reiterates Christ's power to save "everyone who believes in him" so that they "may not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

The application of Christ's acceptance and love can be particularly useful when talking about the exclusivity of the church. As the body of Christ, we are called to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). Jesus did not say, "Go therefore and make disciples of those who you think are savable." Or, "Go and only accept people into the church with X amount of sins or under." He said, "All Nations," and he said it because he is willing and capable to receive every human being on earth that chooses him, because he loves every one of them. When Christ tells us to go out to all nations, we should not retract from or add to this commission. Instead, look at each person we meet with the knowledge that Christ loves them and wants them to love him, wholly and freely.

On the same note, Christ calls us to do this because we are all wicked to some degree, and in his eyes we are all equally filthy rags. Even now, after accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior, I fall short. Does this mean that I do not qualify for church membership, certainly not! So, if I continually sin, and other non-believers continually sin, then it is my duty to point them towards Christ in every way that I can so that the non-believer can turn from wickedness. Because, as we see in Romans 1:18-21, God has made himself known to every man since the beginning of time. So, when they reject him, they do it in full understanding of the natural consequences.

Love

Love: Eros

First, the Lord has blessed me with a man that has a heart for Christ. Thus, my take on Lewis’ discussion of eros today was especially insightful. Also, I think any woman from age 15 to age 99 who says they do not think about, or want, an eros kind of love is either lying to others, or just lying to herself. Furthermore, the Scriptures have very explicit comments about the nature of a woman’s heart for a man. In Genesis, women are cursed with desire being for their husbands, and the husbands’ rule over them. Thankfully, Christ came and reconstructed the hierarchy of humanity.

In 1 Corinthians 11:2–16, many commentaries focus on the head covering aspect of Paul’s argument. However, Lewis touches on a much more crucial theme that enlightens Christ’s view of the relationship between husband and wife. Both Paul and Lewis teach that the hierarchy is “…the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” Granted, the church that this was written to had huge issues with women acting inappropriately in public, but the basic principle still applies today. It applies because the man should be following Christ’s headship. If not, then there is an unequal yoke, and the relationship may need to be left (not in all cases, but some). Under Christ’s headship, love, respect, and obedience naturally flow. And, this does not only apply to the relationship between a husband and a wife!

The last thing I thought was particularly insightful from Lewis’ take on eros was when he said, “to be in love is to intend…eternity.” Christ promises us eternal love, therefore we should promise eternal love to him back. Likewise, in our relationships with our loved ones we should willingly expect to give up our lives for each other because Christ gave up his life for us.

Learning in War time

Learning in wartime

Lewis says, “Life has never been normal,” starting off his discussion in a Christian’s life during wartime. Through out his writing, he gave us several principles to learn. One of the primary principles Lewis spoke about was a Christian’s responsibility to act as Christ would in all areas of life. When I heard this point I thought of the lyrics, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.” Some have the instant reaction to seclude themselves from the world in fear that they will fail to uphold Christian values. Also, some have an instant reaction to ignore this principle because it’s too difficult, so why try anyway? Lewis, however, combats these excuses by explaining that we have the duty and obligation in our lives to push our faith and learning in Christ. There is no “free pass” from entering the world, we must face it by putting on the armor of guard, holding the Word of God in our hearts, and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us.

Lewis says this specifically in these words: We are supposed to “participate in this war. And every duty is a religious duty, and our obligation to perform every duty is therefore absolute.” To apply this principle to life at Calvin, students have specific duties and obligations for this phase of life. First: entertainment! This is the first time in many students lives where what they choose to pour into their minds is uncensored by their parents. Now, I am not suggesting that most students dive off the deep end and watch X rated films, but they listen to explicit music, they watch more R rated movies than ever before, and they go to the occasional under-age drinking party. How are any of these things glorifying to God? Simply, they are not. Yes, some will say, “I’m doing research on pop-culture.” But, most of us (YES, me too!) allow this garbage into our minds (which by the way NEVER leaves our minds) because every one else is doing it. Shame on me for giving into to trends! I have not guarded my heart and my mind as I should!

Plantinga 4

Plantinga’s chapter on redemption focused on several aspects that develop a beautiful picture of Christ. The first of the aspects of Christ discussed was the Ten Commandments. Christ says that he did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. The Ten Commandments tell people how to live a happy, free life. So many times, non-believers don’t come to Christ because the think of him as a man or God with rules, regulations, and slavery. However, this misconception is in place solely because tainted followers of Christ have fallen away from Him and gave the world a wrong view of Him. Christ and Paul spoke about the freedom and life lived abundantly that Christ offers. When we live within the confines of the Ten Commandments, and other principles advocated in the Bible, we confine ourselves to life that avoids wickedness. And, wickedness leads to Hell.

Another aspect of Christ that Plantinga discusses is the disappointment that he gave the Pharisees. I love this aspect of Christ! In Philippians Paul, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, band every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Christ humiliated himself for us, and therefore we humiliate ourselves with him. We should be honored to undergo humiliation and obedience to death. Then, Paul says that Christ is glorified and honored as name above all names. And, as his servants we will delight in his glory, now, and in heaven.