| Author | Message | ||
| Helovesme2 Registered user Username: Helovesme2 Post Number: 511 Registered: 8-2004  |
I posted this quote here on the forum quite some time ago, but came across it again recently in my devotional reading and decided to post it again. "I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road. A wrong sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on. Evil can be undone, but it cannot 'develop' into good. Time does not heal it. The spell must be unwound, but by bit, 'with backwards mutters of deserving power' - or else not. It is still 'either-or'. If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell. I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernal of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in 'the high countries'. In that sense, it will be true for those who have completed the journey (and for no others) to say that good is everything and Heaven is everywhere. But we, at this end of the road, must not try to anticipate that retrospective vision. If we do, we are likely to embrace the false and disastrous converse and fancy that everything is good and everywhere is Heaven. "But what, you ask, of Earth? Earth I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself." - C. S. Lewis, from the preface of "The Great Divorce" I pray it may bless you as it blessed me! In Christ, Mary | ||
| Mwh Registered user Username: Mwh Post Number: 29 Registered: 4-2006  |
Just want to say that I've read Mere Christianity by C.S.Lewis and I liked it. But I know its not the bible and that there are errores in his works, I read some pages about his authorship and it seems that there are many things one should look out for in his works. Be careful. | ||
| Helovesme2 Registered user Username: Helovesme2 Post Number: 513 Registered: 8-2004 |
I posted the quote because I appreciated the point he makes as a fellow christian, not trying to equate it with the the Bible in any way shape or form. I especially appreciated the reminder that "a wrong sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on. Evil can be undone, but it cannot 'develop' into good." This, I think, is a good explanation of why God has gone to such trouble to rescue us. To show us the way to Himself (which is not simply 'going with the flow till you end up there). I agree that in all our interactions with our fellow humans that we should ask God for discernment and guidance, and check with Him (and His Word) 'whether these things are so'. Blessings, Mary | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 2545 Registered: 3-2004  |
One thing I have noticed since becoming a Christian is that we can read Christian authors and see the Biblical/good in what they write as well as the error. We do not take what they write as "inspired" by God, even when it inspires us. Thank God for the freedom to read other Christian writes. As always, God, You are awesome. Diana | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 4013 Registered: 12-2003  |
Mary, that really is an insightful quotation. I'm also struck by the idea that God can correct error, but not by "fixing it up" when we find out it's wrong. We have to go clear back to the original place we got off track and allow God to teach us what we did wrong originally, then turn us onto a new path from that point. Actually, ignoring the place we got off track and trying to let God "fix" us from the time we discover we're wrong is an example of unhealed wounds or unresolved sins that fester in our hearts. We really can't fully grow in Christ until we let Him show us our underlying brokenness that feeds the "presenting problem". Of course, the Bible is the only source of unerring truth, but God has used Christ-followers to speak extremely useful and helpful words to us. Colleen | ||
| Lindylou Registered user Username: Lindylou Post Number: 155 Registered: 1-2005  |
A wonderful quote! This has been keenly illustrated in my own family. 20 years ago, my husband's family and I were really wacky - religious-wise and when we saw the error of our ways, it was very difficult but necessary to go back to the beginning and ask ourselves where we went wrong. It was hard to keep clinging to God because we felt that we had been looking to Him and we still ended up in error. But the soul-searching was worth it. The journey back to Him has been wonderful. However, I see that other family members who were in the same fanactism we were - never really asked the hard questions - they just let go of what they were into - and kept on going. Now 20 years later they are almost back into the same things - with different labels! It is very sad to see, but there is no reasoning with them on the matter. I don't know what it is that sparks that deep soul searching in a person - but I am most thankful that the spark was struck in me! Thanks Mary for the quote - it is very insightful. Have a great rest of the week! |
