Monday, September 20, 2010

Did we give up our faith to be smarter than a fifth-grader?

Jeff Foxworthy: Are you smarter than a 5th grader?A hypothetical discussion Lewis develops in a novel: One friend from heaven speaking to another who is intent on choosing hell.

“Friend, I am not suggesting at all. You see, I know now. Let us be frank. Our opinions were not honestly come by. We simply found ourselves in contact with a certain current of ideas and plunged into it because it seemed modern and successful. At College, you know, we just started automatically writing the kind of essays that got good marks and saying the kind of things that won applause. When, in our whole lives, did we honestly face, in solitude, the one question on which all turned: whether after all the Supernatural might not in fact occur? When did we put up one moment’s real resistance to the loss of our faith?”

C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (1946, this edition: HarperCollins, 2001) 37.

1 comment:

  1. What a powerful observation about what happens to so many young Christians who go off to university! "At College, you know, we just started automatically writing the kind of essays that got good marks and saying the kind of things that won applause.... When did we put up one moment’s real resistance to the loss of our faith?” I can't believe I haven't heard this one before. Lewis is really on to something. There are some really fascinating exchanges like this one in The Great Divorce.

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