Thee Birth of Pain
Thee Problem of Pain states that “when pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.”
I agree with the statement made by Lewis in the preface of The Problem of Pain at first glance. After analyzing what it was he was actually suggesting I began to think that knowledge perhaps should have come first instead of last on the list of attributes needed to cope with pain. It is my belief that knowledge of the source of pain and the knowledge of why it was inflicted upon a person can aid the person[s] involved to heal from a painful situation. For example it is easier to help a friend when they explain why they need help verses the friend demanding help of you. Yet the way Lewis states it has revealed that it is the smallest inclination to love that opens your mind to hear any such explanation. After hearing the reasons one can feel anger and/or sympathy, either way courage is needed to assist. So I do agree with the ingredients, it is my formula that would be a little different.
Lewis states that there are 4 “strands or elements” found in the Christian religion:
Strand 1:Thee Numinous Presence
Lewis describes numinous as the feeling that overtakes a person when they are in a supernatural presence. It is little different from fear and/or dread and usually causes the believer to prostrate due to the disturbance it causes.
I believe the numinous presence referred to in The Problem of Pain writings are the equivalent to a Christians’ conviction in the spirit. No one tells you that you are convicted it simply is. It is the presence that knows what you have done or what you are doing, not the congregation or the pastor. The Christian is then to serve their time rectifying the situation that leads to the conviction in order for the dread to become calming, as I believe it is always present it is only our thoughts of the numinous presence that changes but from it there is nowhere to hide.
Strand 2:The Numinous Morality
Lewis continues to explain the four strands of Christian religion by touching on numinous morality. This form of morality comes from a believer’s knowledge of the law and continued disobedience of it.
Due to Lewis explanation of morality I have come to believe that once the law is known it is always known even if not heeded. I believe guilt is the offspring of morality. If we do not have a wrong and right way to do things then we would never feel guilt once it was done.
Strand 3:The Numinous Power
Lewis states that the numinous power feels like protection for a person who is obligated to their own morality.
My interpretation of the numinous power is based on my belief that only God can control the universe. Therefore if I am in fear of something I attribute it to my relationship to God and nothing else.
Strand 4: The Numinous Event
The final strand found in Christian religion, Lewis states, is birth of Christ and the revelation to mankind that He would conquer the vices of the world and reign as King.
The numinous event of the birth of Christ has never been presented to me in the form Lewis did within the introduction of this book. From what I was able to absorb from this new perspective of Christianity, Christ birth shifted the realms in the earth from absolute to perceived, from knowing to believing. Christians are able to put faith in God instead of man and see the result manifest because Christ proved Himself and His teachings true. This makes the birth of Christ not only an event but a opening to a separate reality, set apart from pre-Christian civilization and able to operate above the restraints known to the non-believers.
C.S. Lewis on thee creation of pain:
Lewis explains the creation of “the problem of pain” by addressing the unhappiness of mankind. Lewis supports his opinion by pointing out that God either has no desire to make man happy either He cannot because He is limited. Regardless to both causes of the human unhappiness the effect is still the problem of pain.
C.S. Lewis on thee omnipotence of G_d:
What does it mean to say that God is omnipotent?
Omnipotence is the power God has to do all things known to Him.
Lewis writes that the Omnipotence of God is contingent on formal and informal definitions and the human frame of reference which I completely disagree with. Lewis’ constant comparison of God to man seemed to me to belittle the truth of Gods infinite power and creativity. Lewis seems to feel that if man cannot then God could not and so he based his explanation of Gods omnipotence on his own abilities and faith or lack thereof.
This is the second installment of Lewis’ that caused me to question his reasoning on the subject of God. His years of unbelief taint his words and hint at God being limited by the thoughts and actions of man.
That is not an issue if one has already developed a one on one relationship with God but I would not recommend his writings to ones who have recently come into the knowledge of Christ.
C.S. Lewis on thee intrinsic possibilities:
What is the difference between something that is intrinsically possible and something that is intrinsically impossible?
Lewis explains what he believes to be the intrinsic possibilities of God by again limiting what God is able to do as he compares it with what man is able to do.
Gods intrinsic impossibilities, according to Lewis are dictated by the laws of nature that apply to man.
C.S. Lewis on freedom:
What is the ultimate choice that God has given man by giving him freedom? Why might that choice contribute to the problem of pain?
By giving man freedom he is able to practice the right to free will. The use of free will can be beneficial but unfortunately man generally does the wrong thing which leads to the problem of pain.
C.S. Lewis on thee fear of G_d:
Lewis states that if it were at all possible that God was not good that we humans would also lose that need for goodness and would have to serve God because they are afraid of Him.
The issue with serving a God who is not good but threatening is that a person could soon realize that they have been worshiping something other than God all together.
C.S. Lewis on thee heavenly grandfather:
Lewis explains the love a father to a son in order to create a perspective of God’s love for mankind. The Father in Heaven, Lewis writes is in love with mankind to an authoritative extent. Mankind is to obey the Father as His wisdom is forever superior to ours.
Lewis further elaborates by reminding readers that God is not in any way senile or drowsy but He is the all consuming fire.
C.S. Lewis on love within our own families:
Lewis writes that many believe that love and kindness are interchangeable. This reasoning he claims is incorrect. Kindness, Lewis explains, is void of wrong or right. Kindness is indifferent. Love requires maintenance and is far from impartial.
Within my own family I see that I am guilty of switching out love for kindness when my loved one[s] have upset me with their words and/or actions. In hopes that I can salvage the situation I tend to remove the judgments from my words in order to be kind. The way that Lewis explains it is that Love contains a level of law and mankind is rebuked because of the love God has for us.
C.S. Lewis on preaching about human wickedness:
The first reason Lewis provides for preaching on human wickedness is to clarify what virtues are needed to replace the ills on a wicked man. Lewis provides explanation of what true virtue is and how it is practiced currently and how it can stand to be improved upon.
The second reason provided by Lewis for the need to preach on human wickedness is to address the role that Psychoanalysis has ha d on mankind. Lewis warns that any doctrine that wishes to rid man of all shame should be seen as a hazard to human development.
C.S. Lewis on the “olde sense of sin”:
The old sense of sin that Lewis addressed referenced that audience that Christ spoke with initially. Christ teachings are meant to penetrate the heart, minds and souls of sinners who feel guilty and want to change. If mankind has become guilt free and still calls themselves follows of Christ then the results of that faith will look more like hatred of God than love.
C.S. Lewis on Monism and Dualism:
Monism is a theory used to simplify life for those who are not able and/or willing to recognize the depth of Gods’ creation. It makes the earth flat so that the sector of mankind that believes in it does not have to think to hard about the realms of God that they cannot grasp.
Dualism on the other hand acknowledges that there is good and evil in life but it too seeks to keep this theory simple. I read in history that the most pagan civilizations of the earth also took heed to the rights and wrongs in their cultures but it was not until the rise of Judeo-Christian civilization that this knowledge of good and evil was placed at the feet of one God without waver.
C.S. Lewis on the Fall of Man:
The biblical fall of man is written to be the spiritual death of Adam and subsequently Eve and the reason Christ had to die and conquer death to redeem humanity. Adam or man was entrusted with Eve his bride to care for and protect. God gave them free reign over all living things with one stipulation. They could not indulge in the fruits of one tree. Due to deceit, either on the part of the Devil in guise of a serpent or on the part of Adams trusted companion, Eve, Adam fell from grace and lost the trust of God. Eve blamed the serpent and Adam then blamed the Eve and God blamed and punished all three for their irresponsibility and attempted plot to deceive Him.
C.S. Lewis on St.Augustine:
Pride was the cause of the original sin as thought by St. Augustine. I do not agree. I believe the reasons I do things to get myself in tight situations is because I have poor communication skills with both God and mankind. I do not believe myself to be so proud as to not feel ashamed or humbled by a good teacher or priest etc. It is when I am threatened, teased or just fall in to remembrance of hard lessons I’ve learned over time I stop trying to build my relationship with God and the people around me. This looks like anger sometimes or sadness.
Silly as my point may be, life would have been much simpler if Adam and Eve could communicated their curiosity to God and/or told God that they felt tempted. It is easy for me to say in hind sight however, I was not the one under pressure that day.
C.S. Lewis on thee symptoms of thee spiritual fall:
Lewis explains the decline of mankind due to the fall of Adam by referencing the gifts of the spirit and the weaknesses of the flesh. Man went from having power second only to God to relying on natures biological functions to maintain its vessel. Thought patterns were also changed as mankind had to learn to rationalize their deterioration. Animals were soon to follow.
C.S. Lewis on thee 3 good results of pain:
Pain can, when heeded give way to improvement in mankind’s behavior. A man who has fallen upon remembering the pain cause by his previous decision may have thoughts of repercutions for his future actions and change his behavior.
Secondly pain can serve as a warning before we are hurt irreversibly. Lewis writes that there is a less intense pain that acures before anguish that alerts us to trouble in a particular situation.
Finally, pain can unmask evil. Pain is a sign that the behavior we engage in that causes the pain is wrong.
C.S. Lewis on retributive punishment:
Retributive punishment is when mankind is punished in accordance with the crime committed
After doing some reflecting, what has been meaningful to you in this learning experience? Record some thoughts on what you have learned in this section of assignments. As a reminder, here are some probing questions to guide your response: What new thoughts or perspectives have come to you? What positions have you been forced to defend, if any? What attitudes do you have now compared to what you had before you studied this course content and learned this information? How can you apply some things you learned to your life, work and ministry?
The Problem of Pain seeks to aid the reader in thinking deeply about their actions and even their thought processes. Many of the reasoning written by Lewis in the book never even stood out to me. Having read The Problem of Pain I will no doubt pay closer attention to the situations that I place myself in that cause me to suffer.
I think the best way to apply what I learn from the section is to address the root of the problems and not the effect the problem has had. Lewis shows that pain is a result of have done something prior to the pain. If we heed the first inclination of mild discomfort we can avoid further anguish by making better decisions or we can stick our hand right into the flame and later think about what we could have done differently
I have friends in my life now that contribute to my suffering. Not to the point that I can sit with them and say that it is a particular behavior that bothers me about them. It is a general pain and since I could not pin point the cause or root I would always push it aside and still try to be a friend. From what I read from Lewis I think I need to correct my behavior before I find out the hard way what my pain sensor is trying to say about some of my friends and or environments.
C.S. Lewis on G_d’s ability to forgive:
Lewis struggles between scripture and mans perception of God’s forgiveness within the chapter on Hell. He states that mankind is confused by the knowledge of a retributive punishment that comes from a merciful God and seeks to help the reader distinguish between the forgiveness of sin and the condoning of it.
From the points Lewis has raised, it is a combination of lack of faith and inability to comprehend the purpose of Christ death that confounds man on the topic of hell. If the man doubts that Christ has the power to wash away sins then he is in essence in hell already and mans lack of ability to admit to his sin can be the cause him to life in hell indefinitely.
C.S. Lewis on thee birth of physical pain:
Lewis believes that pain entered the animal world threw Satan. He writes that there is reason to believe that animals were in the earth before man and had already been corrupted by the forces of darkness and that is why man was tempted to evil.
C.S. Lewis on G_d’s outstanding gift:
Lewis implies that heaven is the most outstanding gift promised to mankind. He questions the depth of longing man has as pertains to the experience of heaven and if, with all out faults, we even have desire for anything else.
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