As I’ve been reading through C.S. Lewis’ classic “Mere
Christianity” this summer, I have been fascinated by the insights he makes
about various topics. Along with the many popular sections so often quoted,
like the liar, lunatic or lord trilemma and the convoy of ships analogy, I find
his reasoning quite sound even among the less familiar passages. For example, here is part of his explanation
of repentance:
“Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much
harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit
and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years.
It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death. In fact, it
needs a good man to repent. And here comes the catch. Only a bad person needs
to repent: only a good person can repent perfectly. The worse you are the more
you need it and the less you can do it. The only person who could do it
perfectly would be a perfect person – and he would not need it.
Remember, this repentance, this willing submission to
humiliation and a kind of death, is not something God demands of you before He
will take you back and which He could let you off if He chose: it is simply a
description of what going back to Him is like. If you ask God to take you back
without it, you are really asking Him to let you go back without going back. It
cannot happen.”
What do you think? Don’t take my word for it, read the book,
don’t wait for the movie.
Have a little hope on me, Roger
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