Learning in War-Time

First to talk about what we discussed in class. We talked about Lewis’ comment about how life hasn’t ever been normal and it never will be normal. I like how he says “If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun.” If we waited until life was perfectly convenient to pursue knowledge – or anything for that matter – then we would never learn anything or get anything done. Because the reality of the matter is that life isn’t perfect and it never will be so we have to move forward the best we can with what we have. Someone in class also said that if you do not have the desire to learn then you are not in the right place.

Another point discussed that I found very interesting was that of if we are doing work for God then it is good but if it is not for God then it is sinful. Lewis says “God’s claim is infinite and inexorable. You can refuse it: or you can begin to try to grant it. There is no middle way.” Some of my peers disagreed with Lewis on this statement and I think that I can’t fully agree with it either. I do things every day that I’m not consciously thinking about doing for God, but I don’t think that that means that those acts are sinful or automatically against what God wants me to do. The question is how we define what acts are glorifying, sinful or simply just acts. I think in some cases it’s impossible to know. It’s not like we can have a scale that defines what percentage of an act is glorifying and what percentage is sinful – if we did then life would be much to simple.

I also really liked how Lewis pointed out that God wouldn’t have given us the thirst for knowledge if he didn’t want us to satisfy that thirst. Lewis says that the world might not need learning if it were all Christian, but I disagree. I think that knowledge is a gift and Christians of all people should appreciate this gift and explore it to our fullest potential. A point that Lewis makes revolving around this concept is that “an appetite for these things [knowledge] exists in the human mind, and God makes no appetite in vain.” God makes us hungry so that we know when to eat so that our bodies get the proper nourishment, knowledge is the food of the mind and when it isn’t properly fed it can’t reach its full potential.