I guess this one's not actually about a movie. Sue me.
I just read The Screwtape Letters (for the first time), and The Great Divorce (not for the first time), over the past two weeks or so. Both were exceptionally well-written, but both are strangely different.
The Great Divorce is an amazing account of heaven and hell that, while I do not believe it literally, makes an inordinate amount of sense. The idea that people are in hell because they choose to be is fascinating, and I buy it completely. I remember having many a conversation about the almighty predestination issue, with one of my more conversationally-oriented friends of yore, and I think Lewis's solution is probably the correct one. To say that a person has no choice in what he believes is to deny everyone's common experience. To say that a person has control of himself is to deny God's sovereignty. And to say that it's both at the same time is contradiction to a feebly human mind.
But it is both. People go to heaven because they can't imagine living in the emptiness of hell, and people go to hell because they don't like what heaven "stands for." We end up where we want to be, and God knew it all along, and allowed us to make the choices that would take us there. Maybe it's not quite that simple, but maybe it is.
Screwtape Letters, on the other hand, is depressing as hell. It seems like the poor guy they're tempting has a very narrow path to walk, and a million ways to screw it up at every turn. If you're strong, you get aggressive, if you're weak, you cave in, and if you're in the middle, you get proud of your wonderful balance (even as you plummet serenely into error). It seems so hard sometimes to walk the line without deviating in any of the myriad ways that bombard me.
But it's not about chance, and the ultimate choice is simple: believe and follow (even if it seems like you fail more than you succeed), or go your own way and do whatever the hell you want (and I do mean "whatever the hell," since you might as well be there already). We make this choice a thousand times a day, and Christians will always end up on top if they're truly Christians.
I guess that's why I don't really worry too much about losing salvation anymore, though I once did. If I get to the end of my life and I don't "make the cut," then I guess I probably would never have appreciated heaven anyway.
I guess some people just aren't happy, never will be, and don't want to be, strange as that may sound.
3 comments:
What are these things...books...
The Narnia trailer is out. Just the possibility that these films will express the truth in Lewis' books got me all emotional.
http://movies.channel.aol.com/franchise/exclusives/chronicles_of_narnia_movie
Good post, and your idea about happiness is an interesting one.
Also, here is Ryan's blog:
http://davidson.chattablogs.com/
And specifically, here's the post I mentioned to you:
http://davidson.chattablogs.com/archives/017729.html
On the Screwtape part...yeah, it is narrow...even impossible. There are pitfalls on every side. But as Ecclesiastes says, "He who looks at the clouds does not sow" and "Divide your portion to seven, even to eight, for you do not know which will prosper." When one understands, fully, the dangers on every hand, the virtual certainty of falling into one of them, one can begin to grasp the meaning of grace. Without God's grace, continually, you are dead meat. You must trust Him implicitly, and walk on, simply believing that He will rescue you from your otherwise certain demise. It is not simply or primarily about being careful (though we ought to be careful, it won't be nearly enough) but about having faith that God actually, really does pull us through in spite of the mess and imprecision of it all. We see the danger, we know it is impossible, and throw our heads back and laugh, for we are not our own, and we will see His hand at work in the end.
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