Mrs. Stephanie Loomis Through the Lens with C.S. Lewis 2012-2013

1. Through the Lens with
C.S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain 2
19 September 2012

2. “Pain insists upon being
attended to. God whispers to us
in our pleasures, speaks in our
consciences, but shouts in our
pains. It is his megaphone to
rouse a deaf world.” (406)
Journal Prompt
14 September 2012

3. The Fall of Man
A Little Light Reading

4. To obey is the proper office of a rational soul.
Montaigne II, XII
Man is now a horror to God and to
himself and a creature ill-adapted to
the universe not because God made
him so, but because he has made
himself so by the abuse of his free
will. (397)
How did this happen?
CAN God prevent evil?
Does He?
Should He?
What would have happened if God
had prevented the first sin? (398)

5. “We now know…that so far from having fallen out of a primeval state of virtue
and happiness, men have slowly risen from brutality and savagery.” (398)
How does this section of the chapter (pp 398-399)
compare to what Lewis wrote about on Malacandra?

6. p.399
Only one thing is universal to all mankind.
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18

7. Since I am I, I must make an act
of self-surrender, however small
or however easy, in living to God
rather than to myself….It (the human
mind)had turned from God and become
its own idol….
(401-402)
The Essence of Pride

8. The world is a
dance in which
good, descending
from God, is
disturbed by evil
arising from the
creatures, and the
resulting conflict
is resolved by
God‟s own
assumption of the
suffering nature
which evil
produces.
(403)
The thesis of this chapter is simply that man, as a
species, spoiled himself, and that good, to us in our present
state, must therefore mean primarily remedial or corrective
good. (404)

9. Human Pain
Suffering, Anguish, Tribulation, Adversity

10. It is men, not God… (405)

11. The human
spirit will not
even begin to
try to
surrender self-
will as long as
all seems to be
well with it.
(406)
How do we recover self-surrender in
our current culture?

12. “We regard
God as an
airman regards
his parachute;
it‟s there for
emergencies
but he hopes
he‟ll never
have to use it.”
(408)
How do we turn our thoughts toward
God when things are going well?

13. Remember the “intolerable compliment”?
p. 385 if you need to look it up

14. He will have us even This is love: not
though we have that we love God,
shown that we but that He loved
prefer everything us and sent His
else to Him, and Son as an atoning
come to Him sacrifice for our
because there‟s sins.
„nothing better‟ now 1 John 4:10
to be had.
(408)
The Intolerable Compliment

15. …whatever God knew, 2 Consider it pure joy,
Abraham at any rate my brothers and
did not know that his sisters, whenever you
obedience could face trials of many
endure such a kinds, 3 because you
command until the know that the testing
event taught him: of your faith produces
and the obedience perseverance. 4 Let
which he did not perseverance finish
know that he would its work so that you
choose, he cannot may be mature and
said to have chosen. complete, not lacking
(410) anything.
James 1:2-4
Testing, Trials, and Obedience

16. Everyone dies. Only some find hope.
If I was dead, I wouldn‟t know I was dead. Death is no more than passing from one room
That‟s the only thing I have against death. into another. But there's a difference for me,
I want to enjoy my death. you know. Because in that other room I shall
SAMUEL BECKETT, Eleutheria be able to see.
HELEN KELLER
I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to His soul sat up. It met me. Those kinds of
be there when it happens. souls always do - the best ones. The ones who
WOODY ALLEN rise up and say "I know who you are and I am
ready. Not that I want to go, of course, but I
will come." Those souls are always light
I'm the one that's got to die when it's time because more of them have been put out.
for me to die, so let me live my life the way More of them have already found their way to
I want to. other places
JIMI HENDRIX MARCUS ZUSAK,
The Book Thief
It‟s better to burn out than fade away.
KURT COBAIN Can you not see death as the friend and
deliverer? It means stripping off that body
After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, which is tormenting you. What are you afraid
we live a little while, we die. of? Has this world been so kind to you that
you should leave it with regret?
E.B. WHITE
C.S. LEWIS
Charlotte’s Web
A Grief Observed

17. Your Presentations from Chapter 7

18. “Because God is never cruel,
there is a reason for all
things. We must know the
pain of loss; because if we
never knew it, we would have
no compassion for others,
and we would become
monsters of self-regard,
creatures of unalloyed self-
interest. The terrible pain of
loss teaches humility to our
prideful kind, has the power
to soften uncaring hearts, to
make a better person of a
good one.”
Dean Koontz
The Darkest Evening of the Year

19. Pain hurts. That is what
the word means. I am
only trying to show that
the old Christian doctrine
of being made „perfect
through suffering‟ is not
incredible. To prove it
palatable is beyond my
design….tribulations
cannot cease until God
either sees us remade or
sees that our remaking is
now hopeless.
(412)

20.  Read chapters 8-10 plus Appendix
(416-433)
 Write a short essay detailing how Lewis‟s
perspective challenges or confirms your
conceptions of heaven and hell.
 Create an image that captures your idea
of heaven or hell
 Prepare a 4-6 slide show presentation
that includes your artwork AND the
substance of your essay.
homework