Essay

Grant Jobkar
January 25, 2010
Professors Adriana & Paulo
Ribeiro
DCM- C.S. Lewis
1262 Words
Reflections on my first Interim
I want to start by admitting that going into interim I wasn’t all that thrilled about rotting in class for three hours each day. After the first class period and our discussion of Meditation in a Toolshed, I quickly realized that this class wouldn’t be as bad as I thought. The discussions we had in class about Engaging God’s World and the works of C.S. Lewis really opened up my Christian perspective and they helped achieve what Calvin College wanted me to accomplish during Interim, develop a Christian mind. Now I may not have developed the ideal Christian mind that they were aiming for but I can tell you that I have a new outlook on everyday life.
Over the course of the three weeks we covered Lewis in many different situations ranging from education to learning in war time to rings of friendship. It really is amazing the way he writes and how he can just captivate a reader. I also thought that his conversion from Atheism to Christianity was just remarkable and I found proof of it in The Poison of Subjectivism, “God is not merely good, but goodness; goodness is not merely divine, but God” (1). This quote struck me because God is good and God is great. He is loving and caring and accepting. In the modern society I really think that some people forget that God is always with us and always loves no matter what. We also need to remember that we are His creation.
There were parts of the Plantinga book that I really enjoyed and other parts that I objected. I thought Plantinga did a great job of explaining the essence of the Reformed faith. The three main points that he brought up were Creation, Fall, and Redemption. A couple parts of these points that caught my attention were the concept of total depravity and common grace. Total depravity was one of the topics that I had an objection with. The concept of total depravity says in other words means that humans are totally corrupt from Original Sin. This struck a bad chord with me because I think that humans aren’t completely corrupt from sin, granted all of us have sinned but that doesn’t make us unable to find God. God is always there for us even when we have sinned and I think that to be completely true.
Common grace was a pretty simple topic for me to grasp about the Reformed faith. Common grace states that God loves everyone regardless of faith (2). This is simple for anyone to understand and I think it contradicts total depravity a little bit in that it states “consisting in natural blessings, restraint of corruption” (2). This enforces the point I made in the last paragraph, and again I will state, God loves everyone and everything He created.
As we went through the C.S. Lewis material and watched his transformation from Atheism to Christianity I kept thinking about how tough it must be to pick or find a faith. Some people are born into a religion that the parents already practice but some people switch. For example my mom was a Methodist all of her life then she met my dad and turned Roman Catholic and was baptized and is now a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Lewis at one point described himself as “angry with God for not existing” (3). I think that it must have been very challenging for Lewis to discover God having been without Him for his whole life up to that point.
Lewis conversion to Christianity is something truly remarkable that he did during his life, what’s even more remarkable is the kind of Christian he became. Even in the description for the other C.S. Lewis course it says “C.S. Lewis was one of the greatest champions of the Christian faith in the twentieth century” (4). Hard to believe he was Christian for only thirty- two years of his sixty-five year life. That is half of his life and people call him a champion of Christianity, that is amazing. That it proof aloneof his commitment to Christianity, he didn’t just become a Christian, he showed it in the way he acted, the way he taught, the way he wrote. This ties into Developing a Christian Mind in that through the years, and without the aid of this class at Calvin College, Lewis did it himself, granted with the influence of a couple close friends, but still I find it amazing that he found Christianity.
One of the most prevalent things I learned from C.S. Lewis was the concept of looking at and looking along. This was the first essay we read for class and I thought it was the most effective in “hitting home” so to speak. This concept was truly captivating for me because it distinguishes the difference between analyzing an action and doing an action and I thought it was really cool how Lewis explained it. That’s merely what life is, a series of either looking at or along things in daily life. You look along that juicy hamburger as you’re eating it, you look at and analyze a couple kissing on the park bench. This is a simple concept of life and I credit Lewis for helping me realize it.
Another thing I learned from Lewis was the price of education and how valuable it is. Reading Our English Syllabus opened my eyes about college and the next three years of my life. I can consider myself a member of the audience for this lecture because I applies to me. I really want to broaden my horizons but I only have four years to do it so I need to pick and choose what I really want to do. “The proper question for freshman is not ‘What will do me most good?’ but ‘What do I most want to know?” (5). This is an important question on many other fields other than education. I came into DCM thinking, “What do I most want to know about C.S. Lewis and Christianity?” I found during reading the essays of Lewis that he is not only a teacher and intellectual but also what could be considered a life coach.
Going into DCM I had mixed emotions about the whole thing, I thought it would be boring, drawn out, and no fun. Paulo, Adriana, Plantinga, and Lewis quickly changed that within the first week of class. They had a way of getting me to engage myself in class and really truly made it fun for me. In the end my theory of the class was proven wrong, my colleagues and myself, I can say, really learned a lot. Lewis and Plantinga paired up to teach us about the Lord our God and to show us His divine ways. God really does love us all, my friends, it is up to us to remember that. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Everything they wrote was written for us to learn and grow in grace to God. I think it is rather funny Lewis didn’t consider himself a theologian because, in the three weeks I spent learning about him and the way he writes and thinks, I became closer and more informed about God, and in my mind, that is a theologian.



Bibliography
1. Lewis, C.S. “The Poison of Subjectivism.” 25 January 2010.
2. Plantinga, Cornelius. “Engaging God’s World.” Page. 59. 25 January 2010
3. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, p. 28. 26 January 2010
4. Calvin College Interim Course Catalog. Page 8. 26 January 2010
5. Lewis. Our English Syllabus. Page. 87. 26 January 2010

Shattered Glass

Humility is the first thing that came to mind as I watched this movie. Glass is a hypocrite during the voice over at the beginning when he says that the reporters should be humble. This struck me a great foreshadowing, humility is something Stephen Glass clearly never had. I think that anyone who has the audacity to publish fake articles just for the notoriety is a trashy no good liar and I think that the way Lane dealt with Glass was fitting. Proverbs 16:19 says "Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud." I thought this was good scripture for this because God wants us to be humble. Glass was a member of the proud category and he paid for his actions by being fired from The New Republic.

The Lord has an amazing way of punishing us for our negative actions. He wants us to be good, caring, honest people but unfortunately there are some people who aren't the model that God wants us to be. It is much better to be humble then proud because people generally don't like people who are arrogant and prideful. I know I tend to shy away from those people.

I thought that the end of the movie was ironic because in the end nobody listened to him anymore. In the end, all of the cut scenes to the classroom were merely Glass' imagination telling him the he was this popular, important writer. When all of the facts fell into place, Glass was merely a liar and a cheater who would do anything to get a good story published. Ultimately the lesson I learned from the movie was as Proverbs stated, it is better to just be humble and honest or else you will crumble with all of the liars and cheaters and prideful people.

The Problem of Pain

I will start by saying that I will probably get away from the article in this blog. Pain is a very peculiar feeling in that it has so many different forms and limitless ways to deal with it. There is physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain, and many more, but the type of pain that Lewis focuses on is emotional pain. I can't assume that all of us have lost a loved one but I can assume that we know somebody who has. Myself I have lost both of my grandmothers and they hit me hard. Granted this isn't the same pain as losing your spouse, as Lewis experienced when he lost Joy. But in a way, after watching the clip in class and seeing my grandpa after my grandma passed, I can feel their pain. I know if my girlfriend were to die suddenly I would be devastated. It is hard to move on when someone you loved for so long is gone forever, it has to be a very hard and challenging experience.

The best way I have found to deal with pain is just let it out, its best to get all of the crying out of your system as fast as you can (in my opinion). Yeah it may suck crying constantly but when you're done crying you realize that its for the best and that it is time to move on. When you get past the hardest part it starts getting easier. It must be also hard for parents when they lose a child. I don't really know how I will take it when one of these challenges faces me but I go in knowing that it will suck, a lot, and I just need to be strong and keep my chin high and realize that it is not the end of the world.

Is Christianity Real?

Lewis writes a very compelling and risky piece about the validity of Christianity. His main point during the piece is whether or not Christianity is true. Now, obviously there is a Materialist and Christian argument, as Lewis points out. I considered myself a third while reading this essay, trying to distinguish the arguments of both sides and as a Christian I have to say that Christianity is true. But we need not forget that just because someone isn't Christian, doesn't mean they're wrong. Lewis sites examples of non-Christians who had formidable lives.

I think that some Christians have an arrogance about them, they think that they're high and mighty because they're Christian. This is wrong, we are all equal beings, I don't care if you're Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Mormon, or even Athiest. Just because people have different beliefs doesn't make us better, and there are probably people of those religions who think they're better than Christians. God made us all equal so nobody is better than someone else, they may think that they are better but they aren't.

So when it comes to the question of is Christianity real i say yes, Christianity is as real as we want it to be. This kind of depends on how Christian you consider yourself, whether or not you are an active Christian, and just how much you really feel like arguing. But the essence of what I am saying is that everyone has a different belief of what they think is true and to that I say, let them think what they want, as long as a war doesn't over the validity of Christianity I fine with my ideation and I am sticking to it.

The Inner Ring

Of the Lewis essays we have read so far during DCM, this ranks up there as one of my favorites. The one point it stressed with me is that there are inner rings everywhere and we can't avoid them. they are at work, at church, at home, in school, everywhere. We were asked in the discussion if we thought that inner rings were a bad thing, I answered both ways, they're good and bad. I found a quote in the text that said "the number of people who first smoked or first got drunk for a similar reason is probably very large." I think that having to be initiated (in some cases) or doing desperate things to get into an inner ring can be very very bad. These are usually the people who seek a sense of belonging and have a low self esteem, in which case the ring members can't help but to see just how far the person is willing to go to be a part of the click. This is when inner rings are very very bad.

Inner rings can also be very good because it establishes sort of a pecking order amongst people. You may not think it the way I did, but isn't the world just one giant ring? You've got the the governments followed by the working and so on down. We might has well just face, inner rings are just as much a part of everyday life as eating. In some form, everyone is in an inner ring. I know I am in a few inner rings, these rings are the people I trust the most and can really rely on as friends. I liked the quote "Exclusion is no accident; it is the essence." This quote really speaks on how clicks exclude people who they don't see fit for the group, and Lewis says it right, it is no accident, people blatantly exclude others time and time again. I know I have been excluded a few times in my life and it sucks, it really does, but thats how it goes, life goes on you know? One thing I think that people should avoid is letting exclusion get to their head, if someone doesn't want you just forget them and move on before things get too bad, remember the more you try the funnier they'll think it is, so don't be that person, be strong.

Eros and Love

Listening to Paulo tell the story of how he and Adriana met and ended up getting married has really showed me that God is involved in all parts of our life. I credit Paulo for being able to deal with the temptation of the girl in his class and he was rewarded by a phone call the next day from Adriana. I thought that all parts of this story were just beautiful. This story has put love into perspective for me, I sit in class everyday and I see what true love is with these two beautiful, wonderful people at the front of the classroom and each and everyday they show me what true love is and the rewards of being faithful and loyal. I will admit that in the past I was not what you would call the ideal boyfriend but then I met Amanda, talk about someone grabbing your ear and straightening you out. Sorry if I am getting away from Eros but rather I am just talking about love in general.

Love is such a strong feeling that I hope each person gets a chance to experience because it is a beautiful thing. I do want to point out that I liked Lewis' differentiation between being in love and falling in love, he couldn't have stated it in any better fashion. And I credit whoever gave the example of swimming in ponds (I can't remember if it was Lewis or one of the Ribeiros). Falling in love is an experience that some people take for granted and bounce around and "swim in new ponds" with new women/men periodically. I think that falling should lead to being in love, taking people for granted just isn't fair to the other party and it is not fair to yourself.

Redemption

Redemption is where we learn how, as a fallen race, to become closer to Christ. This is where the Ten Commandments come into play, they're like a list of guidelines that we should follow in hopes of again becoming one with Jesus Christ. John Calvin said "Until we grow into one body with him." This is how Calvin suggests we reunite with Our Savior, in sort of a sarcastic tone, which in my interpretation means that he doesn't think that we can be redeemed. Plantinga then talks about the Church saying "Baptism and the Lord's Supper are CHURCH sacraments, intended to bind to Christ and to each other a whole body of people..." I thought that the essence of this quote is that we can also seek redemption through the sacraments offered at Church.

Plantinga also talks about "The Double Grace" of Christ. Basically what he means by the Double is guilt and corruption. We need to except that we are guilty of sin and are a corrupt race before we can start pursuing the grace of Christ and redemption to our Lord. We also look for a big redemption or in other words, the redemption of the whole world, which we know can't happen all at once but thats not to say that people haven't tried (haha). I am a believer that we can find redemption, but we will be put through many trials before we can accomplish this goal. It isn't something that we can just decide to do, it won't be easy but I think that if we really show Christ that we love Him and God then we might have a chance at being redeemed.