Family Christmas with Ghents
On January 11, 1908—decades before Bill O'Reilly was born—Chesterton turned his attention to the idea floating around that the celebration of Christmas would not survive.
He wrote: "The Christmas celebrations will certainly remain, and will certainly survive any attempt by modern artists, idealists, or neo-pagans to substitute anything else for them. For the truth is that there is an alliance between religion and real fun, of which the modern thinkers have never got the key, and which they are quite unable to criticize or to destroy. All Socialist Utopias, all new Pagan Paradises promised in this age to mankind have all one horrible fault. They are all dignified… . But being undignified is the essence of all real happiness, whether before God or man. Hilarity involves humility; nay, it involves humiliation… . This is why religion always insists on special days like Christmas, while philosophy always tends to despise them. Religion is interested not in whether a man is happy, but whether he is alive, whether he can still react in a normal way to new things, whether he blinks in a blinding light or laughs when he is tickled."Mark Gauvreau Judge
Ex Post Facto
7 comments:
nice thinking..
Hello, Aunt Laurie,
since you were talking about "being thinkers" . . .
Jesus spoke in parables and his words often contained layers of meaning, but isn't it interesting that it wasn't the "intellectually learned" of that day who grasped what he said?
While his words did shock people into stopping and thinking, his message wasn't as much "be thinkers" as it was "take up your cross and follow"; a command requiring action. Jesus regurally asked people to leave their ideas and embrace his way, even when they didn't fully understand it. I don't mean to totally disagree with you, but I can't get myself to like Christian "intellectualism" since it seems like it sometimes leads people away from Jesus' simplicity (though I still think reasoning has its place.)Is my thinking screwed somewhere?
Mary is reading "You Know You're an MK When... " to Joy and so its kind of hard to form my reply. But here goes.
Personally I think that Chesterton's appeal is not his intellectualism, but his simplicity! The same could be said of C.S. Lewis.I like their good old-fashioned common sense!
I will admit that this time through Schaeffer I can see that he might be hard to follow but when I was a teen-ager I thought that way of talking was normal and I just wished I had read him BEFORE I went to high school! It would have made it so much easier to navigate my way through 3 years of philosophical darkness.
I don't think you're screwed up but I also know that you didn't face that challenge (public school) and I think it makes a very big difference in the way you feel about the subject.
Its very true that an intellectual approach isn't usually the best way to witness to non-Christians... However, I've spent 50 years watching Christian kids (and sometimes adults) lose their way because they weren't mentally prepared to counter the world's way of thinking.
Intellectualism for the sake of intellectualism isn't worth much, but I think our love and obedience needs to be shaped by our knowledge of God. As Paul wrote to the Philippians:
"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God."
Please allow me to clarify myself. I didn't mean to imply that christians shouldn't be thinking Christians. I do agree there is an absence of knoweledge (or biblical truth)taught to young Christians today.
You and I can appreciate Chesterton, but I know that my mother wouldn't and probably couldn't. If she can't, does that make her in some way less of a Christian? (this is PURELY rhetorical)
I've had conversations with people on a number of occasions when I thought I was talking normally but from their responce, I realized I was speaking above the level they understood easily and could relate to. That makes me uncomfortable, because (though unknowingly)I made them feel disadvantaged.
Please understand; I don't mean to say that those of us who in some way enjoy the deeper side of thinking shouldn't keep using our gifts. But if it is a question of speaking to Christianity as a whole I think we should simplify our language so that a greater percentage of Christians can understand us. I'm know you would agree that even those like my grandfather who is slowly loosing his mind and cannot reason rationally play a vital part in Christ's body. It also goes the other way; assuming someone has the ability to read and understand the Bible, yet dosn't . . . well that's his fault. But there are actually a LOT of people who can't.
I know you are right in saying that my thinking has been influenced by my experiances. It is because of the people I know and have met that I'm writing now.
I hope you don't think I picking at straws, because I do love my aunt.
(And I forgot to mention all the people who could be deep thinkers but never learned.)
P.S. I burnt the bread because I was writing to you.
Have you ever seen a small little book by Corrie Ten Boom called, "Common Sense Not Needed: Some Thoughts about an Unappreciated Work among Neglected People"? It begins like this: "Before World War II I started a work to bring the Gospel to feebleminded people who were not in institutions. They were not able to go to church: they could not understand the sermon. But did they not need the Lord Jesus, just like you and I?"
She uses all the wrong vocabulary to be published today, but it is such a good little book. And while I am unwilling to part with my copy - even for such a very special niece :-) - you can buy it (used) quite easily on the internet. AbeBooks.com had a good copy for $2.04 just now.
I should have added this sentence, which is actually the punchline: "Everyone needs the Holy Spirit to understand spiritual truths. I found that when we taught the Gospel in an uncomplicated way the Holy Spirit did not need a high I.Q. to reveal Himself."
I suppose it struck a chord with me because I worked in home for mentally handicapped and disabled adults when I was your age.
PS I ordered the book for you just now.
Like the quote.
Thank you for the book!
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