TTL WITH C.S. LEWIS12 OCTOBER 2012

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.” ― Mother Teresa

Your presentations

Out at sea, out in His sea, there is pleasure, and more pleasure.

What is God’s purpose in pleasure?

So! Your young man is in love…Ch 22

Silence and Music

For tomorrow, I know, all those Who girls and boysWill wake bright and early.  They'll rush for their toys!"

"And then...all the noise!  All the noise, noise, noise, noise!If there's one thing I hate...all the noise, noise, noise, noise!And they'll shriek, squeak, and squeal racing round on their wheels,Then dance with jin-tinglers tied onto their heels!"

"They'll blow their flu-flubers, they'll bang their tar-tinkers,They'll blow their hoo-hoovers, they'll bang their gar-dinkers!They'll beat their trum-tookers, they'll slam their sloo-slunkers!They'll beat their blum-blookers, they'll wham their hoo-whunkers!"

"And they'll play noisy games, like Zoo-Zivver-Car-Zay,A rollerskate-type of LaCrosse and croquet!Then they'll make earsplitting noises deluxeOn their great big Electro-Who-Cardio-Floox!"

Or NOISE!

p 170

I find that the best point of attack would be the borderline between theology and politics. Several of his new friends are very much alive to the social implications of their religion…(171)

Theology, Politics, and JesusCh 23

Jesus

We thus distract men’s minds from who He is and what He did. We first make Him solely a teacher…besides being unhistorical in the Jesus it depicts, religion of this kind is false to history in another sense. No nation, and few individuals, are really brought into the Enemy’s camp by the historical study of the biography of Jesus…The earliest converts were converted by a single historical fact (the Resurrection) and a single theological doctrine (the Redemption) operating on a sense of sin they already had….

(171-2)

"Christ is one of the 'family' now. I often wonder if God recognizes his own son the way we've dressed him up, or is it dressed him down? He's regular peppermint stick now, all sugar crystal and saccharine - when he isn't making veiled references to certain commercial products that ever worshiper absolutely needs." (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451)

He must be made to feel…’how different we Christians are’; and by ‘we Christians’ he must really, but unknowingly, mean ‘my set…. (174)

Have you ever excluded someone (even without meaning to) who didn’t “belong”? Have you ever been excluded because you didn’t “belong”?

Chapter 24

What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of mind I call ‘Christianity And.’ (175) Chapter 25

 Your greedy little soul is finally satisfied with a diet drink 

ByTim Nudd

Is that all there is?Diet drinks, like life, usually leave you wanting more. Not Coca-Cola Zero. It will satisfy even the

most obnoxiously hard-to-please soda drinker, according to Crispin Porter + Bogusky's new spot, which launches this weekend and ushers in a new brand positioning for the zero-calorie cola.

The commercial—running online as a :60 and on TV as a :30—follows a guy who ain't ever satisfied from his youth into young adulthood. He doesn't want a plain cone; he wants it loaded with candy. He isn't impressed by a skateboarding dog; he wants it to be Tony Hawk. He bargains for more from potential employers, and a whole lot more from female clerks at the clothing store. Plenty of good things come his way, but he's always ready with a signature catchphrase: "And?" In the end, of course, Coke Zero stops him in his tracks. Taking a swig at a restaurant with friends, he pauses, flabbergasted—and finally utters a heartfelt "Thank you." The world—or at least some sugar water—has finally met his lofty expectations.

The spot is nicely pieced together, with rapid-fire montages that illustrate the character's overactive imagination. The actor himself, Chad Jamian Williams, has a bit of an Adam Sandler thing going on—contemptible and entitled but in a comically conniving way that makes him somewhat tolerable. (He even looks like Sandler.) And as a simple summation of what consumers tend to crave these days, it doesn't get much more pointed than the word "And."

The ad also introduces a new tagline: "Enjoy everything." But if it teaches us anything, it's that people these days enjoy almost nothing, as they neurotically pursue bigger, better, and more. It seems unlikely that Coke Zero will change any of that. But at least it won't make us any fatter than we already are.

DEFINE “UNSELFISHNESS”

Chapter 26

How do our “high and holy” prayers prevent authentic worship?

False spirituality is always to be encouraged. On the seemingly pious ground that ‘praise and communion with God is the true prayer’, humans can often be lured into direct disobedience to the Enemy …[who] has definitely told them to pray for their daily bread and the recovery of their sick. (179)

Ch 27

You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. (181)

PerseveranceCh 28

Hatred, Cowardice, and Shame

To be greatly and effectively wicked a man needs some virtue…hatred is best combined with Fear…Hatred is also a great anodyne for shame.

Ch 29

COURAGE…courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the highest point of reality. (184)

The paradoxical thing is that moderate fatigue is better soil for peevishness than absolute exhaustion.

Fatigue and ExhaustionCh 30

HOMEWORK

See you after break