Posts Tagged ‘c. s. lewis’

Apparently Sarah Palin is better read than Richard Wolffe.

Posted: December 12, 2010 by datechguy in culture, media
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There is an old saying that one is better off keeping ones mouth closed if thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Richard Wolffe decided on MSNBC to remove all doubt as he refers to one of the greatest Christian apologists of the 20th century as merely a Children’s author.

Wolffe seems to think it is clever to mock Palin reading a “children’s author,” while disrespecting one of the greatest authors in literature. Yes, C.S. Lewis is most famous among the pop culture crowd with the movies and sudden ressurgance of The Chronicles of Narnia, which happens to be an allegorical tale of Jesus Christ, who became a human being, and gave His life to save undeserving human beings from the penalty of sin. (Richard Wolffe seems to be in the same boat as Liam Neeson when it comes to not understanding C.S. Lewis’ Christian tales.)

I guess the MSNBC pop culture crowd are not as well read as they think they are.

“I’m not putting him down,” Wollfe responded. “But you know divine inspiration? There are things she could’ve said to divine inspiration. Choosing C.S. Lewis is an interesting one.”

Chris Matthews who is apparently remembers some of the stuff the Nuns taught him as a kid tries to warn Wolffe off but Wolffe doesn’t get it.

And to those of us (like Sarah Palin apparently) who are better informed and apparently better read than MSNBC analysis the fun continues:

Evidently, they didn’t cover Mere Christianity or The Four Loves when Wolffe himself was attending Oxford, where Lewis was both an alumnus and a distinguished faculty member for over thirty years.

And MSNBC wonders why no one takes them seriously. With or without Olbermann. Really.

and as Michelle Malkin reports Wolffe instead of admitting he goofed is spinning madly:

Brian Faughnan called Wolffe out on Twitter. Here was his response. Seriously:

She said “divine inspiration”. Not the traditional reaction to theological essays, even formidable ones by Lewis.

As Michelle says “He (Lewis) had them pegged”

But it is Stacy McCain who gives away J.R.R. Tolkien’s and Lewis’ game to the sectarian atheist crowd.

Lewis was, of course, a master of Christian apologetics and a good friend of J.R.R. Tolkien — they were colleagues at Oxford University – with whom he shared a desire to use literature to as a means of spreading the Christian worldview. Most fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy are probably unaware that they are absorbing a sort of sermon when they read the tales of Frodo and his comrades, but that’s the point: Tolkien (and Lewis) understood that many people who wouldn’t sit still for a theological lecture would be only too happy to read a well-written adventure tale about elves and dragons and magic.

Sarah Palin understands this. Richard Wolffe apparently does not. A nelson award for him:

I have a funny feeling the clip from Hardball will not make the Sunday Talk shows nor will it make Willie Geist’s “news you can’t use” segment on Monday for some reason. Can’t fathom why.

Of course the holy name of Christ is controversal

Posted: January 8, 2010 by datechguy in Uncategorized
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It has to be.

The Holy Name of Jesus Christ is a challenge, it’s a challenge to the world, it’s a challenge to individuals and it’s a challenge to those who profess to believe in his name.

It provokes Willie Geist to feature it as the joke of the week on Morning Joe, it causes MSNBC and the media to have a conniption, it produces snark in the media, discomfort for those who know it’s meaning, violence. from those who oppose it.

When used to describe the son of God it brings Islamists to a murderous rage, produces jokes on South Park and Family Guy (although in fairness south park doesn’t spare Muslims either), is parodied in film for fun and profit and causes actual demons and devils to retreat.

When Hume said:

‘Jesus Christ’ the ‘Most Controversial Two Words You Can Ever Utter in the Public Square’ Today

he was stating nothing that Christ himself didn’t say as we’ve quoted here before

If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin; but as it is they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me also hates my Father. If I had not done works among them that no one else ever did, they would not have sin; but as it is, they have seen and hated both me and my Father. John 15:18-24

Let’s be blunt, there are two sides in the battle for souls, and one particular side is going to do all it can to keep souls from finding the truth. All the powers, pleasures and pains of the world will be brought to bear against you to keep you from it.

I know I’ve been beating this horse to death but it is one of the most important things a Christian in general and a Catholic in particular needs to understand. Christianity is a challenge to yourself and to others. When done correctly it can inspire many to salvation, when done poorly it can do the opposite. It is diametrically opposed to the world, it’s belief system is an absolute:

Jesus Christ is the son of God, he died and rose from the dead for the forgiveness of sins!

It is either true or false. If you believe this to be false you are not a Christian, period. If you claim to believe it is true but act as if it is false then you have to resolve some issues. As C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Brit Hume has publicly made his choice. You and I have the rest of our lives to make ours…

…after that we’re on our own.