The Future of Humanity

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume XI, Issue Ia

Where are the Christians setting out the huge constructive vision of what the Gospel means for the human future?" -- Oz Guiness

What is the Future of Christian Faith?
by Intervarsity Press

Is it possible for society to have redemption and renewal? Is the Christian faith still relevant in the very global world of today? Os Guinness, in his new book Renaissance, declares a hopeful yes. We are in a time of renewal, of change, of continuous reformation, and, as Os writes in chapter one, “a movement that is led by the Spirit of God, which involves the people of God returning to the ways of God and so demonstrating in our time the kingdom of God, and not in word only but in power and with the plausibility of community expression.”

Although we are in a time when the problems of western worldliness — exploitation of the poor, prevalence of prosperity gospel, to name a few — seem to be overtaking the church and the world more broadly, Os believes there is hope for the future. Throughout the book, he describes how the Christian faith influenced and shaped culture over the last two hundred years. Christians have established universities, built great cathedrals, brought literacy to cultures, and generally displayed God’s goodness through art, literature and science. Drawing on great thinkers like John Baillie, Christopher Dawson, C. S. Lewis, Thomas Cahill and others, Guinness shows that the church is in a moment of great transition, but it has been here before. In light of this, readers will see that now is the time to rely wholly on God’s provision, knowing that with it the Christian faith can continue to be the cultural influence it’s always been.

For decades Os Guinness has been one of the most nuanced, realistic, yet hopeful voices calling Christians to engagement with culture,” Tim Keller writes. “This latest volume from him should not be missed by anyone. Os summarizes some of the most helpful recent discussions, updates many of his own lifelong challenges to the church, and provides many fresh insights.”

Renaissance leads readers back to a center point and challenge for the faith of the future. Os writes, “[This challenge] is, I believe, that we trust in God and his gospel and move out confidently into the world, living and working for a new Christian renaissance and thus challenge the darkness with the hope of Christian faith, believe in an outcome that lies beyond the horizon of all we can see and accomplish today.”

Os closes each chapter with thought-provoking discussion questions and brief, stirring prayers that challenge and motivate readers to take action, however dark the times may seem.

Skye Jethani, executive editor at Leadership Journal, declares this book an essential resource: “Os helps us see our present circumstances in the right light. He illuminates why the catastrophizing done by many Christians amid cultural change is unwarranted, but also soberly addresses the genuine challenges we face with new clarity and gravity. Most helpful of all, Os directs our sight back to Christ, the author and completer of our faith, in whom we find both the courage and the resources to be his people in our time. You will not regret a single minute invested in this book.”

Interview with Oz Guinness [click to listen]

Epiphany Edition I

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume X, Issue X

Epiphany, Another Forgotten Season

Celebrated by the Western Church on January 6th, Epiphany celebrates the revelation of Christ to the Nations, as pictured by the visitation of the Magi. Portrayed as three Eastern kings astride camels, they follow the Christmas star to worship the newborn King. Here is a profound telling of truth that is often lost in its cultural wrappings. If ever there was a celebration needed for today, it is Epiphany!

The biblical identification for these pilgrims is Magi. The Magi are an interesting group in temselves, originating in a hereditary priesthood of the Medes (the ancestors of modern day Kurds). They were installed as religious leaders and policy advisors to the Persian court by Darius and here they actually make their first appearance in Holy Writ. Daniel, carried into exile from the fallen kingdom of Judea, is assigned to this group when he surpasses the rest of them in his service to the king. Daniel correctly fortold the return of the exiles seventy years in the future.

Though he served a secular king and kingdom, Daniel never lost his connection to G-d and Jerusalem. His quarters had a window facing Jerusalem and he was 'busted' for praying when the king decreed that all his citizens bow only to him. Daniel's deliverance from this decree's punishment, by a Divine intervention, is an often told story by people of Faith. What must be conjectured, however, is the influence this man of Faith might have had on his fellow wizards.

Daniel never returned to Jerusalem, though he never forgot her. He grew old and died as a stranger in a strange land. Though he walked the halls of power in Persia, his citizenship remained in the Land of Promise. His book ends with descriptions of things far into the future, and is silent about the later life of Daniel himself. One might safely assume that he remained in the company of the Magi and continued to serve the Persian court.

A young spiritually minded person would have sought out men like Daniel as mentors. Thus it is highly likely that the hope of the coming King was wrapped into the fabric of Daniel's life and work in such a way that his apprentices would preserve it. Many years later it propelled some of them on a long and perilous journey to find that King. There is no Scriptural reference saying there were only three. That may be an assumption based on the mention of three specific gifts they brought; Gold Frankincense and Myrr.

And what did they find? A Child and his mother, ordinary in their appearance perhaps, but marked by Heavenly purpose! Picture the scene, if you will, of mighty clerics, who direct the affairs of empire by their counsel bowing before a woman and an infant!

Epiphany compels us to wrap our minds and hearts around ancient truth and promise. Epiphany compels us to fight the myopia of contemporary culture and look for the Hand of the Divine! Epiphany compels us to awaken from our slumber and if we hear the voice of G-d, to LISTEN! Epiphany is that discovery so wonderful it is a sin to conceal it. It is a truth that carries a blessing for ALL who will hear it and heed it.

So, as the world around us marks the beginning of a new year and marks down the merchandise of Christmas past, it is really time to continue unwrapping the wonder of G-d's redemptive relationship with His children. Old truths must be pondered, but the promise we find there demands action. The voice of G-d must be answered. History, you see, is not some endless cycle. It leads us on a journey to find a specific destination. The voice of the Divine speaks of far more than some warm feeling of self-actualization. It calls us to participate in the ushering in of a Greater Kingdom!

C. S. Lewis captured the hope and the message so well in this thought from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:"

When Adam’s flesh and Adam’s bone,

Sit at Cair Paravel in throne,

The evil time will be over and done."

Spoken to four rather ordinary children, the extaordinary hope of Aslan's rule creates a feeling of thrilled anticipation. Does the knowledge of the unfulfilled prophecies of G-d's Eternal Kingdom create in us today that feeling as well?

Epiphany's Meaning for Today

Around the world, the hope of Christ's Eternal Kingdom fires the passion of Christians in diverse and difficult situations. Coptic Christians in Egypt share this hope with hidden house church groups in China and North Korea. In Nigeria the faithful watch their churches destroyed, knowing that an Eternal Jerusalem awaits them.

Twelve men hiding in an upper room were propelled outward one Pentecost long ago to share that hope. These reluctant witnesses found themselves empowered by the Holy Spirit as they went. At first glance, history seems to tell us that the church eventually divided into many factions... today many at the tips of these branches hold tight to their distinctives, but miss the branching and rooting of a great tree. Today there are many distinctive groups within Christianity, but the essential message has survived. Essential truth has indeed flowed like the lifeblood of this great tree.

Special Christmas Edition II

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume X, Issue XIX

"Behold the Man!"

-- John 19:5b

Many years ago I celebrated Thanksgiving with our church family. There I met the first Nepali I have ever had the chance to speak with. His name was Prem Pradhan. This Gurkha warrior had served in Britain's Royal Air Force before returning to his native land. An accident had permanently injured him and he walked with a limp; but walk he did. In a land where foot travel is necessary to reach most of the villages, Prem walked. He had learned something amazing and he felt compelled to travel to the ends of this mountain kingdom to share it!

Walking all day to reach some remote village, Prem would seek out the men and elders of the place and say: "I have heard a NEW THING! I have heard about a man who died and came to life again!" Who would NOT be intrigued? Pradhan would go on to share his fresh vision of the risen Jesus... and many put their faith in Christ through the fresh telling of the old old story. Not everyone was thrilled to hear this 'Good News,' however. Prem had run afoul of the country's anti-conversion laws. He was put into prison, where he languished for seven years.

Nepali prisons are notorious. Prem's enemies sent him there knowing that it was a place to die. Like the amazing man Prem spoke of, he too was basically sentenced to death. But here he was, years later, telling me his story. He didn't die. While he was in prison he had a vision of the risen Lord, and was further strengthened in his resolve to tell the story of redemption. When he left prison he became involved in education and took in a lot of orphans. While proselytizers are discouraged in Nepal, educators are revered. Prem became a leader of his town and never stopped telling the amazing story.

The Babe of Bethlehem became a man. We have heard the Christmas story so many times that we fail to appreciate its audacity! Let us listen again to it with fresh hearing: "I have heard a NEW THING! I have heard about a man who died and came to life again!" Let us follow the grown Jesus to that time of his death. We first meet him on a hillside. An unlikely candidate for leader of a world religion, he attracts multitudes nonetheless. He teaches a simple message that "The Kingdom of G-d is at hand," and then withdraws to a lonely place with his disciples.

Children flock to Him. He is often surrounded by them and his disciples want to shoo them away. Jesus rebukes them. The Kingdom of G-d is meant for such as these. I met an Egyptian woman who had visions of this place. She says that in Heaven Jesus is SURROUNDED by children. This Jesus did not seek out the halls of power, but instead sought out the weak and simple people of this world. He was a carpenter. His disciples were fishermen, zealots and a tax collector. He spoke to women (most rabbis would not). He spoke "as one having authority." Indeed, one of the most amazing parts of the story is when Jesus stands before the Roman ruler Pilate, who's reaction to Jesus is worth noting.

The promises of Messiah were well known and many in Judea hoped for the coming of that leader who would free them from the oppression of Rome. There were many who claimed to be Messiah, looking to fire a zealot rebellion, and Rome was especially good at killing people. So when a maligned and fairly ordinary Galilean was brought before Pilate, why should he hesitate? There was the fact that he was not actually inciting any uprising... but something in Jesus caused this tough old Roman to pause. Pilate knew his job, but he also recognized authority and chain of command. This Galilean was not blustering about rebellion, in fact He was holding the details of His true mission close to His heart. Pilate saw more than met the eye about the man from Galilee. There is more searching than sneering in his question: "Are you a king?"

Pilate finds himself drawn into a higher sort of dialogue with this man... even asking Him: "What is Truth?" Already troubled by the man he sees, he is further troubled by his wife's dream of him. Indeed, he wants to "wash his hands" of this matter. The simple execution of a supposed rebel has become something far bigger. Pilate tries to release Jesus but is pressed to release Barrabas, a real insurrectionist, instead. The death and Resurrection of Jesus became the story that eventually captivated the Gurkha from Nepal.

The modern age brought about a dismissal of the unseen. Science and Naturalism pushed for concentration on what can be observed. The spiritual and invisible dimensions of life no longer dominated great thought... except to perhaps be broad brushed as simply unknowable. Had Pilate limited himself to that which was observable he would have quickly executed this ragged Galilean. There would be no need for angst, for though he SPOKE as one with authority, he had no physical evidence of that authority.

C.S. Lewis was a man of the modern age. He dismissed the faith as a young man, embracing the Naturalism of his day. As an enlightened Medieval scholar, he nonetheless dismissed the power of story to convey unseen truths. His friendship with men like J.R. R. Tolkien led him to become: "the most reluctant convert in all of England." Lewis, along with his friend Tolkien, discovered the power of the story to convey unseen truths. Imagination for them became the key to discover and share: "a NEW THING!"

"When the Pupil is Ready, The Master Will Appear"


"Imagination is the organ of understanding." -- C. S. Lewis

If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” -- C. S. Lewis

The Place of Boundaries

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume X, Issue XVIIIa

The place of Boundaries

Thomas Alva Edison is among the greatest minds of American invention, but had one of his teachers had the final say, the boy, who probably suffered from what we now call ADHD, might never have made the pages of history. The young Edison was sent to a one room school house where the overworked teacher quickly became exasperated with the boy's inquisitive and energetic nature. She wrote a letter to his mother Nancy.

Nancy told the boy that the letter said that the boy's school was "too small for him." He was brilliant and needed education that was beyond their ability to provide. So Nancy took young Thomas out of school and home-schooled him. She taught him Bible and the "three R's" and his father paid him to read the Classics. The boy grew up to be the great inventor of devices like the phonograph and the light bulb.

Years later, Edison would learn the true content of that letter. The teacher called him 'addled' and essentially unfit for schooling. Fortunately Nancy wisely created a boundary that allowed for her son's success. Thomas Edison's mother knew the place of boundaries.

The Place of Boundaries II

Years ago , my daughter who was home-schooled in 10th grade, wanted to go to 'real' high school so we let her visit Riverheads High School in Augusta County, Virginia with every intention of sending her there if she liked it.

Midway through the morning, she called me from the school office: "I am not feeling well, could you come pick me up?"

In the car riding home she explained that a teacher had shown a rather graphic and violent video in a history class... that making us feel that the teachers there did not understand boundaries. We chose to cross districts to a high school where my daughter had many Christian friends through our church. The principle of that other county high school had a strong sense of the place of parents. He understood boundaries and we found him very responsive to parent concerns and I believe he did create a school culture that reinforced that.

I relate that incident only because I believe that is at the heart of a current situation that is being blown out of proportion by both administrators and troublemakers who want to paint some decent and concerned parents (like my wife and I were) as 'extremists.' Meanwhile, they miss the real issue; Boundaries.

The issue begins with a World Geography teacher at Riverheads High School requiring the girls in the class to don the hijab and the students to participate in a 'calligraphy lesson' in which the unknowing students copied the statement of affirmation of the Muslim Faith. This would be akin to forcing Jewish students to write the Apostle's Creed. This is not an informational lesson on world religions, this is a requirement to participate in a particular one.

The Place of Boundaries III
Savhanna Herndon, Who's brother is a student who was forced to participate writes:

No one is naive here, people. Obviously there is a big world out there! Learning of other religions is important. It is necessary. Learning of other religions even makes me feel stronger in my own faith- Christianity. The problem doesn't lie with learning of other religions. The problem lies with a teacher deliberately handing out an assignment that had a very weighty meaning, knowing good and well what it translated into. The problem lies with a teacher who withheld vital information, causing students of all kinds of faith to go against their values. The problem lies with a teacher betraying the trust of parents and students. The problem lies with a teacher forcing a Christian student to wear a burka, after the student told her that she was not okay with it, and WHY she was not okay with it. Take religion out of it. Forget about the written statement for a moment. Let's focus on the burka, or hijab, whichever one it was. It is a symbol of oppression. The teacher should have shown pictures of Muslim women in them, or explained why they wear them and what they look like, she could've done both. However, forcing a Christian student to wear one and when they said "no" calling them "racist," is NOT sound teaching. In fact, it's irresponsible and immature. I would not expect a Muslim student to wear a cross while learning about Christianity. Why should you expect a Christian student to wear a head scarf while learning of Islam?

Now, let's go back to the written assignment. By handing out this assignment, Laporte excluded all other religions by making them denounce their "gods." The statement "There is no other God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger," carries quite a lot of weight with it, especially for those not of the Muslim faith. I would not expect a Muslim to write John 3:16 or the statement "G-d is Lord. His name is to be praised." I wouldn't expect a Buddhist to do so, and I wouldn't expect a Jewish person to write the statement "Jesus is the Messiah." Why? Because of the freedom of religion, and because the law of separation of church and state. There are boundaries set in place by the school board to avoid sticky situations such as this, and Laporte brought this on herself when she deliberately went against them. Some of you are saying that my family should have kept quiet, due to the fact that Muslim people could potentially be upset. You're afraid. Why are you afraid? I'll tell you why: the terrorist threat is very real. We have all seen it. You're afraid of this religion, and yet you're okay with sitting back and letting your kids wear hijabs and write such statements. Get over your double standards! "Not every Muslim is a jihad, but every jihad is a Muslim." This statement is something that cannot be ignored. I'm sorry if this topic scares you, but just because you're too afraid to see what's happening around you, doesn't mean it's not happening.

Yes, as Christian people we are to be G-d's light. We are supposed to preach the gospel, but even Jesus Christ flipped a table when they belittled the House of G-d (church). Your feel good "peace and love" Christianity needs to be put in check if it turns you into a doormat. You are to stand up for G-d's will! This is my family standing up, and flipping a table or two. You don't have to like it, but you need to acknowledge it.

C. S. Lewis' childhood included a very traumatic experience at a boarding school. The headmaster beat the boys and after Lewis was removed from that particular institution the headmaster was committed to an insane asylum. Lewis' father had a friend, W. T. Kirkpatrick, a brilliant teacher, who tutored Lewis and perhaps rescued his academic career. Our point in all of this is that involved parents are to be welcomed into the process as guardians of the boundaries. Unfortunately there are too many modern educators who see their mission as that of 'enlightening' their students 'beyond' their parents. This notion is quite dangerous. Think of the 1930's where German schoolchildren were made to sing praises to Hitler!

In another incident at that same Augusta County high school, another teacher was reported to have shown yet another violent video. The teacher was caught telling the students NOT to tell their parents about it.

One must conclude that the original group of parents who complained about the Geography 'lesson' are well within their rights, and quite reasonable. One must also conclude that the reasonable oversight of parents is being obfuscated by overreaction by both administrators and certain elements wanting to bring discredit to the original group of parents.

Also present are those who would overreact by making this about more than boundaries. By that I mean those who would blow the issue out of proportion by making more of it than they should. Unfortunately the whole thing has become not unlike the Scopes trials in Dayton Tennessee where H. L. Mencken, journalist for the Baltimore Sun, was quick to make it a mockery of the Creationist argument as attorneys Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan squared off in the case of John Scopes. Scopes had violated then applicable Tennessee law by teaching evolution in his classroom. The problem came when national reporters moved in to make this about science vs. religion.

Two things came out of Scopes. The popular press, and Mencken in particular, were instrumental in discrediting legitimate discussion of Creation/Intelligent Design in the classroom and a College was founded, named after William Jennings Bryan, which promoted the teaching of much that the popular press had discredited. 

It is time to bring the discussion back to concern for the students. It is necessary to keep the process of education open to parental oversight, and when educators step over the boundaries that are reasonable to have in place, it is not only the parents' right, but their duty, to lead their children to those who would be their Kirkpatricks.

Brietbart Has More on this Story [click to read].

Special Christmas Edition

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume X, Issue XVIII

Glimpses into a World Unseen
The Amazing Photography of Alexey Kljatov

© 2015 The Kirchman Studio, All rights reserved. 
Photographs © Alexey Kljatov, Used by permission.

When I first saw the work of Alexey Kljatov, I was amazed. He takes these stunning images with a simple point and shoot camera rigged with an old macro lens and employing skillful manipulation of lighting. Snowflakes landing on his Moscow window reveal their full wonder and individual beauty through his sublime images. Mr. Kljatov graciously allowed THYME to share his amazing work. You can see more of his photography Here [click to view].

Just imagine the swirling dance of these beautiful shapes in a snowstorm!

























Glimpses into a World Unseen
Act II

The electron microscope further reveals amazing patterns.


Vertical section of the human dna.

Evidence of Divine Design, Great and Small
"The Heavens Declare the Glory of G-d;
The Skies Proclaim the Work of His Hands." -- Psalm 19:1


Moth wing pattern.

I saw this little creature outside my studio one morning. It got me reflecting on the creative wonder, both large and small, that surround us.


M 51 Spiral Galaxy, NASA photo from the Hubble Space Telescope.


Detail of the 'X Structure' in M 51, NASA photo from the Hubble Space Telescope.

The artist is amazed. So much beauty and wonder in the very large cosmos and in the very small things as well! Can a G-d who spins galaxies into being be concerned with things small and personal? Such order and grace in the extreme scales of our world, yet often what we see before us is chaotic and makes no sense.

That is why we present here Lee Strobel's Case for Faith and Case for Christ. If you had stepped into that Bethlehem stable many years ago, you would have not necessarily seen beauty and redemption. The smells of animals and the pain of labor and delivery would have overwhelmed contemplation. Yet Christians around the world will contemplate the wonder of that night; for what happened there ultimately made its mark on human history.

The Case for a Creator [click to view] by Lee Strobel
The Case for Faith [click to view] by Lee Strobel
The Case for Christ [click to view] by Lee Strobel

Creche at the National Cathedral
A Particularly Beautiful Representation of the Nativity


Photo by Kristina Elaine Greer.

Imagination, the Organ of Meaning

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume X, Issue XVII, Rainy Overlook. Photo by Bob Kirchman

Vision: the art of seeing things invisible."
-- Jonathan Swift,
Irish Poet and Satirist


Photo by Bob Kirchman

As another horrific event played out in San Bernardino, California, the media were quick to scold those leaders who offered 'prayers for the victims.' "G-d isn't Fixing This" [click to read] blares the New York Daily News. Set aside the obvious political agendas to be advanced and the desire to show certain people as 'insincere,' and you will see the larger problem. We have lost the language of the larger unseen realities that sustain us. We can access more news sources than ever before but we hear more: "This happened, this happened..." and although we are quickly told what it "means" by the keepers of information, we are denied the greater dialogue... that which would lead us to see that G-d INDEED moves through human history! [1.] [2.]

We are told by the keepers of information that our greater beliefs are relatively unimportant. They are "all the same..." but use that logic to say that Mother Theresa's Faith and that of the Mumbai terrorists are "all the same," and you will stumble upon the inconvenient truth that things mean something in and of themselves, far beyond our stated opinions of them. A dialogue based only on the recitation of facts may indeed limit us in our quest for deeper truth, but I would suggest that Swift's fellow Irishman, C. S. Lewis, offers us the means and the language to serve us in the deeper quest.

Lewis tells us of his childhood, where he abandoned Faith, largely because his Classical school educators told him: "Christianity is true. The myths you are reading are false." Such black and white thinking led Lewis to conclude, as many do today, that truth only lies in the telling of  'facts.' But Lewis went on to study Medieval literature and became friends with men like J. R. R. Tolkien, who helped him to see that the myths, far from being untrue, delve into the realm of imagination to give us a far richer and broader picture of the human experience! Inspired by Tolkien, Lewis embraced Faith and became one of the greatest apologists for Christianity.

Seeing now that myths and stories conveyed powerful truth, even if it was incomplete or missed the mark (as in the case of those Classical and Pagan ones), Lewis became a great storyteller in his own right. In works like Mere Christianity, he skillfully uses metaphor to help us grasp the unseen treasures. In stories such as the Chronicles of Narnia and the Space Trilogy, he gives us a treasury of story in which reside the great truths of our Faith.


Photo by Bob Kirchman




Thru Hikers and Trail Magic


Meet Forrest and Stephanie Greer, Appalachian Trail thru hikers who hail from Homer Alaska.

I met them coming back off of the Skyline Drive after a very wet trip to the mountains. I was enjoying the solitude and the wet wonder and frankly did not expect to see thru hikers. Forrest and Stephanie are bush pilots. They fly float planes line the Beaver and they are hiking now because the tourist season is through. They started in Maine and are hiking South, unlike most thru hikers who start at Springer Mountain, Georgia.

Standing at the Skyline Drive entrance at Rockfish Gap, the couple was looking for a ride to Waynesboro, where they planned to re-provision themselves. I was delighted to learn that they were from Homer, and I am sure they were surprised when I started asking them if they knew friends of mine who had moved to Homer! They didn't know them, but said that since Homer is not that big, they probably had seen them in town.

They were familiar with Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, so we had a good laugh as we remembered the particular episode in that book which happened in Waynesboro.



Special Book Section

Several months ago we began the serial presentation of "Pontifus, The Bridge Builder's Tale in Three Parts." [3.] The entire work may be found  Here [click to read].

When Earth's Last Picture is Painted

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume X, Issue XVIa

Rudyard Kipling
When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted
1892

L'Envoi To "The Seven Seas"

When Earth's last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried,
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it -- lie down for an aeon or two,
Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall put us to work anew.
And those that were good shall be happy; they shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets' hair.
They shall find real saints to draw from -- Magdalene, Peter, and Paul;
They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all!

And only The Master shall praise us, and only The Master shall blame;
And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame,
But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the G-d of Things as They are!

The Abolition of Man

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume X, Issue VI

Hillsdale College is offering an online course on the works of C. S. Lewis [click to read].The first lecture is by the President of the College, Dr. Larry Ahrnn, who takes us rather rapidly into the basic premise of The Abolition of Man, a short (three chapters) work by Lewis. He cites the authors of a book on English grammar, who observe two men observing a waterfall. One calls it 'pretty,' the other says that it is 'sublime.'

The authors make a statement that one who says that the waterfall is beautiful is not making a statement on the intrinsic value of the waterfall itself, but rather to the feelings about the waterfall that reside inside him. This is key, because Lewis goes on to say that the authors are not making an observation about grammar now, but are putting forth a certain philosophy.

Lewis' larger point is that the authors are really making a pretty sweeping statement: they are claiming that there are 'facts', and there are 'mere feelings'. By 'facts', they mean, anything that doesn't contain a value judgement. So, anytime someone has an opinion about something, that person isn't actually talking about anything that is 'true' or 'real', he is just saying fluff, just speaking meaningless words. Lewis disagrees and says that things in the real world have certain intrinsic qualities about themselves, and that everyone knows and recognizes this. Two people argue whether a painting is beautiful, because both of those people are trying to grasp the true nature of the thing. In fact, people wouldn't argue about anything unless they had some external, objective reference to which they were both referring, both trying to ascertain." -- Sam Selikoff [1.]

Lewis observes a fundamental problem that we who believe in truths have in today's world. As Selkoff points out: "Things either have an objective nature or they do not; and if they do not there is no way to argue the point." Lewis, who calls the true nature of all things the Tao, observes that all societies and peoples will agree to SOME notion of objective reality, even as the textbook writers seek to deny it. Lewis points out that the writers actually are picking and choosing parts of the Tao arbitrarily, based on their own feelings.

Taking a point from Horace, Lewis suggests that man, stepping outside the guidance of the Tao, now has no 'grammar' of moral guidance to hand to future generations. Predicting that such rudderless philosophy will lead to "the Abolition of Man," Lewis predicts, rather frighteningly, modern education and popular culture's descent into discussions of self-proclaimed identity and 'tolerance/tribalism' over timeless truths. In fact, the selective reasoning is quick to dismiss any truth that is 'inconvenient' (such as a moral absolute), and replacing it with more 'timely' issues such as 'climate change.'

In light of Lewis' observations, one can easily see how someone might argue that there is no judgement to be placed on refugees before they are admitted to this country. Horace's noble point about protecting one's own countrymen is relegated to the ash heap and the one invoking Horace's ideals is indeed seen as 'uncompassionate!' (remember: you get to pick and choose now). Such is the landscape before us as we attempt to lead our fellows toward that Celestial City. We cannot expect them to follow the signs they have been told are meaningless. Those they see as the 'keepers of the Tao' have already selected for them.

That is the challenge before us, as people of Faith who are artists and writers. The challenge to once again lead our fellows to the sublime waterfall! "To Narnia and the North!," I say.


A sublime waterfall.