Internet Monk Radio Podcast #97
May 24th, 2008 by iMonk
Movie talk, C.S. Lewis off limits, To those who feel it’s not working.
You all need to buy “The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church” and more Reformation theology gifts from New Reformation Press.
Thank you, Michael, for your word to “those who feel it’s not working”. It brought tears to my eyes, because I’m one of those sheep who feels lost and homeless. Thank you for reminding me that I’m not as alone (or as bad) as I feel. It’s all to easy to forget that sometimes.
Thanks for recommending “The Gospel For Those Broken by the Church.” It was balm for a bruised soul.
I was excommunicated from a micro-presbyterian denomination (rpna) 20 months ago. I’m currently attending a baptist church and am afraid of reformed churches though most Lord’s Days finds me listening to Douglas Wilson’s sermons. Maybe some day, when enough healing occurs I’ll return to the reformed fold. But for now, I am just content to be a follower of Christ and nothing else.
re: your Young/Lewis comparison
i haven’t read The Shack but it seems to me that it is presented as a realistic fiction whereas the Chronicles of Narnia could be described as allegory.
so the parallel breaks down a little but at the same time i think your comparison is spot-on in many respects. The Shack doesn’t seem to be trying to write an exhaustive theology of the Trinity. in the same way, Lewis wasn’t saying that Christ is a big lion or that God the Father is an Emperor over the Sea. is there even a Holy Spirit figure in the Narnia series?
as for Lewis’ other books, i agree with you fully. the TR(c) would probably be burning some of them if they were written today.
i pray that God will give you and your family rest during your sabbattical.
Interesting comments about CSLewis. Having spent some time in Oxford (studying theology of all things), I came to refer to him as the ‘Patron Saint of [American] Evangelicals’; the ‘CSLewis Society’ was plugged to the gills with Americans and his house - ‘The Kilns’ - was inhabited by [American] friends from college who were living there on behalf of the [American] foundation which owned it. Lewis was not a big deal in Oxford with the English, nor the rest of the Europeans, and back here in Canada he’s notable, but not sainted. I wonder if it is either that a man cannot be a prophet in his own country (I’ve heard that from a reputable source somewhere) or that the Emperor has no clothes. I’m not enough of an expert to know either way.
thanks for provoking thoughts and memories. keep up the godly work.
cheers,
jc
Hey Michael, Thanks for your reviews on Indy and Narnia. I’m so tired of Christians who rip on any and everything related to Chritianity, as if they have the right to when there are planks in their own eyes. There is so much immorality in the world that refreshing, moral media having Christian content is a great reprieve and influence to the world. Why are Christians so busy at bashing one another? Shouldn’t we be focused on bashing and nitpicking paganism and immorality as opposed to our brethren, who want no more than to be positive influences to the world (not to be confused with watering down the Gospel)? I am one who believes that the Bible is inerrant, and I firmly believe that if you’re going to base your faith (i.e. belief in Jesus Christ) on what the Bible says, then you should be trusting the rest of what it says; otherwise what remains as truth for you in its pages? Having said this, we shouldn’t be adding or taking away from what God has given us based on our own suppositions, such as when the author who wrote The Shack claimed in a radio interview (see the DennyRadio.com archives) that God was a woman. Please.
The author of the Shack does NOT claim that God is a woman.
Please don’t be slanderous on here.
Yes, thanks for recommending “The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church”. I am not through all of it yet, but so far, very good.