Bethel Book Club discussion

Alrighty gang – we are at the halfway point! Congratulate yourself if you are still reading the book and reading these posts! Run and not grow weary…..

Starting with the section on Social Morality, I love how he compares society at the time of the writing to what an idealistic true Christian society would look like. Same today, if everyone lived out a Christian worldview, what a different society we would have in America today. Active shooters, racism, hatred, domestic violence, serial killer, mass shooting, terrorism would all be words that we would be unfamiliar with…

Interesting statement Lewis makes on page 86: “For many of us, the great obstacle to charity lies not in our luxurious living or desire for more money, but in out fear – fear of insecurity. What are your thoughts on this? Do you agree or do you have a different reason people struggle with sharing what they have with others who do not have?

The last paragraph on page 93 caught my attention – do you agree with his analysis on the good person knowing both good and evil but “bad” people not knowing either?

The last section on Sexual Morality really speaks to our culture today – in that, the view of most folks today is that the solution to the sexual issues is more education or more freedom to express their sexuality. But Lewis’ words on pages 96 and 97 expose exactly the problem with both of those premises. “Everyone knows that the sexual appetite, like our other appetites, grows by indulgence” It is obvious that we are not getting less interested in sex by being over exposed to it – in fact, I would say that our culture is struggling far worse than his did in 1952 at the writing of this book. What does that say about the future for our kids and grandkids in this area?

Those are my thoughts for this week – I would love to hear your responses to some of the questions I have raised…

Ha! I'm all caught up now, thanks to a back issue that has me somewhat immobile. I hope to, literally, be back in my feet very soon. Maybe this back pain came about because God wanted me to read this book! Well, mission accomplished! :-) I must say, between Lewis' thoughts on charity giving and investing in the stock market, I'm not sure what to think. Hank and I give, of course but we enjoy some financial security through our retirement savings (which we hope to start using in the near future) . I've been praying for some direction for what He wants of me during my retirement years so, hopefully, He will let me know how we can use those funds and our time to serve him.

I definitely agree that people who are "bad" do not really know they are bad. In fact, in our society today, we are not encouraged to call anyone "bad"! Their actions may be unacceptable but "no person is every BAD". (yeah, right).

In the section on sexual morality, I have to say, Lewis finally showed some age on his argument. He said, "Now if we eat whenever we feel inclined and just as much as we want, it is quite true most of us will eat too much: but not terrifically too much. One man may eat enough for two, but not enough for ten." Ok - I'm thinking Lewis never struggled with weight and he has never seen the show on TLC called "My 600 lb. life". I've seen that show once or twice (I know it's like a train wreck I should not watch) and it is an example of the food appetite gone completely wrong. He wrote this in a time before drive through fast food became a monster (burger)! Later, he says, "There is nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying your food: there would be everything to be ashamed of if half the world (I don't know about the world but America??? Elaine G.) made food their main interest of their lives and spent time looking at pictures of food and dribbling and smacking their lips" Umm, He has not seem our modern day advertisements for Hardee's, Jack-in-the-Box, and KFC (Oh My Goodness - there is a chicken sandwich covered in Cheetos sauce and crunchy Cheetos!) This is coming from a woman who has just struggled for over a year to loose 30 pounds.
Ok - back to the book, sorry.... As a high school librarian at a school with a very slack dress code, I can tell you that I have argued the effect that a girl's bare skin has on teenage boys. It is very hard to teach girls modesty. I do like his last thought on the subject. Page 102 "The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins....(pg 103 final sentences)That is why a cold, self righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither." This reminds me of a fiction book my sister-in-law gave me based on the story of Hosea whom God told to marry a prostitute. It is titled "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers it was very good but much longer (over 500 pages) than this one. I'll bet ya'll liked it better when I was behind and didn't "talk" so much. Blessing

He brings up interesting things today's world some care more about having material things, more the better and ,you have a lot that wants to steal instead of working for it.And when it comes to morality I think that's just gotten out of control