Learning in War-Time

                C.S. Lewis starts by putting out the question, should students continue to be learning in war times.  He then begins to answer this question by comparing temporary war with the vastly greater problem of hell.  People criticize how students can continue learning about things like mathematics when we could be helping with war efforts.  Lewis notes that the better question is “…how is it right, or even psychologically possible, for creatures who are every moment advancing either to heaven or to hell, to spend any fraction of the little time allowed them in this world on such comparative trivialities as literature or art, mathematics or biology”.  He puts the severity or war back into its place.  He isn’t trying to belittle war but rather to note it is not nearly as big of a problem as eternal damnation which we so easily forget about.  I also like this quote because it reminds me that I can’t stay stagnant in my faith.  I am always moving towards heaven or hell.  I must constantly be pursuing my faith and furthering my relationship with Christ. 

                I also really like the quote, “If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun.  We are mistaken when we compare war with ‘normal life’.   Life has never been normal.  Even those periods which we think most tranquil, like the nineteenth century, turn out, on closer inspection, to be full of cries, alarms difficulties, emergencies”.  This made me realize that life is never safe.  We must always be taking chances.  I really liked the example Professor Ribeiro used in class that if we had waited to have enough money to go to college we would never get there.  Sometimes we have to take risks and trust that God will provide.  Yesterday I went to Mars Hill for church and we talked about the idea that life will have its highs and lows.  The pastor said something along the lines of, if you are struggling in life and going through a really hard time, just wait.  And then he said if everything in our life is going well, just wait.  Problems will come.  I liked this because it reminded me that in life we will go through times of happiness and times of sadness.  We can’t wait to do anything until we have our lives all put together to start doing something.  We must go on with our lives when we are going through hard times in our own lives as well as when our whole nation is struggling as in a time of war. 

                Lewis then goes on to relate this idea of living as a Christian with imminent death always around the corner.  He goes on to explain that we can be immobilized by this condition we are in but we must continue our lives by dying to ourselves and living a new life in Christ.  He then relates a Christian to a soldier.  The life of a man after he is enlisted as a soldier is different; however, he does many of the same things he did before he was a soldier.  This is also true for the life of a Christian.  Just as the soldier is not always in battle because he is a soldier yet they are still soldiers when they are off the battle field, Christians are not always only evangelizing though they are still Christians when they are not.  He then goes on to explain that whatever we do we should do it for the Lord.  That means that we can worship God in all parts of our life, not just certain activities like going to church or evangelizing.  If we live Christ like lives we can be a plumber, a doctor, a missionary, or any other job that follows the God’s laws and worship God equally.  He does warn against doing things for our own sake, however.  He says, “I  mean the pursuit of knowledge and beauty, in a sense, for their own sake, but in a sense for their own sake, but in a sense which does not exclude their being for God’s sake.  An appetite for these things exists in the human mind, and God makes no appetite in vain.  We can therefore pursue knowledge as such, and beauty, as such, in the sure confidence that by so doing we are either advancing to the vision of God ourselves or indirectly helping others to do so”.  I think it is important first to note that we must be doing what we do for the right reason: for God’s sake.  We must have the heart of a servant and always do what we do for him.  Second we must realize that God has given us gifts as well as longings or appetites for a reason.  We need to conform our will and our desires to those of God.  In everything we do we must do it wholeheartedly for the Lord, whether in times of prosperity or in times of grieving and war.