A blog I enjoy reading is called “The Rabbit Room.” I subscribe to the feed and don’t always read the entire post but the other day they put up this quote by C.S. Lewis which caught my eye.
…only Supernaturalists really see Nature. You must go a little away from her, and then turn round, and look back. Then at last the true landscape will become visible. You must have tasted, however briefly, the pure water from beyond the world before you can be distinctly conscious of the hot, salty tang of Nature’s current.
My oldest daughter has recently been introduced to Lewis through Narnia. We have begun to read the stories and her ability to make the connections between the story and the Story amaze me. Lewis was a brilliant writer and I appreciate much of what he has to say. Although I had never read this quote before I rather enjoy it and agree with it.
The quote and post can be found here.
![Image of The Prodigal God (An Unabridged Production)[2-CD Set]; Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31Jl6fhDLxL._SL75_.jpg "The Prodigal God (An Unabridged Production)[2-CD Set]; Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith")
15 Comments(+Add)
Great quote. I love the Rabbit Room, though I don’t read there as much as I used to. But it’s always good stuff. They have great writers.
I may be wrong, but I sincerely believe that the material universe is profoundly subordinate to the spiritual. (God is a spirit.) I am not a classic gnostic but I have some views from that many orthodox people would recoil.
yet the second person of the trinity became material and remains so. and we will spend eternity as material beings. so, yes god is spirit and he is superior… and the material therefore is subordinate. but, historically, the western church has overemphasized this subordination to the point most think the material inferior at best and evil at worst.
I would say the material is an extension of the spiritual. To stick with the example of the trinity, the classic statement is that the Father sends the Son. This doesn’t make the Son inferior to the Father, it more means He is of the same substance as the Father, but different. So, really, while there is a separation between spiritual and physical in some sense, they are still intimately related.
So, yeah, I agree with Neil.
subordinate but not inferior.
“yet the second person of the trinity became material and remains so. and we will spend eternity as material beings.”
My conjecture is different than yours.
It does not yet appear what we shall be…
#6 That is true, but continue the verse ‘One day we Shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is”
Who lives forever as our mediator? the MAN Christ Jesus….
If Jesus is an eternal “man”, then we are already like Him. I do not worship a glorified man, I worship a Risen Christ, the Eternal Word. We will see one day and it isn’t a heresy one way or the other.
Join me, brother, and we’ll worship Him together one day!!
“Luke, join me, and together we will rule the galaxy!”
OK, Jerry, you may come too!
i was gonna make the same argument as pboy. i believe the “we will be like him” references his glorified body. in that sense we are not like him.
this is true. yet that etenal word became man, and still is – i believe.
agreed
I picked up The Lion…etc. and read it yesterday. The first time since jr. high. I knew he played heavily on mythology and such, but was a bit surprised (disappointed?) Lewis made reference to the White Witch being a descendant of Lilith, Adam’s first wife. Cause for concern or am I hyper-sensitive?
I’d like to go to the Lilith Fair someday. Is it still going around?
why would it be cause for concern? and what would the concern change?