The Banzai Chronicles

i love soren.

Amen.

It's the blunt message people don't like to here, there's comfort in being lukewarm. But it's the truth.

Great quote!

My father has always liked Kierkegaard, but now he is on a quest to buy and read everything he ever wrote. It's all he wants for gifts anymore.

love this.

and the bonus? that fun 0 thing.

The Ø thing røcks.

Or at least this is something similar to what I understood of that; that people are terribly uncomfortable with the fact of faithfulness. They don't want faithfulness, they want to feel good, a nice warm and fuzzy from God. Yet without the struggle.

Of course, I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I have been describing, and it is no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth— only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair. Most of us have got over the
prewar wishful thinking about international politics. It is time we did the same about religion.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book I, Ch. 5 'Cause to Be Uneasy'

Yeah, I like that quote better. IMHO, Kierkegaard wrote a lot of great things, but he was really an arrogant SOB. Easy to understand? Did he ever read Romans?

The arrogant SOB must appeal to me—I don't see many Christians resisting God's will because they got hung up on Romans, but it makes for a great dodge.

do I detect a bristle?

apologies. Fear and Trembling changed Stubbornheart's life, which changed my life. So I have utmost respect for Kierkegaard and his writings. I just find him... well, arrogant, and hard to read. Am I allowed to think both things?

peace,

tg

Totally not a bristle, but I do appreciate you checking. Not a thing for you to apologize for, either. I'm not die hard either way on Kierkegaard and tend to agree with your assessment of him. In this case, I happen to agree with him as well.

Kierkegaard placed himself in the group of "we Christians" in this excerpt ... ahh, was he? I know very little of the man other than his fame in extenstensionalism (sp?).

Here's a start for you.

(What on earth are they teaching in schools these days?)

You know. We homeschoolers. ;-)

Ah.

I should let you know that I read you often but rarely comment. Probably because I usualy agree but have nothing to add. Which is much the case with this quote.

I know this only relates in a vague over arching kind of way but oh well...

I was just having a conversation with a friend about this last night. The trite conclusion we came to...actually that we both came to a long time ago and were just talking about it is that..."Life is gona suck but it's gona suck a lot less with God." Sometimes trite statements are the hardest ones to practice.

Even unrelated comments are very welcome. And the truth is, while there may be suffering here, it's worth it for the joy set before us. If the joy set before Jesus of our salvation was enough for Him to endure the cross, how much greater is our joy? And I firmly believe that some of that hope breaks through on this side of heaven.

Still, it's hard, because our flesh is predisposed not to trust God. So we believe our way is better, or at worst will suck less. We're wrong, of course, but it can still be hard.