Christabelle > Recent Status Updates

“…booksellers really are a special breed. No one in their right mind would take up clerking in a bookstore for the salary, and no one in his right mind would want to own one — the profit is too small. So, it has to be a love of readers and reading that makes them do it — along with first dibs on the new books..”

“Tolkien himself claimed the hobbit was derived from ‘previously digested’ epic, mythology, and fairy story. We can name some such sources: Beowulf, the fairytale collections of Andrew Lang, and the Brothers Grimm, works by E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen, Rudyard Kipling, William Morris, and George McDonald, especially the ladders, princess and the goblin and its sequel, the Princess and Curdie.” (5)

Contained in this chapter is pain overwhelming. As I listen to her views towards the church culture, she grew up in I mourn. Christianity is about Christ — not legalism.

Huh, finally got interesting!

“I began to wonder if at times my smartphone had become my replacement for the Holy Spirit, the ever-present comforter I turned to in times of fear.”

This strikes me as beyond true in my life.

“I wanted God to give me quiet and bring me rest, but all the habits of my daily existence were shaping a life of exhaustion, of inward disquiet and outward unease.”

So cute!

I love the incorporation of the Psalms into their chronological place in David’s life. It certainly gives them depth of meaning.

“To the corrupted man, the one who stands outside the Tao, the various starting point of this science is invisible. He may be hostile but he cannot be critical. He does not know what is being discussed.”

“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts.”

I forget how much I appreciate The Abolition of Man!

It’s fun listening to The Great Divorce after finishing The Four Loves as he incorporates the ideas of the one into the other. It’s also one of my favorites. It gets deeper with every reread.

“There is but one good and it is God . Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him. And the higher and mightier it is in the natural order the more demonic it will be if it rebels. It’s not out of bad mice or bad fleas that you make demons, but out of bad archangels.”

A lullaby won’t fix this. Bribing him won’t fix this. I can’t fix this.”

I am undone. This chapter is so, so very hard….

I had forgotten how powerful The Great Divorce is or how astute Lewis was regarding human nature. I have lived a lot of life in nine years and approaching this with older eyes let’s me see truths I didn’t know existed. I’m looking forward to finishing it!

Feeling so much better that someone understands. Trying to navigate other’s doubts, being bombarded with questions over and over again, and trying to stay above water myself, make this chapter refreshing. I honestly did have to set limits. Not all questions can be answered at once.

This is cute! I’m enjoying it so far.

Yes. Following up on the idea that when we refer to “truth” we have two categories, subjective truth and objective truth, the authors delve into how that presents itself in culture - especially argument. I am finding this helpful because of the issues I’ve had defending Truth in the past.

Really good so far. Defined terms. Explained the issue. Just started into reasons why. I’m actually really interested in finishing this.

This chapter reminds me of Dorothy Sayers’ Mind of the Maker. The idea that we bring something out of nothing through our imagination and creativity is fascinating.

Schaeffer is a true master at evaluating culture in light of Biblical truth. I picked up this one because it was referenced in the shorter work I just finished and thought I’d get a deeper perspective on those things he expounded upon. I haven’t been disappointed!