C.S. Lewis: His Theology and Philosophy - Lesson 29
Problem of Pain (Part 9)
Learn about the themes of dichotomy, the coexistence of love and pain, and the concept of happiness intertwined with suffering. Explore how the movie illustrates oppositions such as safety versus risk, reading versus love, and the necessity of pain in truly experiencing happiness. C.S. Lewis emphasizes that happiness includes the reality of pain and that future happiness, even in a heavenly context, acknowledges past suffering. The lesson highlights the importance of embracing pain as an integral part of the human experience and true happiness.
![Michael L. Peterson](https://back.biblicaltraining.org/sites/default/files/styles/professor_medium/public/2022-10/michaellpeterson.png?itok=_Zn5IKbC)
Problem of Pain (Part 9)
Dr. Michael Peterson
C.S. Lewis: His Theology and Philosophy
ap530-29
Problem of Pain (Part 9)
Lesson Transcript
But we don't have a lot of time. I'm amazed at how much time went by with the movie and the breaks we had. But we can pick this up next time. But I thought before we leave, are there any really impressive points in the movie? I can see a couple that are really worth mentioning before we leave. Anybody have any ideas? Yeah. The scene where the boy was disappointed in finding Narnia. He says that you should. If you feel where you should feel the way. Yeah, he says I'm no good at. And in the end, it's almost like an exclusive. They have that conversation. Yeah. When he says to Douglas that you should go. That's right. Ironic. You know, you said that. Yeah, she said you got to let me go. And he said, I don't think I can. Actually, I thought the movie, the more that point, along with several other points, the movie kind of plays off of oppositions or some apparent dichotomies, doesn't it? Reading we read to know we're not alone. We love to know we're not alone. Reading Safety. Love. Risky possibility. Being hurt. So played off of that, you know. And at the end of the movie, as they're walking through that valley, that lush green valley, he and Douglas, he says. A place in my life. I've had to make a choice. Once, as a boy, I chose safety. And the other the other choice I made was to choose pain. And so by choosing pain, having consciously choose pain, no, he chose to love. And included in that is the choice of pain. Quite. And so included in that is the choice of pain that it helps accentuate my point of help. Debra Winger has got nothing on me dramatically, but that was an opposition.
We need to know we're not alone. Earlier on than we love to know. We're all these really interesting oppositions that they play off of the safety of one, the risk and possible hurt of the other. Another point I thought was really interesting was, well, I won't say any other observations before I say what I maybe my my most favorite part. I think it's also fascinating that just coming. Comes in your sink through is what she calls the defense mechanism. Yeah, I knew he had built this wall. Yeah. First of all. That's right. In Oxford. Behind the walls of Oxford. Yeah, that's true. Piece of trivia. His room was not showroom looking out. It was farther down to the right. And there was put a red geranium on the windowsill because so many tourists asked which ones. Anyway, that's a little more than you needed to know. But the movie had to have that corner room. I think the movie had to have one child instead of two. She had two sons, that kind of thing. Charles was I can't remember the first name Charles David. That was. I can't remember. But you remember when they went to the Golden Valley and it was raining and they went into the hay barn there, and she's trying to get him to verbalize about the relationship and and where her health is going to go and her impending death. And she says this. He says, let's let's leave things alone. I'm happy now. And she says. The pain. Then is part of what she says now is the reality of happiness. Now. That's a tie. These are time references. And then pain, happiness are put in there. So in other words, happiness, they're saying, is not just total security and safety, but an ingredient of of a certain kind of happy.
An ingredient can be pain. Remember, they're driving along to that valley and she says, Jack, what kind of he's I'm perfectly happy for the content and not anxious for anything else. It's just what kind of happy are you? What kind of happy? I think this gets at that. That right now they're happy. But they can't pretend like the pain isn't there and that it isn't going to ultimately take her the pain and suffering. So pain is part of happiness, not dichotomous. Because he says right there, right before that, he says, I'm happiest now that I'm now no longer in the shadow. Yes, I am in this moment, she says. So that to you is happiness. And then she completely destroys that. Yes. Now, remember to later in the movie, there's another line and goes like this. I'll put it here again. Oh, I guess you can see it. The Does she say the happiness now? Or do the pain now is part of the happiness. Then when she's on the bed. Yeah, on the bed, she says the pain. I'm enjoying the pain now because she says, Because I can be quiet by thinking. Yeah. He says something very nasty. Yeah, but they reverse these, don't they. Also the happiness now. No. Is that what you said? Am I getting this correct? You know, the pain now is the same thing. It's just going to be happiness now. Yeah, That's what you said. Yeah. This is it. I'll get this right next week and we can edit. We can edit it, get it, get it. We can have this. But there's a really interesting juxtaposition of those two saying they're not the same statement. And my point and I did have one, too, I lost the statement here was I'm still crime.
So holding back tears. But no, but I think the reference to then the pain then is future in the barn, the rain in the barn, the pain. Then as a future reference as part of the happiness now. So knowing that it's coming, we've agreed to suffer together. We're we've joined our lives. We've. We've come to love each other. So the pain that's coming then in the future, with reference to the time in the barn is part of the happiness we have now. The happiness we have now. It's not just total security, no pain. That's not the way life is. But later there's a statement I think that goes to happiness. Now is part of the pain then. No, I don't think that's right. I think it's the pain now is part of the happiness then. That's right. That's right. Well, let. Let me take it. Okay. Okay. The pain now is part of the happiness there. So the pain of losing her, that whole event of surrounding her death, that pain, all that's involved now is part of the happiness, then I think that's a future reference to heaven. To the fact that even in heaven, so to speak, even when life, temporal life is over, the kind of happiness of heaven will not ignore, deny, forget. The pain in temporal life. But it will be some kind of an ingredient component of the kind of happiness that we know in heaven. It won't be the happiness of never having suffered or never having lost someone. It will be a different kind of happiness that can actually be conceived as including not excluding like, Oh, you can't be happy if you're in pain or it can't be. Happiness could never include pain. That's really not the message of those two juxtaposed comments.
How are we doing for time? Not good. It's time to quit. Don't cry. Don't cry anymore about it. But we'll pick it up after Thanksgiving because you'll forget all this won't be able to discuss after Thanksgiving. If you need that turkey, you know the tryptophan will get you.
- 0% CompleteThe purpose of the class is to directly engage Lewis’s philosophy and theology. He brings a Christian worldview to engage intellectual movements of his day. The trinity created us to bring us into the fellowship that has been going on with God forever.0% Complete
- Discover how C.S. Lewis's journey from atheism to Christian apologist highlights the importance of integrating reason and imagination in faith, providing a comprehensive framework for understanding life and spiritual truths through accessible narratives.0% Complete
- This lesson teaches you to value creation, understand the Incarnation, see all life as sacramental, appreciate human personhood, recognize the relationship between evolution and divine creation, and grasp the interconnectedness of truth, the recognition of evil, sensitivity to suffering, commitment to community, and the concept of vocation.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore how Lewis's defense of realism supports the moral argument for a higher power. Learn how he addresses objections from reductionism and evolutionary biology, using a comparative approach to argue that theism offers a more compelling explanation for morality.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore Lewis's moral argument for a theistic god, learning how he handles objections, realism in moral law, epistemic defeaters, and the comparison of worldviews, ultimately positioning theism as a rational choice and setting the stage for discussing Christianity.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore the comparative probability of morality under different worldviews, ultimately arguing that theism provides a more coherent and objective basis for moral awareness than alternatives like Hinduism, dualism, or naturalism, and prepare to integrate Christian concepts into this framework.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore theistic beliefs through moral experience, examine rival conceptions of God, compare dualism and pantheism, and discuss the Christian perspective on good, evil, and salvation, emphasizing the importance of credible and respectful presentations of faith to nonbelievers.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteGain understanding of C.S. Lewis's argument for the intellectual credibility of theism and Christianity, his critique of atheism and other worldviews, the trilemma of Jesus, and the relational nature of sin and redemption.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteGain insight into epistemic realism, the reliability of rational powers, common sense realism, critiques of philosophical skepticism, the development of moral virtues, and a critical examination of Christian sexual morality and marriage dynamics.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteLearn about Mark Noll's critique of evangelical anti-intellectualism, emphasizing the need for intellectual engagement in faith, using C.S. Lewis's balanced approach to faith and reason as a model.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteLearn that Lewis's argument from desire posits that our inherent desire for ultimate fulfillment suggests the existence of a transcendent reality beyond this world, identified as God.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteUnderstand the theological view that God, as an eternal and personal being, models personhood, with practical theology guiding beliefs, the distinction between finite creation and eternal begetting, the relational and dynamic nature of the Trinity, and the transformative journey towards divine life.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore the transition from C.S. Lewis's "Christianity" to "Miracles," emphasizing the clash between naturalism and supernaturalism, the BioLogos conference's role in reconciling faith and science, and Lewis's arguments from the inside to address Hume's epistemological challenge regarding miracles.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteLearn about C.S. Lewis's comparison of naturalism and supernaturalism, his criteria for evaluating worldviews, and the challenges naturalism faces regarding rationality and mind theories, highlighting theism's explanatory superiority.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteWhat’s important to Lewis is freedom of rational thinking, free from physical causes. Naturalism undercuts the power of reason because everything is determined by physical causes. If evolutionary naturalism is true, then the probability of our cognitive faculties being reliable for truth is low.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore the interplay between reason, naturalism, and evolution through the perspectives of C.S. Lewis and Alvin Plantinga, focusing on the need for free will in rational thought, the reliability of cognitive faculties, and the limitations of naturalism and evolution in ensuring truth-aimed beliefs.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteThis lesson examines the mind-brain relationship through emergent dualism, explaining how complex brain functions lead to higher mental processes and exploring the interplay between rational thought, moral consciousness, and the perspectives of science and religion on miracles.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteThis lesson explains that divine actions are not violations of natural laws but purposeful interventions where God alters usual conditions, challenging Hume's regularity theory and emphasizing the need for an interpretive framework for understanding miracles.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteLearn to create a coherent narrative, address emotional objections to theism, contrast non-theist and theist views of nature, understand the Christian creation doctrine, emphasize monotheism, critique pantheism, and explore Greek and Hebrew theological elements.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteC.S. Lewis argues that miracles are possible if God is a determinant being outside the natural system. He distinguishes between good and bad miracles and stresses understanding the grand narrative to judiciously judge their credibility.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteIn philosophy, it’s referred to as the problem of evil. Given a certain understanding of God and a certain understanding of evil, there is a tension explaining why evil exists in the world.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore Lewis's view on divine omnipotence, the independent operation of physical laws, the role of pain in achieving higher divine purposes, and the distinction between true goodness and mere kindness, with implications for pastoral care and counseling.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore Camus' existential journey and private spiritual search through his conversations with Reverend Moomaw, revealing his dissatisfaction with atheistic existentialism and his secret visits to church, ultimately acknowledging a need for God.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteGod is his creation set forth the problem of expressing his goodness through the total drama of a world containing free agents in spite of, and even by means of, their rebellion against him. The risk is for the possibility of relationship.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteAristotle would say that as a rational, moral being you build your character based on the hierarchy of good traits. From a Christian perspective, our natural destiny should be on the same trajectory as our eternal destiny. The spiritual and theological virtues are faith, hope and love.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore pain's inherent role in the biological system, the theological and scientific perspectives on its origins, human freedom's impact, the concept of gratuitous evil, and how pain highlights human vulnerability and dependence on God.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteLewis thinks that God needs to pierce the shield of our ego and we are embodied creatures so pain is what does it by getting our attention by highlighting how frail and in need we are.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore Lewis's view on animal pain as distinct from human pain, linked to Cartesian dualism, evolutionary necessity, theological implications, and the potential redemption of the animal kingdom.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteThe lesson focuses on the themes of dichotomy, the intertwining of love and pain, and the acknowledgment of suffering as a component of true happiness, both in the present and future contexts.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteExplore how pain and happiness coexist through C.S. Lewis's reflections in "A Grief Observed," his journey through grief, and philosophical considerations of materialism versus faith, emphasizing the relational nature of the universe and the hope of resurrection.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteLearn that "The Great Divorce" shows heaven and hell as mutually exclusive, explore God's reality as the ultimate truth, and understand the journey from self-absorption to eternal joy through a symbolic dream narrative and character analyses.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteFinal comments about themes in The Great Divorce.0% Complete