Book List [What I've been reading lately...]

You are what your mind eats ...

Narnia and the 7 Deadly Sins ...

This Lenten season, I've been preaching a series of homilies on the 7 deadly sins.  Last week at the close of the service in which I had just preached on lust, a young boy from our congregation came up to me with a comment.  I am certain that he is still a bit too young to have understood much about the subject, but then he surprised [and delighted] me with this observation: "Pastor, if you really wanted to talk about lust, you should have talked about The Silver Chair.  That story teaches all about the sin of lust!"

It reminded me instantly of the [abridged] article below [although King argues for a different dominant sin in The Silver Chair].  I found it after hearing Rich Lusk reference Dr King's work which traces the 7 deadly sins through Lewis's 7 Narnia novels.  The full article can be found here.  Enjoy!

Narnia and the Seven Deadly Sins

Dr. Don W. King
Department of English 
Montreat College
© 1984 Don W. King 


Several years ago I discovered an interesting relationship between the seven deadly sins and C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.

The development of a list of seven especially damning sins is shadowy.  However, the list that came to be most influential in the church was developed by Gregory the Great (540-605) characterized by its Latin acronym, saligia: superbia (pride), avaritia (greed), luxuria (luxury, later lust), invidia (envy), gula (gluttony), ira (anger), and acedia (sloth).

William Langland's Piers Plowman, Dante's Divine Comedia, Chaucer's "The Parson's Tale," and Spenser's Faerie Queen all devote serious attention to these. It is not surprising then that Lewis knew them so well. Throughout The Allegory of Love Lewis refers to the seven deadly sins. In several other works he refers to specific sins on the list and in Poems he focuses an entire poem, "Deadly Sins," on each one.  It is my contention that he may either consciously or subconsciously have emphasized one of the seven deadly sins in each one of the seven Narnian books.

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Edmund personifies gluttony.

Memorizing the 7 Deadly Sins - A Lenten Preparation

The 7 deadly sins historically listed can be memorized using the acrostic WASP LEG -

wrath
avarice
sloth
pride
lust
envy
gluttony

Lists of "deadly" sins appear at several points in the New Testament [Mk 7; Rom 1; 1 Cor 6; Gal 5; Eph 5; Col 3; 1 Tim 1; Rev 21 & 22] but the primary Scriptural list of 7 is found in Proverbs [6]:

MYERS on Economy and GNOSTICISM

"We’re not materialistic enough… I think that we’ve over-spiritualized our relationship to God. In the Scriptures, how we deal with all aspects of creation is clearly part of our relating to God. The separation of the spiritual and the material is a gross error in modern Western thought. It’s like the heresy of Gnosticism in the early church. We’re still afflicted with that dualism. In public life, we think of God like Deists do as the Great Engineer. In private life, God is warm and fuzzy. We have this schizophrenia.

We rely on God through the ministry of others. Luther said, When we pray to God, Give us this day our daily bread … He doesn’t send manna from Heaven. He raises up farmers and bakers and shopkeepers. The way God gives us our needs to us is by the vocations and hands of those people."

- Ken Myers

The Visual Family Budget

Dave Ramsey's recommended category percentage of overall spending:


Housing 25-35%
Utilities 5-10%
Transportation 10-15%
Healthcare 5-10%
Food 5-15%
Investments/Savings 5-10%
Debt Payments 5-10%
Charitable Giving 5-15%
Entertainment/Recreation 5-9%
Misc Personal 2-7%

[graphic: visualeconomics.com]

A Modern Incarnation of the Christmas Narrative [repost]

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in the fashion of a man, He humbled Himself ...

Philosophers debate the possibility of God becoming a man. When it actually occurred, it was more radical than they could've imagined. After years of Hallmark nativity greetings, familiarity has blinded us to the scandal of the incarnation. When the holy God became humble, it looked, by contrast, disgusting.

The Christmas story deals in the realm of the concrete; shared reality in a fallen world; common need with which all mean can relate - and so it begins with tax legislation.

She was fifteen, quiet, and a two days over-due.

He was working in a machine shop, broke after buying the engagement ring, and hoping their eighty-nine cavalier would finish the five day trip to Coonesboro, the middle-of-no-where town whose only claim to fame was being the birthplace of a former King from the nation's glory days a thousand years ago.

When they pulled in after midnight, the only motel was behind the trailer park. The neon vacancy sign was not lit, and for good reason - the only available space was in the maintenance garage to the rear. They had no other option.

Birthday Wishes

Thank you all for your birthday well wishes.  In case any of you are thinking of gifts - I would be honored if you would consider a 'birthday' donation of $31 to help the International Medical Corps with their relief work in East Africa where - because of famine and the actions of wicked men - a large part of the population is starving, with the children being hit especially hard.  The donation process is easy at this link [please be aware that there is a $4 service fee added at the end, so the total will be $35].  Thanks again for all the cards and notes.

3 Basic Questions from the Right [for Democrats AND Republicans]

Every time a new bill is launched from Washington in response to thousands of upturned palms, there are three basic questions we, on the right, find ourselves asking all over again.


1. Is this action moral … is it ethically defensible?
2. Is this action practical … will it even work in the end?
3. Is this action legal? … with the Constitution as our standard [novel as that idea may be], the answer to this question is often “no”. When this is the case, we need to revisit question #1, because many of our DC officials have sworn public oaths before God and their nation to obey and defend this constitution and so consequently have reintroduced the question of immorality.

Taste and See ...

"I can tell you at once that nothing you touch today will have more suffering, bloodshed, and woe attached to it than the innocuous twin pillars of your salt and pepper set."

- Bill Bryson, from his chapter on the history of the Western diet in At Home

10-year-old AA Hodge's "Letter to the Heathen"

Dear Heathen:

The Lord Jesus Christ hath promised that the time shall come when all the ends of the earth shall be His kingdom. And God is not a man that He should lie nor the son of man that He should repent. And if this was promised by a Being who cannot lie, why do you not help it to come sooner by reading the Bible, and attending to the words of your teachers, and loving God, and, renouncing your idols, take Christianity into your temples? And soon there will not be a Nation, no, not a space of ground as large as a footstep, that will want a missionary. My sister and myself have, by small self-denials, procured two dollars which are enclosed in this letter to buy tracts and Bibles to teach you.

Archibald Alexander Hodge, and [sister] Mary Eliz. Hodge, June 23, 1833
Friends of the Heathen.

[painting: St Boniface Felling Thor's Tree unknown artist]

2 SOLID GOLD NUGGETS to get you going

#1:  There are 2 ways to fail:  1. Omission ... and 2. Commission.  Which one do you prefer?

#2:  When a large survey of seniors over the age of 65 asked what they would have done differently if they had their lives to live over again, the top 3 answers were:

1.  I would have left more [of a legacy] behind
2.  I would have stopped to smell the roses more [enjoy your wife and little ones]
3.  I would have taken that risk

My motto for 2011

"The blessings of ministry often come to us first disguised as inconveniences."

- a BR original
[photo:juliefeilen.com]

Christology: Narnia-style

"'But please, please - won't you - can't you give me something that will cure Mother?' Up till then he had been looking at the Lion's great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt sure as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.

"'My son, my son," said Aslan. "I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another."

- C S Lewis, The Magician's Nephew

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

-  Hebrews 4.15

12-Step Economic Recovery Program

A 12-Step Economic Recovery Program for Impoverished African-Americans
by Gary North [abridged]

These begin with a presupposition: class position isn't primarily about one's level of income, but rather, his worldview: specifically his theory of cause and effect.

1. Join a church. I don't mean some shrinking, liberal, mainline denomination, especially one whose name begins with the word "United." I mean a Bible-preaching, hell-fire-and-damnation church, which warns people weekly that sins produce negative results. Avoid the never-ending liberal blame-shifting. The woman whom You gave me, she handed me the fruit!

2. Donate 10% of your income to your church. This is called tithing. It says to yourself and your church's deacons, "Every good and perfect gift comes down from my unchanging Father and I rely on Him for my money. This 10% off the top is a token of my faith that there's more where that came from."

3. Finish school. Graduating from high school or college doesn't make you smart. It makes you reliable. It sends a message to future employers: "I finish what I start, even something as inherently boring as school." No man who looks back, once he’s put his hand to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God.

4. Get married and stay married to the same person. This takes advantage of the productivity offered by the division of labor. It's also a huge motivation for #5…

"World Hunger Stinks"

You might say the solution to world hunger is right under our noses. According to wwwglobalissues.org it would cost about $13 billion annually to satisfy the world's basic sanitation and food requirements. Where can we free up that kind of cash? ... Perfume. That's right, the world's hungry could be fed for about what Americans and Europeans spend on perfume each year. I say, chuck the Chanel and feed the children!

-Jeff Yeager, personal finance author and self-proclaimed 'Ultimate Cheapskate'

He that has ears to hear, let him hear

If you haven't heard Joost Nixon's, 'Bleeding Heart Calvinism' you need to. I promise it will be worth every bit of your 4 minutes.

He that has ears to hear, let him hear here.