tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post8630033582242677711..comments2024-03-27T15:47:46.091-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: The Trump CardPastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-70415069455596233702009-12-11T20:00:27.162-06:002009-12-11T20:00:27.162-06:00It was C.S. Lewis who taught that a pleasure is no...It was C.S. Lewis who taught that a pleasure is not a wrong: Smoking a pipe, enjoying a sunset, etc. I know he wouldn't agree that sinful pleasures are wrong, of course. The "good things" (not forbidden in Scripture) in life, however are OK.<br /><br />What really stuck with me most is that we can make even right pleasures into wrong ones. How? By repetition. We are given pleasures to enjoy by God. Lutherans know this better than anyone. We turn those pleasures into sin when we desire to repeat them by our own doing. We are so perverse we will repeat a pleasure interminably trying to recapture the feeling. This is what Lewis was talking about. A glass of good wine is a good pleasure. 10 glasses of wine trying to increase the pleasure is not.<br /><br />We can turn anything into an idol, can't we? We can make good things sinful things. Shows us how deep the fall really is.Janis Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02947508427040251166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-40811240767696075702009-12-11T10:06:45.261-06:002009-12-11T10:06:45.261-06:00The urge to seek things that are pleasurable and a...The urge to seek things that are pleasurable and avoid things that would be considered painful or unpleasant is a basic primal human response. Simply put, people like doing things that feel good, and want to avoid things that feel bad or are difficult to do. It's hardwired into our brains. I think that's something that both psychologists/neuroscientists and Christians can agree on. <br /><br />Where we differ, however, is how we attribute that fact. While the secular response is to say that this pleasure-seeking behavior is evidence of evolution from lower life-forms and that it's an urge that should be accepted and embraced in our society. Seeking pleasure, after all, is good for our society. If buying something makes you feel better, go for it. It's good for the economy. If eating and drinking makes you feel better, go for it. It stimulates consumer spending. If using controlled substances makes you feel good, go for it. Why should society dictate what we can do with our bodies as long as it doesn't harm others or discriminate, right?<br /><br />Whereas the Christian point-of-view puts these base urges where they belong--as clear evidence of our fallen nature. What's often called the "reptilian brain" isn't a primal reminant from our primate ancestors--it's what our "old Adam" really originates from, and what is drowned and buried with Baptism and the body and blood of Christ.<br /><br />I studied Psychology and Cognitive Science a lot in college, and while it's clear that those fields are no friend to Christianity, it did show me a lot just about how our fallen natures and how our old Adams work and manifest in society and our own erroneous thinking.Arielnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-41414065224980761242009-12-11T09:44:26.109-06:002009-12-11T09:44:26.109-06:00Pr. Peters
An excellent post, thank you!
The false...Pr. Peters<br />An excellent post, thank you!<br />The false god of hedonism has been around since the fall, but the hubris of "my rights" in our "modern" society continuously leads to a fall (see Tiger Woods, Congresscritters, et.al.)and clearly shows that we are as "modern" as Babylon, Rome, name your favorite "heighth of humanity"/where are they now era in history.Randy Boschnoreply@blogger.com