C.S. Lewis and “Conservatives”
» S.D. Smith
Well, it didn’t take long for my post yesterday to “Tread” on toes.
My main object wasn’t merely to single out modern, so-called “progressives” for particular scorn. It was to make a point about the idea of progress and how it’s a morally ambiguous term. But I will say that there are evils worse than the slavery Lewis depicts in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and aggressive promotion of one such evil is a core, modern “progressive” concern. I think that illustrates the point, but maybe I shouldn’t have used “scare quotes.” Boo.
But lest we leave off offending everyone, I offer a good quotation from Lewis to address an idolatry typical of “conservatives.” But it goes for all of us.
“He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or a party, or a class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most emphatically belongs to God: himself.”
C.S. Lewis
This beautiful little gem helps me remember whose team I’m on, and who I belong to –deeply flawed though I am. While we must, in every age, be concerned with, and work to end, the great moral ills of our times, we must not pretend that Moralism is the answer for mankind.
Moralism, of the “family-values” variety, or the “progress and equality” kind, cannot get us anywhere with God.
What we all need is Good News –the actual Gospel. We need to hear and believe that Jesus is interested in rescuing really bad people (even people with “backward,” or “fringe” beliefs) from their guilt and gladless selfishness in sin. And that we can’t do enough good to make it all right. We all need mercy, and we can get it from God, who is not stingy with the stuff.
After we are received by him on Jesus’ merit, he sets to work righting the ship (sanctification), and I guess we’ll keep fighting about what that must look like. But for my money liberal-progressives and conservatives both have areas where, if we cling to these ideologies as if they are core principles, we will miss a lot and lead others to do the same.
I’m know I have been guilty of blundering through on instinct while carrying too much water for these temporal causes and I am always trying to find the right balance on that front. Forgive me where I am wrong on that score, I beg. And keep pointing me back to Jesus, and his happy kingdom where no one votes.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:39 am
I can’t wait to not have the responsibility of voting again! As if we the people actually KNOW what’s best for ourselves. We are a self-centered bunch all Sam and thanks for pointing us all back to the Gospel. =)
November 18th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Well said. A “progressive” version of Christian moralism and political action is no better than the “conservative” one. If you’re making Jesus your teacher for modern progressivism or conservatism, you’ve missed what Jesus is about.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Sorry my schedule didn’t allow me to read yesterday’s post yesterday. I did comment on that post, but only this morning. I am glad you made clear any doubts that your previous post could be be considered as equating conservative politics with Christianity. Indeed, the “conservative values” folk are very often only socially progressive in a different rut.
Admittedly, if I expected salvation (even temporal salvation) from our government, I’d be very worried!
But I don’t expect dominion to come through political means and besides I am working through Titus 3 currently and Nero was the boss when those instructions were penned.
God bless our leaders, but may He also change their hearts.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Well, I still think that the capitalization of a term that has become synonymous with ‘liberal’ was intentional, but I’ll let it go.
And you can dismiss “scare quotes”, but the definition: material in scare quotes may represent the writer’s concise (but possibly misleading) paraphrasing, characterization, or intentional renaming of statements, concepts, or terms used by a third party seems to fit.
Finally, I can’t think of a better passage than Titus 3:3-7 for Christians to use as a starting point.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Bob,
Perhaps you should have read verse 8 too. Good works certainly could not include murdering children.