Quote:
Originally Posted by Freedom
I have great respect for C.S. Lewis, and I always have. That is despite what I know about his lifestyle. The thing is, as far as I am aware, his lifestyle wasn't something that interfered with what he was doing. From a public perspective, his smoking and pub visits were completely benign. I can't say that I've run into many people who have expressed much criticism towards C.S. Lewis. Maybe a LCer or two has rolled their eyes, but that's about it.
Lee on the other hand, had the tendency to make his personal problems into everyone's problems. He didn't smoke, drink or play mahjong. But his itch for business ventures, family entanglements, authoritarian ways, etc, all had a profound effect on everyone. So much of Lee's "bones and feathers" were not just things that could be ignored. I by no means think that every little defect in someone is worth making an issue out of, but there is a reasonable line that can be drawn as to what's acceptable and what's not.
So why did Lee get the free pass to nitpick and point out others faults, but his own highly visible faults that severely affected others were off limits? What a hypocrite he was!
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Lee was definitely guilty of "straining gnats and swallowing camels," as were those who modeled themselves after him.
I remember a new member in our small group. He and his wife were in that new period when they were just enjoying the freshness and hadn't yet been conformed to the LCM accepted cultural model. (I always felt sorry for those delightful new people because I knew either their individual uniqueness would get stamped out or they would leave the movement disillusioned.)
Anyway, he said he was having some lunch at a Mexican restaurant and having a beer with his dinner because to him you just don't have Mexican food without beer. (I concur, by the way.) He said an LCM sister came in and greeted him, but once she saw his beer her expression changed and she couldn't take her eyes off of that beer. To her it was indicative that there was something seriously wrong with the brother.
Now, where does it say a Christian can't have a beer with his Mexican food if he wants to? Nowhere. The Bible warns against excessive drinking, but never says don't do it at all. But Lee decided the Bible standard wasn't good enough and he was going to put the screws to everything and create a movement of super-spiritual, super-proper people. And we know the rest of the story: Hypocrisy run rampant. Gnats expelled and camels embraced.
It's interesting. I recently found this passage in Ecclesiastes 7:
16 Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?
17 Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them. (NASB)
The Easy Read Version renders it this way:
16-17 So why ruin your life?
Don’t be too good or too bad, and don’t be too wise or too foolish. Why should you die before your time?
18 Try to be a little of this and a little of that.