hmmm. so over the power outage, in between napping and um...napping, I spent a lot of time curled up reading in front of the fire, Wilder's "Our Town," CS Lewis' "Mere Christianity" and "The Screwtape Letters." a lot of things struck me, but in particular one idea in both of Lewis' books leapt out at me.
Clive Staples was talking about pretending to be something you're not. and I'm sorry, I can't quote it exactly, but he said, more or less, that there are two kinds of pretending: one is that you're promising to be someone's friend when you really dislike them, and he said that is horrible and cheap and everything.
but he also said there is a kind of pretending where you pretend to be very friendly with everyone, pretend to be a very friendly person, and before you know it you become what you are pretending to be. and this is good, according to Lewis.
I don't know, it just kind of struck me. I believe it's true. even if you're just a fake at whatever it is you're trying to be at first, you just kind of get the hang of it. so it's easy to be limited by "well, I'm not that kind of person," when your only limit should be "what kind of person do I want to be, and what kind of person does God want me to be?"
thoughts?
7 comments:
I never thought about that...like, different kinds of pretending. I just always viewed it as bad, but I guess maybe it all is bad, but God uses some of it for good.
Sorry, I see things in black and white. My mom says it's a strength in some areas, but a weakness in others. It blinds me to a lot of things that others see easily, but sometimes I see things that others don't see so clearly.
Good to have a mix of us, I guess.
hmmm. I respect your opinion, I think, but I guess I don't really understand. can you clarify what you mean?
I mean that pretending in and of itself isn't a good thing. To be something your not to others, but yourself to you, or to try and fool yourself, is bad. However, when something is intended to be bad (whether your intentions themselves are bad or you just don't realize it) God can turn it into something good, say, by turning what was your pretending into reality, making you a better Christian for Him.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that while there may not be "good" pretending, God turns it into something good.
Does that make more sense? Sometimes I don't know what I'm talking about either, ;)
God calls on us to love our neighbors. Unfortunately, I have some neighbors who I really don't like. however, it is my duty to love them. so you really have to pretend you love them until you actually do.
I believe I read the same quote in A Mind Awake.
lol, no, it makes sense. and I see where you're coming from. don't get me wrong, neither Lewis or I are advocating hypocrisy (I think). it is wrong to pretend to be someone around one group of friends and another to another group or to your parents.
but that can be skewed as well, I talk about different things around different friends, and use different phrases and make different jokes. I don't believe that's wrong.
but I digress.
all I'm saying is in our example of being friendly (which isn't perfect), we have to stifle the ugly things that we think to say until you stop thinking them and just automatically think of 'nice' things. like chocolate covered bonbons. yum.
it would be 'wrong' to just say "well, I'm not a friendly person, guess I'll just be rude." because that's 'yourself.' we're just so bogged down in sin sometimes. fighting against it can be such an uphill struggle.
yupyup, Lewis talks about the same things over and over again, in different ways.
I have some neighbors I don't particularly like either, but I don't try to pretend to love them until I do. I try to look at them and see them the way God sees them, and really actually love them.
And I don't think that talking about different things around different people is the same as being two different people. It makes sense that you have different things in common with different friends. I, for instance, don't talk about LotR with my friend who hasn't seen LotR yet, we talk about other things. But with my other friends...that's about all we talk about sometimes...
Anyway, if your human nature is to be rude, I think it's a fine line between what may appear to be pretending to be friendly to people, and trying to improve the way you act around others to God. I think truly trying to change your nature with God's help, instead of just pretending long enough until it happens, is the better way to go.
Then again, if one does pretend to be something else long enough, their nature does change and they may become better people. I just don't think that's the most biblical way of doing it.
Not that I'm an expert on the subject...
hmmmm. I see where you are coming from. I appreciate your thoughts.
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