clive staples (jack) lewis

yep, his friends called him jack.

continuing from last week’s post:
in june of 1910 lewis left the wynard school in watford and was enrolled as a boarding 

student at campbell college in belfast.  just one mile from little lea.  he was there until he 

developed respiratory difficulties.

in 1911 he was sent to malvern, england, which was famous as a health resort, especially for 

those with lung problems.  there he was enrolled as a student at cherbourg house (which he

referred to as “charters”).  warnie, his brother, was close by as a student at malvern college.

jack remained there until june of 1913.  it was during this time that he abandoned his 

childhood christian faith.  in september 1913 he entered malvern college and stayed until

the following june of 1914.

as a teenager, lewis learned to love poetry, especially the works of virgil and homer.
he also developed an interest in modern languages, mastering french, german, and italian.

♥

the group-reading of “mere christianity” proceeds

with the chapter called “the shocking alternative.”

several things in this chapter stood out , as in the closing paragraph where jack is
speaking about when people call Jesus a great human teacher, and how Jesus has not
left that option open to us.

what really hit my heart though, was in the third paragraph
that contains this sentence about free will:

“Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes
possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.”

which leads into the part about God knowing what happens when anyone chooses to use
their freedom in the wrong way.  and the part about putting the self first, wanting to be the
center, wanting to be God.

there are a lot of important points in this chapter, beyond the few that i’ve touched upon.
again…jack’s writing is packed to the brim, with no wasted words.

.