I've been thoroughly enjoying The Great Divorce and have been pondering a couple of passages.
The first one is on page 39 where one of the Spirits is talking to a Ghost about redemption. "All that is over. We are not playing now. I have been talking of the past (your past and mine) only in order that you may turn from it forever. One wrench and the tooth will be out. You can begin as if nothing had ever gone wrong. White as snow. It's all true, you know. He is in me, for you, with that power -I have come a long journey to meet you. You have seen Hell: you are in sight of Heaven. Will you, even now, repent and believe?"
I thought this was a very interesting passage because I was raised in the belief that their is no redemption after death and that you choose where to go before you die.
The second passage is on pages 43-44 and one of the Ghosts is talking about what Jesus and Christianity would have been if Jesus had been more mature when he died.
"He would have outgrown some of his earlier views, you know, if he'd lived. As he might have done, with a little more tact and patience. I am going to ask my audience to consider what his mature views would have been [...] What a different Christianity we might have had if only the Founder had reached his full stature! I shall end up by pointing out how this deepens the significance of the Crucifixion. One feels for the first time what a disaster it was: what a tragic waste... so much promise cut short."
Did anyone else find this Ghost's speech wacky? When Jesus came to earth he was fully God and fully human, so I don't think his views would have changed. And without his death on the cross, we would have no hope for salvation. What do you guys think?
The first one is on page 39 where one of the Spirits is talking to a Ghost about redemption. "All that is over. We are not playing now. I have been talking of the past (your past and mine) only in order that you may turn from it forever. One wrench and the tooth will be out. You can begin as if nothing had ever gone wrong. White as snow. It's all true, you know. He is in me, for you, with that power -I have come a long journey to meet you. You have seen Hell: you are in sight of Heaven. Will you, even now, repent and believe?"
I thought this was a very interesting passage because I was raised in the belief that their is no redemption after death and that you choose where to go before you die.
The second passage is on pages 43-44 and one of the Ghosts is talking about what Jesus and Christianity would have been if Jesus had been more mature when he died.
"He would have outgrown some of his earlier views, you know, if he'd lived. As he might have done, with a little more tact and patience. I am going to ask my audience to consider what his mature views would have been [...] What a different Christianity we might have had if only the Founder had reached his full stature! I shall end up by pointing out how this deepens the significance of the Crucifixion. One feels for the first time what a disaster it was: what a tragic waste... so much promise cut short."
Did anyone else find this Ghost's speech wacky? When Jesus came to earth he was fully God and fully human, so I don't think his views would have changed. And without his death on the cross, we would have no hope for salvation. What do you guys think?
posted by Gena at 4:43 PM
2 Comments:
To respond to your second quote. That's why I thought this ghost was a bit Pelagian in his views. He rejected pretty much all of the supernatural in the Bible and especially threw out the notion that Jesus died and then was resurrected. He pretty much just saw Jesus as a role model for morality but didn't see much use in anything else. So he had religion, but no Christ. He focused so much on everything else--being a good person and all that--that he forgot that the most important aspect of Christianity is Christ.
May be that Ghost should read Thomas Jefferson's verson of the New Testament. He wrote one without anything supernatural. To say the least, it's a very short book.
Sometimes I can't help but wonder if we're all a little prone to this once we start to study something so indepth, that we forget the reason for our studing.
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