“Exit” vs. “I see”

I thought I had made this joke in public before, but I can’t find it (don’t worry, it’s geeky):

Exegesis, they say, is the interpretation of a text in such a way that it draws out its proper meaning.  Eisegesis is the interpretation of a text in such a way that you cram into it something that isn’t even there.  I guess that’s fine, but what I have to ask is why, if that’s the case, why does “exegesis” sound so much like “exit Jesus” and “eisegesis” sounds so much like “I see Jesus”?  Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

Sentiment

To go back to the sentiment controversy, your objection is non-sense. You argue that sentiment is delightful in art, because it is a part of human nature. Quite right. From that, you deduce that it ought not to be confined to that sphere of human nature where it is delightful – viz. art.  That is almost as sensible as to say that trousers are delightful only because they are a part of human clothes: therefore they ought to be worn, not only on the legs, but every where else.  Do you maintain that it is a highly commendable and philosophical act to wear trousers, say, on your head?  My point is that art is a receptacle of human thought: sentiment, emotion etc make up that section of human thought which are best suited to fill that definite receptacle – and no other.  For why, when we have found the best place to keep a thing, should we keep it in other places as well, or instead?  By the analogy of the trousers I have shown how ridiculous that would be.  As for your idea that to be young, one must be sentimental, let us go into it.  Young children are practically devoid of sentiment: they are moved only by bodily pain: young men are a little more sentimental, middle aged ones considerably more so, and old ones the most mawkishly so of all.  Sentiment, you see, is a distinct mark of age.

CS Lewis, letter to Arthur Greeves, 11 May 1915

I find that I begin to think in the same manner as whatever it is that I am reading, and I’m finding that definitely to be the case in this book of CS Lewis’ letters I’ve been reading.   In this letter, Lewis is about 17.  If he doesn’t grow up soon, I shall become almost unbearably obnoxious.

You might be doing it wrong

1 Corinthians 14:3: “But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.”

2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”

Preaching and prophesying are actually in two different categories. If your prophesying has too much rebuking, and not enough comfort, you might be doing it wrong.

As a side note, I sure thought I memorized these verses in the same translation…

Lived or Existed

Since then, I have lived or existed as one does at School. How dreary it all is! I could make some shift to put up with the work, the discomfort, and the school feeding: such inconveniences are only to be expected. But what irritates me more than anything else is the absolute lack of appreciation of anything like music or books which prevails among the people whom I am forced to call my companions. Can you imagine what it is like to live for twelve long weeks among boys whose thoughts never rise above the dull daily round of cricket and work and eating?

C.S.Lewis, to Arthur Greeves, 5 June 1914

Be Thou My Vision

In my ongoing attempt to find something meaningful to do with my life, I’ve taken up making worship lead sheets. I found a lovely program called lilypond that allows you to write sheet music in a programming language, and then spits it out as perfectly arranged sheet music. It’s supposed to be able to generate individual snippets of music that you can throw in to a web page, but that function is buried in an exceptionally bad user interface.

Anyway, I knocked out “Be Thou My Vision” today. First I copied from a hymnal and put in the proper lyrics (hymnals in the 80s and 90s had a terrible habit of arbitrarily changing lyrics, usually for the worse). Then I realized that wasn’t how I play the song on guitar. Guitar strumming has a tendency to pull everything… syncopated So we worked out how to play Be Thou in 9/8 time.

And here’s the completed product:

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou My Vision (syncopated)

UPDATE: It turns out that the guitar’s tendency to syncopate has something to do with my complete inability to play in ¾ time. Here’s what I’m actually playing:

Be Thou My Vision (syncopated)

Do you know what I’m tired of? People standing up and announcing a lie that they heard and blaming Christians because they heard it at church. Look, we already knew the Devil goes to church. Sometimes he likes to see if he can get behind the pulpit. But he’s a tricky guy. Sometimes he lets you catch one lie just so he can push you the other way. There’s nothing devils like better, I think, than to turn around and say, “Aha! And you heard that one at church!” Yeah, you did. Let’s rev up the anguish. Let’s love God so as to avoid loving our brother.

Listen: Jesus loves you more than life itself, and it is quite possible that he loves his church even more than you. The church where people hurt you; the church where well-meaning people fed you false doctrine; the church were you didn’t do so hot yourself, and you might have left a few broken windows and some bite marks. Christ has said that he will see his bride without spot or blemish before the end, and every wrinkle, every scar, every limp and every glare, they may not just go away. That may be just where the glory comes out.