C. S. Lewis once said that you didn't need to read the papers. If something really bad happened your neighbor would tell you. One of Twain's characters remarked that newspapers go and fetch everyones' bad news and lay it at your doorstep. Lewis argued that God did not make us big enough to bear the weight of the world. We are not psychologically capable of taking in so much bad news. God designed us to live in small communities, not in global villages. He made us to nourish our souls on permanent things, not the ephemeral news that passes away with the next update. This is why a steady diet of history, especially redemptive history, is better for us than constantly checking the news or watching television, much of which is trivial.Thoreau: Read not the Times. Read the Eternities.
William Ralph Inge: Whoever marries the spirit of this age will find himself a widower in the next.
C.S. Lewis: If it is not eternal, then it is eternally out of date.
G. K. Chesterton: The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.
Russell Kirk: In essence, the conservative person is simply one who finds the permanent things more pleasing than Chaos and Old Night.
E. F. Schumacher: Small is beautiful.
Isaiah 40:8: The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
2 comments:
Dr. Heckel,
A very able student pointed me to your "History vs. News" blog entry and I must say that is one of the most penetrating, true, helpful things that I have read in a long time. Thank you for making your true thesis here so clear!
Blesings,
Keith
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