{"id":68472,"date":"2018-07-24T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=68472"},"modified":"2019-09-19T11:42:19","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T18:42:19","slug":"the-eagle-and-child-s1e28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2018\/07\/24\/the-eagle-and-child-s1e28\/","title":{"rendered":"PWJ: S1E28 – Bonus – “Mailbag Episode (Part 2)”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

This week Matt and I read some more mail from listeners. This week we get some constructive criticism! We’re going to be talking about charity and suffering…<\/p>\n

Please send any objections, comments or questions, either via email\u00a0through my website<\/a>\u00a0or tweet us\u00a0@pintswithjack<\/a>\u00a0or message us via\u00a0Instagram<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Episode 27: “Mailbag Episodes (Part 2)”<\/strong>\u00a0(Download<\/a>)<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/S1E28.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe\u00a0<\/span>manually<\/a>, or\u00a0any place where good podcasts can be found\u00a0(<\/span>iTunes<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Google Play<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Podbean<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Stitcher<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>TuneIn<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

— Show Notes —<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0The Quote-of-the-week:<\/p>\n

\u201cI suggest to you that it is because God loves us that he gives us the gift of suffering. Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world. You see, we are like blocks of stone out of which the Sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much are what make us perfect\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 We continued with last week’s drink-of-the-week,\u00a0Deceptivus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 We read some iTunes reviews…<\/p>\n

\u2022 iTunes Review #1:<\/strong> “I\u2019m very happy to make this podcast a part of my week. Matt and David share funny banter, good theology, and personal application. Having read Mere Christianity many years ago, this is a great review of Lewis\u2019 work from two men that are pleasant to listen to.“<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 iTunes Review #2:<\/strong> “Clearly, not all Christians are out to prove they are right, but are rather out to prove that Christianity can help in some of life\u2019s biggest problems and struggles. I feel less alone and more joyful in my movement closer to God through Lewis\u2019 work\u2026 and because of the work of the men on this podcast.“<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 We read an email from listener Francis who, in response to Episode 8<\/a>, asked us to comment further on suffering and evil from the Christian point-of-view. In that episode we had mostly spoken about our inability to see the good which can come further down the line as a result of something unpleasant and painful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cb We spoke about the difference between the intellectual problem of pain and the emotional problem.<\/p>\n

\u25cb We will be speaking more about this subject in an upcoming\u00a0video<\/strong> episode.<\/p>\n

\u25cb Matt explained that even the secular understanding of suffering is that it can form you into the sort of person who can achieve great things.<\/p>\n

\u25cb I commented that the Christian doctrine reflects reality – we don’t live in Heaven, we live in a world which is fallen and, as a result, broken.<\/p>\n

\u25cb The presence of danger in the world allows for the possibility of courage, which would be impossible in a world where danger did not exist.<\/p>\n

\u25cb We pointed to the cross as the supreme example of how God can bring good out of evil, no matter how hopeless the situation seems.<\/p>\n

\u2022 We had an email from Greg who wanted to comment about Episode 15<\/a> on social morality. Lewis had said:<\/p>\n

“The first thing to get clear about Christian morality between man and man is that in this department Christ did not come to preach any brand new morality”<\/span><\/p>\n

– C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Book III, Chapter 3)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Greg pushed back on this, saying:<\/p>\n

“Every ‘new fangled’ fad is nothing more than a warmed-over regurgitated old fad”.<\/span><\/p>\n

– Greg<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Matt and I talked about how studying Church History allows us to see that modern-day heresies are really recycled heresies from antiquity. Lewis says this himself in Book IV.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Concerning Lewis’ comments about “giving until it hurts”<\/a>, Greg had this to say about charitable giving:<\/p>\n

Lewis\u2019 view is something of a mixed bag in my opinion. Certainly, we must be generous with our resources. But Christian charity does not demand, in the normal course of things, that we give more than we can spare. In fact, barring extraordinary circumstances, it would be counterproductive. I would go so far to say that if our first consideration is what it may cost us to help others we have the cart before the horse. We are actually make it about ourselves, my sacrifice, what it is costing me. Our first consideration should always be considering the others\u2019 good. To be sure, that may, and often does, entail sacrifice and difficulty on our part, but that\u2019s really ancillary. The need to exercise good judgment in how we charitably give was not really addressed in the podcast. Nor does Lewis really address it.<\/span><\/p>\n

– Greg<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u25cb Matt and I largely agreed with the points made here, however we pointed to the very exacting passages of Scriptures which speak about money, generosity and trusting in God.<\/p>\n

\u25cb We also pointed to similar examples and sayings of the Saints: St. Kolbe, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Francis, …<\/p>\n

\u25cb I told a story about my time at school to make the point that different people need different messages. I suggested that today’s Church needs fewer lessons about moderation when it comes to charity – today’s problem is not that we give too much, it’s that we give too little. Matt gave some statistics to back this up – only 5% of Americans give 10% of their income to charity, 80% give less than 2%, with Christians only doing marginally better at 2.5%.<\/p>\n

\u25cb Paraphrasing Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Matt explained that “the rich young man”<\/span> of Scripture couldn’t spiritualize away Christ’s command to “go and sell everything”<\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Greg then criticizes the story of Lewis giving money to a beggar (Gresham says it was when he was with Tolkien, but I have since found out that the companion was Lewis’ future secretary, Walter Hooper):<\/p>\n

“I would heartily agree with Tolkien that Lewis should not have just indiscriminately given his money to the panhandler. I would suspect the reason Tolkien made the admonition was that what Lewis did harmed the man as opposed to helping him. So what if Lewis was going to spend the money on beer? He probably would have done less harm in doing that, unless he was an alcoholic of course. But, to my knowledge Lewis was not. I don\u2019t think Tolkien would have had an issue if Lewis would have emptied his pockets and put the money in a poor box at a church. I would also suspect Tolkien thought Lewis had other motives, in addition to charitable ones, for doing what he did like feeding his own pride. Here I think Lewis was engaging the very \u201cshowy\u201d form of generosity he laments about those who tip more than they ought and less on those who are in real need. But since it was Lewis\u2019 own money, he is free to disburse it as his will and conscience bids him. The main reason why I don\u2019t give to panhandlers is that I honestly believe it does more harm than good. I think Mother Teresa also discouraged giving to panhandlers for that reason. Jesus\u2019 admonition to as wise as serpents as well as being as innocent as doves applies as much to how we should should go about helping the least among us (which include not only the materially poor) as it does to everything else”<\/span><\/p>\n

– Greg<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u25cb Matt and I discussed the issues in giving to panhandlers, about prudential judgement and about the excuses we tell ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u25cb Although I said I was on “Team Tolkien”, I also quoted Jesus on the subject:<\/p>\n

Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you. <\/span><\/p>\n

– Matthew 5:42<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u25cb I suggested that if we don’t care for the poor personally, we can begin to think that the care of the poor is simply the job of the state or the Church.<\/p>\n

\u25cb I pushed back on the idea that Tolkien thought Lewis gave the money to feed his own pride. We spoke about the paradox of giving<\/a> which is found in scripture.<\/p>\n

\u25cb We really liked Greg’s distinction between seeing the beggar as a man and not just a poor man. Matt spoke about the documentary Poverty Inc<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Next episode we will be starting Book IV…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week Matt and I read some more mail from listeners. This week we get some constructive criticism! We’re going to be talking about charity and suffering… Please send any objections, comments or questions, either via email\u00a0through my website\u00a0or tweet us\u00a0@pintswithjack\u00a0or message us via\u00a0Instagram! Episode 27: “Mailbag Episodes (Part 2)”\u00a0(Download) If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe\u00a0manually, or\u00a0any place<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3111],"tags":[1822,1914,349,2969,2776,4945,4929,859,927,4438,414,4946],"class_list":["post-68472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-beggar","tag-c-s-lewis","tag-charity","tag-featured","tag-heresy","tag-mail","tag-mailbag","tag-pain","tag-suffering","tag-the-eagle-and-child-podcast","tag-tolkien","tag-video-series"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Mailbag-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68472"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73606,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68472\/revisions\/73606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}