Lewis thinks that "right of happiness" is odd. He than mentions Clare, a woman who thinks people should have the right of happiness, which referred by Lewis that it simply means "sexual happiness".
This essay is even more hard to read than the first two essays. I am so confused in many points. This essay does not mention who Clare is. It is hard to understand what Lewis is arguing as there is no evidence on what "Clare" has says. She may even a character created by Lewis, as he did the same thing in "Bulverism". After the discussion in class, I found out that I should focus on the idea Lewis gives than finding out who Clare is.
Also, in this essay, Lewis does not mention his idea clearly throughout the whole essay. For me it is hard to find out his idea.
I have not get into a relationship before, so I do not understand about how "sexual happiness" appears. Nor I do not have friends or relatives who has divorce before. As Lewis mentions in "Meditation in a Toolshed", I cannot criticize "sexual happiness" because I have not been into it.
However, Jesus had talked about Divorce:
and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not seperate.
Matthew 19:5-6
I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.
Matthew 19:9
As Jesus has said, they are no longer two, but one. Marridge is not only about sexual happiness, but also means you are linked with each other. Although I agree that we have the right to happiness, we also have the responsibility to our other half.
The essay develops a cultural 'western' concept that permits a person divorce his neighbor if he is 'not happy' even though the culture does not accept one to kill somebody because he/she makes him/her unhappy, or gives permission to pick apples in a garden of somebody else. Lewis is not writing a romance, he is just stating a fact: that is common in this culture. He mentions just enough to make readers understand what the subject is about. I guess even though you did not have a girlfriend/married yet, you must have seen around you people that live as such!
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right: in God's Word there are VERY strict rules on divorce, and Lewis is trying to make a point about it (this is called apologetics - the branch of theology that is concerned with defending or proving the truth of Christian doctrines or a formal argumentation in defense of something, such as a position or system). Lewis is considered the greatest Christian apologetics of the 20th century!
You may want to say in class what you think! Maybe there are others that see this also!
God Bless.
Adriana