QotD: Eustace Clarence Scrubb

Really, I am very sorry if you are not a reader. Obviously, you read some things or you would not be here (I'm not as dense as granite, you know).

I have not always been a reader but the continued prodding of men I respected greatly to read much and read broadly has impelled me to read beyond my comfort zones. I wish I could read faster; many books remain untouched on my to-be-read shelf. The chuckles I've enjoyed and the insights into the soul that have come my way through reading are too numerous to cite.

I have always read to my children, and I have tried to press their comfort zones, too. Still, we will often return to favorites. I have lost track of how many times I have read aloud "The Chronicles of Narnia" in my family. In our current reading of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," I came across this description of the parents of Eustace Clarence Scrubb, the spoiled cousin of the Peavensie children whose name pretty much says it all. Lewis wrote:

"He didn't call his father and mother "Father" and "Mother," but Harold and Alberta. They were very up-to-date and advanced people. They were vegetarians, non-smokers and teetotallers and wore a special kind of underclothes."

While that last phrase seems to be indicting the LDS, Lewis has skewers enough for all, particularly for those of us in religious communities who like to declare certain conduct to be sin or at the very least inappropriate for those who call themselves Christian.

Many of us who are conservative believers bristle when we hear of the government wanting to restrict gun ownership. Yes, guns can be used as tools to inflict harm. Sometimes the harm comes about unintentionally. At the same time, a gun can be used for good and for pleasure when one is responsible. The Christian understands that.

Then the believer turns right around and condemns some manner of food (soft drinks? Meats? Anything non-organic?), any form of smoking, or any usage of alcohol for the very same reasons. None of these things is condemned in principle or in fact in the word of God. Their misuse, as with guns, is certainly condemned, but not their use. In fact, wine enjoyment often goes hand in hand with celebration and times of rejoicing. 

Really, it's amazing with all the ale and wien drinking and revelry in Lewis' children's books that they are even read within some circles. Perhaps they're not. Or perhaps they're edited. Either would be tragic.