Seizing Joy

I feel joyful tonight. While I'm no way like Jacque, I've quoted him the last two days on here, and I felt like I was feeling somewhat melancholy. I'm rarely depressed, but I do have a melancholy streak (I'd make a distinction between those moods). Now, I'm feeling joyful. I feel like today I've seen some things more clearly than I have for awhile and that's exciting.

The thing with joy is that it doesn't last, but the things that joy brings about do last. Some things I saw today might normally lead me to be depressed, but instead brought joy because they all fit together. Joy isn't having everything go right, it's something much more than that. True joy is coming closer to seeing God's purpose for you, and I feel like I got a glance at that today from some of the least likely places.

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The Question of God: Sunday School Edition
In other news, the C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud discussions have been going great. If I ever get some free time, I should like to consider how it can be reformatted for a Sunday School class. After the first time I saw this material, I thought the videos would be perfect in such a setting, and I'm even more convinced now. It would be a class for people who want to discuss things — perhaps it would not draw a large crowd, but I think it would be a healthy thing to do. Faith needs to be pushed to become stronger. Looking at the arguments and counter-arguments of these two men works for that purpose, I think.

Challenges to faith ought to be dealt with in the church. Not by insulting the opposition, but understanding it. Freud's views are popular and powerful today, and the only way for the church to properly apologize against it is to make members informed about the challenges in an objective way. These are serious challenges that can be given by perfectly rational people, and it is only by presenting the arguments as such, and then dealing with them appropriately, that the church can move to a firm foundation in the information age.

How would I present it? I'd cut out the panel (which isn't that good anyway) and focus on the portions that delve into the beliefs of the two famous men. Perhaps you could play two segments (one from each) per week, which would take about twenty minutes, and then discuss for the remaining 40 minutes of an hour long adult Sunday school.