Sunday, May 20, 2012

Quotation from The Great Divorce

C.S. Lewis wrote a story about a bus trip from Hell to Heaven, called The Great Divorce.  I thought I would quote one of the many memorable parts:

That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say, "Let me have but this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation will spread back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why, at the end of all things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven," and the Lost, "We were always in Hell." And both will speak truly.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite Lewis quotes. Good choice! I was 24 when I got saved, but already in my 30s I was able to look back and see the hand of God changing how I saw even the sinful things in my past. He allowed me to see how He used even those things, of which I am now ashamed, for His purposes and glory. Once again, thanks for the quote and God bless you.

Bilbo said...

I have yet to see how God used the the sinful things in my past, of which I am now ashamed, for His purposes and glory. I only pray that He has and will.