Is Lewis saying our sin is not our fault because we didn’t choose it? At first glance, it might appear that Lewis’s automobile analogy is ignoring personal responsibility or the moral dynamics of the heart. He goes on to creatively describe how so many of our difficulties constitute learning to drive in a “hard school.” He frames it this way because, as he states, we tend to be saddled with these afflictions “by no choice of our own.” This perspective swims upstream from our reflexive instincts, and that’s what is so helpful about it. It captures our lived experience of dealing with sinful hearts and broken bodies, and how we exist and operate parallel to God’s tender and compassionate posture toward us.įirst, in describing the human experience of suffering and trouble, Lewis injects a degree of dignity and honor into the more challenging and disruptive of human problems and disabilities.

In spite of this, what I’ve come to appreciate most about this quote is how it maps onto the Christian experience of living in a fallen world. Whatever it is, most of us can find something in this quote that we take issue with. For others, his statement “no choice of our own” avoids issues of sin and culpability. For some, it’s finding his use of “loathsome” to be callous and uninformed. His strong language and provocative examples catch us off guard, push our buttons, and seem to offend most everyone. Let’s be honest: in this particular quote, Lewis shows himself to be an equal-opportunity offender. One day… you may astonish us all-not least yourself: for you have learned your driving in a hard school. He knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive. Lewis is from his popular book Mere Christianity.īut if you are a poor creature-poisoned by a wretched upbringing in some house full of vulgar jealousies and senseless quarrels-saddled, by no choice of your own, with some loathsome sexual perversion-nagged day in and day out by an inferiority complex that makes you snap at your best friends-do not despair.

Gale e christianson