Learing during War

“The war creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it” These are the words of C.S. Lewis during his “Learning in War-Time” sermon in 1939. Lewis takes the firm position that it is not wrong to be in a school during the war nor is it wrong to be on the battle field. The place and the subject matters little; the intent and purpose determine everything. “I mean the pursuit of knowledge and beauty, in a sense, for their own sake, bot in a sense which does not exclude their being for God’s sake. An appetite for these things exists in the human mind, and God makes not appetite in vain.” There is a reason we seek knowledge and it is our duty to seek it. We must, however be careful to seek this knowledge in a way that glorifies the Lord. For the purpose of this knowledge, as well as anything that we do, must be for the glory of God. We learn to be able to fight those with the intellect of the enemy. “If all the world were Christian, it might not matter if all the world were uneducated.” We learn to be able to communicate and combat with those who plant seeds of doubt in the minds of those less knowledgeable then themselves. We learn even in times of war because whether there is a war at our door or a time of peace, the greater war will not wait for you to say “I am ready”—this is the war in our hearts. The war that leads to eternal consequence shall not stop for war, nor shall it become less necessary during a time of peace. This is the war that regardless of the world around us, not rest until the world we know ceases to exist. Learning should not stop, nor should you feel bad about learning in a time of war because as Lewis puts it “The learned life then is, for some, a duty, at the moment it looks as if it were your duty.” A duty that the Lord set out for you to do.