C. S. Lewis:

Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than a minority of them—never become even conscious of them all. How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?

Saw Ridley Scott’s Napoleon tonight with Kristyn. The battle sequences are certainly exhilarating (though the brutality of that style of warfare makes me borderline nauseous). Overall, an entertaining film, but I left feeling a little let down. Phoenix’s performance seemed a bit of a rehash of previous characters. Also, Napoleon’s motivations remained opaque to me throughout. For a character study, Napoleon didn’t help me get inside the head of this complicated figure.

Finished reading: Reading the Gospels Wisely by Jonathan T. Pennington 📚

A superb book. Pennington offers much sage advice on reading the gospels well and, in the process, he sparks in you a desire to read the gospels afresh (which is always a good sign with books on Holy Scripture).

C. S. Lewis, dropping some truth bombs about the afterlife that might be a little too on the nose for some believers:

Talk to me about the truth of religion and I’ll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I’ll listen submissively. But don’t come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand.

Unless, of course, you can literally believe all that stuff about family reunions ‘on the further shore,’ pictured in entirely earthly terms. But that is all unscriptural, all out of bad hymns and lithographs. There’s not a word of it in the Bible. And it rings false. We know it couldn’t be like that. Reality never repeats. The exact same thing is never taken away and given back. How well the spiritualists bait their hook! ‘Things on this side are not so different after all.’ There are cigars in Heaven. For that is what we should all like. The happy past restored.

Why is it “Febreze” instead of “Febreeze”? The double “e” in the middle seems so obviously superior to me, not least because, ya know, the actual word is breeze.