"This rain it will continue through the morning as I'm listening to the bells of the cathedral. I am thinking of your voice."
I think it's an open question as to whether the cathedral bells triggered the character in the Suzanne Vega song to think of someone's voice or whether the two thoughts are unrelated. In any case, it made me wonder what if there were no one to ring church bell towers? There are no bell towers nearby where I live, but I've lived places where church bell towers could be counted on daily to provide a surreal soundtrack to otherwise typical urban happenings.
So what if there were no one to ring church bell towers? What if there were no Christian church? I think at this point in history the question "What if there were no Christians?" is highly hypothetical and politcal. I'm definitely trying to be hypothetical, but I don't mean the question to be political but cultural. And I know there are some places in the world where the Church is not welcome, but what if it were like that in all the world with no hope of change? No church bell towers. Pretty sad. More room for commercials maybe though.
The reverse question is totally fair, by the way. What if all people were part of one (Christian, maybe) church? What if there were no non-Christians? No commecials. Pretty sad.
Posted by tdupuy at October 24, 2005 3:02 AMWhat will heaven be like, in your opinion?
Posted by: Lara at October 25, 2005 12:10 AMExcellent question, faithful reader. When I was a kid, I used to think heaven was a single moment frozen in time. Maybe your happiest or holiest moment. So maybe sitting with your grandmother on the porch on a summer evening. But now I find heaven much more difficult to understand. The whole concept isn't even intuitive to me. I have no idea what heaven will be like and I have a hard time even understanding that there is an afterlife and why there is. Please recommend a C.S. Lewis book/chapter to read. I seem to disagree with him usually, but in disagreeing I at least form an opinion on the subject. I have no one to disagree with currently.
Posted by: Trent at October 26, 2005 2:21 AMThe Great Divorce. That's what I definitely recommend. Amazing.
Posted by: Lara at October 26, 2005 9:43 PMAnd what have you ever ACTUALLY read by him, may I ask?
Posted by: Lara at October 26, 2005 9:50 PMActually? Read? By C.S. Lewis? I'm not answering any of your questions without a lawyer present. Can I download The Great Divorce?
Posted by: Trent at October 27, 2005 5:17 AMNo! It's an entire novella! Check it out at your local library for God's sake...and your's!
Posted by: Lara at October 27, 2005 7:20 AMLate, but seconding the recommendation, and heartily. So scary.
Posted by: ae at November 3, 2005 11:12 PMAE, you've read The Great Divorce?
Posted by: Lara at November 7, 2005 8:55 AM