“A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.”
This is certainly the most frequently quoted passage from The Problem of Pain, and it doesn't even really have to do with the book's main argument. In this particular section, Lewis is trying to demonstrate the totality of God's omnipotence and glory; is he is not omnipotent, then he is not God. When describing the nature of his essence, Lewis says the above quote, which is a beautiful and profound analogy that depicts the absurdity of thinking that your actions could in any way diminish the glory of God.
"It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all."
This is another profoundly moving passage that is often quoted by Lewis fans. In this section, he's attempting to describe Heaven and the internal evidence of every person ("the secret signature of each soul") that points toward this end of ultimate satisfaction. He argues that everything we enjoy or find especially pleasant is merely a trail of evidence, a glimpse into the state for which man was intended, but which was disrupted by the Fall. This complete joy, however, is the future of Heaven. If Heaven is lost, then we lose everything of value about ourselves and life.
"Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal."
This quote comes during Lewis's discussion of divine goodness in Chapter 3, and it aptly summarizes the core of his argument about God's love. God's love transcends that of humans because it is complete and uninhibited, and it wants what is truly best for its objects. His love is universal in that God loves everyone despite their flaws, but it is against the nature of true Love to "cease to will their removal;" God knows it's best for us when our flaws are removed and purified, so he desires that above all else, even our comfort. This purification can often take the form of suffering, as pain is a catalyst for change and a necessary part of essential transformation, but this is nothing compared to the joys of Heaven that will result.
"...man is now a horror to God and to himself and a creature ill-adapted to the universe not because God made him so but because he has made himself so by the abuse of his free will"
In C.S. Lewis states that human beings have become a horror to God and to themselves and are ill-adapted to the universe not because God made them that way, but because they have made themselves that way through the abuse of their free will. This idea is consistent with the Christian belief that God created humans with free will, and the ability to make choices and decisions for themselves. However, if humans choose to abuse this free will and act in ways that are harmful to themselves or others, they can create suffering and pain for themselves and others. This is the "problem of pain" that Lewis addresses in his book – how can a loving God allow suffering to exist in the world, when it is often caused by the choices and actions of human beings? Lewis suggests that God allows suffering to exist as a result of the free will that he has given to humans and that it is up to humans to use their free will to choose to act in ways that will bring about good and avoid suffering. Furthermore, Lewis posits the idea that Christian doctrine serves the purpose of revealing and exposing the fallenness of man described in this quote.
"We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world."
In his quote from C.S. Lewis suggests that God uses different methods to communicate with humans. Lewis says that God "whispers" to us in our pleasures, meaning that he speaks to us quietly and gently through the things that bring us joy and happiness. He "speaks" in our conscience, meaning that he guides us through our moral sense and our sense of right and wrong. However, when it comes to suffering and pain, Lewis says that God "shouts," meaning that he uses suffering as a way to get our attention and to try to wake us up to something important. According to Lewis, suffering can serve as a "megaphone," a powerful means of communication that helps to rouse a "deaf world," meaning a world that is not listening or paying attention to God's message. Overall, the quote suggests that God uses different methods to try to communicate with us and that suffering can be a particularly powerful means of getting our attention and helping us to understand something important.
"It may have been one of man’s functions to restore peace to the animal world, and if he had not joined the enemy he might have succeeded in doing so to an extent now hardly imaginable."
In "The Problem of Pain," C.S. Lewis is addressing the question of why God allows suffering in the world. In this quote, Lewis is suggesting that one of the purposes of human beings is to bring peace to the animal world. He suggests that if humans had not "joined the enemy," meaning if they had not turned away from God and engaged in sinful behavior, they might have been able to bring a level of peace to the animal world that is currently hard to imagine. This idea is in line with the Christian belief that humans were created to be stewards of the earth and to care for the rest of creation. Lewis is suggesting that if humans had fulfilled this role, they might have been able to bring about a greater sense of peace and harmony among animals.
"The lowest type, and one which is ‘love’ at all only by an extension of the
word, is that which an artist feels for an artefact. God’s relation to man is
pictured thus in Jeremiah’s vision of the potter and the clay."
In this passage, C.S. Lewis begins talking about the first of the different ways God's love is portrayed in the Bible: That a potter has towards a pot.
Now, such love is quite transformative, all the more so when it is deeper. Hence, the pains God takes to mould us into His desired shape. Now, the unique aspect of this analogy is that the pot is a object that doesn't exist for itself but for others. So, the desirability of it is decided by the satisfaction the maker has of it. Here, God's love is portrayed as a overwhelming force that decides our values and purposes; it is He who decides what our life will be 'writing our days in His scroll.' It is He who loves us enough that He chooses us - even as the raw material we are - and hates our present state enough to transform us. Here, hate is shown as necessary part of love. If one loves, He will hate all that spoils the glory or harms the wellbeing or prevents the potential—that His object of love has or could have. Thus, this love God has for us humans leads to the trouble of chiselling away all that stands in the way of our glorious destiny and God's final satisfaction.
"Another type is the love of a man for a beast—a relation constantly used in
Scripture to symbolise the relation between God and men; ‘we are his people
and the sheep of his pasture’."
Here, C.S. Lewis talks about how God loves us using the analogy of a human loving their animal: a dog owner loving their dog.
Lewis mentions here the fact that God choosing to love us and transform us, is due to the fact that He finds us not only lovable, but also having the potential to become 'fully lovable'. Also, the dog owner primarily domesticates and trains the dog for his own pleasure; so that he could love it. Here, the love of God for humans is shown to be a love that serves the beloved, even as it makes the beloved serve. Unlike the previous analogy Lewis used, here relationship is rightly understood as mutual understanding and serving and loving. God loves us enough to change us to live life better than we had before.
