Perelandra

I just finished Perelandra, the second from Lewis's space trilogy.

Lewis's writing is always rich, and there is a lot that he packed into this novel which I am still thinking through, but here is a brief take-home/response:

Ransom is sent to Perelandra (aka Venus). On Venus he meets a lady who is the first mother of the planet; she is basically Eve. Satan, in the body of Ransom's old enemy Weston, has come onto the planet to attempt to deceive this lady as he had deceived Eve. But Maleldil - God - has sent Ransom for the purpose of thwarting Satan's plans. For the duration of a few chapters, Satan and Ransom are in the company of the Lady as Satan tries to convince her to disobey Maleldil's command, and Ransom tries to show her the folly of his deception.

One of Satan's methods of deception is to argue that Maleldil had brought good from Eve's disobedience: "... it was this breaking of the commandment which brought Maleldil to our world and because of which He was made man" (Lewis 120).

Ransom is frustrated with the "unfairness of it all." But his response is illuminating: "Of course good came of it. Is Maleldil a beast that we can stop His path, or a leaf that we can twist His shape? Whatever you do, He will make good of it. But not the good He had prepared for you if you had obeyed Him. That is lost for ever. The first King and first Mother of our world did the forbidden thing: and He brought good of it in the end. But what they did was not good; and what they lost we have not seen. And there were some to whom no good came nor ever will come" (Lewis 121).

How often we attempt to justify wicked, unwise decisions on the basis that God will use it for his good in the end. Yet this is the original sin; it is our attempt to play God's role; instead of trusting and obeying we wish to sit on his throne and operate his sovereignty, working all things, even our selfishness, foolishness, and wickedness, for good.

Perelandra provides a helpful scene to illustrate this lesson: trust and obey.