Saturday, January 21, 2012

Jane got it all right, and all wrong

You might have heard (or read) that I am part of a Jane Austen Book Club.
 I know, I know.

But trust me, we have intelligent conversation, completely unrelated to Colin Firth.
 This month's meeting: Sense and Sensibility

We are currently putting up a flurry of posts here about some of those conversations, funny things that happened, recipes from the day (go at least for the recipes!), and other topics that we have related to the book.

Our common theme that we have picked up after reading our third Austen novel:
Jane thought all women were ridiculous and all men were weak.
It comes out in every character in some way.
All of them.

If you think that Jane was merely writing simpering romance novels for wistful girls, 
I would say that you are wrong.

She actually had a finger on the pulse of her culture.
And our culture, as a matter of fact.
The danger of men being weak and women being ridiculous has strayed into our time.

However, I would not call her prophetic.
I think that she was a good study of Creation.
And whether she understood it or not, 
she was able to characterize something 
that has plagued humanity from the beginning of time.

It all goes back to the Garden.
Eve plays the drama queen, embellishes the truth, and then shifts the blame.
Adam shirks his duty, gives in when he should fight, and hides in shame.

The same story plays over and over again in all of our hearts.

Fortunately, Jane's peeps are just make believe,
and we know the truth of Who we were created by,
and what we were created for,
and how we have been redeemed.
Through His strength, we can fight Original Sin and the tendencies to be weak and ridiculous.

Thank Goodness, because I couldn't stand to live in the world of one of Jane Austen's novels.

"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." ~1 Peter 1:18-19

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