... I think G.K. Chesterton would appreciate the inside-out logic of this story of a man in Florida who was recently sentenced to 15 years after he was caught trying to break into prison.
The main character in Chesterton's Manalive! is known to break into his own home, but prison is another thing.
That is just so much like people. We are created free, and become slaves to sin and our passions, and then Christ sets us free again... and we waste so much of our lives trying to break back into the prison of our selves.
"These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized.". - "Red", in The Shawshank Redemption,
"... and we waste so much of our lives trying to break back into the prison of our selves."
It's what we do. I'm always oddly heartened when I read, toward the end of Revelation, that John "falls down to worship" before the angel (22:8-10), and the angel has to remind him to worship God, right after he's explained the new Jerusalem and Christ's return. It's a nice passage if you begin to despair over your sins: instead of hating yourself for them, you simply must begin again.
Posted by: Patrick | 03/24/2010 at 10:11 AM