The Good Life
By Charles Colson 2005
Paul Nulton’s notes

Page:
Intro quotes TS Eliot “still, and still moving”
9 Colson decides at a young age to protect his country
14 Nixon really cared about peace
17 Colson thought the release of the Pentagon Papers would add to war, not stop the Vietnam war.
23 GK Chesterton; paradox is “truth standing on her head to get attention”
You cannot search for the good life without stumbling over paradoxes; seeming contradictions that turn out to be true

Paradoxes:
24 life is a gift
27 lose life to save it
29 freedom lies in following the call on our lives
31 understand the evil in ourselves before we can embrace the good in life.

32 Christian Scientists deny the reality of evil
77 The good life is realized in our ability to hold fast to the truth and our human dignity that rests upon it. (does the corollary apply? does truth rest on human dignity?)
85 a prison sentence takes a piece of one’s life
84 any type of work can be significant and satisfying
87 lack of stimulating work can be debilitating
87 much about the American Dream
importance of doing a good job

91 We live in community We live for others.
98 John Ehrlichman’s need to undo the past to vindicate himself
100 personal autonomy turns into a nightmare
100 the desire for self-vindication
104 Ehrlichman became an exile on the island of his own self-determination

My reaction: This book is a healthy, evangelical way to deal with white collar spirituality

Chapter 10
People who believe they make their own happiness.

Chapter 11
114 we are not independent
the “indignity” of dependence at death is false
mutual dependence is built into the natural order

116 on 9/11/01 Colson was downsizing

118 Cites a Christian business that is committed to its community
119 This sense of obligation to the people around us is what fuels genuine patriotism, which is not the mindless nationalism that presumes America is the world’s greatest country. Rather, true patriotism arises from a desire to pay back the community in which we live. Colson went into the military because he felt a debt to those who had given themselves to establish the freest nation on earth.

135 Living for others makes life worthwhile
137 GW Bush: “God has put us in this position for this time.”
158 We live each facet of life from a truthful center.
176 When you have to make continual efforts to avoid knowing what’s going on, you are in big trouble.
177 By presuming I lived by Dad’s moral code, I became blind to the ways I failed it.

Like Albert Speer.
178 Speer found no forgiveness (like David Spanbauer)
Truth is the only thing that matters when it comes to evaluating how we are going to pour out our lives. Integrity more important than loyalty.
183 Dignity consists of living within the truth
184 appetites, desires and survival instinct undo the desire for truth
187 Modernism: truth can be found through science
postmodernism: truth is what you make it, overcome lack of meaning through personal experience
191 tolerance has been used to call good evil and to call evil good
tolerance is not more important than truth
tolerance can be a cover for despair

203 great evil often comes in the guise of great good
euthanasia, abortion

211 the world’s brokenness has been used to enlarge my capacity to love
the good life is not about what we contribute to the world, it is about loving

215 to believe in intelligent design of a sovereign God gives one’s life meaning
belief in God and evolution are contradictory thoughts
the debate is more about power than truth
224 Darwinianism is not a science but a worldview that purposely excludes God
the issue is not faith against science but faith against faith and science against science
227 Since there is order in the universe, there must be purpose
231 Morality is choosing to behave according to the natural order
240 homosexual men are attracted to each other because they don’t feel masculine enough. They look to other men to complete what they lack in themselves. The profound mystery and essential meaning of sex is its creative power.
244 family is part of the created order
good list of actions out of true compassion

248 The moral order comes from the natural order
250 Natural law is common sense. We have an ingrained sense of right and wrong.
265 the opposing belief systems in the world today (only two?)
266 beauty is not a subjective value judgment but a reflection of the identify of God. It is possible for art to communicate truth. Intuition tells us this. Beauty communicates God’s love.
271 we “know” by emotions, intellect, intuition and imagination
273 gratitude, like guilt, is built into every one of us

Chp 25 arguments against postmodern atheism

292 Christ gives hope to those in prison
294 hope is a unique characteristic of the Christian understanding of the world
295 moral law without God brings a sense of hopelessness and futility
to compare worldviews, use hope, human liberty, happiness
301 story of Al Quie’s offer to take the sentence

305 Christianity is the worldview that best enables people to live in harmony with the natural order, they way they are meant to live.
307 fallen nature causes us to do wrong and distort our vision to the point we can no longer see the truth
315 when you know the truth and give yourself to a lie, you become evil yourself
your will can not be conformed by your best efforts (this sounds like ACT psychology, Time mag 2/6/06) only God can straighten it out

316 the denial of truth leads to the defiance of good
God acts in human history
320 Jonathan Edwards says we cannot live with randomness and nothingness
321 people run from God because they don’t want to face the moral demands, but they hunger for assurance that God provides
322 God does not deliver blows to punish or teach us, but He allows them to happen, and He uses them for his purposes.
323 No more respected position in a prison than the marines

332 Acts 17:26 tells us that God determines the times set for nations and individuals as well as the places they shall live.
339 the good life means dying well
344 death yields to no easy formulas
347 The Good life means living in service to the truth
It is not a search. It is being found by God. The search prepares the heart.

358 Who is God? Infinite love. A love relationship between three persons. The object of life is to love God and enjoy Him forever.