03 - Breaking Down the “System”

Island Idylls

Barry and Aaron dive into the deep end of the pool as they discuss Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem, “System,” found in his famous Child’s Garden of Verses. What do most people think about religion? Is it a “system” that blesses the good and punishes the bad--as the poem suggests? Barry argues Stevenson found comfort (and helped scores of others find comfort) by rejecting this system and seeing Chance as the backdrop of the universe. Resigning oneself to the unknown is the only way one will be better. Aaron presses the question of what the Old and New Testament actually teach about providence and chance, not a tit-for-tat “system,” but a theology of mysterious providence and divine grace. On the answer to these questions, father and son agree to differ, and that’s what makes Island Idylls so interesting. Robert Louis Stevenson, “System”: Every night my prayers I say. And get my dinner every day; And every day that I’ve been good, I get an orange after food. The child that is not clean and neat, With lots of toys and things to eat, He is a naughty child I’m sure-- Or else his dear papa is poor.