C. S. Lewis Mere Christianity

One of Lewis’ earliest turning points in his life was when his uncle gave him his first bible. Lewis recalls, “Growing up, what I really wanted to be was a preacher. An uncle gave me a bible for Christmas when I was four. (Lewis 26) Even before he received the bible, Lewis had strong religious views and the bible gave him that extra encouragement. Lewis said, “So I preached to my chickens about every night.” (Lewis 27) This showed Lewis’ dedication to his bible and even though the chickens couldn’t quite understand, it was a beginning for him. He stated, “I imagined they (chickens) were my congregation, and me—I was a preacher.” (Lewis 28) Even as a child, Lewis imagined him preaching to a larger crowd beyond the rural chicken farm of Alabama. The bible directed him toward his religious path, and eventually the teachings on nonviolence.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a book of thirty –one letters in which a retired, senior demon named Screwtape coaches his newly educated nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood is quite troubled when it comes to tempting his “patient.” Nevertheless, he need not fear because faithful uncle Screwtape has offered his services. A unique character featured in the letters is, “The Enemy.” This character refers to God, the natural enemy of Satan. Of course Satan is referred to as “Our Lord.” In the letters, and Wormwood and Screwtape try their very best to please Satan and bring him glory. Although the book is written from the demons’ perspective, Lewis naturally uses it to highlight important truths of the Christian faith.

According to Lewis, human suffering in today's society is related to God's creation of nature with free will and human beings with free will. Lewis explains that when God created us free, He also created a free

Lewis' argument in the third book is most important to the point I want to discuss. He argues through this chapter the Christian behavior. Morality is what he considers to be the basics of good Christian behavior. Lewis states that morality is not simply, "something that prevents you from having a good time", but rather morals are the "directions for running the human machine". Every moral rule is there to prevent wear and tear on the way machine operates. He realizes that is why the rules seem to be constantly getting in the way of are natural behavior. Lewis sees that some people think in terms of moral ideals not rules and obedience. Ideals suggest preference to personal taste. Something that subjective would be meaningless in practice. Idealistic notions are meaningless unless we try to carry them out. Acting on ideals requires rules. Lewis uses the analogy of the ship to show how ideals without rules can go wrong. If the ships keep on having crashes they will not be able to sail. If their steering gears do not work they will not be able to avoid crashes.

Lewis’s conversion to Christianity was the biggest influence on his literature. As stated before, Lewis was raised a Catholic by his parents, but he eventually turned his back on all of his Catholic beliefs and became an atheist. As time went on, the Holy Spirit kept on softening Lewis’s atheist heart until one day Lewis’s life would change. Lewis would turned away from atheism and turned back to God. This all started in 1929 when Lewis started acknowledging the existence of God again like his Catholic root taught him years ago. This is a big step for any atheist who is on the road of converting to Christianity. He would receive his first test of faith that same year however because that was the year his dad died. This was obviously hard for him to mourn, but he got through it by the grace of God. Lewis officially became a Christian after a long talk with fellow Christian writer J.R.R. Tolkien. Lewis helped many other writers establish a discussion group of writers called The Inklings. Lewis’s Christian faith was a major influence on his

Book 3 of Mere Christianity contains 12 separate chapters, which has far too great a scope to address properly here, so a glimpse will have to suffice. In the first, Lewis examines three components of morality; the relations between men, the interior moral mechanics of a man, and the relationship between a man and the God who made him. Lewis makes the case that, since we are destined to live forever in one state or another, it is desperately important that we pay attention to the sort of Being we are becoming. Lewis points out that most of humanity can agree that keeping relations between men running smoothly are important, but varying world views and religions-or lack of religion, have produced some disagreements on the necessity of keeping one’s own ship in order, as it were, and it completely breaks down when the relationship between a man and his Maker are addressed, as there is virtually no agreement there.

Henry, M. (2003). I am the truth: toward a philosophy of Christianity. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.

C.S. Lewis covers many topics in his fourth book contained in Mere Christianity titled BEYOND PERSONALITY: OR FIRST STEPS IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. He addresses such topics as theology, what it means to be the Son of God, the three personal God, the relationship of God and time, the cost of being a Christian, how God works to turn us into image of Christ, why Christian growth is both hard and easy, and also what he thinks about our old personalities before becoming Christians. These are all relative topics that apply to us and our daily lives. Learning and understanding this book can help a Christian tremendously in forming a deeper relationship with God.

It is often said that something big that happens in your childhood can make a huge difference in your life. Lewis’ first bible made him want to become a preacher. As he states that he would never forget as his mother read the first words in the book saying, “In the

One of Lewis’ most-often-quoted statements is from Mere Christianity, where he uses reason and logic to introduce three possibilities to us (often known as the "Lewis trilemma"). According to this trilemma, either Jesus really was God and intentionally lying, or was not God but reckoned himself to be (which would make him a lunatic). Mere Christianity goes on to say that the latter likelihood is not consistent with Jesus' character and it is, therefore, most likely that he was being truthful

When I wandered over to the Wade Center on October 24th, I had very little idea of what I was getting myself into. Surrounded by C.S. Lewis scholars tossing around terms I had never heard of before, I felt out of place to say the least. While knowing of books like Mere Christianity, and The Abolition of Man, the only C.S. Lewis writing I had read myself was the Narnia series, and I doubted that Lucy’s adventures with Mr. Tumnus would be discussed in a lecture about C.S. Lewis’ view on politics. Despite my hesitancy, I learned quite a bit in the lecture as the two authors of the book C.S. Lewis on Politics and the Natural Law discussed the political background of Lewis, how he reintroduced the idea of natural law to a hard-hearted audience

If people were to follow any one instinct all the time, the results would be disastrous. Any instincts that come from flesh and blood cannot always be trusted. The Moral Law can suppress or increase certain instincts, because it dictates what is morally correct. There are some instincts that need to be suppressed given the situation, so it would be foolish to blindly follow one instinct all the time. So, the Moral Law will direct our impulses, depending on the situation. The Moral Law is not to be confused with the Rules of Decent Behavior, which is more social convention and can be learned through education. The Moral Law cannot be taught, and was not invented by humans. The Rules of Decent Behavior can differ depending on circumstance, or where you live; whereas, the Law of Human Nature is an innate understanding, or something we are born with. It isn’t governed by social convention; it’s a law of right and wrong that is as much a real truth as mathematics. The minute you compare one set of moral ideals to another, you are comparing it to a higher standard. Something I think a lot of people get hung up on about the Moral Law is what it entails. People get caught up on “what is right and wrong?” What is actually right and wrong does not matter in this context, it is not the point C.S. Lewis is trying to make. He is not talking about that, he is talking about the fact that such an idea exists--that a “Real Morality” exists--and is the standard that all other moral ideals are being compared to. That is what points to the existence of a Creator. In the next chapter, Lewis brings up that if such a law exists, where did it come from? If there is such a thing as a Moral Law or Law of Human Nature, and if it is something humans could not have created, then who did? Man does not exist on his own apart from the Law, man lives under the Law. This means that there is someone

“ You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left it open to us. He did not intend to.” (Lewis 78.) In Mere Christianity, Lewis talks about the silliness of accepting Jesus as another great moral teacher. According to Lewis, we must all make a choice to call Jesus liar, lunatic, or Lord.

Through Mere Christianity, much of the Catholic faith are shown. For example, God sent Jesus to save humanity because He is both God and man to perform the perfect suffering - perfect for He is God, and human because the Divine nature cannot suffer. Within the first half of the book, C.S. Lewis proves logical proof of God, intriguingly, by comparing to everyday life. In one small instance, he explains that reality and truth are not simple. A piece of paper may look simple, but it is made of thousands of atoms which light reflects to the eyes; then, interpreted by the brain in a more complex process. As a result, religion is not simple either. The book challenges one’s thinking of the world like the concept of evil. According to C.S. Lewis,

With all the criticism directed at Lewis’ books for inconstancies. Two sides exist to be taken. Firstly, many say to avoid these books altogether, because they are false doctrines and should avoided. Secondly, the changes are fine since without these modifications the stories would be vague and bland. Several of these doctrines that do not line up with the Bible are plain different beliefs or ignorance. C. S. Lewis himself wrote, “Speaking personally, if I demanded that a person’s views on every subject under the sun be identical to mine as a condition to be helped by them, then if I had met myself 20 years ago, I’d have to disfellowship myself!”() Clive knows that humans are fallible and that no one’s beliefs are one-hundred percent correct, people continue to grow spiritually thus changing their beliefs. Later writes “We are all in process. None of us gets everything right all the time. That stands true for every Christian who has ever breathed oxygen.”() He knew that just because he was a famous writer of Christian literature he would still make mistakes. Before