Mere Christianity Chapter 1 Summary

Chapter three of Engaging the Christian Scriptures goes into detail over selective parts of the sections of history, writings, and prophets. Chapter three gives the reader information over several books in the Bible such as Joshua, Judges, Jeremiah, etc. The chapter dives into the text of Joshua and gives the reader useful insight over Joshua and him leading the Israel across the Jordan river to conquer the land of milk and honey, Jericho. The book of Judges purpose was to teach Israel that God is faithful and certain to punish sin therefore each person must remain loyal and devoted to the Lord. The purpose of Jeremiah was to warn of the destruction that they were about to face and to urge Judah to return and submit to God. Towards the end

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.

Over the centuries, Christianity has organised its beliefs into a systematic theology that draws from its sacred writing and tradition. While the main beliefs of Christianity are shared by all Christian variants, there are degrees of different in the interpretation of these beliefs and how they are lived out in everyday life. This can be seen in the important of sacred text, principle belief of the concept of salvation in John 3:16, principle belief of divine and humanity in ‘John 1:14’, principle belief of resurrection in ‘Mark 16:1-8’, principle belief of revelation in ‘1 corinthians14:6’, and beliefs through the Trinity in ‘2 Corinthians 13:14’. This essay will explain the important of the sacred text and the principal beliefs of Christianity.

From January to April we meticulously analyzed the thirteen letters Paul the Apostle wrote to teach the gospel of the Christ to the first century world. He used these letters to instruct and advise the churches he founded across the Mediterranean. After thoroughly examining these letters through lecture in class and in the readings, I have come to find myself to be much more educated on the scripture than when I first came into the class. Before I took Life and Letters of Paul, I had little to none religious experience or knowledge on the topic of Christianity. This class helped me develop a solid foundation on how Christianity was spread and came about.

In C.S Lewis’ novel, Mere Christianity, he dives into the differences that can be within a moral code, while also proving that they are all the same that the base. Lewis also tries to answer a question that does not have a simple and clear-cut answer: why do we feel bad when we misbehave, if everyone misbehaves?

I was asked to read “A Christian Manifesto” by Francis A. Schaeffer and what follows is my take on the book. I will share a summary of what I have taken from the book, as well as explain the applications from the knowledge attained from reading the book.

Wright is presenting the complexities of Christianity in simple ways which allow for anyone who reads it to be able to understand it. So far I do not believe that Wright has officially defined Christianity explicitly. He has discussed the many aspects of Christianity and through that I will attempt to piece together what he claims Christianity to be. Wright has discussed justice, how Heaven and Earth interact, how Israel has played an important part in Christianity and about Jesus and the coming of God’s Kingdom. I believe what Wright is getting at is that Christianity is both simple and complex. He writes the Jesus is the only way into Heaven and that people who follow Christ wholeheartedly can be considered Christians. This group of people called “Christians” make up the religion and faith of Christianity.

The controversial figure of St Paul is credited with writing thirteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament; thus making him one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age and in the development of the early Christian faith. Paul’s letters are some of the earliest Christian documents discovered dating to approximately 50 AD, whereas the scholarly consensus for the dating of the gospels is between 70 AD and 90 AD. Therefore, Paul’s thirteen letters reveal the earliest teachings about Jesus and the Christian faith; in particular Paul’s letter to the Romans expresses the fullest statement of how salvation in Christ is achieved (Wansbrough, 2011, P247). Thus, this essay will primarily focus on Romans and the extent it concurs with the Gospel according to Luke. In doing this, the essay will also analyse whether Paul’s letters rely on the narrative of Luke’s gospel. The overall message Paul preaches in his thirteen letters is we can be saved through Jesus’ actions, but only if we follow his teachings. However, the argument is can this message be fully understood by Christians without Luke’s gospel? Additionally, this paper will attempt to show how Paul’s preaching has altered or remained the same throughout time.

Lewis’ essay was a garble of contradictory nonsense that had not matters in dealing with Nazi barbarism or outrage. Instead it contradictorily discusses morality, incorrectly explains the moral law, and illustrates points with stupid examples. First, Lewis begins by saying that contrary to popular belief “different civilizations and different ages” have only has “slightly different moralities” and a mere two pages later reaffirms that the differences “aren’t very big”. Carelessly enough Lewis slips a few lines down saying, “some moralities are better than others”. How can one morality be better than another if all moralities are practically identical? They can’t. Lewis cannot make the competent decision of whether cultural moralities are vastly different or practically the same. Next, the moral law is described as a note on the piano. Oddly enough, Lewis says that the “note on piano needs to be played louder can’t itself be that note,” yet ask any musically inclined person and they can describe to you the symbols on a piano piece indicating crescendo and decrescendo as well as the symbols for piano and forte. All these symbols on the note are the note’s way of tell the pianist to play louder. Lewis implies that an instinct can be “made stronger than it is” yet, instincts are just there and cannot be stronger or weaker. Nazi morality is perhaps the biggest oxymoron ever spoken about as if

C.S Lewis was not always a Christian. In fact Lewis was an atheist. An atheist is a person who does not believe in any greater/higher being. After being saved, he wanted the world to see God in a way they could comprehend. Not all people can easily accept the fact that there is a greater being that made man from the earth and woman from the rib of man.

In C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, Lewis bases the majority of his argument for Christianity on the existence of a Law of Nature, or Moral Law. He argues that this is the source of the moral compass common to all of mankind and proves the existence of the Christian God. Lewis stresses the importance of this concept to explain the validity of Christian doctrine. This paper will analyze Lewis’ argument for the existence of a Law of Nature in Mere Christianity as well as “Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis” by Adam Lee, a refute of that argument. C.S. Lewis argues that a common Moral Law created by an external power links all of mankind, that this Law is not an instinct, and that it is not a social convention. Adam Lee then argues that this Law

By depicting disappointment with other Christians and hypocrisy as snares, Lewis declares that the church is the devil’s foremost tool for

C.S Lewis begins “Mere Christianity” with an argument for the existence of moral law. People do not argue with each other, he says because they have different standards, but because they believe someone is in violation of their shared standard. This is the moral law that permeates all cultures and all time periods. All groups have similar standards of right and wrong.

Everybody believes in something. Whether it is in God like Christians or in nothing like atheists, everyone in the world believes something. However, these beliefs do not always match each other. People argue about different opinions and religion becomes a popular punching bag for the world to ridicule and mock others for what they believe. Although there are different opinions, C.S. Lewis says “If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of truth” (p.35). Despite this fact, Lewis says as a Christian you also have to realize that “Where Christianity differs from other religions, Christianity is right and they are wrong” (p.35). This probably explains why the majority of believers in the world are Christians (Chappell, 2015). In Book 2 of Lewis’ Mere Christianity, he writes about what Christians believe and how Christian philosophy is correct. C.S. Lewis helps the readers of Mere Christianity understand and believe Christian fundamentals through his explanation and argument of the rival conceptions of God, the Good and Evil powers in the world, and basic Christian philosophy.

All countries have various holidays. In holidays, people can get rest for themselves. Maybe, when we are in holidays, we would be rest without any thinking, or we can shop in shopping mall. You know, there are huge holiday sail during holidays like Labor day and Black Friday. However, holidays have particular meanings even though we would be busy to enjoy our life without the meanings. Think about Thanksgiving Day which has a meaning that give thanks to God who gives us everything.