Summary Of Mere Christianity

The book Mere Christianity was derived from a series of radio talks by C.S. Lewis during World War two. The book is divided into four other small books each one providing one of the overall tenants of Christianity within its chapters.

As a project we were told to study a religion from an outsider’s perspective. We, as students, would attend that specific religion’s place of worship to observe their rituals and routines. Then after service we would conduct an interview with the participants to answer our personal questions such as “Why do they do the things they do?” or “How often do they do this?” I chose to study Christianity even though I am a Christian. I thought it would be interesting to see if most Christian churches practice Christianity the same way. However, prior to attending services I researched the history of Christianity.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him…” (Lewis 52). In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis goes in to detail and discusses very controversial topic. He answers one of the most disputed questions of all time: Who was Jesus? While many believe in His existence, and the fact that He was who He said He was, some believe that he was just a great prophet and teacher or that he never in fact existed. Lewis gives evidence of Christ being who He said he was, and is today, by exposing flaws found in beliefs and theories contrary to the Bible.

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.

Jesus claimed to be God consistently. First, by forgiving sins. This was something that the Jews believed that only God could do. He also had the ability to cast out demons again something only God could do (Mark 1: 21-24). He also claimed to be God incarnate through his miracles. Jesus didn’t claim to be a submissive son of God. He claimed much more, to be God in human form. As a Christians you have to believe those claims to be true, not out of blind faith but simply because Jesus' thoughts, actions, and the effect that he has had on countless billions of people throughout history, all confirm these claims to be true.

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

Because he fed the people, large crowds followed Jesus wherever he went; however, as soon as Jesus demanded self-sacrifice, even his closest followers threatened to abandon him. Undeniably, the Truth (Jesus) can empty

In chapter four the author explains the different school of thoughts, such as modern process theology, the problem of process thought, why this process fails, and the true story of open theism. In simple words, this is the spirit of this age of worldly knowledge and worldly wisdom is dominating society, school systems, and many evangelical churches. As a result, advance thinking and naturalistic view are convinced of their superiority of both knowledge and wisdom denying the existence of God as the Creator of this world. In chapter five Bush explains what naturalistic evolution is – “a philosophical mode by which the world may be interpreted in terms of change rather than stability.”

Jesus demonstrates the qualities of an unstable person because he has such a big ego that he does not know when to take a step back from being arrogant.

One of the main discussion in the books is about who Jesus really was and if the things he did were plausible. Through the research of many they figured out that Jesus was “god” however he never came straight out and told everybody. They believe this was because the people of that day had no concept of the Holy Trinity (The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit).The next point after that was “Was Jesus crazy to claim to be God?”. This one made me think a little bit because technically speaking Jesus is God so no it would not be crazy for him to state a fact but to someone that does not know that then yes it would be crazy. It would be like saying you are Michael Jackson when in reality you aren 't really Michael Jackson. People would call your bluff

Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis was a series of radio talks, speaking about The Law of Human Nature. This isn't a scientific law this is simply a part of humans that some would call our moral code or ethics, but it is more then that. C.s uses logic to state that it’s not just a opinion, or something just in todays world, but that its all the way through history with the romans, theegyptions, every culture, in every part of the world, even there morals are diffrent at the basis levels of human nature are the same. For me an avid student of random things it makes sense, No matter what time or place you can compare the conducts and levels. This comes with the understanding of basic human psychollgy, though reality may be diffrent we hold are seveals to a standers, of conduct and we know this to be true because people break them all the time

After reflecting on C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity with its complex themes and wording, I thought that reading N.T. Wright’s Simply Jesus would be an understandable breath of fresh air. However this book raised more questions in my mind and beliefs than Mere Christianity ever did. Wright asks a lot of poignant questions in the book in regards to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and in turn triggers even more questions in his readers. He captures the nature of a 21st century Christian perfectly. Like it or not we are a doubting group who question everything in our society whether that be politics, relationships, or religion.

We have now come to the fourth and final book of Mere Christianity. In this book, the author takes us to the place in our Christian growth where we begin to rely more heavily on the power of God and less on ourselves to become the being that God originally intended for us to be — a son of God. He begins with an explanation of the difference between “making” and “begetting”.

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,

When Jesus was questioned about the resurrection he then threw the whole accusation back to their face. Jesus was able to reply to questions like these with a smart logical reason. These weren’t the only questions he got. He got asked questions by both believers and nonbelievers. Jesus when questioned by a nonbeliever he reasoned with them so that he or she can understand the grace of God and accept him to that they will no longer live in