mere christianity

In “What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ” C.S. Lewis askes the question of what is he to make of us? Also, Lewis Askes the question of how to solve the historical problems with the teachings and acts of Christ. He talks about how Jesus Christ was treated, but

In C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity, The Obstinate Toy Soldier is a chapter with good points. Lewis takes his reader step by step through this chapter. In paragraph one he talks about how humans are consumed with the here and now, so people do not really think about what would

CS Lewis’s Moral Argument and the Existence of a God The question of whether or not God exists has been asked by billions of people since the concept of religion emerged. Many people try to explain things such as hurricanes and tornadoes as “Acts of God” or even the existence of human beings and the world itself to be “created” by an almighty power. Others claim that the harm they inflict was demanded of them by their God. CS Lewis argues that through the comprehension of standards of good and bad, God’s existence is proven. However, Lewis’s defense for the existence of God is adequate because it fails to acknowledge the possibility for people to be good on their own, without the instruction of a supernatural entity.

C.S Lewis in his book Mere Christianity talks and describes human nature in the first chapter of his book similar to the Golden rule found in the bible. He also refers to Human nature as the law of human nature instead, then mention that it is optional for people to follow it,but is necessary for society's to grow. He proves his point to the reader by presenting a philosophical task of imagining a country where people would be honored from running away from battle or a society where people are proud when double crossing with each other. It's hard to imagine a country or a society being possible with traits such as treachery are being promoted and explains that a variety of early civilizations have followed teachings similar to the golden rule. I believe that the Golden rule is a part of human nature since the creation of man. When Jesus was asked which commandment was the most important his response “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy

Our natural state within the universe when compared to the scale of history is extremely insignificant, and arises the fluid thought that our complete conscious existence relies on evolutionary accidents. It becomes clear with time that our knowledge of ourselves as a population of species compared to any other mammals is quite significant but yet completely detrimental to the health of our universe. We must be able as humans to grasp these concepts and particularly build a world better suited for future figures to give philosophical thoughts and aspects as the human race continues to develop. There is a shortcoming with our behavior, as Rachels describes, that if an action would help satisfy our own self-interest, than we see the most reason to perform such tasks. This leaves us prone to being selfish and to sometimes hold interests out of other people’s version of acceptable behavior. Rachels signifies that all people do not have to follow any one true combination of morals, ethics, or

C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity 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.

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.

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.

John Lewis, now a US representative for Georgia, was an activist in the civil rights movement at the time of this speech. Lewis has been involved in politics for quite some time. He was one of the leaders that organized the March on Washington in 1963. All of this leads to the speech he gave on August 28th, 1963. When giving this speech, it is clear that he has the confidence of a strong leader. The larger underlying occasion in this speech, in other words, what is going on in the world that caused Lewis to give this speech, was the civil rights movement. At this time, the African Americans in America were protesting against the government in order to gain the rights they deserved. The immediate occasion, in this case, would, in fact, be

     Perhaps this idea could be better applied when applying it to the observations that are common to most every man. Making the assumption that Lewis is referring to the “void” as the absence of all qualities defining man, it is simple to compare this idea to the world around us. To borrow a metaphor from the author himself, the reader should imagine a tree. Most would agree upon the most basic components of this object; a trunk, roots, limbs, and leaves. What would happen to the tree if the branches, thereby including the leaves, decided to exist and function separate from the trunk? As most know, this would lead to the destruction of the isolated branches. In essence, to separate this fundamental pair is to cause the destruction of one of its parts. This is the argument that Lewis is making about

"I suppose there are two views about everything," said Mark. (Lewis, pg 70). When we discuss culture and values each generation has

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.

At this time, the author maintains, we have two kinds of lives. There is the natural life and the spiritual life and they are opposed to each other. The natural life knows that if the spiritual life got a hold of it, all its self-centeredness and its self-will would be killed. Therefore, it fights for its life. The author compares this to a child who tries to bring to life his toy tin soldier, but the toy soldier did not want to be alive. So, just like us, it would rebel. Because the toy soldier likes the tin, he would think that you are killing him if you tried to change him. Similarly, man has some things about him that he likes, and probably wants to keep. He, too, may become obstinate even if God tried to change him. The author explains, however, that God sent this one man through whom all other men could become a Son of God, and the natural man would have to change for this process to take place. Man could resist, but the opportunity is still there for

There can be a danger in interpreting the works of others, to take sentences out of context and attribute them generally to the author’s beliefs. However, Pike does an excellent job of complimenting his interpretations through ideas and themes that permeate Lewis’ work. At the outset of the book, Pike (2013) describes the Tao, or Lewis’ belief in the “innate and universal” law that “can provide the foundations for moral education” as described in his book The Abolition of Man (p. 18). Pike (2013) quotes Lewis directly from this text which describes how Lewis believes the Tao relates to education; Lewis states, “‘For

In a specific adaptation of the debitor-creditor relation that was discussed earlier, we owe our ancestors a debt of gratitude for making our society prosperous, at least to the extent that we continue to exist. The more prosperous the society in which an individual find himself, the more debt he find himself owing. It is this situation man is forced to suppress his natural instincts, particularly his will to power, in order to be a social animal reaping the benefits of society. This ironically is done for the sake of survival. “I regard the bad conscience as the serious illness that man was bound to contract under the stress of the most fundamental change he ever experienced—that change which occurred when he found himself finally enclosed within the walls of society and of peace... in this new world