Ensayo sobre Mero Cristianismo de CS Lewis.

Thesis of book
The title, Mere Christianity, indicates the intention of Lewis, an Anglican, to describe
the Christian common-ground. He aims at avoiding controversies to explain those
things that have defined Christianity in nearly all places and times. Lewis restates the
fundamental teachings of the Christian religion, for the sake of those basically educated
as well as the intellectuals of his generation, for whom the jargon of formal Christian
theology did not retain its intended meaning.

[edit] Arguments for a Moral Law

Lewis bases his case for Christian belief on the existence of a Moral Law, a "Rule about
Right and Wrong" commonly known to all human beings. This law is like mathematical
laws in being real, not just a matter of convention, contrived by humans. But it is unlike
mathematically expressed laws of nature in that it can be broken or ignored by humans,
who possess free will.

Humans know the moral law intuitively, Lewis argues. It is the only law of the universe
which they know from within themselves. All other laws are known only through
observation, such as the law of gravity. The moral law is generally agreed to in one form
or another by religious and non-religious persons. One source of evidence of this was,
that even non-religious people in England during World War II believed that what Hitler
was doing was wrong. On a more mundane level, even a non-religious person may
believe that someone stealing is doing something wrong.

The other claimed intuitive underpinning of his system is the experience of people for
something deeper and more than can ever be experienced in an earthly life. Lewis refers
to these experiences in himself as "joy" and describes these in his book Surprised by
Joy. His argument is that we cannot yearn for something that does not exist. The fact
that we thirst reflects that we naturally need water and that there is a substance which
satisfies that need. The same could be said of other needs as well. Humans cannot know
to yearn for something which does not exist.

Lewis states that to understand Christianity, one must understand the moral law, which
is the underlying moral structure of the universe. The moral law is "hard as nails."
Unless one understands the dismay which comes from the moral law, one cannot
understand the coming of Christ and his work.

After introducing the Moral Law, Lewis argues that the eternal God who is its source
takes primacy over the created Satan whose rebellion undergirds all evil. Evil is a
parasite on goodness. Satan was and is a supernatural power, who, in his pride, set
himself against God. But there is nothing about evil which is not a perversion of
something good. That is why, Lewis argues, evil is a parasite in the world. It twists the
good things which God placed into the world.
Then the death and resurrection of Christ, the Son of God, is introduced as the only way
in which our inadequate human attempts to redeem our own sins could be made
adequate in God's eyes.

"He [mankind] had tried to set up on his own, to behave as if he belonged to himself,"
Lewis says of the futility of our own attempts at moral self-justification and consequent
need for repentance and "surrender." God "became a man" in Christ, says Lewis, so that
"our human nature which can suffer and die" could be "amalgamated with God's nature"
and make full atonement possible.

[edit] Atonement

There are many theological theories about what "the point of this dying was," writes
Lewis. None is fully adequate to the thing itself, any more than a verbal description of a
mathematical model, such as that of an atom, is fully adequate to the mathematics per
se. Thus does Lewis make nuanced logical distinctions between core religious truths
and theological explanations thereof, throughout his book.

[edit] Christian ethics

The last third of the book explores the ethics resulting from belief.

[edit] Legacy of book

Mere Christianity is widely admired and influential across a spectrum of trinitarian
Christians, which may attest to the author's success in accomplishing the aim of
restating theology in a way that avoids many controversies. The work is also widely
admired by many nontrinitarian Christians.

The title has influenced Touchstone Magazine: A Journal of Mere Christianity and
William Dembski's book Mere Creation. Charles Colson's conversion to Christianity
resulted from his reading this book, as did Francis Collins' and Josh Caterer's.

A passage in the book also influenced the name of contemporary Christian Texan
Grammy-nominated pop/rock group Sixpence None the Richer.

The phrase, "the hammering process" was used by Christian metal band Living
Sacrifice for the name of their album The Hammering Process.

Metalcore band, Norma Jean, derived the title of their song "No Passenger:No Parasite"
from the section in the book in which Lewis describes a fully Christian society as
having "No passengers or parasites".

.S. Lewis' Book, “Mere Christianity”

C.S. Lewis begins his book, “Mere Christianity”, by introducing the Law of
Right and Wrong or the Laws of Nature. This, however, arises a question.
What is the Law of Nature? The Law of Nature is the known difference
between right and wrong. That is, mans distinction between what is right and
what is wrong. “This law was called the Law of Nature because people
thought that everyone knew it and did not need to be taught it”(18). Lewis
relates the law to how we treat others. We treat others the way we want to
be treated and if they treat us poorly in return we become agitated and
annoyed with them. He states that we become a society of excuses when
something goes wrong. He goes on to say that we want to behave in a certain
way when in reality we do the opposite of what is right or what is wrong. We
are humans and humans have primal instincts. We are all capable of using
our instincts to do right or wrong. Lewis uses an example of a drowning man
to prove this point. When one sees a man in trouble two desires or instincts
kick into play, to save the man or ignore him because the situation at hand
could endanger you. However, there in another impulse that says help the
man. With this comes a conflict of instincts. Do you run and forget about it or
do you jump in and help. Most people will help even if the situation is going to
endanger their life. This is just one way of seeing moral law. The right in a
situation will mostly always prevail over the wrong. “Men ought to be
unselfish, ought to be fair. Not that men are selfish, nor that they like being
unselfish, but they ought to be”(30). We are creatures of habit and logic.
Lewis believes that the moral law is not taught to us rather known by us
instinctively. He also believes that the law is real. The law is our behaviors in
life via good or bad. Lewis states, “there is something above and beyond the
ordinary facts of men’s behavior”(30). This opens Lewis to believe that the
natural law is both alive and active in mans life today. Lewis goes on to say
that the law must be something above mans behavior. He begins to relate
this to the creation of the world. He takes into count the materialistic theory
of creation, that is that matter has always existed and creation of man
happened out of nowhere. The other view is the religious view. This view
states, “what is behind the universe is more like a mind then it is anything
else we know”(32). Man wants to know who or what created the universe and
if there is a force directing it let alone them. Lewis wants humanity to
reconsider because he feels that man is on the wrong road. He tries to prove
this theory by looking at the present condition our world is in today. He feels
that people believe in God but only as the Supreme Being behind the law.
Lewis believes that God is good and like all good God can be hard and even
dangerous. He believes that only a person can forgive and their good can be
reacted to in many different ways. We ultimately can interpret the outcome
as good or bad. Good to our benefit and bad to no ones prevail. Lewis also
believes that Christianity will not make sense to anyone until they realize
that the Moral Law is real and the power that governs it is also real. To make
Christianity make sense we must stop abusing the power and breaking the
law. Lewis starts off Book II by discussing his ideas on God and the major
divisions of belief in God. He believes that God is beyond all good and evil
and that He is righteous and all mighty. To say that God is beyond all that is
good and evil is called Pantheism. Pantheists believe that God is the universe
and if the universe didn’t exist neither would God. This differs from the
Christian view that God created the universe. He then starts to dwindle on
the just and unjust in the world today. He blames his view on the fact that he
used to be an atheist and that his whole reality was senseless. There are
many people who reject the Christian doctrine simple due to the fact that it
is not easy to understand. Lewis believes that if there really were a God the
religion of that God would be easy to follow because “simplicity is
beautiful”(48). This topic discussed by Lewis leads to the conversation on
Dualism. “Dualism is the belief that there are two equal and independent
powers at the back of everything, one of them is good and the other bad, and
that the universe is a battlefield in which they fight out an endless battle”(48-
49). Lewis, however, rejects the idea of dualism due to the fact that our God
is a Supreme Being and He is very intelligent and this makes him good. He
believes that evil is a parasite and that it a false attitude of good. He uses an
analogy that a good man does good to do well and a bad man does not do bad
to be bad. This is why Lewis does not agree with Dualism. When we were
created God gave us free will.

This free will could be used to do anything, both good and evil. Lewis
believes that with free will comes the ability to do wrong.

He also believes that free will leads to evil but it also lead to love and joy
that is worth having.

Lewis goes on to discuss Satan and the sin he taught the human race. “The
moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first-
wanting to be in the center-wanting to be God”(53-54). God, however, gave us
three ways to fight Satan’s sin. He gave us a conscience, the ability to dream
good dreams, and He taught the Jews that He was the one true God of the
universe. He goes on to say that Jesus was not a great moral teacher
because he felt that the people viewed him as a lunatic and not as the Son of
God. Christians believe that Jesus came to this world to suffer and die for
their sins and wrong doings. They also believe that through His death they
are back in the proper view of God, in other words, Jesus’ death was a fresh
start for Christians. This leads Lewis to start talking about repentance. Lewis
believes that repentance is the unlearning of all that has been taught to us, a
sort of death in order to repair ourselves in God’s eyes.

He feels that humans are only capable of a perfect repentance if they get
God to help. God helps us by showing how to think and teaching us how to
love in His eyes.

This leads Christians to ask the question about Jesus’ death and
resurrection.

Lewis feels the whole situation to be silly due to the fact that he feels that
Jesus was God.

Lewis states that according to the Christian belief, by sharing in the humility
and suffering of Jesus we will share in his triumph over death and his finding
of God’s kingdom in Heaven.

Through this belief we as Christians will have fulfilled all God wants us to
fulfill and be able to live happily ever after in Heaven.

Lewis states that being a Christian is more then just mental belief. We must
involve physical activities like mass and the Eucharist.
He also believes that doing well does not appease God rather it brings the
Christian closer to God and to his eternal promise to man.

El comportamiento cristiano (pag 83)

Lewis begins Book III by discussing the three parts of morality that comes
with Christian behavior. “ Morality raises in a good many people’s minds:
something that interferes, something that stops you from having a good
time”(69). Morality is the fair play and harmony between individuals. This can
be broken, however, when humans separate from each other and when there
is something internally wrong with an individual. Morality can be concerned
with three things or reasons. “Firstly, with fair play and harmony between
individuals”(71). Secondly, with the harmonizing of one’s inner self and thirdly
with what man is made for, human life. Morality can be said to be the general
purpose for human life as a whole.

Lewis goes on to discuss the “Cardinal Virtues.” “Cardinal Virtues” are the
virtue admired by civilized people. “They are PRUDENCE, TEMPERANCE,
JUSTICE, and FORTITUDE”(74). Prudence is common sense. Lewis says that
children are excellent examples of prudence because they are sensible.
“Temperance referred not specially to drink, but to all pleasures; and it
meant not abstaining, but going to the right length and no further”(76).
Justice means “fairness” and is more of a law virtue.

Finally, fortitude, which means courage in the sense of both personal and
spiritual strength.

Social morality is a discussion of morality between man and man. Lewis

believes that Christ did not preach anything in new regards to morality. The
real job of a moral teacher is to bring us back to old principles we do not care
for. Lewis introduces the phrase “The church ought to give us a lead”(80).
When he says church he means the whole body of Christians. This means
that he wants see these Christians to govern the others who are farther
behind in their faith. This leads him to begin talking about charity and who
should give and how much they should give. He believes that we should give
more then we can spare. He seems to express that we are a society of cheap
and greedy people. I feel that in the eyes of God all we give does not add up
to all he returns. Lewis believes that when a man makes a moral decision
there are two things involved. They are choosing and various feelings or acts
that show his psychological abilities. This then would lead to a normal feeling
or a feeling that turns to fear and strikes the man down. This links in to
social morality and the man’s perception to do right or wrong. This may also
lead into sexual morality or chastity. Christian chastity is different then
social modesty because social modesty tells what on the body can be
displayed. In regards to sex there is nothing to be ashamed of unless it is
taken in excess and is done out of self-pleasure not in love. Christianity
agrees with this statement because Christianity approves of the body. This is
where marriage comes to play a role in mans behavior. The sexual impulse in
man works best under marriage. Man and wife unite on the alter to form “one
flesh.” According to Lewis, living together outside of marriage causes one to
unchaste and commits perjury against the law. The passion of love compels
two people to unite and create life of their own. Lewis also believes that the
man is the head and should deal with his families’ policy because he is
strong and wise. Forgiveness in Lewis’ eye is the love of a mans enemy. One
of mans most terrible duties is the forgiveness of his enemy. Two things we
can do to make loving our enemies easier are to forgive and to learn how to
love our self. Loving yourself does not mean that you have to punish yourself;
it means you have to have courage in the face evil. The love of our self can
lead to us committing the great sin. Lewis describes the great sin as one in
which no man in the world is free, which every one in the world loathe when
he sees it in another, and which no Christian will admit to; Pride. The virtue
opposite to Pride is Humility. Lewis suggests that in order to find how proud
you are you ask yourself this question. “How much do I dislike it when other
people snub me, or refuse to take any notice to me, or shove their oar in, or
patronize me, or show off”(110)? There are four misunderstandings Lewis
discusses about pride. They are: pleasure in being praised, being “proud of,”
pride in wrong doings, and being humble. To gain humility one must realize
that they are proud. Lewis goes on to talk about the “Theological” virtues of
FAITH, HOPE, and CHARITY. He describes charity as giving “alms” or giving to
the poor. Lewis believes that that when you love someone and you injure it
you will not love it no more, but if you show love your love will grow stronger.
Lewis gives advice to those for a person with no love for God. He tells them
to try and love Him as if you really did love Him. Act in love and you will be
loved. Our feeling come and go, but God’s are eternal and forever. Lewis
mentions some accomplishments of men who left their mark of earth
because of their hope occupied in Heaven. Most people look at heaven as a
place to meet old friends. It however, is a place to be with God and a place to
live in peace with us. Although we experience great things in life something
still evades us. Lewis believes there are two wrong ways to deal with this.
They are: the fool’s way; putting the blame on things themselves, and the way
of the disillusioned “sensible man”. The right way is the Christian way. We do
not have desires unless a need arises to fulfill that desire. This leads into
faith. Faith is the art of holding onto things reason has once accepted. No
man knows how hard he tries to be good. Lewis believes this is a silly idea
because good people know what temptation is. It is only when we resist
temptation that we know how strong it really is. Man strong in faith is not
always in perfect coexistence with God. As we grow in faith we begin to obey
Christ more passionately. This is related to the obedience of the truths that
Christians obtain. Lewis begins Book IV with a discussion about life and how
it relates to God. Theology is the science of God. Lewis uses an analogy of a
map to describe theology. In order to have a map man must have experience
of the area. Theology is the same due to the fact that the experience is God.
Lewis then goes on to describe the difference between begetting and
creation. To create is to make and to beget is to father. This theory then leads
into “Bios” and “Zoe.” “Bios” is life without spirit; life in nature. “Zoe” is
spiritual life. Together they form one complete life; a life in God. Lewis then
moves to a discussion of the divine personality, the three personal God. Most
people believe in a personal God, a mysterious something behind a
mysterious force. Lewis describes God’s personality as being on a divine
level. Theology is practical and the one instrument for learning about God is
the whole Christian community. This leads us to believe that God is in three
parts: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. “God is love.” In Lewis’ view
this statement is not true unless there are a Father and a Son because love is
for another person. “Love is God” on the other hand describes God’s creation
of us and all that we do. The Trinity is in fact God both as Supreme Being, son
made flesh, and as a spirit. This in Lewis’s view is what all of Christianity is
about. Lewis goes on to use a toy soldier analogy to describe how Christians
are transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Our natural life is life self-
centered in us. Lewis views the analogy of the tin soldier very solemnly yet
very seriously on the other hand. He states that if we were to become Christ
we may not like it. This will lead us to resent him and most likely steer us
from him. We are human and God is God. This is the way it is supposed to be.
We need to gain our spiritual life by ourselves and with the help of God’s
humanity. Lewis believes that this is how we will gain spiritual life. Lewis
now raises the question about Christianity being hard or easy. Lewis believes
“that the more you obey your conscience the more you conscience will
demand of you”(169). This will lead to anger and then you will either give up
totally or live for others needs and not the needs of yourself. Lewis says that
the Christian way is both harder and easier then giving into your conscience.
Lewis goes on to ask if we as Christians should be nicer then non-Christians.
We as men are all the same. It is all on how man lives his life. Lewis ends the
book with the question; If a nice world would be easier to save than a
miserable one? A nice world would be in as much need from God as a
miserable world, its all how man lives his life. C.S. Lewis begins his book,
“Mere Christianity”, by introducing the Law of Right and Wrong or the Laws of
Nature. This, however, arises a question. What is the Law of Nature? The Law
of Nature is the known difference between right and wrong. That is, mans
distinction between what is right and what is wrong. “This law was called the
Law of Nature because people thought that everyone knew it and did not
need to be taught it”(18). Lewis relates the law to how we treat others. We
treat others the way we want to be treated and if they treat us poorly in
return we become agitated and annoyed with them. He states that we
become a society of excuses when something goes wrong. He goes on to say
that we want to behave in a certain way when in reality we do the opposite of
what is right or what is wrong. We are humans and humans have primal
instincts. We are all capable of using our instincts to do right or wrong. Lewis
uses an example of a drowning man to prove this point. When one sees a man
in trouble two desires or instincts kick into play, to save the man or ignore
him because the situation at hand could endanger you. However, there in
another impulse that says help the man. With this comes a conflict of
instincts. Do you run and forget about it or do you jump in and help. Most
people will help even if the situation is going to endanger their life. This is
just one way of seeing moral law. The right in a situation will mostly always
prevail over the wrong. “Men ought to be unselfish, ought to be fair. Not that
men are selfish, nor that they like being unselfish, but they ought to be”(30).
We are creatures of habit and logic. Lewis believes that the moral law is not
taught to us rather known by us instinctively. He also believes that the law is
real. The law is our behaviors in life via good or bad. Lewis states, “there is
something above and beyond the ordinary facts of men’s behavior”(30). This
opens Lewis to believe that the natural law is both alive and active in mans
life today. Lewis goes on to say that the law must be something above mans
behavior. He begins to relate this to the creation of the world. He takes into
count the materialistic theory of creation, that is that matter has always
existed and creation of man happened out of nowhere. The other view is the
religious view. This view states, “what is behind the universe is more like a
mind then it is anything else we know”(32). Man wants to know who or what
created the universe and if there is a force directing it let alone them. Lewis
wants humanity to reconsider because he feels that man is on the wrong
road. He tries to prove this theory by looking at the present condition our
world is in today. He feels that people believe in God but only as the Supreme
Being behind the law. Lewis believes that God is good and like all good God
can be hard and even dangerous. He believes that only a person can forgive
and their good can be reacted to in many different ways. We ultimately can
interpret the outcome as good or bad. Good to our benefit and bad to no ones
prevail. Lewis also believes that Christianity will not make sense to anyone
until they realize that the Moral Law is real and the power that governs it is
also real. To make Christianity make sense we must stop abusing the power
and breaking the law. Lewis starts off Book II by discussing his ideas on God
and the major divisions of belief in God. He believes that God is beyond all
good and evil and that He is righteous and all mighty. To say that God is
beyond all that is good and evil is called Pantheism. Pantheists believe that
God is the universe and if the universe didn’t exist neither would God. This
differs from the Christian view that God created the universe. He then starts
to dwindle on the just and unjust in the world today. He blames his view on
the fact that he used to be an atheist and that his whole reality was
senseless. There are many people who reject the Christian doctrine simple
due to the fact that it is not easy to understand. Lewis believes that if there
really were a God the religion of that God would be easy to follow because
“simplicity is beautiful”(48). This topic discussed by Lewis leads to the
conversation on Dualism. “Dualism is the belief that there are two equal and
independent powers at the back of everything, one of them is good and the
other bad, and that the universe is a battlefield in which they fight out an
endless battle”(48-49). Lewis, however, rejects the idea of dualism due to the
fact that our God is a Supreme Being and He is very intelligent and this
makes him good. He believes that evil is a parasite and that it a false attitude
of good. He uses an analogy that a good man does good to do well and a bad
man does not do bad to be bad. This is why Lewis does not agree with
Dualism. When we were created God gave us free will. This free will could be
used to do anything, both good and evil. Lewis believes that with free will
comes the ability to do wrong. He also believes that free will leads to evil but
it also lead to love and joy that is worth having. Lewis goes on to discuss
Satan and the sin he taught the human race. “The moment you have a self at
all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first-wanting to be in the center-
wanting to be God”(53-54). God, however, gave us three ways to fight Satan’s
sin. He gave us a conscience, the ability to dream good dreams, and He
taught the Jews that He was the one true God of the universe. He goes on to
say that Jesus was not a great moral teacher because he felt that the people
viewed him as a lunatic and not as the Son of God. Christians believe that
Jesus came to this world to suffer and die for their sins and wrong doings.
They also believe that through His death they are back in the proper view of
God, in other words, Jesus’ death was a fresh start for Christians. This leads
Lewis to start talking about repentance. Lewis believes that repentance is
the unlearning of all that has been taught to us, a sort of death in order to
repair ourselves in God’s eyes. He feels that humans are only capable of a
perfect repentance if they get God to help. God helps us by showing how to
think and teaching us how to love in His eyes. This leads Christians to ask
the question about Jesus’ death and resurrection. Lewis feels the whole
situation to be silly due to the fact that he feels that Jesus was God. Lewis
states that according to the Christian belief, by sharing in the humility and
suffering of Jesus we will share in his triumph over death and his finding of
God’s kingdom in Heaven. Through this belief we as Christians will have
fulfilled all God wants us to fulfill and be able to live happily ever after in
Heaven. Lewis states that being a Christian is more then just mental belief.
We must involve physical activities like mass and the Eucharist. He also
believes that doing well does not appease God rather it brings the Christian
closer to God and to his eternal promise to man. Lewis begins Book III by
discussing the three parts of morality that comes with Christian behavior. “
Morality raises in a good many people’s minds: something that interferes,
something that stops you from having a good time”(69). Morality is the fair
play and harmony between individuals. This can be broken, however, when
humans separate from each other and when there is something internally
wrong with an individual. Morality can be concerned with three things or
reasons. “Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals”(71).
Secondly, with the harmonizing of one’s inner self and thirdly with what man
is made for, human life. Morality can be said to be the general purpose for
human life as a whole. Lewis goes on to discuss the “Cardinal Virtues.”
“Cardinal Virtues” are the virtue admired by civilized people. “They are
PRUDENCE, TEMPERANCE, JUSTICE, and FORTITUDE”(74). Prudence is
common sense. Lewis says that children are excellent examples of prudence
because they are sensible. “Temperance referred not specially to drink, but
to all pleasures; and it meant not abstaining, but going to the right length and
no further”(76). Justice means “fairness” and is more of a law virtue. Finally,
fortitude, which means courage in the sense of both personal and spiritual
strength. Social morality is a discussion of morality between man and man.
Lewis believes that Christ did not preach anything in new regards to morality.
The real job of a moral teacher is to bring us back to old principles we do not
care for. Lewis introduces the phrase “The church ought to give us a
lead”(80). When he says church he means the whole body of Christians. This
means that he wants see these Christians to govern the others who are
farther behind in their faith. This leads him to begin talking about charity and
who should give and how much they should give. He believes that we should
give more then we can spare. He seems to express that we are a society of
cheap and greedy people. I feel that in the eyes of God all we give does not
add up to all he returns. Lewis believes that when a man makes a moral
decision there are two things involved. They are choosing and various
feelings or acts that show his psychological abilities. This then would lead to
a normal feeling or a feeling that turns to fear and strikes the man down. This
links in to social morality and the man’s perception to do right or wrong. This
may also lead into sexual morality or chastity. Christian chastity is different
then social modesty because social modesty tells what on the body can be
displayed. In regards to sex there is nothing to be ashamed of unless it is
taken in excess and is done out of self-pleasure not in love. Christianity
agrees with this statement because Christianity approves of the body. This is
where marriage comes to play a role in mans behavior. The sexual impulse in
man works best under marriage. Man and wife unite on the alter to form “one
flesh.” According to Lewis, living together outside of marriage causes one to
unchaste and commits perjury against the law. The passion of love compels
two people to unite and create life of their own. Lewis also believes that the
man is the head and should deal with his families’ policy because he is
strong and wise. Forgiveness in Lewis’ eye is the love of a mans enemy. One
of mans most terrible duties is the forgiveness of his enemy. Two things we
can do to make loving our enemies easier are to forgive and to learn how to
love our self. Loving yourself does not mean that you have to punish yourself;
it means you have to have courage in the face evil. The love of our self can
lead to us committing the great sin. Lewis describes the great sin as one in
which no man in the world is free, which every one in the world loathe when
he sees it in another, and which no Christian will admit to; Pride. The virtue
opposite to Pride is Humility. Lewis suggests that in order to find how proud
you are you ask yourself this question. “How much do I dislike it when other
people snub me, or refuse to take any notice to me, or shove their oar in, or
patronize me, or show off”(110)? There are four misunderstandings Lewis
discusses about pride. They are: pleasure in being praised, being “proud of,”
pride in wrong doings, and being humble. To gain humility one must realize
that they are proud. Lewis goes on to talk about the “Theological” virtues of
FAITH, HOPE, and CHARITY. He describes charity as giving “alms” or giving to
the poor. Lewis believes that that when you love someone and you injure it
you will not love it no more, but if you show love your love will grow stronger.
Lewis gives advice to those for a person with no love for God. He tells them
to try and love Him as if you really did love Him. Act in love and you will be
loved. Our feeling come and go, but God’s are eternal and forever. Lewis
mentions some accomplishments of men who left their mark of earth
because of their hope occupied in Heaven. Most people look at heaven as a
place to meet old friends. It however, is a place to be with God and a place to
live in peace with us. Although we experience great things in life something
still evades us. Lewis believes there are two wrong ways to deal with this.
They are: the fool’s way; putting the blame on things themselves, and the way
of the disillusioned “sensible man”. The right way is the Christian way. We do
not have desires unless a need arises to fulfill that desire. This leads into
faith. Faith is the art of holding onto things reason has once accepted. No
man knows how hard he tries to be good. Lewis believes this is a silly idea
because good people know what temptation is. It is only when we resist
temptation that we know how strong it really is. Man strong in faith is not
always in perfect coexistence with God. As we grow in faith we begin to obey
Christ more passionately. This is related to the obedience of the truths that
Christians obtain. Lewis begins Book IV with a discussion about life and how
it relates to God. Theology is the science of God. Lewis uses an analogy of a
map to describe theology. In order to have a map man must have experience
of the area. Theology is the same due to the fact that the experience is God.
Lewis then goes on to describe the difference between begetting and
creation. To create is to make and to beget is to father. This theory then leads
into “Bios” and “Zoe.” “Bios” is life without spirit; life in nature. “Zoe” is
spiritual life. Together they form one complete life; a life in God. Lewis then
moves to a discussion of the divine personality, the three personal God. Most
people believe in a personal God, a mysterious something behind a
mysterious force. Lewis describes God’s personality as being on a divine
level. Theology is practical and the one instrument for learning about God is
the whole Christian community. This leads us to believe that God is in three
parts: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. “God is love.” In Lewis’ view
this statement is not true unless there are a Father and a Son because love is
for another person. “Love is God” on the other hand describes God’s creation
of us and all that we do. The Trinity is in fact God both as Supreme Being, son
made flesh, and as a spirit. This in Lewis’s view is what all of Christianity is
about. Lewis goes on to use a toy soldier analogy to describe how Christians
are transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Our natural life is life self-
centered in us. Lewis views the analogy of the tin soldier very solemnly yet
very seriously on the other hand. He states that if we were to become Christ
we may not like it. This will lead us to resent him and most likely steer us
from him. We are human and God is God. This is the way it is supposed to be.
We need to gain our spiritual life by ourselves and with the help of God’s
humanity. Lewis believes that this is how we will gain spiritual life. Lewis
now raises the question about Christianity being hard or easy. Lewis believes
“that the more you obey your conscience the more you conscience will
demand of you”(169). This will lead to anger and then you will either give up
totally or live for others needs and not the needs of yourself. Lewis says that
the Christian way is both harder and easier then giving into your conscience.
Lewis goes on to ask if we as Christians should be nicer then non-Christians.
We as men are all the same. It is all on how man lives his life. Lewis ends the
book with the question; If a nice world would be easier to save than a
miserable one? A nice world would be in as much need from God as a
miserable world, its all how man lives his life. Word Count: 5810

Clive Staples Lewis was born in 1898 in a suburb of Belfast. An extraordinarily

precocious child, at the age of eight he was writing and illustrating "Animal-Land"
stories with his brother Warren, at ten was reading Paradise Lost, and at nineteen
was described by one of his teachers as "the most brilliant translator of Greek plays
that I have ever met." By the time Lewis entered Oxford in 1917, he had long
considered himself an atheist, a position that his experiences on the front lines of
World War I only confirmed. But in 1925 he was elected to a fellowship at Magdalen
College, Oxford, where he taught for twenty-five years and where his intellectual,
creative, and religious development underwent a remarkable flowering. Shortly
after a late night talk with J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson in 1931, Lewis had a
conversion experience, beautifully described in his autobiography Surprised by Joy
(1955), and regained his faith in Christianity. There followed an astonishing
succession of fiction, criticism, and religious books, including The Problem of Pain
(1940), The Screwtape Letters (1942), The Abolition of Man (1943), The Great
Divorce (1946), Miracles (1947), George MacDonald (1947), and Mere Christianity
(1952), and the seven children's books comprising The Chronicles of Narnia,
completed in 1954. Greatly admired for his teaching, Lewis was offered the chair of
Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge in 1954, a position he held until his
death. In 1956 he married Joy Davidman Gresham, the American poet and novelist,
who was diagnosed with cancer later that year. Despite his wife's illness, Lewis
achieved in his final years the happiness and contentment he had searched for all
his life. His relationship with Joy, who died in 1960, is the subject of Richard
Attenborough's film Shadowlands, and Lewis's own A Grief Observed, published
under a pseudonym in 1961, is a deeply moving account of his struggle to come to
terms with her loss. C.S. Lewis died on November 22, 1963, at his home in Oxford.
In 1943 England, when all hope was threatened by the inhumanity of war, C.S.
Lewis was invited to give a series of radio lectures addressing the central issues of
Christianity. More than half a century after the original lectures, they continue to
retain their poignancy. First heard as informal radio broadcasts, the lectures were
then published as three books and subsequently combined as Mere Christianity.
C.S. Lewis proves that "at the center of each there is something, or a Someone,
who against all divergences of belief, all differences of temperament, all memories
of mutual persecution, speaks with the same voice," rejecting the boundaries that
divide Christianity's many denominations. This twentieth-century masterpiece
provides an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to hear a
powerful, rational case for the Christian faith.

1. At the end of the first chapter in Mere Christianity, Lewis lays out the scope
of his argument: "First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this
curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really
get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They
know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of
all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in" (p. 21). All
cultures, he says, have a moral code and those codes are remarkably
similar. Is he correct in inferring from this observation the existence of a
Universal "Law of Human Nature," an innate sense of right and wrong? How
do you think Lewis would respond to contemporary proponents of moral
relativism?
2. Lewis first delivered the chapters that make up Mere Christianity as live
radio addresses for the BBC beginning in 1941. In what ways does the
writing reflect the fact that it was originally intended to be heard rather than
read? What qualities of Lewis's speaking voice come through in the book?
How do these qualities affect your receptivity to Lewis's ideas? What pains
has Lewis evidently taken to make himself clear to an audience who had to
absorb his ideas on first hearing?
3. Lewis argues that repentance "means unlearning all the self-conceit and
self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It
means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death" (p. 60). In what
ways have we trained ourselves to be conceited and willful? In what ways
has Western culture contributed to this willfulness? Why does Lewis insist
that part of the self must die in order to truly repent? How is this interior
death related to Christ's death on the cross?
4. In explaining the way Christians see good, Lewis offers a vivid analogy: "…
the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life within him.
He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will
make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does
not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun
shines on it" (p. 64). Such analogies appear throughout Mere Christianity.
Why are they so effective in making complex ideas accessible? In what ways
does this particular analogy reinforce and clarify the statement that
precedes it?
5. Lewis ends the chapter "Sexual Morality" with a remarkable assertion: "…a
cold self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to
hell than a prostitute" (p. 95). Why does Lewis consider spiritual sins to be
worse than sins of the flesh? What is Lewis's view of the proper role of
sexuality, pleasure, and chastity for Christians?
6. Why does Lewis see Pride as the greatest sin, "the utmost evil," in
comparison with which "unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that
are mere fleabites"? (p. 110). How does he define Pride and its opposite,
Humility? What effect does Pride have on one's relation to other people, to
oneself, and to God? What is the relationship between Pride and the other
vices? Lewis cites other Christian teachers who share his perspective but
does not name them. Who might he be thinking of?
7. In an introduction to a broadcast given on 11 January 1942, which was later
deleted from the published text, Lewis explains why he was chosen to give
the talks: "…first of all because I'm a layman and not a parson, and
consequently it was thought I might understand the ordinary person's point
of view a bit better. Secondly, I think they asked me because it was known
that I'd been an atheist for many years and only became a Christian quite
fairly recently. They thought that would mean I'd be able to see the
difficulties-able to remember what Christianity looks like from the outside."
Do you think Lewis has succeeded in representing the ordinary person's view
of Christianity? In what ways might his atheism and later conversion have
affected his relationship to Christian beliefs? Do his convictions gain weight
because he struggled to arrive at them?
8. Lewis wants his theology to have practical uses. In discussing Charity, he
says: "Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as
if you did…. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will
presently come to love him" (p. 116). The reverse, he says, is also true.
"The Germans, perhaps, at first ill-treated the Jews because they hated
them; afterwards they hated them much more because they had ill-treated
them" (p. 117). Why would behavior influence feeling in this way? Why
would pretending to feel something lead to actually feeling it? Do you think
this principle applies both to individuals and, as Lewis implies, to larger
political groups and nations? Have you ever witnessed or experienced this
phenomenon yourself?
9. In the chapter on Hope, Lewis makes fun on those who reject the Christian
idea of Heaven because they don't want to spend eternity playing harps.
"The answer to such people," he says, "is that if they cannot understand
books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them" (p. 121).
What is Lewis's conception of Heaven? What is his view on the right relation
between this world and the next? Why does he feel we should we "aim at
Heaven" rather than at earth? (p. 119).
10. Why does Lewis so vehemently reject the view that treats Jesus as a
historical rather than a divine figure? Why does he find the notion of some
who regard Jesus merely as a great moral teacher to be absurd? Why does
he assert that "If Christianity only means one more bit of good advice, then
Christianity is of no importance"? (p. 157).
11. In "Counting the Cost," Lewis says that God "will make the feeblest and
filthiest of us into a god or a goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature,
pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we
cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God
perfectly…His own boundless power and delight and goodness" (p. 176).
What is required to become such a creature? Why do you think Lewis has
chosen to describe this apotheosis with these images?
12. How appealing is Lewis's conception of Christianity as he presents it here?
Has it clarified any theological confusions you may have had, or changed
your own beliefs about how to live as a Christian? Do you think Lewis's ideas
about virtue and morality can be valuable for non-Christians?
Notes on C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, Macmillan Publishing Company, NY, NY, ISBN 0-02-
086940-1, by Tim Chambers, 02/19/96.

Here I offer a sample of Lewis' wisdom, but I must emphasize that every page made me think
and clarified my understanding of God's design. It's not a very long book (175 pages), but it's a
book just the same. There are many insights that I don't mention here. I cannot even mention
all of the important insights here. Read the book for yourself!

BOOK I. RIGHT AND WRONG AS A CLUE TO THE MEANING OF THE UNIVERSE

Lewis argues that there is a universal human conception about right and wrong. The simplest
example is what humans regard to be "fair." We have a built-in sense of justice. We have a
universal sense of the type of behavior we admire, and that which we despise. We can tell
virtues from vices. This leads to a concept of Law and an Author of the Law that governs
human behavior.

[My pastor preached about "torah" being imperfectly translated as "law." It is more like
"instruction." God instructs us in the Way that he designed us to live.]

The Law isn't the same as the law of gravity because in the latter case, we have no choice but
to obey physical laws. The Law that governs human conduct is distinct, then, from the "way the
universe works."

We know what we ought to do, but we don't do it. We are not animals who are always and
exclusively driven by desire. We do things that contradict our personal desires all the time.
Sometimes we give in to our desires and then feel guilty when our conscience tells us that we
behaved contrary to the Law.

"It is after you have realised that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and
that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that Power--it is after all this, and
not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk." (p. 24)

BOOK II. WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE

Lewis states his case for why he believes Jesus to be God Incarnate on pp. 40-41:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about
Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be
God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of
things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic--on a level
with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must
make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something
worse. 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 patronising nonsense
about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

BOOK III. CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR

"[M]oral rules are directions for running the human machine. Every moral rule is there to
prevent a breakdown, or a strain, or a friction, in the running of that machine...When you are
being taught how to use any machine, the instructor keeps on saying, 'No, don't do it like that,'
because, of course, there are all sorts of things that look all right and seem to you the natural
way of treating the machine, but do not really work." (p. 55)

Like a fleet of ships, humanity must keep the ships together so they don't bump into one
another. Each ship must also be kept in working order. Then there is the question of what
course the fleet is on--"what man was made for." (pp. 56-57)

About personal morality, Lewis writes, "Does it not make a great difference whether I am, so to
speak, the landlord of my own mind and body, or only a tenant, responsible to the real
landlord? If somebody else made me, for his own purposes, then I shall have a lot of duties
which I should not have if I simply belonged to myself." (pp. 58-59)

Next Lewis covers morality from a different, expanded perspective by describing seven essential
virtues. There are four that are "Cardinal" (that is to say "pivotal"), and three "Theological." (p.
60)

First he explains what is meant by Prudence (using your faculties to the best of your
ability--"The fact that you are giving money to a charity does not mean that you need not try to
find out whether that charity is a fraud or not."--p. 61), Temperance ("A man who makes his
golf or his motor-bicycle the centre of his life, or a woman who devotes all her thoughts to
clothes or bridge or her dog, is being just as 'intemperate' as someone who gets drunk every
evening.'--p. 62), Justice ("the old name for everything we should now call 'fairness'"--ibid.),
and Fortitude ("both kinds of courage--the kind that faces danger as well as the kind that
'sticks it' under pain"--ibid.).

Lewis argues for the importance of training your soul [my term, not his] by exercising virtues
just as you train your body for physical stamina.

Lewis has some fun tweaking both political conservatives and liberals on pp. 64-68 by
describing his interpretation of a completely Christian society. He shows how both liberals and
conservatives tend to pick what they like about Christian social morality while ignoring the parts
they don't like.

On pp. 69-73 Lewis addresses the relationship between Christianity and psychoanalysis. Like
the rest of the book, the concepts cannot be condensed without losing their power, but
consider one insight Lewis gives: "Most of man's psychological make-up is probably due to his
body: when his body dies all that will fall off him, and the real central man, the thing that
chose, that made the best or worst out of this material, will stand naked. All sorts of things
which we thought our own, but which were really due to a good digestion, will fall off some of
us: all sorts of nasty things which were due to complexes or bad health will fall off others. We
shall then, for the first time, see every one as he really was. There will be surprises." (pp. 71-
72)

Modern troubles with sexual morality are, in Lewis' estimation, due to our having been "gorged"
with the pleasures of too much sex, much like a glutton who eats after he stops feeling hungry.
"There is nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying your food: there would be everything to be
ashamed of if half the world made food the main interest of their lives and spent their time
looking at pictures of food and dribbling and smacking their lips." (p. 77)

Lewis' chapter on Christian marriage (pp. 81-88) is classic and is very much what Christian
leaders today are saying: marriage must last beyond feelings of "being in love" by making a
conscious choice and using an act of will. Husband and wife can love each other even when
feelings are absent. Lewis also gives good reasons for structuring a marriage on the unpopular
tenet that the husband is the "head" of the two. As one argument for the latter, Lewis relays
his own observations that women themselves don't respect men who shirk this obligation.
The theme of moral behavior not being enslaved by emotions continues in Lewis' treatment of
Forgiveness on pp. 89-93. He observes that Christians are called to forgive their enemies, not
to have undeserved good feelings about them. His best argument is based on inarguable
experience: how does he love and forgive himself? He does it by an act of will, even when he is
neither fond of himself nor finds himself attractive in the least.

Lewis said in his chapter on sexuality that it is not the center of Christian morality. On pp. 94-99
he reveals the center: the virtue of Humility to overcome the vice of Pride. Pride is at the root
of many other symptomatic sins.

Charity, says Lewis on pp. 100-103, is Christian Love. As such, it is not ruled by emotions. It is
a conscious choice to act as if you love someone. "When you are behaving as if you loved
someone, you will presently come to love him." (p. 101) That goes for our love of God, too. (p.
102)

Lewis nex addresses the virtue of Hope. "[A]im for Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in':
aim at earth and you will get neither." (p. 104) One profound point he makes is that "If I find in
myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is
that I was made for another world." (p. 106) We were made for the Life to Come, and we
should nurture our hope for the time when we will be perfectly fulfilled in the presence of God.

On Faith: "Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks
improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly
probable." (p. 109) "No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly
idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie.
Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is." (pp. 109-110)

In several places, including on p. 110, Lewis refutes the fallacy that Christianity is about us
performing to God's specifications that He has set down in the Moral Law. Our obedience to the
Law does not bring about salvation. Our behavior is neither an exam on which we will be
graded to gain entrance to Heaven, nor is it a bargain between us and God that, if we keep our
end (obey His Law) then He will keep His end (granting us eternal life). "Not hoping to get to
Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a
first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you." (p. 114-115)

BOOK IV. BEYOND PERSONALITY: or FIRST STEPS IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE

TRINITY

"Theology is practical: especially now. In the old days, when there was less education and
discussion, perhaps it was possible to get on with a very few simple ideas about God. But it is
not so now. Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed. Consequently, if you do not
listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you
have a lot of wrong ones...." (p. 120) "For when you get down to it, is not the popular idea of
Christianity simply this: that Jesus Christ was a great moral teacher and that if only we took his
advice we might be able to establish a better social order and avoid another war?" (p. 121)

A teaser about Lewis' treatment of our becoming Sons of God: "This world is a great sculptor's
shop. We are the statues and there is a rumour going round the shop that some of us are some
day going to come to life." (p. 124)

About God as three persons, I do not dare to simplify Lewis' chapter, but I can say that he
gives a good, understandable explanation of the same approach which I personally take. That
the Trinity is three distinct views of one being just as a cube is the same cube regardless of
which of the six sides you are viewing. Read pp. 125-129 for some solid, practical Trinitarian
Theology.
About Time: "It was the Theologians who first started the idea that some things are not in Time
at all: later the Philosophers took it over: and now some of the scientists are doing the same."
(p. 131) Lewis makes a lucid case for how God exists in a way that every instant of Time--past,
present, and future--is Now for Him. (pp. 130-133)

Lewis explains a way of understanding the relationships among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that
is very deep, beautiful, moving, and compelling. It explains why three is exactly enough. Eternal
love exists between Father and Son, and the Spirit of love is the dynamic of their perfect, loving
relationship. (pp. 135-137) Lewis calls that dynamic a "dance," and he concludes his concise
chapter by explaining how Christ came to show us all how to dance--how we can live eternally
with God. (pp. 137-138)

On p. 139, Lewis theorizes what we would be like without original sin. Here I elaborate on his
ideas to make a supposition. Perhaps that is, in some sense, what the new heaven and new
earth are all about. Perhaps we will, after all, live with Jacob and Moses and David and Elijah
and the Apostles and all the subsequent saints in a new Eden. Then Hell is God's way of
purging His original creation of all sin. That way he does not have to destroy anything he has
made. Instead, in the Fullness of Time those who make the Final Choice to live apart from Him
will live in eternal torment; the lives of His loyal creatures will be lives of eternal joy.

Christians believe we are part of an organism--a body--in which we all have a part to play. (pp.
143-145)

On p. 148 Lewis writes, "You might say that when two Christians are following Christ together
there is not twice as much Christianity as when they are apart, but sixteen times as much." I
think he should have said there is an infinite amount more than when there is only one
believer, by virtue of Jesus' own promise that he will be in the midst of two or three gathered in
His name.

pp. 152-158: Christianity doesn't demand that you be good; it demands that you give your life
to Jesus Christ so that He can be good through you. Surrender yourself to Him, and He will
replace the selfish sinner with a Son of God. It doesn't happen instantly anymore than a toddler
learns to walk in a day, but Christ doesn't stop working on you until you become perfect. "As a
great Christian writer (George MacDonald) pointed out, every father is pleased at the baby's
first attempt to walk: no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly
walk in a grown-up son. In the same way, he said, 'God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.'"
(p. 158)

On p. 166, Lewis gives a very helpful explanation of why the poor are blessed and why it is so
difficult for the rich to enter God's kingdom. "Often people who have all these natural kinds of
goodness cannot be brought to recognise their need for Christ at all until, one day, the natural
goodness lets them down and their self-satisfaction is shattered." People who already have
behavior problems "learn, in double quick time, that they need help."

"[M]ere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people...." (p.
167)

True personality--true individuality--comes from God alone. "How monotonously alike all the gr