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.
Chapter One is a discussion about life and how it relates to God. Theology is the science of God. Lewis compares theology to a map. A map is formed from accumulated experience, not just one view. Christian doctrines are based on the accumulated experience of hundreds of people who were in touch with God. He then discusses what it means that God has brought us into existence and loves us and in that way is like a father. Lewis then goes on to describe the difference between begetting and creation. Begetting is to be the father of and to create is to make. According to Lewis, “What God begets is God; just as what man begets is man. What God creates is not God; just as what man creates is not man.” In Chapter Two C.S. Lewis makes the point that Christians are the only ones to believe that God is something that is super-personal. Others believe in God, but not in a personal God. They think there is a mysterious something behind all things. They make this “something” impersonal or less than personal. Lewis points out that some people believe that when you die the soul is absorbed by God. They explain this using the analogy that the soul is like a drop of water dropped into the ocean. But this really means that by being absorbed you do not exist. Christians believe that they are taken into God and still remain unique. They become, in fact, more that they were before. Lewis compares the relationship with God to the three dimensions of space. The dimensions involve complexity and understanding. He explains the relationship with God this way; “as a being who is three persons while remaining one Being.” Christians believe in God, they also want to be close to God and they k...
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...st will give you a real personality.
I consider this book the best of the four. It provided a lot of practical information and explanation of Christian beliefs. It addressed some difficult and complex issues that each Christian must face. It is definitely a book that makes you think. The chapter on the concept of time and God really meant a lot to me. The fact that God is always in the present and can hear our prayers individually and attend to them individually is comforting. The example of God being the page that a time line is drawn on and is in the past, present and future at the same time is a good illustration. That helped me understand the concept better. This book provides a lot of good information that has helped better understand God and our relationship with Him. This information will give me more confidence and will enable me to better defend my faith and to share that faith with others.
This is a book that I recommend that all Christians read. It is a book that will really make you think. For me it was kind of tough to read and understand at times, but it is worth the effort and time. This book will arm the believer with answers to complex and difficult issues.
This book was a good read for me, but I also read book reviews to help me keep track on what I am reading. These book reviews just made a better understanding of what I was reading.
I believe the most important concept that I gained from reading the book was to remain faithful, in good times and in bad. Walking blindly can be very terrifying, but God always has a plan for each and every one of us. At times, the plan remains unseen, and that should not deter or slow me on the path that my heart is yearning
...e better and make more sense for me because it describes from beginning to Jesus. I like the way Robert Krieg talked about Christianity, the story of God’s creation and the modern examples around our real life that makes more interesting and easier to read. Although my religion is not Christianity, it is good to learn the new thing and know what Christianity is. I believe every religion that wants people do the good things and have good moral and ethical to make a peace and safe world, only the doctrines and the gods are different. No matter what your religion is and what you believe, people should live in this life, to do the good things and make yourself happy. You do not know what happen after death, are there a heaven and a hell? The important thing is now, this life. You cannot control everything happened outside, but you certain can control your own action.
...er reading the book it made me more conferrable with this side of Jesus. I loved the character of Andreas and I seek to become more and more like that Galilean from Nazareth that he was searching for Jesus. I loved his passion and constant anxiety to need to learn more about Jesus that something I aspire to have.
I think that the messages this book displays are important for anyone to think about, and apply to their lives every day.
During his early life, Clive Staples Lewis was raised in church (Stewart 1). However, as modernism continued to gain influence, Lewis started to create his own, new perspective. Individualized, unique perspectives were one of the major aspects of modernism. Modernists of that time also rejected religion and instead chose to see it as a myth. They appreciated religion, but as an interesting story instead of a belief system (Matterson 1). That is just what C.S. Lewis came to believe; that Jesus' life was no more than an embellished story of an ordinary man. He put aside his Christian roots and became enthralled with Pagan myth. Lewis' writings reflected his atheist beliefs, until the early 1930s when he- after many talks with devoted Catholic J.R.R. Tolkien- rededicated his life to Christ (Gopnik 13).
Overall I value this book, and I am glad that I read it. I now know more about the Buddhist religion, and I want to change certain aspects of my life. I like how this religion is so forgiving and laid back. I really wish other things in my life were so forgiving. The idea of oneness with your self sounds very peaceful and understanding. I am going to try to have more oneness with myself. I can now see people from a different standpoint. We are all created equal, and we should all help each other.
Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis, is written as set of guidelines of Christian belief. Lewis does not say there is any particular way to believe but he does make a point that the topic of religion itself is serious. As you consider whether you want to believe or not, you have to recognize how much thought it requires, and how thought provoking a process this decision is. Lewis covers Christianity in four different books within his book. In book one, Lewis discusses the Law of Nature and makes note of a tendency in humans of appealing to a standard of absolute truth in quarrels and arguments. He calls this standard the Law of Nature or the Moral Law. 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." Lewis concludes that the moral law is alive and active in human lives. According to Lewis, science cannot be used to discover the mind behind the creation of the universe. In book two Lewis simply states what Christians believe. He talks about the major divisions within belief in God, and discusses what he calls Christianity-and-water. Lewis speaks on free will, Satan, and the nature of Christ. Book three contains The Three Parts of Morality. He discusses what he calls the cardinal virtues. According to old writers, there are seven virtues. Four are called cardinal and the other three are theological. Lewis argues for morality between man and man, and what a society would be like if it were completely Christian. He also discusses chastity, marriage, forgiveness, the great - sin pride and self-conceit, and gives another look at the theological...
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.
I chose this topic for personal reasons primarily as an exploration of my own faith and my own ideas about religion. I believe that one of the reasons the book has become controversial is that religion is a very hard thing to discuss in quantitative terms. If you ask three people what it means to be Christian, you will get three different answers. Some feel being baptized is sufficient. Others feel you must accept the Bible as immutable historical fact. Still others require a belief that all those who do not accept Christ as their personal savior are doomed to hell. Faith is a continuum, and we each fall on that line where we may. By attempting to rigidly classify heavenly concepts like faith, we end up debating semantics to the point where we entirely miss the fact that we are all trying to decipher life's big mysteries.
Have you ever wanted to free yourself from the terrors and troublesome times of modern society and escape to a magical place? Clive Staples Lewis, or C.S. Lewis as he is better known, created such a place, in his extremely popular children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia. In these books, Lewis has an underlying message about Christianity. He represents four key aspects of Christianity in this series: Christ and God, evil in the world, and faith.
The Christian worldview is centered on the Gospel and places their beliefs in the essential teachings of the Trinity, the deity of Jesus Christ, and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (DiVincenzo, 2015). This paper will explain who God is and what he created, what our purpose and nature is as humans, who Jesus was and what he did while on earth, how God plans to bring his people back into the right relationship with himself, and as a Christian how one is to live their life with an analysis of the Christian worldview.
Kaufmann, U. M. (2008). The Wardrobe, the Witch, and the Lion: CS Lewis and Three Mysteries of the Christian Faith. The Dulia et Latria Journal, 1, 47-62.
Jeffers, I would most likely recommend this book. I would recommend this book to any one who enjoys history, believer on non-believer. It gives a good amount of information into life of the Greeks, Romans, Jews and Christians in earlier times. I would also suggest this book to people that are struggling with the historical accuracy of Christian faith. I have heard atheist say that they do not believe in a man named Jesus, however they believe Julius Caesar existed. So I think that it could help those people to see that there is historical evidence to prove the people of the Bible did exist. Lastly, I would suggest Christians to read this book so that they can get a deeper appreciation of the New Testament. The Bible is a good enough resource in itself for Christians, but I think seeing the Bible from another perspective can give Christians a new thankfulness of the New Testament and the Bible as a