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MERE CHRISTIANITY
Notes and Complete Outline of the Book
CS Lewis first broadcast this book in a series of radio broadcasts. The material was published in three separate parts as The Case for Christianity (1943), Christian Behaviour (1943), and Beyond Personality (1945).
The book was clearly not intended to advocate for one Christian denomination. In fact, Lewis sought contributions from members of different denominations because he wanted his work to reflect common doctrine. Lewis wrote as an ordinary layman of the Church of England. While he may have anticipated some controversy from those outside the Church, he wanted there to be no controversy within the church about this book or the broadcasts that proceeded it.
Book I. Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe
- The Law of Human Nature
People appeal to a standard of behavior which applies to everyone. The Law or Rule about Right and Wrong the Law of Nature or Natural Law. It is understood man chooses between obeying or disobeying the Law. Different civilizations and different ages have this core morality. We did not make the law but we find it pressing on us. None of us keep the Law of Nature. We are anxious to make excuses for not behaving decently.
- Some Objections
The Moral Law is not an instinct If two instincts conflict, our conscience tells us to side with the weaker of the two impulses. We cannot point to an impulse inside us which is good impulses are not good or bad The Moral Law directs our instincts/impulses
The Moral Law is not social convention, or the product of education. We may learn or be educated about the Moral Law. (Conventions: driving on the rightor intersection rights of way). The Law belongs in the same class as mathematics. The core of the Law is present/applied across the globe, civilizations and eras. We all believe some moralities are better than others. The standard to measure two things/moralities is different from the things/moralities.
- TheReality of the Law
The Moral Law is not like the laws of nature, e.g., gravity, which we follow involuntarily The moral law is what humans ought to do, not what they, in fact, do. We can/do break the Law. Good behavior is not always convenient, bad behavior is not always inconvenient. Men ought to act decently, a stand-alone truth and not for the human race/society.
- What Lies Behind the Law
There are two views about the universe: the materialist view and that of the religious view.
The materialist view: Matter and space exist, always existed, and we don’t know why. Matter behaves in certain set/determined ways, but by happenstance. The religious view: A mind or consciousness, with purposes and preferences, is behind the universe. Science, information by experiment, cannot decide between the two views or purpose. The mind/consciousness is not an observable fact but a reality which makes them. This mind shows itself within man, but is independent/beyond man.
Man that does not exist on his own, apart from the Law. Man is under the Law. The existence of this Moral Law tells us somebody/something wants us to behave.
NOTE: The in between view, Life-Force philosophy, Creative Evolution, Emergent Evolution We evolved from lower forms by striving/purposiveness in-of this Life-Force. Is Life-Force something with a mind or really God? Life-Force offers a tame God, the thrills of religion without the cost.
- We Have Cause to Be Uneasy
Is this mind/consciousness old philosophy or old (and only) religion, saying something new. Progress is getting nearer the goal, a wrong turn requires going back to go forward. We have identified something behind the moral law. Evidence about the something He made the universe and expects good behavior. If the mind is impersonal, don’t ask for any breaks. God is the only comfort, and also the supreme terror. Christianity makes sense if you face these facts. Being under the Law, breaking the law, confessing, receiving forgiveness. With Christianity, you begin in despair, you end in comfort.
BOOK II What Christians Believe
- The Rival Conceptions of God
A Christian can believe other religions offer something. An atheist must believe the main point in all religions is simply one huge mistake. Different views about God: The majority of humanity believe in some kind of God or gods. If the world is cruel and unjust, how do I know justice? How could all of reality be senseless if part of reality, the idea of justice, was full of sense?
- The Invasion
Reality is not simple. Should religion be? Christianity is complicated, not what you’d guess. What worldviews face the facts and this complicated reality? Dualism suggests two equal and independent powers, one good and the other bad, in battle. The two powers/spirits/gods are independent and existed from eternity. Does each presume to be good and the other bad? Deciding which one is good is that preference? If so, there is no good and bad. If deciding is by a standard, the one who made that standard is pre-eminent over the two. If dualism is true, the bad spirit likes bad, desires bad.
Morality inside the individual we need repair/reconstruction, and do not own/belong ourselves If Christianity is correct, that individuals live forever, they are more important than a state, nation orcivilization. If we owned ourselves, our 70 year lives are less important than the state
- The Cardinal Virtues
Seven traditional virtues , four Cardinal virtues and three are theological virtues. Cardinal or pivotal virtues include Prudence, Temperance, Justice and Fortitude. Prudence means practical common sense and wisdom. Temperance is not abstaining, but moderation, restraint, going far enough but not too far. Justicemeans fairness, honesty, truthfulness, keeping promises. Fortitude includes courage, facing danger and resolving/enduring pain or hardship. Difference between virtuous action and a virtuous person focus on quality of character.
- Social Morality
Christ’s teaching on morality was not new. Christianity is not a political machine or program. Church members are about secular matters. The New Testament offers images of a Christian society. Lending money at interest was forbidden for individuals. Everyone must work to care for the needy, widows and orphans. Christianity is about religious affairs which impact social matters. Not vice versa.
4. Morality and Psychoanalysis
Christian morality is a technique for putting the human machine right. Psychoanalysis, on one hand, is about medical theories and techniques of therapists which are not necessarily incompatible with Christianity. Psychoanalysis, on the other hand, as a general philosophic view of the world, as pronounced by SigmundFreud, directly contradicts Christianity. Moral choices are both the act of choosing and the feelings/impulses presented by the psychological outfit which formed the raw material/data of the choice. The raw material may be normal/common or unnatural. Psychoanalysis may cure the abnormality, but then the moral problem begins. Bad psychological material is not a sin requiring repentance but a disease requiring a cure. We judge the appearance, God judges what people do with their raw material. Christian morality is not bargaining with God. Christian morality strictly calls us to good behavior, yet freely, easily dispenses grace
- Sexual Morality
Chastity is the least popular virtue. Christianity is wrong or our sexual instinct has gone wrong. The biological purpose of sex is children. This appetite is in ludicrous and preposterous excess of its function. Sexual perversion is from sexual corruption, not sexual starvation. Perversions of other appetites are rare; perversions of the sex instinct are numerous. Christianity beliefs that matter is good, honors the body, glorifies marriage The cure for warped natures is difficult, because the
- desires we resist are natural/healthy,
- living virtuously is impossible, and
- we misunderstand repression of the appetites. Virtue, even attempted virtue, brings light; indulgence brings fog.
6. Christian Marriage
The sexual impulse in man works correctly in marriage. Christ taugh t that marriage makes a man and woman a single organism, one flesh. Christianity teaches that marriage is for life. The church [regards] divorce as something like cutting up a living body. Justice enters the picture as marriage is about keeping promises. Being in love is not the basis for remaining married. Vows relate to actions, not feelings. Staying married while not still in love can be to provide a home for children, protect the woman, and because the partners love each other. Being in love can make us generous and courageous, allow us to see depths of beauty, subordinate animal sexuality/conquerors lust. Love is deep unity, maintained by will, strengthened by habit and reinforced by God-given grace. While the thrill may be gone, a quieter/more lasting kind of interest may develop, creating its own and new thrills. Falling in love is not irresistible/inevitable, something that just happens, like measles. The Christian concept of marriage/chastity should be promoted, but not necessarily by law, In Christian marriage, wives obey/respect the husband, who is head , called to love his wife. If there is real disagreement, who breaks the impasse? Do women want that role? Would it be unnatural that wives rule? Women focus on relationships, men are more just to outsiders.
7. Forgiveness
Everyone considers this terrible duty to be a lovely idea Forgive us our sins as we forgive those is forgiveness offered on any other terms? Start forgiving smaller easier harms, learn what loving your neighbor as yourself means Loving your enemy does not remove consequences/appropriate punishment for conduct Christian morality is different; man lives forever; we cannot hate or enjoy anothers punishment To love is not to like, feel fondness, choose the lovable. Love is for the person, not conduct.
8. The Great Sin
Most, but not the Christian, see pride/self-conceit in others, not in one’s self. Pride is the ultimate evil/vice. Its polar opposite is humility. Pride made the devil the devil. One’s pride competes with the pride of others note the pleasure of being above the rest. Christians say pride is the chief cause of misery in nation’s, families, people enmit. The proud say they believe in God, but worship an imaginary god. Does religious life/activity make us feel that we are good? In the presence of God, do you forget about yourself or see yourself as dirty or clean? Pride is purely spiritual, comes directly from hell, is subtle, and is deadly
- Pride is not being pleased in/by praise, 2)having warm hearted admiration (being proud of someone), or
- forbidden because God takes offense at it, pride destroys relationship with God, and 4 ) the humble is not understood today
most accurate ideas about him. Good doctrine is like having a map of the ocean, not simply seeing the ocean from the beach. Theologyrecognizes those before us, who drafted the map from experiencing God. Theology is practical, it is like driving with the map (or trusting GPS). Christianity is not new, Christ is not the first great moral teacher Christianity gives us the great shock. By attaching ourselves to Christ, we become Sons of God. Christ is begotten. God begot something of the same kind as himself. God created or made us. God made something of a different kind. Everything God has made has some likeness to himself. We are a symbol or shadow of God. In his natural condition, man does not have spiritual life. The higher life exists in God. [The] rumour going round the shop [is] that some of us are some day going to come to life.
- The Three-Personal God
God is personal, yet something more than a person. Water dripping into the sea comes to its end, loses itself. We are joined with, taken into a life with God, yet we remain ourselves, becoming very much more ourselves than we were before. The purpose of our existence is to be taken into the life of God. God s dimension he is super-personal, more than a person, three persons while remaining one, When praying, a Christian tries to touch with God. God, inside him, prompts the praying. God is even the road or bridge along which the Christian moves. The initiative lies with God. God shows himself to real people, those individually good and united in the Body. The only adequate/complete avenue to God is the whole Christian community, seeking him together.
- Time and Beyond Time
How can God be involved with millions of people at the same time? This flawed question rests upon time and place, the human realm, not God’s eternity Almost certainly God is not in Time. God is exclusively in the present, not past, not future If time was a straight line, God is the page on which the line is drawn. God is completely and utterly real to have history. Having a history means losing part of your reality(it slipped into the past) and not yet having another part (it is still in the future). Does God know what you and I are going to do tomorrow? All our days for him are Now.
- Good Infection
See two book s on the table one on top of the other. One supports, does not cause the other Imagining something was its cause, the picture of something the result. They are simultaneous The Son streams forth from the Father, like light from a lamp, thoughts from a mind. He is the self-expression of the Father, yet they are two persons, and simultaneous, not sequential. God is love, ove has no meaning unless there are at least two Persons. Love is something that one person has for another person. The activity of love has been going on in God forever. Christianity, unlike all other religions, is not static , but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life. Union between Father and Son is so concrete, the union itself is also a Person, the Spirit of love The dance, drama or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in us. Thus, by our proximity toand participation in this love lets us catch a (good) infection. Christianity s offer let God have His way and you share in the life of Christ.
- The Obstinate Toy Soldiers
The two kinds of life are different, opposed. One life is like a statue, the other vibrant. God breathesvibrancy into us, who are statues, and we become like toy soldiers come to life. Christ came to be that vibrancy, to be what men were intended to be. Thus, humanity arrived. When Christ becomes man, his effect spreads throughout mankind, to those living before, to those who will be. The business of becoming a son of God has been done for us. We are already saved and we as individuals have to appropriate that salvation. We have various terms for this: Christ died for our sins, the father forgives us, we are washed in the blood of the Lamb, Christ defeated death.
6. Two Notes
If God wanted sons, not statues, why did he not beget many sons at the outset? Turning a creature into a son would not have been difficult/painful if the human race had not turned away from God long ago. He gave them free will. Robots cannot love or have infinite happiness Beware nonsense. Could it have been different God begetting more so ns? It is what it is. Beware nonsense. Concerns about God begetting many sons from eternity? That forces limitations of space and matter, a non-reality to God. The idea that the whole human race is one thing, a huge organism (cf. The body of Christ), does Not mean individuals are less important than collective things like classes, races. Christianity values human individuals not as members of a club, but as organs in a body. Dishonoring someone dishonors the organism of which you are an organ, you become an Individualist. One who suppresses distinctions, making all people alike, becomes Totalitarian.
7. Let s Pretend
Consider Beauty and the Beast. She loves the beast and it becomes a man. He saw himself as a beast and grew to become it. His face took the contours of/became the mask. We pray Our Father. Acting as a son/child of God, pretending to be one helps us become one. This is not the bad kind of pretending, pretense, fraud, manipulation, putting on airs. It is the good kind of pretending, like children’s games of pretending to be grownups. Stop the distracting, sinful thoughts. Elevate your mind. Well, go and do it. In that moment and process, Christ is already beginning to turn your (good) pretense into a reality. Is the invisible Christ really about? (I have not seen Him.) He works through Nature, our bodies, books, pain, and experiences, and primarily through each other. We as individuals can mirror Christ. More so the church, the whole body, mirrors Christ. We must go on to recognize the real Giver. It is madness not to. Discovery one: We can begin to see our particular sinful acts and sinfulness. Discovery two: We talk as if we did everything; it truly is God who does everything.
8. Is Christianity Hard or Easy?
Christianity permits anyone to become a son of God an d differs from other ideas of morality We start withour ordinary self, see morality/the natural law make demands upon us, recognize we miss the mark, while still hoping/intending to keep our own life (get away with it.) The more you obey your conscience, the more your conscience will demand of you. The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ wants you, all of you. He transforms the old and gives us a new self, himself.
