Thoughts on Mere Christianity
"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end:if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth- only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with, and, in the end, despair. Most of us have got over the pre-war wishful thinking about international politics. It is time we did the same about religion."
C.S. Lewis lived in a time in which most of the known world was thrust into wars that changed the way one approaches the world. The word "epic" applied to WWI and WWII is just the wrong word. It was so much bigger than that.
Over these next few posts I'm going to just share my thoughts, guided by Lewis' thoughts as I read through his gift to us, Mere Christianity. If you've ever had the chance to read this book then you know why I describe it as "his gift". The wise and intellectual Lewis, for a few moments, comes down and speaks to us common folk, and describes for us Christiainity, basicly, or merely. If you haven't read it, pick it up somewhere, it'll cost ya $9.
The opening pages find us wrestling with the idea of something lirking behind the curtain of humanity. Your mind first runs to thoughts of God, and the Christian God at that, but Lewis doesn't take us there just yet. However, he beautifuly describes for us the "code". No, not some weird code of numbers that will determine when Jesus comes back, or some new way of life, but what Lewis calls, "the moral code". Every man, in every time and culture has known this code lirking behind the trees, moving somewhere inside him. And to what degree or not he, or his civilization adhere to that code, largely determines his glory, or his demise.
For Lewis, before you begin a discussion about the existence of a higher power, let alone the Christian God, we must first find out, is there truly a purpose for right v. wrong, that begins outside of ourselves? It's this great search for truth. Right truth, that has become such a lightning rod in our own day.
If we are to find truth today. If we are able to determine if there is a right and a wrong, a "moral code" not determined by individuals or cultures, then we are on our way to grasping who, or what might be determining that moral code.
Many Christians point and spit at our current postmodern culture. "How can you not believe in absolute truth?" Although, the battleground today is, "what is truth?" The post modern world allows us the chance to engage it in conversation and relationship. The younger generations of the post modern world are overwhelmingly more availible to engage your beliefs, and when that occurs, the gospel, and true thoughts about God can be spoken into lives that need it so desperately. This is not a new age. Let us not forget, on that dark night, Jesus stood before a postmodern. Pilate stonely and curiously stared Jesus in the eye, and perhaps part of him longed to know the true answer, "What is truth?"
The opening quote up top from Lewis handles this by saying, Truth will bring comfort, but the individual who only hopes for comfort and easy living, will only in the end find, despair. So many did not want the truth leading up to WWII, but when it came, there was no escaping it. Today, we find ourselves in a very similar landscape. Somewhere in all of us, we want truth, and its only in that pursuit, that a full and rewarding life can be lived.
C.S. Lewis lived in a time in which most of the known world was thrust into wars that changed the way one approaches the world. The word "epic" applied to WWI and WWII is just the wrong word. It was so much bigger than that.
Over these next few posts I'm going to just share my thoughts, guided by Lewis' thoughts as I read through his gift to us, Mere Christianity. If you've ever had the chance to read this book then you know why I describe it as "his gift". The wise and intellectual Lewis, for a few moments, comes down and speaks to us common folk, and describes for us Christiainity, basicly, or merely. If you haven't read it, pick it up somewhere, it'll cost ya $9.
The opening pages find us wrestling with the idea of something lirking behind the curtain of humanity. Your mind first runs to thoughts of God, and the Christian God at that, but Lewis doesn't take us there just yet. However, he beautifuly describes for us the "code". No, not some weird code of numbers that will determine when Jesus comes back, or some new way of life, but what Lewis calls, "the moral code". Every man, in every time and culture has known this code lirking behind the trees, moving somewhere inside him. And to what degree or not he, or his civilization adhere to that code, largely determines his glory, or his demise.
For Lewis, before you begin a discussion about the existence of a higher power, let alone the Christian God, we must first find out, is there truly a purpose for right v. wrong, that begins outside of ourselves? It's this great search for truth. Right truth, that has become such a lightning rod in our own day.
If we are to find truth today. If we are able to determine if there is a right and a wrong, a "moral code" not determined by individuals or cultures, then we are on our way to grasping who, or what might be determining that moral code.
Many Christians point and spit at our current postmodern culture. "How can you not believe in absolute truth?" Although, the battleground today is, "what is truth?" The post modern world allows us the chance to engage it in conversation and relationship. The younger generations of the post modern world are overwhelmingly more availible to engage your beliefs, and when that occurs, the gospel, and true thoughts about God can be spoken into lives that need it so desperately. This is not a new age. Let us not forget, on that dark night, Jesus stood before a postmodern. Pilate stonely and curiously stared Jesus in the eye, and perhaps part of him longed to know the true answer, "What is truth?"
The opening quote up top from Lewis handles this by saying, Truth will bring comfort, but the individual who only hopes for comfort and easy living, will only in the end find, despair. So many did not want the truth leading up to WWII, but when it came, there was no escaping it. Today, we find ourselves in a very similar landscape. Somewhere in all of us, we want truth, and its only in that pursuit, that a full and rewarding life can be lived.
posted by Philip Letizia at
11:46 AM
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