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Mere Christianity
provides an in-depth look at faith
By Josh M. Shepherd
At the height of World War II, a British air raid warden daily watched
young men being led to their deaths. Shell-shocked and despairing,
they began to see their lives as meaningless. Prompted one day to
address the Royal Air Force, this warden didn't patronize the soldiers,
but rather spoke of healing in spite of suffering and assurance
in the face of attacks. He was C.S. Lewis. A decade later, he condensed
his talks into Mere Christianity, a book that examines the meaning
of it all through word-pictures and common language.
Fast-forward 50 years. With the passing of a millennium, man was
supposed to finally achieve betterment. Yet today more than ever,
religious beliefs are bought like grocery store items, for sale
prices or trendy commercials. Our ever- sophisticated technologies
deliver ever-repulsive entertainment. And while gunplay in suburban
schools has become one battleground, ours is mostly an invisible
war with casualties unaware of their eternal fate. The only advantage
to such a stagnant culture? Old answers, like those of an air raid
warren to frightened servicemen, still have immediate relevance.
Mere Christianity is actually an anthology of four short, interconnected
books. The first, titled "Right and Wrong as a Clue to the
Meaning of the Universe," lays the groundwork. "Likely,
this very day, we have failed to practise ourselves the kind of
behavior we expect from other people," Lewis observed, leading
up to some easy-to-swallow truths on human nature and moral conscience.
His plain speaking style unravels society's double-talk in a way
that compels one to read on. Never assuming and always reasoning
through ideas, Lewis progresses from nailing down a Moral Law to
establishing the existence of an Author of that code, and ultimately
a "not soft, but good" God. Lewis sees as simpletons both
atheists and those who subscribe to "Christianity-and-water...leaving
out all the difficult and terrible doctrines."
The value of other religions and a driver's ideal gear-changing
are not topics one usually expects in "Christianity 101,"
but philosophy and conversational examples are all part of the package
with Lewis.
Christ-life, something neither mental nor moral, is presented as
the super-biological evolution by which Jesus operates through believers.
Living this inspired life with moral directions doesn't stop one
from steering oneself, but keeps the human 'vessel' in formation
with others, and on the course intended by a Higher Authority. "A
silly idea is current," Lewis said in a chapter titled 'Faith,'
"that good people do not know what temptation means...a man
who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know
what it would have been like an hour later."
Other virtues are examined with equal practicality and eye-opening
revelation, including balanced sexual desire (dealt with in a tell-it-straight
manner), forgiveness (even of those unlovable), humility (opposite
of "The Great Sin" - pride) and even alert intelligence
(or prudence). How the author manages any depth covering such broad
subject matter is inconceivable, yet every chapter cites specifics
and approaches its topic from different angles.
A "science of God" comes to head in an 11-part introduction
to theology titled "Beyond Personality or First Steps in the
Doctrine of the Trinity." It turns out to be a full-blown outline
on spiritual dimensions and paradoxes (not a mere preface). As the
author states freely, he is a "mere" layman - the premise
here isn't to complicate or confuse, only to compel new Christians
past their own limited experience. Though an uncreated God defies
conventions, theology systems underscore proven, Biblical ways to
approach God when one's feelings and surroundings shift. Wonder
permeates Mere Christianity, a classic from which Christians will
learn as much as atheists.
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