Parallel Reading: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
In his book “Mere Christianity”, C. S. Lewis's preserves the faith of Christians by delivering a logical foundation for his readers. Lewis seeks to restore harmony to the Christian religion. The book is divided into four sub-books. Lewis starts his discussion with the basis that a Natural Law must exist. His second book advises that God exists and the idea of free will. In the next book, Lewis then defines the role of a Christian; such as, their belief and behavior. Ultimately, Lewis ends with God’s confident intentions for us human beings.
In book one, Lewis discusses the Natural Law as a law that humans can respond to, but did not create nor cannot escape its effects. In other words, Lewis establishes a “Law of Nature” idea as our moral sense of right and wrong. The difference of this law and other physical laws of the universe is that we as humans have the control to break the Natural Law. Unfortunately, we all fail to live up to its standards in which can lead us to become apprehensive to make excuses for behaving in such an indecent manner. Lewis shares a significant fact of humans is that our human nature is in conflict with our general sense of being right. It is true that humans contradict themselves by saying one thing they should do, yet acting upon something else. In sum, it is understood humans choose the option of obeying or disobeying the Law; however, the way we approach the preferred option is incredibly important.
Book two advises that the idea of good and bad promotes the standpoint that God does exists. The majority of humans believe in some kind of God or gods. However, Christianity is not simple. God died for us so that we could live for him that we actually become the body of Christ. Lewis shares that God created and gave us free will. His creation was good from the start but had been corrupted by an attack of evil. The act of evil is prevalent among us on a daily basis, yet God still gives us unconditional love with a forgiving light. Lewis makes it clear that we as Christians must renew ourselves in order to share God’s heavenly life and accomplish our purpose here on earth in an honest manner.
Lewis discusses Christian behavior and the morals that coincide with such behavior. Morality can be viewed in three parts. The first part of morality and the one most people think about is the relationships between human beings. The second part is the internal human which is an individual's care for themselves. The last and third part of morality comprises of the relationship between an individual and the power that made the individual. Lewis believes that the issue with morality is that most people only think about the first part and disregard the others. It is vital to have a good balance and understanding of each of the three parts. Lewis’s purpose in book three is to inform the reader that God wants us to act in certain ethical ways, and ultimately, be like Him.