Mere Christianity

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. He takes into count the materialistic theory of creation, that is that matter has always existed and creation of man happened out of nowhere. The other view is the religious view. This view states, “what is behind the universe is more like a mind then it is anything else we know”(32). Man wants to know who or what created the universe and if there is a force directing it let alone them. Lewis wants humanity to reconsider because he feels that man is on the wrong road. He tries to prove this theory by looking at the present condition our world is in today. He feels that people believe in God but only as the Supreme Being behind the law. Lewis believes that God is good and like all good God can be hard and even dangerous. He believes that only a person can forgive and their good can be reacted to in many different ways. We ultimately can interpret the outcome as good or bad. Good to our benefit and bad to no ones prevail. Lewis also believes that Christianity will not make sense to anyone until they realize that the Moral Law is real and the power that governs it is also real. To make Christianity make sense we must stop abusing the power and breaking the law. Lewis starts off Book II by discussing his ideas on God and the major divisions of belief in God. He believes that God is beyond all good and evil and that He is righteous and all mighty. To say that God is beyond all that is good and evil is called Pantheism. Pantheists believe that God is the universe and if the universe didn’t exist neither would God. This differs from the Christian view that God created the universe. He then starts to dwindle on the just and unjust in the world today. He blames his view on the fact that he used to be an atheist and that his whole reality was senseless. There are many people who reject the Christian doctrine simple due to the fact that it is not easy to understand. Lewis believes that if there really were a God the religion of that God would be easy to follow because “simplicity is beautiful”(48). This topic discussed by Lewis leads to the conversation on Dualism. “Dualism is the belief that there are two equal and independent powers at the back of everything, one of them is good and the other bad, and that the universe is a battlefield in which they fight out an endless battle”(48-49). Lewis, however, rejects the idea of dualism due to the fact that our God is a Supreme Being and He is very intelligent and this makes him good. He believes that evil is a parasite and that it a false attitude of good. He uses an analogy that a good man does good to do well and a bad man does not do bad to be bad. This is why Lewis does not agree with Dualism. When we were created God gave us free will. This free will could be used to do anything, both good and evil. Lewis believes that with free will comes