PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS
MERE CHRISTIANITY
CHAPTER 9: Charity
Before reading, number your paragraphs 1-10.
Paragraph 1:
Paragraph 2:
What happened that caused people to make charity mean only giving to the poor?
What does "charity" mean?
agape
Is this an emotion?
Instead of being a state of the feelings, charity is a state of what?
In 1 Cor. 13 whenever Paul describes love, he describes it not as being a feeling but as action: "Love acts patiently, love acts kindly, etc." The emphasis is never on emotion but on action which flows from the will.
Paragraph 3:
Parents should be able to relate to this. Many times we love our children even though they have done something which causes us not to like them particularly. We'll get over it; however, for the time being we don't like them.
Is liking somebody naturally a virtue?
What is it then?
What makes it either sinful or virtuous?
Paragraph 4:
What is the danger of our liking this or that person?
Liking others may also hurt the person we like. How does the example of the doting mother and child illustrate this?
Idolizing somebody can actually harm a person, whether that person be your children, spouse, best friend, etc. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your friend is to be brutally honest with him. If you are unwilling to be honest with that friend, you might ask yourself why, especially if being honest will help that person. The reason you might not be honest with him is that you are thinking about yourself. You just don't want to lose that friend.
Paragraph 5:
Is it sinful to be "cold" in temperament?
If a person is cold temperamentally, is he excused from loving others?
Instead of trying to manufacture loving feelings, what should you do instead?
What happens if you injure somebody you dislike?
What happens if you do somebody you dislike a good turn?
What is one exception to this rule? (It involves the idea of showing him you're a fine decent chap.)
How do people normally respond whenever you demonstrate charity for the purpose of showing others what a fine decent chap you are?
What happens whenever you do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like you) by God, and desiring its own happiness as you desire yours?
Paragraph 6:
Many times we think that if we don't feel love, then we can't love. That is not true. Many times if we act out love, the feelings of love will follow. No matter whether the feelings ever come or not, Jesus commands us to act out love.
What is the difference between the Christian and the worldly man?
Paragraph 7:
What illustration does he give to make his point? (It involves the Germans and Jews.)
What vicious cycle occurs which involves hate and cruelty?
Paragraph 8:
Good and evil increase at what? What does Lewis mean by that?
The smallest good act you do today could end up being what?
What could an apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today end up being?
Paragraph 9:
What should you ask yourself whenever you don't feel love towards God?
Paragraph 10:
What is one thing God does not principally care about?
Lewis was definitely skeptical about emotions. When he was growing up, his father was constantly on a roller-coaster ride emotionally. This led Lewis to become very distrustful about emotions.
There is however something very positive about emotions. They basically inform you about what is going on inside you. They become negative though whenever they control your actions and attitudes.
Love towards God and man is always an affair of what?
If we are trying to do God's will, what will we do?
Although feelings come and go, what is permanent?
God's love is not wearied by our sin or indifference. What is God's love relentlessly determined to do?
We would be wise to give in.
Book Three
Chapter 9
According to Lewis what are the 3 theological virtues?
What do people TODAY mean by the word "charity?"
When we love somebody, do we have to be fond of them or feel affectionate towards them?
Since liking people makes it easier to be charitable towards them, Lewis says it is our duty to encourage affection towards others. Liking others is not a virtue; however, what is the benefit of liking others?
Although natural liking others should be encouraged, what would it be wrong to think?
Although charity is not the same as affection, what does it lead to?
"This same spiritual law works _____________________ in the opposite direction."
Other writers claim that charity refers to the way a person feels about God. If a person does not feel love towards God, what should he do?
What is it impossible for people to have always?