PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS
MERE CHRISTIANITY
Before reading the chapter, number your paragraphs 1-12.
INTRODUCTION
Hopefully as you have been working through Mere Christianity you have come to understand and appreciate a principle which guides Lewis' thought. Whatever explanation of reality is true, that explanation must explain ALL of reality and not just part of it. For example, Lewis rejects Hinduism and opts for Christianity because whereas Christianity accounts for the existence of right and wrong, Hinduism does not. Many Hindus may adhere to right and wrong; however, their system does not adequately account for its existence. For that reason Lewis would claim that it is inadequate. Hinduim may account for many things according to Lewis; however, it does not account for all things.
We will see Lewis applying this principle in this chapter. If reality is complex, then the explanation for reality should be complex. If reality is odd, then the explanation for that reality should be odd.
Complexity and Oddity in the Universe
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What doctrines or beliefs does simple Christianity get rid of?
Lewis knows exactly what he's talking about when he claims that many people want simple Christianity. Leo Tolstoy who wrote War and Peace was one of the main proponents of this kind of Christianity.
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Remember that Jesus tells us to love not only with all our heart and with all our strength, He also tells us to love Him with ALL OUR MINDS. Jesus does NOT want an intellectually lazy Christianity.
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Note very carefully what Lewis says about these people (he's met them personally). "You must be on guard against these people for they will change their ground every minute and only waste your time." These people are NOT interested in truth. They are interested only in destroying Christianity and promoting their own religion.
Those who want a "simple" Christianity act as if man made up religion. According to Lewis who actually made up religion and what is religion all about?
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Rejection of Dualism (Introduction to the Problem of Evil and Suffering)
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According to Lewis what is the true definition of evil?
How does Lewis apply this line of reasoning to the "Bad" God?
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Paragraph 11: In what way is Christianity similar to Dualism?
Paragraph 12: Read this paragraph to see Christianity's view on the situation we find ourselves in and Christ's role in this situation. (In this paragraph Lewis has basically given you the outline to his book The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.)
Book Two
Chapter 2
Most people want what Lewis calls a simple Christianity. What does Lewis mean by simple Christianity?
According to Lewis reality is not simple. What illustration does he use to show us that reality is not as simple as it seems?
Why do some people promote "simple" Christianity?
Some claim that Christianity is not true because it tends to be rather odd. Yet in addition to being difficult, reality tends to be odd. How does the solar system illustrate this principle?
In essence reality is not something you would have made up. How does this argue for the truth of Christianity? Is it the kind of religion a person would make up?
Now for those of us who believe that this world is good but has gone bad we have 2 options. The first option is the Christian view, that is, that the world was created by a Good God but that Satan originally good has gone bad and brought the bad into the world. What is the second option and how does Lewis define it?
What is Lewis' argument AGAINST Dualism? Some claim that there is no such thing as Good and Evil but that we just simply prefer one (what we call good) to the other (what we call evil). If that's the case, you must give up talking about good and evil--something we are unwilling to do. Again George Lucas' Star Wars is an excellent example of how dualists cannot live consistently with their beliefs.
But since good and evil are necessary terms, that is, we can't escape them, then we MUST LOGICALLY reject Dualism. Why? (It has to do with the way we determine what is good and what is evil.)
If Dualism is true, then the Evil Force must love evil for evil's sake. What is the problem with that argument? Has anyone really loved evil just for the sake of being evil?
Read this paragraph. Focus especially on the second sentence to show that the evil force had to have come from a good force.