Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis

The Law of Human Nature Chapter 1 Two basic points: –Human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it.

The Law of Human Nature Chapter 1 Two basic points: –Human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. –They do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of (Human) Nature; they break it.

Laws of Nature: –gravity, heredity, chemistry, etc. Law of Human nature: –moral law; law of right and wrong We are subject to several different sets of law, but there is only one of these we are free to disobey.

There are differences between moralities among nations – but only slight differences. –The basics are the same. –Selfishness is never admired. –Some say one wife; some say four/five; but they have always agreed that you must not simply have any woman you like. Whenever you find a person saying he does not believe in a real right and wrong, he will go back on that a moment later

No one keeps the Law of Human Nature all the time. We have failed to practice ourselves the kind of behavior we expect from other people. So we offer excuses. –These excuses show how deeply we believe in the Law of Human Nature. –Otherwise, why would we try to shift the responsibility from ourselves to something else?

Some Objections Chapter 2 Someone might say Lewis is talking about “herd instinct” – not moral law. Instinct – a strong want or desire to act in a certain way. Feeling a desire to help someone is different from feeling you ought to help whether you want to or not.

When one feels the impulse either to help one in danger or to run for safety, what is it that influences our decision? –It is not either impulse. –It is something different from these two. You probably want to be safe much more than you want to help the man who is drowning: but the Moral Law tells you to help him all the same.

These impulses may also be called instincts. They are neither good nor bad in themselves. –Examples: mother love, patriotism, sex, fighting –At times all these can be good or bad. The Moral Law is not the same as instinct. –It tells us when these are good or bad. –It is the standard for the instincts.

Some say Lewis is only talking about “social convention” – something we are taught. We do learn “social conventions” from parents and society. –What side of the road to drive or walk on. Some things are already there for us to discover – like mathematics.

The Moral Law belongs to the same category as mathematics. –The differences in moral law from one nation to another are small. –But the differences in social conventions from one nation to another are great. –The differences that do exist between nations in moral laws suggest that some are better than others. Christian morality / Nazi morality

People have tried to change the moral ideas of their own age – reformers. –They understood morality better than others. The moment you say that one set of morals can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring them both by a standard. –That standard is something different from either. –You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality – independent of what people think.

Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis Colbert

The Law of Nature only means what in fact nature does. –Trees –Rocks –Gravity The Reality of Law Chapter 3

The Law of Human Nature does not mean only what humans do because we do not always obey this law. –The Law of Human Nature tells us what humans beings ought to do and not do. –So, something else is involved – something beyond the facts.

Selfishness –To say selfishness is a law of nature is not accurate because sometimes we are and sometimes we are not – it is not simply a description of what we do. –To say that humans ought not to be selfish is adding another dimension to the law. –Why should we not be selfish?

“The Moral Law, or Law of Human Nature, is not simply a fact about human behavior in the same way as the Law of Gravitation is, or may be, simply a fact about how heavy objects behave.” (Lewis, I,3) “It begins to look as if we shall have to admit that there is more than one kind of reality; that, in this particular case, there is something above and beyond the ordinary facts of men’s behaviour... a real law, which none of us made, but which we find pressing on us.” (Lewis, I,3)

What Lies Behind the Law Chapter 4 We have a real law which we did not invent and which we know we ought to obey. What does this tell us about the universe?

Two primary views of how the universe came to be. –Materialist view Matter and space just happened to exist – no one knows why – by a long series of chance happenings things came to be the way they are.

Two primary views of how the universe came to be. –Religious view What is behind the universe is more like a mind. It is conscious, has purposes, and prefers one thing to another. This made the universe – not sure why – maybe to produce creatures like itself, with minds.

Science is not designed to tell us which one is right. –Science works by experiments – observation. –The question of why something is there at all is not a scientific question. –Science does not deal with the “Something Behind” question.

The one thing that provides the greatest clue to the questions of the universe is mankind. –Questions: Why is there a universe? Has it any meaning? Is there a power behind the universe? –These questions are not answered by observation. –They are answered by realizing that something within us, that is really beyond us, provides the clue.

The power behind the universe shows itself inside us as an influence trying to get us to behave in a certain way. Lewis has not yet arrived at a description of God, simply a power directing the universe. –That power is also urging humans to do right and making us feel responsible for doing right and feeling uncomfortable when we do wrong. –It is more like a mind than anything else we know.

We Have Cause to be Uneasy Chapter 5 We have two primary bits of information about the Something or Somebody behind the Moral Law. 1.The Universe If this were the only clue we could surmise that this power is a great artist and that is no friend to mankind. Why? The universe is a dangerous place to live!

2. The Moral Law This is better information because it is “inside” information. “You find out more about God from the Moral Law than from the universe in general just as you find out more about a man by listening to his conversation than by looking at a house he has built.”

From the Moral Law we may conclude that the Being behind the universe is concerned about: –Right conduct, fair play, unselfishness, courage, good faith, honesty, truthfulness –God is good, but not soft. The more we learn about this Mind behind the moral law the more of a “fix” we are in. –“We know that if there does exist an absolute goodness it must hate most of what we do.”

God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. This is where Christianity begins to make sense (and only here). –Only after we have realized there is a moral law, a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that power.

Christianity is a religion of comfort – but it does not begin there. It begins with the dismay of realizing we stand opposed to the power behind the universe. Comfort will come, but only as a result of seeking truth. –Comfort is not found by seeking it. Realizing the truth of Christianity and how God works will bring comfort.