THURSDAY MORNING STUDY GROUP FAITH AND LIFE SECTION I: SELECTED WRITINGS OF C. S. LEWIS FACILITATORS: JOHN SCRUGGS AND ART SAUER SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 TODAY’S AGENDA Opening Prayer: Book 3. Christian Behavior Chapter 7. Forgiveness Chapter 8. The Great Sin Chapter 9. Charity Chapter 10. Hope Chapter 11. Faith

BOOK 3. CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR Cardinal Virtues - Prudence: Thinking about the consequences of actions - Temperance: Moderation in all things - Justice: Fairness toward others - Fortitude: Facing danger and perseverance Theological Virtues - Charity (love) - Hope - Faith

BOOK 3. CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR Essential characteristics of a Christian society - Productive - Spartan - Forthright - Obedient and respectful - Cheerful and joyful - Courteous

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 7. FORGIVENESS Forgiveness in Theory - Forgiveness is established as a virtue by the admonition to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” - Extended by the “terrible duty of forgiving our enemies.” - Lovely in principle, until one has someone to forgive - “How would you feel forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew?”

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 7. FORGIVENESS What does loving your neighbor as yourself really mean? - Does not mean fond of or finding him attractive - Does not mean thinking them nice One particular person Lewis has been treating this way all his life – himself - However much he disliked his shortcomings, he went on loving himself - He hated those bad things he did because he loved himself - Because he loved himself he was sorry he did those bad things

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 7. FORGIVENESS Forgiveness in Action If one is allowed to punish and kill enemies, what is the difference between Christians and the ordinary view? - Christians believe that people live forever. What matters are those parts of the soul which are going to make a difference in the long run - We must not enjoy punishing, not for resentment or getting even - Must feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves, wishing they were not bad

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 7. FORGIVENESS “I admit that this means loving people who have nothing lovable about them. But then, has oneself anything lovable about it? You love it simply because it is yourself. God intends us to love all selves in the same way, and for the same reason: but He has given us the sum ready worked out in our own case to show us how it works. We have then to go on and apply the rule to all the other selves. Perhaps it makes it easier if we remember that that is how He loves us. Not for any nice attractive qualities we think we have, but just because we are the things called selves. For really there is nothing else in us to love: creatures like us who actually find hatred such a pleasure that to give it up is like giving up beer or tobacco..” C. S. Lewis

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 8. THE GREAT SIN Pride or Self Conceit (The essential vice, the utmost evil) Pride manifested in unusual ways - No one free of the vice - Few, other than Christians, imagine they are guilty themselves - Few, other than Christians, show any mercy toward the vice in others - No fault makes one more unpopular, no fault more unconscious of in ourselves - Through Pride the devil became the devil - Pride leads to every other vice; the complete anti-God state of mind

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 8. THE GREAT SIN Pride is essentially competitive - Each person’s pride in competition with that of others - Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only more of it than others - It is the comparison that makes one proud, the pleasure of being above the rest Power is what Pride really enjoys; there is nothing which makes a person feel so superior to others than being able to control them as toy soldiers.

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 8. THE GREAT SIN Pride always means enmity - Enmity between man and man - Enmity between man and God In God, one encounters something which is immeasurably superior to oneself - Unless you know God as that, you do not know God - A proud person cannot know God because they are always looking down, and thus, cannot see God at all

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 8. THE GREAT SIN Pride can smuggle itself in to the center of our spiritual life - Less serious vices, come from our animal nature - Pride is purely spiritual, and consequently, far more subtle and deadly

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 8. THE GREAT SIN If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step too. At least nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.” C. S. Lewis

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 9. CHARITY Charity or Love - We love ourselves, but don’t necessarily like ourselves - Christian charity or love for our neighbors, doesn’t mean liking or affection “Do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor, act as if you did.” - Behaving as if we love someone will allow us to eventually love them - Hurting someone we dislike will cause us to dislike them even more

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 9. CHARITY This sounds forced. So what is the difference between a Christian and a non- Christian? - Worldly person has only affections or likings. He treats certain people kindly because he likes them - Christian person has only charity. Tries to treat everyone kindly and likes more people in the bargain

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 9. CHARITY Godward Charity Charity sometimes used to describe God’s love for humans and man’s love for God - God’s love toward us safer to think about. Not in doubt - “What would I do if I was sure I loved God?”

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 9. CHARITY “If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’ He will give us feelings of love as He pleases. We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right. But the greatest thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.” C. S. Lewis

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 10. HOPE Hope is the continual looking forward to the eternal world. Not escapism or wishful thinking. Christians are meant to hope for the eternal world, but they are not to leave the present world as it is. Christians who did the most for the present world are those who thought most about the next. Aim at Heaven, you get earth thrown in, aim at earth you get neither.

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 10. HOPE Hope Pursued “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” I Corinthians 15:19 - The Fool’s Way: Puts the blame on the things themselves - Way of the Disillusioned Sensible Man: Decides that satisfaction is a fiction - The Christian Way: “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.”

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 10. HOPE What about those who try to make the Christian hope of Heaven ridiculous? - Musical instruments to communicate ecstasy and infinity - Crowns to suggest sharing God’s splendor, power and joy - Gold to suggest timelessness and preciousness of Heaven

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 10. HOPE “ The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them. People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs.” C. S. Lewis “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account of the hope that is in you.” I Peter 3:15

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 11. FAITH Faith as Belief Christians mean two things when they talk about Faith - Faith simply means belief - Faith means the realization that one is totally bankrupt and only God can help (Chapter 12)

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 11. FAITH Lewis questioned why Faith was considered a virtue - Accepted or rejected based on the evidence - Forcing yourself to believe something not supported by evidence merely stupid Lewis ultimately came to see that there is always a battle going on in one’s mind - Faith and reason on one side - Emotion and imagination on the other

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 11. FAITH Same process underway with Christianity - Weight of evidence against, then reasonable thing to do is reject it - But even with weight of evidence for it (Christianity), emotions will rise up against belief Faith in the belief sense of the word is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 11. FAITH -When he was an atheist, Lewis says there were times in which Christianity looked terribly probable -As a Christian he confesses there are times in which the whole thing looks very improbable This is why Faith is such a necessary virtue – teaching your emotions “where to get off” according to Lewis.

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 11. FAITH Faith mentioned twice in Old Testament, 307 times in the New Testament Biblical Faith has two essential components - Trust or acceptance, belief that Jesus is Lord, acknowledging His resurrection - Intellectual content, the revealed truth that is believed and reflected in the believer The New Testament does not teach that we are to have blind faith.

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 11. FAITH Faith as Acceptance No one knows how bad he or she is until trying very hard to be good - Only realize strength of evil impulses inside us when we try to fight it - Jesus was the only person who never yielded to temtation

BOOK 3. CHAPTER 11. “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” Philippians 2:12-16

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1)Lewis argues that even though someone is forgiven that does not mean that they should not still be punished. As he puts it, “if you have committed a murder, the right Christian thing to do would be to give yourself up to the police and be hanged.” Does this seem appropriate to you light of the fact that “Christ died for your sins?” 2)Lewis avers that “the essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride” and that when you find your religious life making you feel better than others you are in fact falling prey to this greatest of sins. When have you found yourself in this situation and what steps have you taken to bring yourself back into the presence of God?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 3)Christian love (Agape) is charity. We too often define “charity” as “giving to the poor.” However, agape is a spiritual love for ourselves and others. It does not involve “liking” as we normally define love. It means treating everyone kindly and with respect whether we like them or not. In what ways does your life reflect agape love? Have you found that in practicing agape love you have begun to like more people and groups? 4)Hope is often viewed as “Pie in the sky by and by,” yet hope in a better world, the promised kingdom of God is a hallmark of Christianity. In what says does hope in a better future sustain you? How has the world been changed by those who have acted on their hope for a better world?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 5 ) “Christ offers something for nothing. He even offers everything for nothing. In a sense, the whole Christian life consists in accepting that very remarkable offer. But the difficulty is to reach the point of recognizing that all we have done and can do is nothing.” Do we reach this point through practicing our faith or through doing good works and finding that neither of them brings us closer to God until we make a complete surrender? What does surrendering yourself to God mean to you?