Mere Christianity - Theology

In my college years, when I really started to get serious about following after God, I hated the word "theology." I thought, "The study of God! How dare we, the creation, think we could study our Creator in the same way scientists study animals and matter and things like that; as if our minds were capable of figuring Him out." I've matured a bit since then and realized that theology is not a bad word, and not always a bad concept if approached and used in the right way.

C.S. Lewis' had some great thoughts and analogies to explain why theology is important. These quotes come after his recounting a conversation with a man who shared about a real encounter with God that he had in the desert. This man said that Lewis' theological ideas (founded on Christian theology) were petty, pedantic and unreal to anyone who had met the real thing. Lewis' didn't doubt the experience this man claimed to have had, but continued on with this thought...

"...if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point...(the map) is based on what hundreds of thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only while yours would be a single glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere (beyond the beach), the map is absolutely necessary."

"Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God...if you want to get an further, you must use the map."

"...Theology is practical: especially now... Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed. Consequently if you do not listen to theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones- bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas."

Mere Christianity - Faith

Some straightforward, but serious considerations about what genuine faith looks like according to C.S. Lewis.

"Now faith in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods."

"...If what you call your 'faith' in Christ does not involve taking the slightest notice of what He says, then it is not Faith at all- not faith or trust in Him, but only intellectual acceptance of some theory about Him."

"...if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious readings and church-going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe."

Lewis' use of the word 'deliberately' is key here. This quote reminds me of portions of Colossians 3 where Paul encourages us to "set our hearts and minds on things above" and to "let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another...and as you sing psalms hymns and spiritual songs." What Lewis says here is particularly important for worship leaders and pastors to keep in mind. It is so easy to get caught up in making the music great, or being therapeutic in your message, or making sure every last detail is covered (so the 'program' runs as smooth as possible). But we must deliberately set out to help our congregations set their minds on the truth about God, and our identity in Him as followers of Christ. That is where the focus ought to be. Obviously this quote is also a good reminder to all Christians as to why both corporate worship and personal prayer/devotional times need to be a priority in life.

Mere Christianity - Hope

I found Lewis' thoughts on Christian hope to be very balanced in both urging us to fix our eyes on the world to come, and yet not letting that cause us to neglect our callings to do Kingdom work in the fallen world we currently inhabit. These quotes are great supports for why anticipating the future (as Robert Webber emphasizes in Ancient Future Worship) is such essential content for our worship songs, prayers, etc.

"This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal is not...a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is."

"It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so in effective in this (changing the world for the better)."

"I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same."

Mere Christianity - Loving God

These quotes come from a chapter on charity and/or love. They address the problem many people might have in loving others or loving God. Very appropriate since many people today still rely so much on their "feelings" to motivate them to do something, or to think something is true or worthwhile.

"Do not waste time bothering whether you "love" your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the greatest secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him."

"They are told they ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are they to do? The answer is the same as before. Act as if you did. Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, 'If I were sure I loved God, what would I do?' When you have found the answer, go and do it."

And then the humbling one about God's love that ought to elicit praise and inspire obedience...

"But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His (God's) 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."

Mere Christianity - Pride

This has got to be one of my favorite quotes from this book! It gives us a great place to approach God from, and for those of us who have pride issues, it sure does put us in our place.

"In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that- and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison- you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you."

And another good one. However, as much as I talk against the me-focused worship issue, I don't know that forgetting about yourself completely is necessarily what should happen in God's presence. By still thinking about ourselves in light of God, we can find ways to praise Him, recognizing His loving works on our behalf, and also thinking about how we can respond to His revelation of Himself to us. I think I'm being a little over analytical though, Lewis is just trying to make a strong point :)

"The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether."

Mere Christianity - Inside Part of the Soul

"Remember, we Christians think that man lives for ever. Therefore, what really matters is those little marks, or twists on the central, inside part of the soul which are going to turn it in the long run into a heavenly or hellish creature."

It occurs to me that Lewis knew all too well, in his cultural context in England, the problem of people being outwardly civilized or moral,but still being "hellish creatures" on the inside. So, throughout the book he reinforces a spiritual formation concept like the quote above. After all, living out the Christian life depends on us being made into the image of Christ from the inside out.

"There is a difference between doing some particular just or temperate action and being a just or temperate man. Someone who is not a good tennis player might now and then make a good shot. What you mean by a good player is a man whose eye and muscles and nerves have been so trained by making innumerable good shots that they can now be relied on. They have a certain quality or tone when he is not playing, just as a mathematician's mind has a certain habit and outlook which is there even when he is not doing mathematics. In the same way a man who perseveres in doing just actions gets in the end a certain quality of character. Now it is that quality rather than the particular actions which we mean when talk of virtue."

Mere Christianity - Marriage

Day two of the C.S. Lewis quotes puts into words something that I've personally thought for a while, where marriage in our general society is concerned. As Christians I think we always need to be careful not to expect or impose our morality on those who are not professing a saving faith in Jesus (much of our nation). See 1 Corinthians 5. Not that we want to discourage people from getting married, but we shouldn't put all our energy into forcing our society (who doesn't view the Bible as the truth) to abide by the same biblical standard that we do. Lewis says it better than me of course.

"If people do not believe in permanent marriage, it is perhaps better that they should live together unmarried than... make vows they do not mean to keep... they will be guilty of fornication. But one fault is not mended be another: unchastity is not improved by perjury."

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Mere Christianity - Temperance

Many of the authors I've read lately quote C.S. Lewis multiple times throughout their books. They do this, I assume, because he had some intelligent things to say on matters of the Christian faith and was also great with words. So, I decided that as I work through the rest of his book Mere Christianity, I'd jump on the bandwagon and share some C.S. Lewis quotes for the next couple weeks till I finish the book. I'll do my best not to share too many of my own thoughts along with them.

This quote comes from a chapter on what Lewis calls the "cardinal virtues," specifically where he discusses the concept of temperance (self-control, moderation, etc.). This quote is a great modern day fit with Paul's teaching in Romans 14, and seeing as there are whole denominations based on people's personal choices to abstain from certain things, we ought to take this quote to heart.

"An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons- marriage, or meat, or beer, or the cinema; but the moment he starts saying the things are bad in themselves, or looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning."

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity