I've been rereading C.S Lewis's book "mere Christianity" . a classic christian book that gives a brilliant overview of what traditional "Christianity" is and isn't about.
an OUTSTANDING read for Christians and non christians..
as I've read it's reminded me of various conversations here.
I'll post a few excepts.
Everyone has warned me not to tell you what I am going to tell you in this last book. They allsay "the ordinary reader does not want Theology; give him plain practical religion." I haverejected their advice. I do not think the ordinary reader is such a fool. Theology means "thescience of God," and I think any man who wants to think about God at all would like to havethe clearest and most accurate ideas about Him which are available. You are not children:why should you be treated like children?
In a way I quite understand why some people are put off by Theology. I remember once whenI had been giving a talk to the RA.F., an old, hard*bitten officer got up and said, "I've no usefor all that stuff. But, mind you, I'm a religious man too. I know there's a God. I've felt Him: outalone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that's just why I don't believe allyour neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who's met the real thing they allseem so petty and pedantic and unreal!"
Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience ofGod in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think hereally was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man hasonce looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then 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 toa bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only coloured paper,but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on whathundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way ithas behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach;only, while yours would be a single isolated glimpse, the map fits all those differentexperiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutelynecessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beachif you want to get to America.
Now, Theology is like the map. Merely learning and thinking about the Christian doctrines, ifyou stop there, is less real and less exciting than the sort of thing my friend got in the desert.Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experienceof hundreds of people who really were in touch with God*experiences compared with whichany thrills or pious feelings you and I are likely to get on our own are very elementary andvery confused. And secondly, if you want to get any further, you must use the map. You see,what happened to that man in the desert may have been real, and was certainly exciting, butnothing comes of it. It leads nowhere. There is nothing to do about it In fact, that is just why avague religion*all about feeling God in nature, and so on*is so attractive. It is all thrills and nowork; like watching the waves from the beach. But you will not get to Newfoundland bystudying the Atlantic that way, and you will not get eternal life by simply feeling the presenceof God in flowers or music. Neither will you get anywhere by looking at maps without going tosea. Nor will you be very safe if you go to sea without a map.
In other words, Theology is practical: especially now. In the old days, when there was lesseducation and discussion, perhaps it was possible to get on with a very few simple ideasabout God. But it is not so now. Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed.Consequently, if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideasabout God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones*bad, muddled, out*of*date ideas.For a great many of the ideas about God which are trotted out as novelties today, are simplythe ones which real Theologians tried centuries ago and rejected. To believe in the popularreligion of modern England is retrogression*like believing the earth is fiat....
........Theology is, in a sense, an experimental science. It is simple religions that are the made-up ones. When I say it is an experimental science ‘in a sense,’ I mean that it is like the other experimental sciences in some ways, but not in all. If you are a geologist studying rocks, you have to go and find the rocks. They will not come to you, and if you go to them they cannot run away. The initiative lies all on your side. They cannot either help or hinder. But suppose you are a zoologist and want to take photos of wild animals in their native haunts. That is a bit different from studying rocks. The wild animals will not come to you: but they can run away from you. Unless you keep very quiet, they will. There is beginning to be a tiny little trace of initiative on their side.
Now a stage higher; suppose you want to get to know a human person. If he is determined not to let you, you will not get to know him. You have to win his confidence. In this case the initiative is equally divided-it takes two to make a friendship.
When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others - not because He has favourites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favourites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one.
You can put this another way by saving that while in other sciences the instruments you use are things external to yourself (things like microscopes and telescopes), the instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man’s self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred - like the Moon .seen through a dirty telescope. That is why horrible nations have horrible religions: they have been looking at God through a dirty lens.
God can show Himself as He really is only to real men. And that means not simply to men who are individually good, but to men who are united together in a body, loving one another, helping one another, showing Him to one another. For that is what God meant humanity to be like: like players in one band, or organs in one body.
Consequently, the one really adequate instrument for learning about God is the whole Christian community, waiting for Him together. Christian brotherhood is, so to speak, the technical equipment for this science - the laboratory outfit. That is why all these people who turn up every few years with some patent simplified religion of their own as a substitute for the Christian tradition are really wasting time. Like a man who has no instrument but an old pair of field glasses setting out to put all the real astronomers right. He may be a clever chap - he may be cleverer than some of the real astronomers, but he is not giving himself a chance. And two years later everyone has forgotten all about him, but the real science is still going on.
If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete, in simplicity, with people who are inventing religions. How could we? We are dealing with Fact. Of course anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about.
C.S. Lewis, 'Mere Christianity' excerpts
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Originally Posted by Elessar
That wasn't saying YOU should or anything - just saying 'in general'.
