Mere Christianity

I’m reading the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I absolutely love his writing style. He makes things so simple yet very deep.

The chapter I just read makes so much sense, yet the ideas cause so much controversy. It is Chapter 1 in Book 3 titled, “The Three Parts of Morality.”

In this chapter, he explains that in order for us to live in a truly moral world three relationships have to be in proper working order:

1. Relationships between man and man
2. Relationship between a man and his internal motivations
3. Relationship between man and the power that made him.

Lewis uses the analogy of ships sailing successfully. In order for ships to make it to their destination, they must first not continually run into each other and cause damage. Second, they must be in good working order internally. Third, they must travel to the right destination.

All three have to work or none does. That flies in the face of someone who says that as long as what I do doesn’t harm anyone else it shouldn’t matter. If a ship’s rudders are broken and can’t steer properly, eventually it will run into other ships.

Another person might say that she doesn’t harm anyone and also that she doesn’t do anything personally wrong, but she just doesn’t want to follow a path that Christians follow. That would be the same as a ship captain saying he won’t run into other ships and his ship is working correctly and won’t hit other ships. However if he doesn’t follow the directions provided by the of the owner of the ship, he won’t be rewarded with the pay he is expecting to receive.

So that brings us to the question of who really owns or has the rights to our lives, but I’ll leave question to another day.

Lewis obviously does a much better job than I just did, so if I piqued your interest in any way and you haven’t read Mere Christianity yet, I highly recommend it!