Final Essay

Logic and Love: C.S. Lewis’s approach to God Nolan Worstell

01/16/10

DCM C.S. Lewis

“Let there be Light!” (International) and, with a flash, light came into existence and the creation of the universe had begun. This is the classic way that we, if we were raised in a Christian home, were taught that the world was created. This has been proved to be more of an almost poetic way of putting the creation of the world since science has explained, in our age, the much more likely method by which God created the universe. By the same token, we as Christians must always be trying to logically understand what our faith means and its effects. However, we cannot rely solely on logic to understand our faith and salvation in Jesus Christ because many of God’s actions cannot solely be explained in the sense of pure cold logic, but also require an understanding of God’s immense love for his creation. In Developing the Christian Mind: C.S. Lewis, we have used both the works of Cornelius Plantinga and C.S. Lewis to help further our understanding of what it means to be Christian.

First off, I think we must begin with the contamination of all things by sin. This is the necessary starting point for a talk about how to approach one’s faith in God because if all things were not twisted and warped by evil, then there would be no reason for Jesus to have come to this earth. Thus, we must come to the understanding that all things are contaminated by Evil. I think there is, as Lewis says in Mere Christianity, a Moral Law this is unlike almost everything else in the world in that it applies solely to humans. However, the odd thing is that, despite almost all humans having an internal sense of Morals that are all very similar and that are given to them by their unique parents and society, all humans fail to follow the Moral law and then try to explain how they didn't break the law or how the moral law didn't apply in their situation. This Moral Law and the cognizant constant breaking there of hints to the idea that all men realize that there is brokenness in our world. This brokenness is what Christians call evil and when a person commits evil knowingly then a sin has occurred. Now some people try to argue that the Moral Law does not exist, but then, shortly after, say that something is unfair, which in turn appeals to the idea that a Moral Law exists because if a Moral Law did not exist then there would not be a valid argument for someone treating you unfairly because there would not be a definition of fairness to say that the opposite there of had occurred. (Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity) This is an attempt on the part of the one who is saying that there is no Moral Law to validate the idea that he is perfect and does not sin because if he acknowledges that he sins then he realizes that he must be punished for it in the end or otherwise there is no purpose of the Moral Law. Thus, each and every one of us has an innate understanding that things in the universe are not as they should be and that we are in need of salvation.

Now to go any farther, we must talk about how much God loves us as his creation. This is evident, to Christians, because God sent his son, who is part of God himself, to this earth to pay the price for our sins and die as a substitute for us. Now common wisdom tells us that if God was willing to send his son, which is part and parcel of God himself, then he must love us quite a lot. Think for a moment, if you will, what it would take for a human father to send his only son to die for several billion people who have slandered him, ignored all that he ever asked of them, and tried to say that he didn’t even exist even though the father had done many kind things for the several billion people. It seems rather ridiculous for the father to send his son who loves him and obeys him in all things to die for this sorry ingrate lot of slobs does it not? This is exactly what God did for us as humans that “while we were yet sinners (or for this example a sorry ingrate lot of slobs) Christ died for us.” (International) This helps us understand, as Christians, why God just hasn’t ended the world already because God wishes for all people to believe in him and accept the atonement for their sins that is given freely because of the sacrifice of Christ and thus be saved, which in Christian thought means to be able to join God in the new heaven and new earth that will be created after the passing away of our present age.

Now that we understand the two greatest components of Christianity, we must introduce the idea of logic. Logic is very important to the Christian faith because at any moment in time we could be called to “give reason for the faith we have in Christ Jesus.” (International) This is why, when we consider our faith, we must begin with the common logic, which all human beings have, to prove why we believe as we do. C.S. Lewis is very supportive of this idea and as such wrote Mere Christianity in order that people of all denominations would have a solid logical argument for their belief in Christ as their Lord and Savior and not just their own life experiences. This approach of having both real life experience and an objective look at why God must exist and why we believe in him is linked to C.S. Lewis’s “Meditation in a Tool shed” which says that we cannot simply look along or at, but we must do both, also known as experiencing what something is like and knowing facts about the experience as well when either is sensible or possible. However, Lewis did not limit himself solely to a logical defense of the Christian faith, but also wrote books for the Christian and his walk of faith. For instance in the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis wrote letters supposedly between a elder demon and a younger demon that is tempting a devout Christian away from his faith. In this work, Lewis points out the importance of constant vigilance on the part of a Christian to ensure that his faith is not becoming simply an empty shell and, by extension, becoming a false Christian because the devil is out to get you every day and in every way that he can. He is patient and he does not sleep. This is a scary thought that the devil watching you all the time just waiting for you to slip up so he can capitalize on a moment’s hesitation to follow God so he can chip away at our faith. We say that the devil cannot steal our souls; we are God-fearing and church-going people. Dear Uncle Screwtape says, in essence, Great keep on thinking you are God fearing and that your church going will save you. It is absolutely ok that you think that I'll work in the back of your mind rotting your faith from the inside out.(C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters) This is a valuable lesson that Lewis tries to teach us that when we think we are safe we are most vulnerable. Thus though our fallen condition and God’s Love form the foundation of our faith, we still must be thinking people to fulfill our calling as Christians.

To be Christian is to be sons and daughters of God. This is a high and important calling and cannot be separated from our everyday life, but must be integrated in all we say and do. Also we must be able to defend our faith if called to account for it. To do these things, we must believe we are sinful and that God loves us. Then using logic, we can see that if God shows such extreme love to us then we must show the same extreme amount of love to others. Also logic teaches us why we are sinful and why God is not merely a story made up to make us feel better about ourselves, but is a true and the only foundational force in the universe.

Bibliography

International Bible Society. Holy Bible New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. 1. Print.

Lewis, C S. Mere Christianity. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Calvin College. Web. 14 Jan. 2010. .

Lewis, C S. Meditiation in a Toolshed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Calvin College, Grand Rapids Michigan. Web. 16 Jan. 2010. .

Lewis, C S. Screwtape Letters. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Calvin College, Grand Rapids Michigan. Web. 16 Jan. 2010. .