Catholicism – Page 92 – Restless Pilgrim

Mere Christianity – Book II – Chapter 2 (“The Invasion”)

July 15, 2017 pilgrim Leave a comment

Book 2

Continuing my notes on Book II of “Mere Christianity”…

Notes & Quotes

1. Jack identifies two philosophies which are “too simple”

(a) Atheism

(b) Christianity-and-water

“…the view which simply says there is a good God in Heaven and everything is all right – leaving out all the difficult and terrible doctrines about sin and hell and the devil, and the redemption”

2. In contrast, Christianity is not simple

(a) That’s because real things are not simple

(i) Looking at a table is complicated

“…The table I am sitting at looks simple: but ask a scientist to tell you what it is really made of – all about the atoms and how the light waves rebound from them and hit my eye and what they do to the optic nerve and what it does to my brain…and…you will find that what we call ‘seeing a table’ lands you in mysteries and complications which you can hardly get to the end of”

(ii) Planet configurations are unexpected

“…when you have grasped that the earth and the other planets all go round the sun, you would naturally expect that all the planets were made to match… In fact, you find no rhyme or reason (that we can see) about either the sizes or the distances; and some of them have one moon, one has four, one has two, some have none, and one has a ring”

(iii) This is actually a motive of credibility for Christianity

“Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed….it has just that queer twist about it that real things have”

(b) You can’t demand for a non-simplistic explanation and then complain about its complication

“If we ask for something more than simplicity, it is silly then to complain that the something more is not simple”

3. We are presented with a problem between the our intuitions about the universe

“What is the problem? A universe that contains much that is obviously bad and apparently meaningless, but containing creatures like ourselves who know that it is bad and meaningless”

There are two possible conclusions we could draw from this:

(a) The Christian View

“…this is a good world that has gone wrong, but still retains the memory of what it ought to have been”

(b) The Dualistic View

“…there are two equal and independent powers at the back of everything, one of them good and the other bad, and that this universe is the battlefield in which they fight out an endless war…”

What do we mean when we identify one power as “good” and the other “bad”?

(i) Personal opinion, which means we cannot use words like “good” and “bad”

“…merely saying that we happen to prefer the one to the other – like preferring beer to cider…[in which case]…good would not deserve to be called good”

(ii) Objective difference, which points to something greater than both of them

“…one of them is actually wrong… But the moment you say that, you are putting into the universe a third thing in addition to the two Powers…the Being who made this standard is farther back and higher up than either of them, and He will be the real God”

4. Dualism has another problem in that it requires the bad Power to like badness for its own sake…

(a) …but we have no experience of this

“…in real life people are cruel for one of two reasons – either because they are sadists…or else for the sake of something they are going to get out of it…

(a) …badness is contingent on goodness

“The badness consists in pursuing [good things] by the wrong method, or in the wrong way, or too much… Goodness is, so to speak, itself: badness is only spoiled goodness…[the “Bad Power] cannot supply himself either with good things to desire or with good impulses to pervert. He must be getting both from the Good Power. And if so, then he is not independent”

(i) This is why Christians believe what they do about the Devil

“To be bad, [the Bad Power] must exist and have intelligence and will. But existence, intelligence and will are in themselves good….even to be bad he must borrow or seal from his opponent. And do you now begin to see why Christianity has always said that the devil is a fallen angel? …evil is a parasite, not an original thing”

5. Christianity agrees that the universe is at war, but not between independent powers

“…it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel. …the rightful king has landed…and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wirelesss from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going”

Discussion Questions

1. What two philosophies does Jack claim are “too simple”?

2. Why should we not expect a “simple” religion?

3. Why is its lack of simplicity actually an argument in favour of Christianity? Have you encountered any other surprising motives for credibility for the Christian faith?

4. How can we explain a “bad” universe which contains creatures like ourselves?

5. What is dualism? Can you name any religions which are dualistic?

6. How does dualism naturally point to a greater Being, over and above to the “good power” and “bad power”?

8. In what way is evil “not an original thing”? How does this undermine dualism.

9. What kind of war does Jack say we are fighting?

C.S. Lewis Doodle

Apologetics

Mere Christianity – Book II – Chapter 1 (“Rival Conceptions of God”)

July 13, 2017 pilgrim Leave a comment

Book 2

We now begin the second Book of “Mere Christianity” which is entitled “What Christian’s Believe”. Previously I had been posting my notes as I read. Here are my notes for the first chapter of Book II:

Notes & Quotes

1. Christians can recognize the elements of truth in other religions

“If you are Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth”

2. Christians can still make absolute claims

“As in arithmetic – there is only one right answer to a sum…but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others”

3. Humanity may be divided first into two groups, the majority who believe in some kind of deity and a minority who do not. This group may be further subdivided into the kind of deity in which they believe:

(a) Pantheists

These believe that:

(i) God who is beyond good and evil

“…these people think that long before you got anywhere near the divine point of view the distinction [between good and evil] would have disappeared altogether…[This is] Pantheism. It was held by the great Prussian philosopher Hegel and, as far as I can understand them, by the Hindus.”

(ii) God and the universe almost the same thing

“Pantheists usually believe that God, so to speak, animates the universe as you animate your body: that the universe almost is God, so that if it did not exist He would not exist either, and anything you find in the universe is a part of God”

These two beliefs are connected:

“If you do not take the distinction between good an bad very seriously, then it is easy to say that anything you find in this world is a part of God”

(b) Non-Panthesists

These believe that:

(i) God who is ‘good’

“…a God who takes sides, who loves love and hates hatred, who wants us to behave in one way and not in another…[a view] held by Jews, Mohammadans and Christians”

The word “Mohammadans” is an old word used to describe Muslims (since they were followers of Mohammad).

(ii) God is distinct from His creation

“…God invented and made the universe – like a man making a picture or composing a tune. A painter is not a picture, and he does not die if his picture is destroyed”

These beliefs are connected:

“…if you think some things really bad, and God really good, then you cannot talk like that. You must believe that God is separate from the world and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will…a great many things have gone wrong with the world that God made and that God insists, and insists very loudly, on putting them right again”

4. The very question as to why there is evil in the world presupposes God

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line…I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that then my argument against God collapsed too – for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies”

Discussion Questions

1. Why does Jack say that when he became a Christian he adopted the more “liberal” view?

2. Is it possible to affirm the truth of other religions while still holding to the absolute truth claims of Christianity?

3. Can you think of any religion completely devoid of ALL truth?

4. Into what two central conceptions of God does Jack say people hold? Do you think we could divide it up in a different way?

5. In what way do these conceptions of God and our attitudes towards the Moral Law and the Universe relate to each other?

6. Why does the very question of asking about evil in the world presuppose the existence of God?

C.S. Lewis Doodle

(The video does work, honest!)

Apologetics

Early Christian Controversies that Protestantism Can’t Explain

July 9, 2017 pilgrim 2 comments

This past Friday, Joe Heschmeyer was on Catholic Answer Live, the audio of which is available here. Joe was talking about one of my favourite subjects, Church History. In particular he was talking about how many of the early controversies in the Church can’t really be explained from within a Protestant framework.

For example, in the Early Church there was a breakaway group in AD 311 called the Donatists. These were rigorists who insisted that the sacraments administered by clergy who had been compromised during persecution were invalid. This was a major issue within the Church of the Early Fourth Century…but it’s an argument that makes no sense within most Protestant frameworks.

If you are interested, the article where he draws out these ideas is available below:

Apologetics

To go deep into history…

July 8, 2017 pilgrim Leave a comment

Cardinal Newman famously said that “…to go deep into history is to cease to be Protestant”. I couldn’t help but think of this quotation when a friend of mine sent me a screenshot of the Church of England Twitter account, remembering the “Reformation Martyrs” St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher. While I can appreciate the ecumenical good-will which no doubt motivated the tweet, the history of these two men renders this tweet exceptionally odd.

Both Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher were Catholics who were executed by King Henry VIII. They were killed because they opposed the King’s divorce of Catherine of Aragon, his marriage to Anne Boleyn and the break from Rome which this remarriage necessitated. It is therefore more than a little strange for the Church of England to hold in high regard two men who shed their blood in opposing the creation of their own institution!

On a personal note, when I lived in London, the gym which I attended was very close to the location of their execution on Tower Hill, so I would quite often pray the Divine Office on that martyrdom site.

It has been said that shortly before Bishop Fisher’s execution, he opened St. John’s Gospel and read the following:

“Eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ. I have given You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do. Do You now, Father, give me glory at Your side”

– John 17:3-5

After closing the book, the good bishop commented “There is enough learning in that to last me the rest of my life”. St. More and St. Fisher, pray for us.