{"id":64737,"date":"2017-06-29T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2017-06-29T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=64737"},"modified":"2017-07-14T14:35:53","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T21:35:53","slug":"mere-christianity-b1c4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2017\/06\/29\/mere-christianity-b1c4\/","title":{"rendered":"Mere Christianity – Book I – Chapter 4 (“What lies behind the Law”)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Book<\/p>\n

Notes & Quotes<\/h2>\n

These are my notes<\/a> from the penultimate chapter of Book 1 of “Mere Christianity”:<\/p>\n

1. What is this universe and how did it come to be here? There are two (or three) main views on the subject (neither of which are new):<\/strong><\/p>\n

(a) The Materialist view
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

“…matter and space just happen to exist…[which] by some sort of fluke produced creates like ourselves who are able to think”<\/span><\/p>\n

(b) The Religious View<\/strong><\/p>\n

“…which is behind the universe is more like a mind…conscious, and has purposes, and prefers one thing to another…”<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Science can’t tell you which view is correct<\/strong><\/p>\n

“…why anything comes to be…and whether there is anything behind the things science observes – something of a different kind – this is not a scientific question”<\/span><\/p>\n

3. We know more about mankind than the universe because we don’t simply observe mankind<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We do not merely observe men, we are<\/span> men…we have, so to speak, inside information”<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Since we\u00a0are<\/span> man, we know that we are under a moral law<\/strong><\/p>\n

“…men find themselves under a moral law, which they did not make, and cannot quite forget even when they try, and which they know they ought to obey”<\/span><\/p>\n

5. If there a controlling power outside the universe it could not be inside the universe<\/strong><\/p>\n

“…no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall… The only way in which we could expect it to show itself would be inside ourselves as an influence or a command trying to get us to behave in a certain way”<\/span><\/p>\n

6. This doesn’t take us all the way to the Christian God<\/strong><\/p>\n

“All I have got to is a Something which is directly the universe, and which appears in me as a law urging me to do right… I think we have to assume it is more like a mind\u00a0than it is like anything\u00a0else we know – because…the only other thing we know is matter and you can hardly imagine a bit of matter giving instructions”<\/span><\/p>\n

7. There was actually a third possible worldview regarding the universe, Life-Force philosophy<\/strong><\/p>\n

“…the small variations by which life on this planet ‘evolved’…were not due to chance but to the ‘striving’ or ‘purposiveness’ of a Life-Force”<\/span><\/p>\n

(a) When we hear someone say this, we should ask whether this “life-force” has a mind:<\/strong><\/p>\n

(i) If yes, then it is really a god<\/strong><\/p>\n

(ii) If no, then how can something without a mind ‘strive’ and have ‘purposes’?<\/strong><\/p>\n

(b) This worldview is attractive<\/strong><\/p>\n

“…it gives one much of the emotional comfort of believing in God and none of the less pleasant consequences…[the life-force] will never interfere with you like that troublesome God we learned about when we were children. The Life-Force is a sort of tame God… All the thrills of religion and none of the cost.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/h2>\n

1. Lewis offers two fundamental views of the universe. What are they and how do they differ from each other?<\/p>\n

2. Why can’t science help us decide which view is correct? Would this discount proofs for God such as the Kalaam Argument?<\/p>\n

3. What extra information does Lewis say we have which can help us to point us to an answer?<\/p>\n

C.S. Lewis Doodle<\/h2>\n