Final Essay

Before taking this class, I have never read C.S. Lewis’s writings before. However, I have watched the Chronicles of Narnia’s movie, and it admires me. So I decided to take the class of C.S. Lewis.

        Lewis writings are really hard for me to read. For I am not a native speaker, my English is not good. Lewis writes his writings which look like poetry, which make it harder for me to read.

        However, Lewis uses an interesting method to write his essays. For example, he makes up new words like “Bulverism”, and creates an imaginary character named “Ezekiel Bulver” who invents Bulverism. Although it takes me 10 minutes to find out what “Bulverism” means, it is interesting. Also, Screwtape Letters use a different view to talks about Christians. It is about a devil named Screwtape who wrote letters to his cousin, Wormwood, telling him how to turn a young Christian to become non-Christian. This is very interesting because I have never seen a book which writes in a devil’s perspective before. Although this book is a fiction, we can still understand a little bit about how Devil works on us, so how we can avoid them.

        One of the good things in Lewis’s writings is he uses lots of examples to explain his idea. As theological ideas and psychological ideas are so hard to understand, examples help a lot in understanding. In Weight of Glory, Lewis gives example of a boy learning Greek; and then refers the boy as Christians. This way it makes his idea become simple and clear. Also, in Meditation in a Toolshed, Lewis talks about looking at and looking along. It is a very complicated idea, but Lewis uses an easy example:

A young man meets a girl. The whole world looks different when he sees her. Her voice reminds him of something he has been trying to remember all his life, and ten minutes casual chat with her is more precious than all the favors that all other women in the world could grant. lie is, as they say, “in love”. Now comes a scientist and describes this young man's experience from the outside. For him it is all an affair of the young man's genes and a recognized biological stimulus. That is the difference between looking along the sexual impulse and looking at it.

This makes me to understand the idea of looking at and looking along clearly.

           Among all the Lewis’s writings, I like Mere Christianity the most. This book is suitable to all people: whether you are Christian, a non Christian, a college student, or a professor. It gives out so many different ideas about the world and Christianity.

        Lewis starts with explaining the Moral Law: people all have something called the Moral Law in their heart. If there is no Moral Law, it is useless to argue with others because your standard and his standard is different. It is similar to the natural law like the law of gravity, except that you cannot choose to not obey the natural law, but you can choose not to obey the Moral Law.

        Lewis talks about the world being unfair; if there is a God why the world is so unfair. He then says that you cannot know the idea of fair if the entire world is unfair. The idea of fair does not come from yourself because of the moral law. So there must be a power to tell you that there is a thing call “fair”.

        Lewis also brings about someone who thinks that “you cannot prove God, so God is not here.” Lewis use the example of nutrition, saying that even if you don’t know the nutrition content, it is still there, and you will still eat your food.

        Also, Lewis talks about objections of why doesn’t God come and save us now. He replies that God is going to come; but at the time He comes, we don’t have the time to choose whether to be on God’s side. God now give us the free will to choose whether to be at his side or not.

        I think these ideas are very useful to non-Christians. Some of my friends who are non-Christians ask some of these questions exactly to what Lewis says non-Christians will ask. Now I know how to answer them.

        Lewis also gives ideas about Christianity itself. He always wants to get rid of what people nowadays “decorated” on Christianity, and talks about “pure” Christianity. For example, in Man or Rabbit, Lewis brings out that some people think that Christianity is something good to the society and to our lives. He argues that Christianity is only about the truth of the Universe, although believing in Christianity will make you good. In Mere Christianity, Lewis explains that Christianity is not simple:

         It is no good asking for a simple religion. After all, real things are not simple. They look simple, but they are not. 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, of course, you find that what we  call "seeing  a table" lands you  in  mysteries and complications which  you can hardly  get to  the end of.

       One of my questions in Christianity is about predestination. It bothers me for many years. In Mere Christianity, Lewis does talk about it:

         But suppose God is outside and above the Time-line. In that case, what we call "tomorrow" is visible to Him in just the same way as what we call "today."  All the days are "Now" for Him.  He does not remember you doing things yesterday; He simply sees you doing them, because, though you have lost yesterday. He has not. He does not "foresee" you doing things tomorrow; He simply sees you doing them: because, though tomorrow is not yet there for you, it is for Him. You never supposed that your actions at this moment were any less free because God knows what you are doing. Well, He knows your tomorrow's actions in just the same way-because He is already in tomorrow and can simply watch you. In a sense, He does not know your action till you have done it: but then the moment at which you have done it is already "Now" for Him.

It answers the question about predestination because we always assume that God is similar to us, so he must also be inside the Time-line. But actually he doesn’t.

In Mere Christianity, Lewis gives the idea of the Earth being “the enemy’s territory”, which we Christians are like making up a “secret society” to undermine the devil. I think this idea is quite interesting, because it contradict with the idea of Plantinga in Engaging God’s World. In Engaging God’s World, Plantinga says that the Universe is God’s Kingdom. I don’t know which one is right, but it is interesting to see these points.

We can also see Lewis’s humor in his writings. For example, in Mere Christianity, when Lewis finishes talking about the Moral Law he says:

         None of us are really keeping the Law of Nature. If there are any exceptions among you, I apologise to them. They had much better read some other work, for nothing I am going to say  concerns them. And now, turning to the ordinary human beings who are left:

               And in Our English Syllabus, Lewis talks about education and vocational training: 

When God made the beasts dumb He saved the world from infinite boredom, for if they could

speak they would all of them, all day, talk nothing but shop.

These quotes seem funny, but it actually explains the issue. Lewis does a great job in mixing humor into his writings.

Although I am neither a Pastor Kid nor a Missionary Kid, I go to church since I was born. Theology seems hard for me to read. In Mere Christianity, Lewis talks about one of his experience:

         I remember  once  when  I  had  been giving  a  talk  to  the  RA.F., an  old, hard-bitten officer got  up and said, "I've no use  for all that stuff. But, mind you, I'm a religious man too. I know there's a God. I've felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that's just why I don't believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who's met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!"

And this is what exactly what I experienced! Although I don’t know much about Theology, I always feel that God is here. 3 years ago my father died. At that time my family is so depressed, but we see God’s work on our family. Also, I see God’s work on my father after so many people talks about the testimony of my father. I know that everything is from God; we have to praise him, and move on by remembering God’s Word.

Screwtape Letters

When I read the Screwtape Letter, I was confused. The idea in this letter does not seems right to me, and I have no clue who Screwtape and wormwood is. However, when I read the guidelines given by Prof. Ribeiro, I found out that Screwtape and Wormwood are devils who want to make a young man who just believed in Christianity to become non-Christian again.
I was amazed by this idea. All the theological book I have read in my whole life is about "How Christian should behave" or "What Christians should do". This is the first time I have read something at the opposite view: a devil who wants to make a guy bad. It is very interesting.
There is also one interesting thing that Screwtape tell Wormwood:

"For this reason I am almost glad to hear that he is still a churchgoer and a communicant."

To Christians, going to church is a very simple thing, and we will take that as a good thing to do. However Lewis thinks that there are disadventages, which we also talked about this in class: the pros and cons of going to church. In offering session, some people will feel arrogant because they offered more than the people at the side; some people will fall asleep during sermon; some others will attend church regularly, but besides that they do nothing towards God - which is the so-called "Sunday Christians". Also, nowadays there are many young people who come to the church, pretending to be faithful Christians, and seek for a boyfriend and girlfriend. This phenomenon happens a lot in Hong Kong.
I remember the pastor from my Chinese church says that, "chruch is a very dangerous place, because it is a place where all people admit that they have sin!" Although it is a joke, somehow it is true. People who are most likely to be attacked by devils are Christians, just like what Wormwood does. So, we have to behave ourselves well. Don't think that constantly going to church means we are safe. We have to avoid devil to work in our heart.

Man or Rabbit?

Man Or Rabbit is one of the shortest and most straightforward writings by C.S.Lewis that I have read. In this essay, Lewis brings out the question at the very first:

Can't you lead a good life without believing in Christianity?

He then said that this question is asked by a person who treat Christianity as a good thing to the society, and he explain that Christianity is a fact about the universe. There is one quote that explain this:

If Christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it might be: if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it, even if it gives him no help at all.

That recalls me a quote, which I forget where it is from, but it says that "a non-Christian do good things for himself, but a Christian do good things for God." The motive is totally different. So, although a non-Christian do good things, it sometimes will lead to a result that they want to be praised by other people or be famous, which is already different from what at the beginning that the person wants to do good. For example, a millionaire donates money to a charity organisation. We have heard of news like this, and many times it is because they want to be famous. Well, refer to what Plantinga says at Engaging God's World,  we do want to be praised, not by other human, but by God.
Lewis then talks about honest error and dishonest error. He explains Confucius and Socrates are in the state of honest error because they have never heard of Christianity before. The guy who asks the question at the beginning is in a state of dishonest error. He also thinks that although believing in Christianity is not about a good thing to the society, it will simply make you good.
However, Lewis does not give an answer to whether a person should believe in Christian or not. He says, "Here is a door, behind which, according to some people, the secret of the universe is waiting for you." So, this is up to a person's choice; but if you want to do good and lead a good life, Christianity is the right door for you to go.

The Weight of Glory

The Weight of Glory is a sermon preached by C.S. Lewis. In this sermon, Lewis talks about longing.

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

This let me think about the first chapter of Plantinga's Engaging God's World. In class we have discussions about our longings. Plantinga says that our longings will never be fulfilled. To nerge with Lewis's idea, because our longings are always too small, it will just continue to grow but not fulfilled. We should long about going to heaven.

I think The Weight of Glory is somehow related to our previous studies, Our English Syllabus. In The Weight of Glory,  Lewis give a exmaple about a schoolboy beginning Greek grammar. He will find joy after he reach the stage of enjoying Greek poetry. This is similar to what Lewis says in Our English Syllabus about difference between learning and education. During this boy's education process (learning Greek grammar),  he cannot find joy in it. However, after he can read Greek poetry, which is probably what he tried to "learn" by himself, he find joy in it.
This is also what I find when I learn Japanese. I have both been educated through Japanese class and learned by myself afterwards, and I find out that learn by myself have more joy in it.
Lewis thinks that we Christians have the same position. We have to continue to study for God's word, and to try to attain the everlasting life. After that we will get our reward.

Lewis then talk about glory. He said there are two ideas of glory: fame or luminosity. He joked about that it shouldn't be luminosity because we don't want to be a living electric light bulb. He thinks that glory is "being noticed by God".
As I have never thought about what glory is, I think Lewis's idea is kind of interesting.

Our English Syllabus

Our English Syllabus is a speech which Lewis read to the English Society at Oxford. It should be the first Lewis writings that are not much related to Christianity. In this speech, Lewis talks about learning and education. He thinks that learning and education is different. He thinks the purpose of education is to produce the good man and the good citizen; and he thinks that vocational training is for making a good banker, good electrician, good scavenger, etc.

As a non-native speaker, at first I don't quite understand the difference between education and learning. However, when I translate both words to Chinese, I get different results. The Chinese word for "education" means learning passively. Which it should be referring to what Lewis says, before University we all are educated. Actually, this phenomenon happens in Hong Kong very often. In Middle school and high school, we can only choose between science division or arts division. We cannot choose what subject to learn. So it is simply that we are just educated by schools. However, after we enter university, as Lewis says, we begin to "learn". We can choose our own subject to take, and our own major.
I agree to Lewis that learning is more important than education. It is because we are learning something that it is useful to the society. As Lewis talks about the importance of vocational training, learning these skills can help us a lot.
I also like one of Lewis's sentence:

When God made the beasts dumb He saved the world from infinite boredom, for if they could speak they would all of them, all day, talk nothing but shop.

I think that it is interesting that Lewis thinks animals in this view. However, I don't quite agree what Lewis says. Lewis thinks that working is like a slavery. However, I have seen people who love his job. Many people find jobs which they can extend their interest in their job. Perhaps it is because of the changing of the society, as nowadays there are more variety of jobs avaliable.

Longing and Hope

In this chapter of Engaging God's World, Plantinga talks about longing and hope. He defines longing as a strong desire, but it is always unfulfillable. He mentions that nothing in this earth can finally satisfy us.
For me, my longing is go and live in Japan. I do not know why I have this longing, I just know that if I can achieve this I will be extremely happy,which is like what Plantinga says "break out crying from stabs of hopeless joy". However, if I fulfill this, according to Plantinga says, I will have another longing. I think this idea also match C.S.Lewis's example in "We have no right to happiness".
 In "We have no right to happiness", Lewis mentions an exmaple about Mr.A and Mrs.A get divorce. I know that many people whose longing is very simple : to get married. Perhaps Mr.A and Mrs. A also have the same longing. However, after they achieve this, they start to have another longing. This maybe the reason why they get divorce.
Plantinga also use Lewis's quotes in Weight of Glory:

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

I agree to what Lewis says. Our final longing should be the longing to the "infinite joy" which is provided by God. But people have longings which are easily to be achieved, and, we will seek another weak longing.

Plantinga then talks about hope. He thinks that longing is an ingredient of hope, which we can only hope for something that we want. He also thinks that although we should hope for ourselves, we should also hope of shalom. I also agree to this. Everyday we have a lot of hopes, small like to hope that we can have good food, or big like we hope our proposal is accepted, etc. However, Plantinga told us to hope for God, because God will give us the way he want us to be.

We have no Right to Happiness

          C.S Lewis started this essay by a example: Mr. A and Mrs. A divorced and they married Mr. B and Mrs. B. When Mrs. A commited suicide,Mr. A is shocked, but he said he has the right to happiness.

          Lewis thinks that "right of happiness" is odd. He than mentions Clare, a woman who thinks people should have the right of happiness, which referred by Lewis that it simply means "sexual happiness".
          This essay is even more hard to read than the first two essays. I am so confused in many points. This essay does not mention who Clare is. It is hard to understand what Lewis is arguing as there is no evidence on what "Clare" has says. She may even a character created by Lewis, as he did the same thing in "Bulverism". After the discussion in class, I found out that I should focus on the idea Lewis gives than finding out who Clare is.
          Also, in this essay, Lewis does not mention his idea clearly throughout the whole essay. For me it is hard to find out his idea.

I have not get into a relationship before, so I do not understand about how "sexual happiness" appears. Nor I do not have friends or relatives who has divorce before. As Lewis mentions in "Meditation in a Toolshed", I cannot criticize "sexual happiness" because I have not been into it.
However, Jesus had talked about Divorce:
          

and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not seperate.

Matthew 19:5-6

I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery. 

Matthew 19:9

As Jesus has said, they are no longer two, but one. Marridge is not only about sexual happiness, but also means you are linked with each other. Although I agree that we have the right to happiness, we also have the responsibility to our other half.