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.
I like you example of a millionaire. It is most certainly true that people can do good things and then people can do things for God
ReplyDelete