C.S. Lewis provides insightful arguments early in Mere Christianity for why Christianity is the only valid "explanation" of life that makes sense. He also discusses important unifying doctrines that are found in almost all Christian religions.
For many years Lewis was a stalwart atheist, and an educated and eloquent one at that. As a former atheist, he has a unique view that most Christians don't, providing a powerful backdrop to his arguments.
As I read his writing, I am often compelled to take time to meditate on what I have read, analyze whether I agree, and determine how it applies to my life. It is an unusual phenomena; with most books I simply want to reach the end in order to pick up the next book, checking the box next to as many books on my list as possible. Lewis' thoughts are well formulated and help me dive deeper than I normally do and I enjoy the challenge of digging further into the "why" of my beliefs.
As an atheist, Lewis could not believe in Christianity because the unjust aspects of the world show that there could not be an intelligent being as a creator. However, upon further analysis, he came to the following question: where did the idea of "just" and "unjust" come from?
- Was is simply his personal preference of how things in the world should be? In this case his argument would fall apart because the fact that the world was not in compliance with his personal preferences was not a significant enough point to claim that there could be no Greater Being. What if the way the world is were exactly in line with the way other people thought it should be?
- Or was it that there was a universal idea of justness that came as part of our nature? In this case, this principle could not have been manufactured by man, else it would not be consistent throughout time and throughout civilizations. It had to have come from a superior power that also happened to be just.
to be continued...
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