Part 1: The Rival Conceptions of God by C.S. Lewis In The Rival Conceptions of God, Lewis writes that “… there is only one right answer to a sum, and all the other answers are wrong: but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others.” (1) This quote is significant because it portrays the perspective of one religion towards other religions, and that some religions force their perspectives onto others. In Christianity, Christians believe that if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, you will ultimately end up in hell in the afterlife. In Islam, Muslims believe that if you don’t believe in Allah and the Prophet Muhammad, that you will end up in hell in the afterlife. ϖ Long quote: “…there is only one right answer to a sum, and …show more content…
ϖ Embedded quote: In each religion, “there is only one right answer to a sum”, which indicates that there is only one right belief system and all others are wrong.
Another quote written by Lewis asks “If a good God made the world why has it gone wrong?” (2) This quote is indicative of Lewis’ former lack of faith, where he ponders how the people that God had created had taken a turn towards the worst, and him questioning God’s existence, or His goodness. Lewis also discusses his denial of the existence of a higher power, and his refusal to listen to any explanation that could answer the questions he had about how the innate goodness of a God who created something as wicked as a human being. ϖ Long quote: “If a good God made the world why has it gone wrong?” ϖ Paraphrase: In The Rival Conceptions of God, Lewis writes of his former lack of faith and his questioning of the existence of a higher power and ponders how a good God created something that could be considered evil. ϖ Embedded quote: Lewis writes of a “good God” and a “world… gone wrong”, which shows his lack of faith prior to
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During this time, everyone is crying and praying and waiting for him to be “saved”, his aunt pleading with him to accept Jesus, and under such a stress on him to accept the faith, he caves in order to conform to the expectations thrust upon him by those that surround him. ϖ Long quote: “I cried… because I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me.” ϖ Paraphrase: Hughes writes about his experience as a young boy, where at one point he gave into the expectations of his family members and fellow church goers, lied about seeing the light that had been described to him, and that he no longer believed in Jesus because He did not come to him when Hughes needed him. ϖ Embedded: Hughes explains that “that I hadn’t seen Jesus”, which indicates how ashamed Hughes was about lying to his aunt about his spiritual
As the world becomes increasingly more interconnected, differences among the many religions prove to be obstacles to the global society. In an effort to overcome these obstacles, religious authorities propose the essential sameness of all religions (that all religions point towards the same goal); however, this hypothesis oversimplifies all religions to an arbitrary base. On the other hand, Stephen Prothero’s, the author of God Is Not One, proposal for the acknowledgment of the differences preserves the multidimensional aspects of religions. By rejecting the hypothesis of a basic and similar structure of religion, Prothero allows for them to exist as complete entities; however, Prothero also creates false barriers that over differentiate religions.
"There are three things which are real: God, human folly, and laughter. Since the first two pass our comprehension, we must do what we can with the third."
Both Lewis and Freud agreed that the question of god’s existence and our response must be asked. Though each man had drastically different worldviews and answers, they each sought to learn and understand the other’s worldview. Nicholi points out that Lewis may have had an advantage in the understanding of the unbeliever’s worldview due to the fact that until the age of 30, he claimed to be “even more certain of his atheism than was Freud” (2002, Pg. 81). In his adult life, Freud had no dramatic change of worldview from believer to unbeliever like Lewis had. This fact may give Lewis a slight upper hand in the understanding of the unbeliever’s worldview; however, Freud was still one of the greatest minds of his times and his work proves a strong (though negative) understanding of the believer’s worldview.
Lewis is now talking about forgiveness. Forgiveness sounds easy until you find yourself having to forgive someone who has done you wrong. When forgiving someone you don’t have to like them or agree with what they have done, but you do have tell yourself to stop holding a grudge when you think about what that other person has done. But when forgiving someone you have said that you no longer hold that against them. Also God says that we should forgive others like he forgave us and we have done more wrong to him that the other way around.
I believe that in Lewis’s view people reject God because of the choices that they make, for some it is by their actions, others it is self-fulfillment, but for all it is their choice of how they interact with God. People reject God when they choose to remain separate from God instead of fully embracing a life with God. Lewis introduces us to many ghosts who make decisions resisting heaven and returning to hell. They get stuck in their decisions because they are lost, for one reason or another; they are unable to completely and fully accept God in their lives. They believe it is easier, “better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” (71 ) Lewis explains “There is always something they prefer to joy” (71). We are introduced
...that what they believe might not be correct, it is what they believe but others do not have to believe that they are right.
Have you ever wanted to free yourself from the terrors and troublesome times of modern society and escape to a magical place? Clive Staples Lewis, or C.S. Lewis as he is better known, created such a place, in his extremely popular children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia. In these books, Lewis has an underlying message about Christianity. He represents four key aspects of Christianity in this series: Christ and God, evil in the world, and faith.
Kaufmann, U. M. (2008). The Wardrobe, the Witch, and the Lion: CS Lewis and Three Mysteries of the Christian Faith. The Dulia et Latria Journal, 1, 47-62.
When observations like Lewis's are made, however, it is not uncommon to hear remarks to the effect that Christians attribute to the supernatural everything they cannot comprehend -- if it cannot be understood, it must be the Devil. However, this charge is unwarranted.
During his early life, Clive Staples Lewis was raised in church (Stewart 1). However, as modernism continued to gain influence, Lewis started to create his own, new perspective. Individualized, unique perspectives were one of the major aspects of modernism. Modernists of that time also rejected religion and instead chose to see it as a myth. They appreciated religion, but as an interesting story instead of a belief system (Matterson 1). That is just what C.S. Lewis came to believe; that Jesus' life was no more than an embellished story of an ordinary man. He put aside his Christian roots and became enthralled with Pagan myth. Lewis' writings reflected his atheist beliefs, until the early 1930s when he- after many talks with devoted Catholic J.R.R. Tolkien- rededicated his life to Christ (Gopnik 13).
The implementation of this new ethical paradigm allowed for Abrahamic societies to link their belief in God to common social values and responsibilities (Stark, 2001). The approach which Judaism, Christianity and Islam each take toward these common social values and responsibilities displays which values are held highest in each religion. Despite differences in each religion’s approach, common themes exist. The role of justice and forgiveness in each religion displays a common belief that man’s nature is to stray from God’s justice, but that man can ultimately connect with the divine through the contemplation and understanding of what is good and right.
C.S. Lewis uses a secondary world, Narnia, to convey complex, thought-provoking messages to readers of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. This paper examines the way a selection of Narnia's key characteristics prompt debates over logic and faith, comment on the nature of spiritual and metaphysical journeys, allow readers to broaden their conception of their own capabilities, encourage new reflection on the story of Christ and help to clarify conceptions of good and evil.
...re imaginative and child friendly. These stories had many of the same dilemmas and faced many of the same challenges. They both had to do with innocence, betrayal, and temptation. C.S. Lewis’s work was defiantly reflective of the Bible, but it fit better with the times, and the people. This trend of using fiction as a device to spread messages, like religion, has been used, is being used, and will continue to be used in the future. In the end the stories are different, but the messages are all the same.
The Chronicles of Narnia are veritably the most popular writings of C.S. Lewis. They are known as children’s fantasy literature, and have found favor in older students and adults alike, even many Christian theologians enjoy these stories from Lewis; for there are many spiritual truths that one can gleam from them, if familiar with the Bible. However, having said this, it is noteworthy to say that Lewis did not scribe these Chronicles for allegorical didactics of the Christian faith, but wrote them in such a well-knit fashion that young readers might understand Christian doctrine through captivating fantasy and thus gain an appreciation for it. With this in mind, and in the interest of this assignment, the purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyze one of the many doctrines of the Christian faith from The Lion, The Witch, And, The Wardrobe (LWW), namely, temptation and how Lewis illustrates it through an individual character, Edmund.
C.S. Lewis is the author of the popular book series: The Chronicles of Narnia. In The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis utilizes the understandings of Augustine as well as his own understandings of myths to help better explain concepts of Christianity for younger generations. Despite C.S. Lewis’s claims, The Chronicles of Narnia qualifies as an allegory due to the way the characters and events in the book series are portrayed similar to those in biblical text.