John Mury continues our discussion of Mere Christianity. Last week we looked at one of the most unpopular virtues of Christianity: chastity. This week, we look at another unpopular virtue, perhaps even more unpopular than chastity: forgiveness. John looks at how difficult it is to forgive and some of the reasons we all struggle to forgive others. Practicing forgiveness and understanding often requires we each personally admit that “there but for the grace of God go I.”
August 2008 Archives
August 2008 Archives
This week, John Mury discusses the most unpopular of all Christian virtues: chastity. Is the Christian standard of chastity just too hard? John explores the idea that it is, indeed, too hard—but that it being hard or easy is not the point. God views our struggles and failures knowing our hearts, knowing all our personal demons. As we look at Christian virtues—especially chastity—understanding God’s mercy and that he understands all our struggles and temptations is critical to understanding the Christian message.
Questions and resources for Mere Christianity, chapters 15 & 16.
Continuing with week 8 of our Back to Basics series, here are chapters 15 and 16 of Mere Christianity, on sexual morality and Christian marriage.
John Mury examines C.S. Lewis’ statement that Christianity does not replace secular morality, and that Christianity adds little to the morality of the world or the morality of other religions. John then looks at some examples of how small differences can mean radically different outcomes. The difference between a chimpanzee and a human genetically is just a few percentage points, but that small amount makes a huge difference. Likewise, Christianity’s small differences in morality lead to radically different outcomes and views.
Here are the questions for chapters 13-14 of Mere Christianity, the chapters on social morality and psychoanalysis.
You might hear my kids talking or stomping in the background; I think it just adds to the “authenticity.” Just as a heads-up, Lewis will express several ideas in these chapters that might make a (post)modern audience pause. First, he addresses homosexuality in a way that was considered quite progressive in his day (especially when taken in context of his other writings) but would not be considered progressive by many today. Second, the notion of wanting a “Christian society” might seem quite the opposite of what many talk of today. In both cases, those are just the raw materials Lewis is working with back in his day with his particular BBC radio audience. His underlying points still stand even if you disagree with his assumptions.
Continuing our Back to Basics series, John Mury examines all the dimensions of Christian morality. Whereas most people think of morality primarily as a series of rules governing behavior and interactions with others, this is only a side effect of Christianity according to C.S. Lewis. There are three dimensions to Christian morality: outward, inward, and upward. John explores how the later two dimensions affect everything in our lives—but how these are the dimensions we often completely ignore.
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