CSLewisDoodle | Making and Begetting by C.S. Lewis Doodle (BBC Talk 19, Mere Christianity, Bk 4, Chapter 1) @CSLewisDoodle | Uploaded December 2016 | Updated October 2024, 4 days ago.
This is an illustration of C.S Lewis’ introductory talk of the fourth radio series called ‘Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity’. This became Chapter 1 of Book 4 in the book called ‘Mere Christianity’...You can find the book here: amazon.com/Mere-Christianity-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652926
(1:06) In the original published broadcasts, it shows that Lewis emphasised certain words when delivering these talks on the radio. For instance, when the old hard bitten Royal Air Force Officer said to Lewis "I know there's a God, I've felt him", Lewis emphasised the words "know" and "felt". I.e., the officer, thought experience is all that is required.
(5:10) "The idea of reaching 'a good life' without Christ is based on a double error. Firstly, we cannot do it; and secondly, in setting up 'a good life' as our final goal, we have missed the very point of our existence. Morality is a mountain which we cannot climb by our own efforts; and if we could we should only perish in the ice and unbreathable air of the summit, lacking those wings with which the rest of the journey has to be accomplished. For it is *from* there that the real ascent begins. The ropes and axes are 'done away' and the rest is a matter of flying" ('Man or Rabbit', 1946).
(7:18) “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. A child saying a child's prayer looks simple. And if you are content to stop there, well and good. But if you are not—and the modern world usually is not—if you want to go on and ask what is really happening— then you must be prepared for something difficult. If we ask for something more than simplicity, it is silly then to complain that the something more is not simple. Very often, however, this silly procedure is adopted by people who are not silly, but who, consciously or unconsciously, want to destroy Christianity. Such people put up a version of Christianity suitable for a child of six and make that the object of their attack. When you try to explain the Christian doctrine as it is really held by an instructed adult, they then complain that you are making their heads turn round and that it is all too complicated and that if there really were a God they are sure He would have made "religion" simple, because simplicity is so beautiful, etc. You must be on your guard against these people for they will change their ground every minute and only waste your time. Notice, too, their idea of God "making religion simple": as if "religion" were something God invented, and not His statement to us of certain quite unalterable facts about His own nature" (C.S. Lewis, 'Mere Christianity', ‘The Invasion’).
(7:50) "God causes the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for the service of man, to bring food out of the earth. And wine cheers the heart of man; oil makes his face shine, and bread sustains the heart of man" (Psalm 104.14-15). See also Acts 14.17 "And yet God did not leave Himself without witness, doing good, giving rain and fruitful seasons to us from heaven, filling our hearts with food and gladness."
(8:18) See: John 17.24 "That they may behold My glory which You gave Me before the foundation of the world"; John 8.58-59 "Before Abraham came to be, I AM!"; 1 John 1.2 "We announce to you the everlasting Life which was with the Father, and was revealed to us"; John 1.1-2, Col 1.16 "All things were created through Christ and for Christ".
(14:09) See John 1:11-13 "Jesus Christ was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."
*This broadcast was moved to Tuesday from Sunday.
You can find the audio track here:amazon.com/C-S-Lewis-War-Christianity/dp/1624052185.
This is an illustration of C.S Lewis’ introductory talk of the fourth radio series called ‘Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity’. This became Chapter 1 of Book 4 in the book called ‘Mere Christianity’...You can find the book here: amazon.com/Mere-Christianity-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652926
(1:06) In the original published broadcasts, it shows that Lewis emphasised certain words when delivering these talks on the radio. For instance, when the old hard bitten Royal Air Force Officer said to Lewis "I know there's a God, I've felt him", Lewis emphasised the words "know" and "felt". I.e., the officer, thought experience is all that is required.
(5:10) "The idea of reaching 'a good life' without Christ is based on a double error. Firstly, we cannot do it; and secondly, in setting up 'a good life' as our final goal, we have missed the very point of our existence. Morality is a mountain which we cannot climb by our own efforts; and if we could we should only perish in the ice and unbreathable air of the summit, lacking those wings with which the rest of the journey has to be accomplished. For it is *from* there that the real ascent begins. The ropes and axes are 'done away' and the rest is a matter of flying" ('Man or Rabbit', 1946).
(7:18) “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. A child saying a child's prayer looks simple. And if you are content to stop there, well and good. But if you are not—and the modern world usually is not—if you want to go on and ask what is really happening— then you must be prepared for something difficult. If we ask for something more than simplicity, it is silly then to complain that the something more is not simple. Very often, however, this silly procedure is adopted by people who are not silly, but who, consciously or unconsciously, want to destroy Christianity. Such people put up a version of Christianity suitable for a child of six and make that the object of their attack. When you try to explain the Christian doctrine as it is really held by an instructed adult, they then complain that you are making their heads turn round and that it is all too complicated and that if there really were a God they are sure He would have made "religion" simple, because simplicity is so beautiful, etc. You must be on your guard against these people for they will change their ground every minute and only waste your time. Notice, too, their idea of God "making religion simple": as if "religion" were something God invented, and not His statement to us of certain quite unalterable facts about His own nature" (C.S. Lewis, 'Mere Christianity', ‘The Invasion’).
(7:50) "God causes the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for the service of man, to bring food out of the earth. And wine cheers the heart of man; oil makes his face shine, and bread sustains the heart of man" (Psalm 104.14-15). See also Acts 14.17 "And yet God did not leave Himself without witness, doing good, giving rain and fruitful seasons to us from heaven, filling our hearts with food and gladness."
(8:18) See: John 17.24 "That they may behold My glory which You gave Me before the foundation of the world"; John 8.58-59 "Before Abraham came to be, I AM!"; 1 John 1.2 "We announce to you the everlasting Life which was with the Father, and was revealed to us"; John 1.1-2, Col 1.16 "All things were created through Christ and for Christ".
(14:09) See John 1:11-13 "Jesus Christ was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."
*This broadcast was moved to Tuesday from Sunday.
You can find the audio track here:amazon.com/C-S-Lewis-War-Christianity/dp/1624052185.
