The following are the quotes that appear at random at the top of the page, plus a bit of my own commentary. I make it a rule to have read whatever book or article the quotes come from, so as to understand them in the proper context. I highly recommend that you do the same; it renders most of them far more meaningful.
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity:
- “There is nothing progressive about being pigheaded and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.”
This quote seems to me more applicable out of context than in. It makes for a good principle, and has broader applications than those addressed in the original context. I think it’s something people should be reminded of often: that there is no sense continuing on the road you’re on if you know it’s the wrong one. It is essential to regress to the correct path.
- “Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need any forgiveness. It is after you have realised that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that Power — it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk. When you know you are sick, you will listen to the doctor.”
I think Christianity has more to say than simply this, but I also think the spirit of this quote is right. Christ came to offer medicine to those who were sick — to offer forgiveness to those who had sinned. If you think you’re perfectly well, why would you go to the doctor? The doctor helps sick people, not people who are well. In fact, all of humanity has a deadly disease of a spiritual nature, and only Christ can heal such a disease.
- “Does it not make a great difference whether I am, so to speak, the landlord of my own mind and body, or only a tenant, responsible to the real landlord? If somebody else made me, for his own purposes, then I shall have a lot of duties which I should not have if I simply belonged to myself.”
Lewis here points out that, if Christianity is right in saying that we as humans are God’s property and were created for His purposes, we ought to act like it. We should behave in a radically different way since we know that we were bought by Christ’s blood, and are called to be slaves to righteousness — to God.
|
Recent Comments