Reading the Classics: Mere Christianity

I’ve been reading along with Tim Challies in his Reading the Classics Together reading program. This week’s reading was Book 1 (Right and Wrong As a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe) from C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. This section consists of five short chapters that together argue for the existence of some sort of god—not necessarily the Christian one—from the existence of a universal moral law. (He puts “moral law” in caps. That seems a little quaint, so I’m not going to do it.)

I remember reading this argument when I was still a teenager and being blown away by it. It was the first time I’d read an apologetic work and I loved logical arguments, so I was delighted to discover that my faith could be defended reasonably.

This time around it was the writing that impressed me. I’m experienced enough to understand that while the argument Lewis makes is a fine one, there are limits to the usefulness of arguments like this. But no one explains difficult concepts using illustrations better than C. S. Lewis and that makes his writing captivating.

I had a few thoughts about the argument itself as I read and here’s one of them. I wondered if in chapter 5 where Lewis discusses what we can know about God from the existence of the universe alone, and then what we can know of God from the additional evidence of the moral law that God has put into our minds, if he wasn’t shortchanging (just a little) what the universe itself can tell us about God. Romans 1 informs us, I think, that we know something more than that God is a great artist (Lewis’s conclusion) from the witness of the universe. We can also know that human beings are obligated to worship this great artist that made the universe. In other words, it is not absolutely necessary to argue for a universal moral law written in our minds to come to the place Lewis is trying to put us, the place where we realize that we have “put [ourselves] wrong with that Power” that made the universe.

Does the use of the existence of a universal moral law make the argument stronger? I’m sure it does. But it also it took four chapters to establish the existence of a universal moral law. (And as a side note, I think, sixty years later, when, for example, it seems less certain that everyone agrees that “you ought not to put yourself first,” it might take more than that to do a bang-up job of it.) It doesn’t take four chapters (or more) to establish the existence of the universe, so I’m wondering if the presence of the universe as an argument in itself might be useful if it were pushed further than Lewis takes it. What say ye?

Oh! One more thing. On the ever-exciting punctuation front, I found a comma splice on page 37.

Pumpkin Squares

I made a pan of these on Monday. It’s a recipe I got from Taste of Home Magazine several years ago. I’ve made them once or twice before, but I’d forgotten what a big hit they were with my family. I’ll be making them more often from now on.

• 4 eggs
• 1-2/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Icing

• 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Little by little, add the dry mixture to the to liquid mixture and mix well after each addition.
4. Pour the batter into an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan and spread evenly.
5. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes.
6. Cool on a baking rack.
7. Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, sugar, butter and vanilla in a small mixing bowl.
8. Add enough of the milk to make a spreadable icing.
9. Once the pan of bars is completly cool, spread the cream cheese icing evenly over them.
10. Cut into 24 bars and serve.

I made a double batch and froze half of them to serve later. What treats have you been baking for Christmas?

Some holiday recipes posted previously:

• Rasberry Coffee Cake
• Frosted Sugar Cookies (I made these today.)
• Rosettes
• Cranberry Apple Pie

Theological Term of the Week

redemption
A way of looking at the work of Christ on the cross that emphasizes the ransom price paid by Christ for the freedom of people who are by nature slaves to sin.

• Redemption in scripture:
  

  And they sang a new song, saying,

  “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
  for you were slain,
  and by your blood you ransomed people for God
  from every tribe and language and people and nation,
  and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
  and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:9-10 ESV)

• From Salvation Belongs to the Lord by John Frame, page 150:

  Redemption means, literally, “buying back something.” In the Old Testament when someone sold his property or even got so far into debt that he sold himself into slavery, a relative could buy back the property or buy the man’s freedom. This relative is called the kinsman redeemer, and Leviticus 25 describes him. In the book of Ruth, Boaz redeems Ruth and her mother-in-law from poverty by marrying her. In Mark 10:45 Jesus says that he has come to give his life a “ransom for many,” buying us back as God’s lost property. His sacrifice on the cross was an act of great value, and it purchased for him a people of his own possession. So, we belong to God both by creation and by redemption.

• From The Atonement: It’s Meaning and Significance by Leon Morris, page 130:

  Christians agree that evil is strong and that they cannot break free from it by themselves. But the wonderful thing about the Christian way is that it is the way of freedom. The evil that is part of human nature has been defeated in Christ. Believers live in freedom. Since the price has been paid the bondage is ended. They are no longer to live in slavery.
  
  The Bible teaching on redemption then is a continuing call to Christians to live in all that freedom means. But freedom is demanding and too often we settle for some form of bondage. This may arise from excess of zeal as we give ourselves over to following some rigorous rule for living the Christian life. Or it may be the consequence of lack of zeal as we acquiesce in the power of evil and make no real attempt to do anything other than go along with it. Either way we are denying the fundamental freedom of the people of God. Neither is the way for those who have been redeemed at the cost of Christ’s death. ‘For freedom did Christ free us.’
  

Learn more:

1. John Gill: A Body of Doctrinal Divinity: Of the Redemption by Christ
   
2. John MacArthur, Jr,: The Basics of Redemption - 1 Peter 1:18-21, The Specifics of Redemption - 1 Peter 1:18-21
3. Here at this blog: Redemption: What Does It Mean?; From What Are Sinners Delivered?; For What Are the Redeemed Delivered?
4. Updated to add this sermon suggested by John Bird: Steve Lawson: A Ransom for Many (mp3)

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.