Sunday, January 18, 2009

MERE CHRISTIANITY

There is so much content in these small chapters that I will choose one topic to discuss.  The thing that popped out to me the most was Lewis' talk of "Moral Law." He discusses whether or not there is a set moral goodness or badness that everyone collectively believes in.  In my own experience, I would say that there is not one basic Moral Law.  Yes, Right and Wrong exist, but something that is right to one person may be wrong to another.  It even traces back to "No Right to Happiness," where Mr. A and Mrs. B leave their spouses in order to pursue their own happiness, leaving Mrs. A and Mr. B to pick up the pieces of their broken relationships.  The two unfaithfuls happily carry own with their lives.  How is this fair for those who are left behind? When Lewis describes the situations where love can be a negative impulse, this fits the category perfectly.  The love of Mr. A and Mrs. B could be true and real, but it isn't pure because it isn't fair to the spouses who get left behind.  However, how many people these days really consider divorce to be that bad?  It's so common in our generation that people rarely think of marriage as a holy, lifelong promise.  It definitely upsets me when I hear about a divorce, and cheating is an act that I believe to be morally dishonest and just plain bad.  But it would be unfair of me to condemn another person for committing these acts just because they are against my morals, right?  That is something I wonder about daily.  Many of my friends are non-Christians, and I am startled by most of the decisions they make simply because they are decisions I wouldn't choose for myself.  Then again, they don't know the Lord, and therefore don't hold the same standards for, say, sex reserved solely within the sanctity of marriage.  How can I look down on them for innocent and unintentional ignorance?  And what makes their sin any worse than my lying or gossiping?

I think the most striking quote to me was when he said, "we have failed to practice ourselves the kind of behavior we expect from other people." All sins are equal in the sight of God.  Anything considered to be Bad or Good under God's Moral Law is a sin, and therefore we are all set equal--no man is above another.  Yet we act as though we have authority over others because their sins seem "worse" than ours.  Moral Law is a difficult concept to grasp, especially in a world that doesn't honor one single God, but is corrupted by a confusing mix of religious and moral authority.

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