Rivermont Presbyterian Church P. Ribeiro 1 Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis Book 2 What Christians Believe Summary of Chapters 1 - The Rival Conceptions of God 2 - The Invasion I Peter 3: 15

Rivermont Presbyterian Church P. Ribeiro 2 What Christians Believe They do not have to believe that all other religions are wrong all through If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the world is simply one huge mistake Where Christians differ from other religions, Christianity is right and they are wrong. As in math - there is only one right answer, but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others First Big Divisions Majority Believe in some kind of God or gods Majority Do not believe in God God is beyond good and evil God is good and righteous Greeks, Romans Hindus, Moslems Western materialists Jews, Moslems, Christians Pantheists

Rivermont Presbyterian Church P. Ribeiro 3 Pantheism God is beyond good and evil Theism God is good and righteous God animates the universe The universe almost is God Sees God in everything God invented and made the universe Sees God’s will in everything Christianity is a fighting religion. It thinks God made the world.... But it also thinks that a great many things have gone wrong with the world that God made and that God insists, and insists very loudly, on our putting them right again. Atheism There is no God God is an human invention Does not see God Christianity

Rivermont Presbyterian Church P. Ribeiro 4 If a good God made the world why has it gone wrong? The universe seems cruel and unjust How do we get this idea of just and unjust? Thus in the very act of trying to prove that GOD did not exist one finds that no other idea makes sense. Atheism turns to be too simple of an idea. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning. Objections

Rivermont Presbyterian Church P. Ribeiro 5 The Need for a Complete Model Reality is Complex Two Models Christian model This is a good world that has gone wrong Dualistic model This is a world dominated by two opposite powers (good and bad) Objections You can be good for the mere sake of goodness; you cannot be bad for the sake of badness. You can do a kind action when you are not feeling kind and when it gives you no pleasure, simply because kindness is right; but no one ever did a cruel action simply because cruelty is wrong - only because cruelty was pleasant or useful to him. Goodness it, so to speak, itself: badness is only spoiled goodness. The dark power was created was created by God, and was good...and then went wrong. Christianity agrees with dualism that the universe is at war. But it does not think that this is a war between independent powers. It think it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel.

Rivermont Presbyterian Church P. Ribeiro 6 Christianity & The World Enemy-Occupied Territory The Invasion Model A story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going... He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery. Are you talking about our friend the Devil - hoofs and horns and all? Yes, and No! TO BE CONTINUED