P. Ribeiro 1 Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis Right and Wrong As A Clue To The Meaning Of The Universe A Flow-Chart Approach

P. Ribeiro 2 I Peter 3:15 But in your heart set Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience.

P. Ribeiro 3 Do you believe in the existence of a Moral Law? No Yes Is there anything or anyone behind the Moral Law? No Yes What Kind: A Force (Power)? Yes No Are you tricking me with a religious talk? We are trying to find truth and the meaning of the universe. Are you interested? Yes No A Force/Power is a sort of a tame and convenient God. An inconsistent Power End of the Story End of the Story End of the Story End of the Story A God ? No Yes No

P. Ribeiro 4 How can we find out more about the thing behind the moral law and the meaning of the universe? Looking into the The Universe He Made Looking inside ourselves, where He wrote the moral laws He is a great artist He is quite merciless. The universe is a very dangerous place. But you cannot know a man by looking at the house he built. The Moral Law does not give us any grounds for thinking that God is “good” in the sense of being soft and nice.. The Moral Law is as hard as nails. If God is like the Moral Law, then HE IS NOT SOFT. Do you want to proceed? at your own risk? No Yes End of the Story End of the Story End of the Story The Moral Law ells you to do the straight thing and it does not seem to care how painful, or dangerous, or difficult it is to do.

P. Ribeiro 5 Is He an Impersonal Absolute Goodness ? If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. Yes No Absolute Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger - according to the way you react to it. God is the only comfort and supreme terror Yes Have you broken the Moral Law? Do you think you need Forgiveness? NoYes No exceptions, or allowances permitted. Is He a Personal absolute Goodness ? Christianity tells how the demands of the Moral Law, which we cannot meet, have been met on our behalf, how God Himself becomes man to save man from the disapproval of God. End of the Story Beginning of Chapter 1 of the Great Story... Which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before. End of the Story Do you want to find out more about God End of the Story Yes No

P. Ribeiro 6 “My reason for going around in this way was that Christianity simply does not make sense until you have faced the sort of facts I have been describing. 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 they need any forgiveness. It is after you have realized that there is a Moral Law, the the Power behind the the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with the Power - it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk. The Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin with comfort; it begins with dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end. If you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth - only soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end despair. All I am doing is to ask people to face the facts - to understand the questions which Christianity claims to answer.” C.S. Lewis

P. Ribeiro 7 What Is Mere Christianity? 1 - Christianity is all about Jesus Christ. 2 - Jesus Christ is fully God; Jesus Christ is fully man. 3 - The goal of Christianity is to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. 4 - At the center of Christianity is the Church. 5 - At the heart of Christian discipleship is obedience.