Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Week 26: Book IV, Chapter 3 — Time and Beyond Time
Read Book IV, Chapter 3 of Mere Christianity ('Time and Beyond Time')
Previewing Week 26 of Mere Christianity
Read 3 of 6 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 29-week guide when you’re ready.
Lewis tackles one of the thorniest practical questions about prayer — if God knows everything, what is the point? — and his answer is characteristically surprising.
Discussion Questions
6 questions1.Lewis argues that God does not experience time the way we do — he does not live in a 'succession of moments' but sees all moments simultaneously, as we see a landscape spread out before us. How does this resolve the apparent problem of God 'foreknowing' our free choices?
2.He addresses the question: if God already knows what will happen, does prayer change anything? How does Lewis's account of divine timelessness reframe the question?
a.Has the apparent futility of prayer — 'God already knows' — ever weakened your motivation to pray? How does Lewis's response land?
b.Lewis says our prayers are part of the eternal 'landscape' God sees — they really are a cause among causes. Does this make prayer feel more or less meaningful to you?
3.Lewis admits these are deeply mysterious questions and that he is offering a possible model, not a proof. What does his intellectual humility here — offering a model rather than demanding assent — model for how we should hold theological paradoxes?