Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Week 28: Book IV, Chapters 5–11 — The New Men
Read Book IV, Chapters 5 through 11 of Mere Christianity ('The Obstinate Toy Soldiers,' 'Two Notes,' 'Let's Pretend,' 'Is Christianity Hard or Easy?,' 'Counting the Cost,' 'Nice People or New Men,' and 'The New Men').
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Lewis builds toward his great climax: God is not in the business of improving our old selves — he is in the business of replacing them with something entirely new.
Discussion Questions
6 questions1.In 'The Obstinate Toy Soldiers,' Lewis describes the Incarnation as God becoming a wooden soldier in order to turn wooden soldiers into real people. What does this earthy image capture that more technical atonement language might obscure?
2.In 'Let's Pretend,' Lewis returns to the 'pretending' theme: saying the Lord's Prayer ('Our Father') when you barely believe it is a form of pretending — but a pretending God uses. What is the difference between this and hypocrisy, and how does this chapter deepen what he said in Book II?
a.Is there a prayer you say regularly that still feels like pretending? What does Lewis say to do with that?
b.How does the Lord's Prayer ('Our Father') pull us into the divine life — the relationship of the Son to the Father — in a way we didn't necessarily initiate?
3.In 'Is Christianity Hard or Easy?,' Lewis says the 'ordinary' Christian life — trying to be a bit better than you were — is actually harder than full surrender. The yoke is easy only when you give everything. Does this match your experience? Why does half-commitment feel more exhausting than full commitment?
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