Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Week 5: Book I, Chapter 4 — What Lies Behind the Law
Read Book I, Chapter 4 of Mere Christianity ('What Lies Behind the Law').
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Now Lewis turns from the fact of the Moral Law to the question of its source — and the options he lays out are more limited than you might expect.
Discussion Questions
6 questions1.Lewis presents two broad views of the universe: the Materialist view (matter and energy, nothing more) and the Religious view (something behind the facts). In your own words, what is the essential difference between these two positions?
2.He also distinguishes between the Life-Force philosophy (a creative energy driving things forward) and full-blown Theism (a Mind behind the universe). What is the difference, and why does Lewis think the Life-Force view is ultimately unstable?
a.Have you encountered the Life-Force idea — in new-age spirituality, evolutionary optimism, or elsewhere? How did Lewis's analysis of it land for you?
b.What is Lewis's objection that the Life-Force cannot actually tell us to be good?
3.Lewis argues that the Moral Law gives us a clue about the nature of whatever is behind the universe — it suggests a Mind that cares about right and wrong, not merely a Force that creates. Do you find this inference persuasive? What would you need to see to be more or less convinced?
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