The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
Week 5: Chapter 4 — Human Wickedness
Read Chapter 4 of The Problem of Pain. Key biblical background: Romans 3:10–23; Genesis 3; Psalm 51
Previewing Week 5 of The Problem of Pain
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 13-week guide when you’re ready.
Lewis takes a step that many modern readers find uncomfortable: before we can understand why we suffer, he argues, we must understand how bad we actually are. This chapter is a call to honest self-examination.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Lewis argues that the modern denial of human sinfulness is not intellectual progress but a form of self-deception — that we have lost the vocabulary and the mirror for seeing ourselves clearly. Do you agree? What has replaced the older Christian vocabulary of sin in contemporary culture, and does the replacement serve us as well?
2.He points out that the people who have had the clearest sense of their own sinfulness — the great saints — are the very people we most admire for their goodness. Why does Lewis think this is the case rather than a paradox? What does it tell us about the nature of moral self-awareness?
3.Lewis uses the image of a man who has fallen asleep while on duty and wakes up confused about what went wrong. He argues that fallen humanity is in a similar position — we have lost the original 'orientation' toward God and mistake our disordered state for the normal one. How does this image clarify the doctrine of the Fall without making it feel like a fairy tale?
a.In what areas of your life do you think you might be 'asleep' — assuming a disordered state is normal because you've never known anything different?
b.How does the Incarnation function as a 'waking up' — a restoration of what human nature was meant to be?