Mere Christianity

The second theological virtue Lewis discusses is hope—that is, looking forward to the eternal world. This does not mean neglecting the present world; on the contrary, those whose actions are motivated by thoughts of Heaven often leave the greatest positive mark on their society. By contrast, focusing on earth alone is a dead end.

Lewis suggests that it’s hard for most of us to conceptualize Heaven except as a place to be reunited with loved ones. However, when we try to look past our various worldly preoccupations and desires, we often find a vague yearning for something more. As evidence of this, Lewis notes that people often feel something in the first moments of falling in love or when they first take up a subject that excites them, but that the reality of these experiences never quite lives up to expectations. 

This experience tends to elicit one of three responses. The “Fool” continues to believe that there truly is something out there that could satisfy their desires, and to continue moving from one place, hobby, and love affair to the next in pursuit of it. The “Disillusioned ‘Sensible Man’” who has decided that fulfillment is a youthful pipe dream. This is less destructive approach than the first, but it still ultimately “stifle[s]” our true spiritual nature (136).

Lewis therefore proposes a Christian way of framing the problem, suggesting that humans are not born with desires (e.g. hunger) unless satisfaction for those desires (e.g. food) exists. If we feel a desire that cannot be satisfied in this world, then it follows that it will be satisfied in the next one, and that earthly pleasures are simply a kind of preview of a much deeper pleasure to come. On that note, Lewis pushes back against those who brand the idea of Heaven as ridiculous based on scriptural language of harps, crowns, etc. Lewis argues that such depictions are intended to be read symbolically: as gestures towards what cannot be truly conveyed in this world. 

Lewis states that Christians use the word “faith” in two ways, and that he intends to begin with the first: belief in Christian doctrines.

Lewis acknowledges that the idea of faith as a virtue may seem confusing, since there’s nothing virtuous about accepting or not accepting a line of argument. He notes, however, that our responses to such propositions aren’t entirely rational; rather, they also involve emotion. Lewis therefore distinguishes between those who “lack faith” simply in the sense of failing to find Christian arguments persuasive, and those who lose faith for irrational reasons—a desire to conform, a disappointment in life, an urge to commit some sinful act, etc.—after previously accepting Christianity as rational. Faith serves as an anchor, dissuading people from going wherever their mood takes them, which is why practices like daily prayer, religious reading, and churchgoing are important.

Before turning to faith in its second form, Lewis suggests making a concerted effort to practice Christian virtues for some time in order to better understand how difficult it truly is, and how flawed we truly are. He also once again emphasizes that Christianity is not a bargain where God gives us something for good behavior.

Lewis warns that there are some things about Christianity that only Christians can understand; consequently, readers may find it difficult to understand the meaning of faith in “the higher sense” until they have been practicing Christianity for some time (145).

Lewis reiterates that God is not as concerned with our specific actions as with whether we are the kind of beings that he intended to create. However, since trying to be completely good is futile, a moment comes when we must recognize our failure and turn to God for help. Lewis cautions against monitoring ourselves to assess whether we have reached this moment; it often occurs as a gradual process, and worrying about it is only likely to hinder it.

According to Lewis, the idea of trusting in God is often misunderstood: the state he is describing is about having faith that God will make humanity more like Himself. Someone who has reached this state will continue to try to do God’s will, but “in a new way, a less worried way” (147). Here, Lewis addresses the long-standing debate about salvation through good works versus salvation through faith, observing that the two things are inseparable; faith necessarily involves trying to fulfill God’s will through our actions.

Christianity may seem at first glance to be all about moral duties and rules, but Lewis stresses that this is not ultimately its center: it leads to another realm in which everyone “is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light. But they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it” (150).