Questions for Quiz on March 1st MERE CHRISTIANITY
BOOK II: WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE
CHAPTER 1: THE RIVAL CONCEPTIONS OF GOD (PAGES 35-39)
1.) LEWIS BEGINS THIS CHAPTER WITH ONE THING THAT CHRISTIANS DO NOT HAVE TO BELIEVE?
WHAT IS IT? IF YOU ARE AN ATHEIST, HOWEVER, WHAT MUST YOU BELIEVE AND WHY?
2.) “BEING A CHRISTIAN DOES MEAN THINKING WHERE CHRISTIANITY DIFFERS FROM OTHER
RELIGIONS, CHRISTIANITY IS RIGHT AND THEY ARE WRONG. AS IN ARITHMETIC- THERE IS ONLY ONE
RIGHT ANSWER TO A SUM, AND ALL OTHER ANSWERS ARE WRONG; BUT SOME OF THE WRONG
ANSWERS ARE MUCH NEARER BEING RIGHT THAN OTHERS” (35). EXPLAIN WHY OR HOW LEWIS CAN
SAY THIS.
3.) INTO WHAT TWO GENERAL DIVISIONS DOES LEWIS PLACE THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN GOD?
4.) DESCRIBE THE DISTINCTION LEWIS MAKES BETWEEN PANTHEISM AND CHRISTIANITY. HOW DO
PANTHEISM AND CHRISTIANITY DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER IN THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF GOOD
AND EVIL?
5.) WHY DOES LEWIS SAY CHRISTIANITY IS A FIGHTING RELIGION?
6.) FOR MUCH OF HIS LIFE, LEWIS REFUSED TO LISTEN TO CHRISTIAN EXPLANATIONS AS TO WHY, IF
A GOOD GOD IN FACT CREATED THE WORLD, IT HAD GONE SO WRONG. THIS IS A QUESTION THAT
EACH OF YOU WILL LIKELY ENCOUNTER IN YOUR LIFE. HOW DID LEWIS COME TO SEE THE FATAL
FLAW IN HIS REASONING? HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO SUCH AN OBJECTION TO CHRISTIANITY?
7.) IT IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL THAT EACH STUDENT UNDERSTANDS WHAT LEWIS IS GETTING
AT IN THE FINAL PARAGRAPH ON PAGE 38. “MY ARGUMENT AGAINST GOD WAS THAT THE
UNIVERSE SEEMED SO CRUEL AND UNJUST. BUT HOW HAD I GOT THIS IDEA OF JUST AND UNJUST? A
MAN DOES NOT CALL A LINE CROOKED UNLESS HE HAS SOME IDEA OF A STRAIGHT LINE” (38). IN
OTHER WORDS, IS IT REASONABLE, DOES IT MAKE SENSE, FOR SOMEONE TO BECOME (OR REMAIN)
AN ATHEIST OR AGNOSTIC BECAUSE “THERE IS JUST SO MUCH EVIL IN THE WORLD THAT I CAN’T
BELIEVE IN AN INFINITELY GOOD GOD”?
CHAPTER 2: THE INVASION (PAGES 40-46)
1.) LEWIS WARNS AGAINST A “CHRISTIANITY AND WATER” VIEWPOINT THAT “SIMPLY SAYS THERE
IS A GOOD GOD IN HEAVEN AND EVERYTHING IS ALL RIGHT- LEAVING OUT ALL THE DIFFICULT AND
TERRIBLE DOCTRINES ABOUT SIN AND HELL AND THE DEVIL, AND THE REDEMPTION”. WHY IS THIS
DANGEROUS? ISN’T THIS WHAT LEWIS MEANS BY MERE CHRISTIANITY?
2.) EVEN THE SEEMINGLY SIMPLEST THINGS IN OUR LIFE AND IN THE WORLD, IN REALITY, ARE IN
FACT NOT REALLY AS SIMPLE AS WE FIRST IMAGINED. WHY CAN’T RELIGION JUST BE SIMPLE?
Questions for Quiz on March 1st 3.) WHAT IS RELIGION, AND WHAT IS RELIGION NOT?
4.) LEWIS SAYS A CURIOUS THING: ONE OF THE REASON HE BELIEVES CHRISTIANITY IS THAT IT IS A
RELIGION YOU COULD NOT HAVE GUESSED. WHAT DOES HE MEAN BY THIS?
5.) THE WORLD, ACCORDING TO LEWIS, FINDS ITSELF IN A SERIOUS PROBLEM: WE LIVE IN A
UNIVERSE AND IN A WORLD THAT, OBVIOUSLY, HAS SO MUCH EVIL IN IT, BUT CONTAIN CREATURES
(LIKE YOU AND ME) WHO KNOW THAT IT HAS SO MUCH EVIL IN IT. WHAT TWO EXPLANATIONS DOES
LEWIS GIVE THAT “FACE ALL OF THE FACTS”? WHY ONLY THESE TWO AND NOT OTHERS?
6.) WHY DOES LEWIS SAY THAT “WE HAVE NO EXPERIENCE OF ANYONE LIKING BADNESS JUST
BECAUSE IT IS BAD” (43)? WHAT IMPORTANT POINT IS LEWIS GETTING AT HERE? (HINT: ARE
PLEASURE, MONEY, POWER SAFETY, ETC., IN AND OF THEMSELVES, BAD THINGS? WHAT DOES THIS
SAY ABOUT DUALISM? ABOUT BADNESS AND SIN?
7.) WHAT DO WICKEDNESS AND GOODNESS SEEK? WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT BADNESS AND
EVIL?
8.) WHY CAN’T BADNESS SUCCEED EVEN IN BEING BAD IN THE SAME WAY IN WHICH GOODNESS IS
GOOD?
9.) WHY AND HOW DOES LEWIS COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT EVIL, PERVERSION, BADNESS, IS
“A MERE BOGY” (44)? WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT DUALISM?
10.) ON PAGE 44, READ TOGETHER BEGINNING WITH “IN ORDER TO BE BAD...” TO “...SOME POWER
ABOVE THEM BOTH.” WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT CHRISTIANITY’S UNDERSTANDING OF SATAN AS
A ‘FALLEN ANGEL’?
11.) LEWIS COMPARES EVIL WITH A “PARASITE, NOT AN ORIGINAL THING. THE POWERS WHICH
ENABLE EVIL TO CARRY ON ARE POWERS GIVEN IT BY GOODNESS” (45). WHY, THEN, WON’T
DUALISM WORK? WHY CAN’T IT BE A SUITABLE EXPLANATION OF THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN GOOD
AND EVIL THAT WE FIND IN THE WORLD?
12.) ON WHAT POINT DOES CHRISTIANITY AGREE WITH DUALISM? HOW DOES IT DIFFER?
13.) HOW DOES CHRISTIANITY PROVIDE A SUITABLE, MORE COHERENT EXPLANATION THAN
DUALISM OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOOD AND EVIL?
14.) LEWIS REFERS TO THE WORLD AS “ENEMY-OCCUPIED TERRITORY”. EXPLAIN.
15.) WHY IS THE ENEMY SO ANXIOUS TO PREVENT US FROM GOING TO CHURCH (MASS)? WHAT
DOES LEWIS SAY WE RECEIVE WHEN GOING TO CHURCH (MASS)?