Christian Apologist Essay

Included in the 10 or so influential Christians of the 20th century a giganticside Karl Barth, pontiff John XXIII, Martin Luther King Jr, and Billy Graham, the Christian Hi account statement magazine named him the skeptic scholar who became an Angli back, an apologist, and a patron saint of Christians everywhere. He was also dubbed as an apostle to the skeptics because he resolutely answered frequent objections individuals had when it came to accepting Christ as their deliverer (christianodyssey. com).Born into a Protestant family in Ireland on November 29, 1898, C.S. Lewis was the son of A. J. Lewis, a solicitor, and Flora Augusta, a promising mathematician. He bore a unaccompanied and unhappy childhood. Especi all(prenominal)y crushed by the death of his mother referable to faecal libratecer when he was nine years old, Lewis was left disheartened with perfection (christianodyssey. com). Lewis came to reject Christianity at an early age, becoming an affirmed atheist. He sou nd that Christian myths were mediocre and that the Christian god must be a sadist (about. com).Whilst world inquired about his religious check, C. S.Lewis labeled the worship of Christ and the Christian faith as one mythology among compositiony. (christianodyssey. com). Lewis was married to Helen Joy Davidman. She was a Jewish American with two children of her own. Davidman was good-natured and shared her husbands cheer in argument. Sadly, she died of cancer in 1960 (kirjasto. htm). After a prolonged utmoste poor health and sporadic recovery, Lewis himself died on November 22, 1963 (christianodyssey. com). Fondly called Jack by his loved ones, Lewis was a well-known professor at both Oxford and Cambridge.Lewis 25 books on Christian topics include Mere Christianity (1952), The Problem of Pain (1940), Miracles (1947), The Screwtape earn (1942), Surprised by Joy (1955) and The Great Divorce (1945). The Pilgrims reverting (1933) was about his own experience while on his way to alteration (christianodyssey. com). In The Problem of Pain (1940), it is asked, If God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain? Here, Lewis reasoned that the equipment casualty choices people work to benefit usually account for the suffering they are eventually face (kirjasto. htm).Here we see that Lewis is trying to give perspicacious answers to queries people carry without completely basing it on blind faith. Critics usually look for an understanding base on the cause-and-effect principle. The Chronicles of Narnia has turned out to be the most lasting of Lewiss novels. It retells the story of the Creation, the fall and redemption of humanity and also includes other Christian themes in allegorical form. The portal to Narnia, a version of Paradise, is a crush through which four sibling children enter this secondary world. In the original story the bad Witch is destroyed in a battle.The final books deal with Narnias beginning and end. In th e last Armageddon story, with its death-and-resurrection theme, the struggle was among a king and the forces of evil (kirjasto. htm). We need to understand here that if lecturers can understand the mechanics of Narnia and how the plot of this story works with the inclusion of sealed Christian themes, they can better understand Christian beliefs from a more(prenominal) objective point of view and accept it. The same point of view they read and understood The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis present(a)ed the basic teachings of orthodox Christianity teachings he labeled upright Christianity (inplainsite. rg).Lewis went on British receiving set between 1942 and 1944. His discussions during those years were on what he called mere Christianity, that is, the universal and most doctrinal beliefs of the faith. This very collection of radio talks were later tied together in one of Lewis most influential books, Mere Christianity (christianodyssey. com). Lewiss project in this book was to struggle mere Christianity, or the most essential basics of the Christian faith, against unbelievers. (leaderu. com) Lewis found his defense of Christianity on an argument from morality.The Moral Argument states that there is a universal moral conscience amongst all human beings. Everybody possesses an internal sensory faculty of moral obligation to realize the difference between right and wrong and choose to do what is right. Lewis ascertains that the existence of this common moral conscience, can notwithstanding be the consequential result from the existence of a god who created all humans. (about. com). C. S. Lewis disputed for reason-based Christianity as opposed to faith-based Christianity. This is a questionable decision on Lewis part because conventional Christianity is indisputably faith-based.Lewis principal readers were supposed to be skeptics and atheists rather than menses believers. Skeptics doubt for lack of reason and shew therefore, only reason and conclusion i s more likely to draw their reconsideration. In his book, Mere Christianity, Lewis writes I am not asking anyone to accept Christianity if his best reasoning tells him that the weight of the evidence is against it. (about. com). One of Lewis most-often-quoted statements is from Mere Christianity, where he uses reason and logic to introduce trio possibilities to us (often known as the Lewis trilemma).According to this trilemma, either Jesus in reality was God and intentionally lying, or was not God but reckoned himself to be (which would make him a harum-scarum). Mere Christianity goes on to say that the latter likelihood is not consistent with Jesus character and it is, therefore, most likely that he was being truthful A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunaticon the level with a man who says he is a poach eggor else he would be the devil of hell.You must make your choice. Either this man w as, and is, the Son of God or else a hothead or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can sputter at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that plainspoken to us. He did not intend to. - Mere Christianity (christianodyssey. com). As mentioned earlier in this paper, C. S. Lewis readings are mostly meant for critics and unbelievers of the Christian faith.It is not designed for Christians who have legitimate Lord Jesus as their Savior because they do not need to be convinced through reason-based writings about Christianity. Lewis was very fire in presenting a reasonable case for the truth of Christianity. I chose C. S. Lewis for my Apologetics marches paper because I had always known this person-to-personity as the originator of my favorite books. Years later, I was overwhelmingly surprised the depth of these novels in correlation to Christian concepts of Creation, Paradise and Armageddon. The applications of Lewis teachings can be seen in his Christian writings.They all lean towards reason, approaching Christianity as a religion that has actual grounds in addition of those relying on faith. C. S. Lewis believed the best apology for Christianity was the flavour of a believer and the way we live our lives. Non-Christians are more likely to be attracted to Christianity through the non-verbal acts and conduct of our life. However he also believed in verbal apologetics.Lewis believed Christianity was rational but at the same time was ultra-rational, i. e. that it was ghostlike and divine and went way beyond the limits and scope of rationality (thatimayknowhim. o. uk). Lewis even believed in theistic evolution. In The Problem of Pain he wrote, If by facial expression that man rose from brutality you mean simply that man is physically descended from fleshlys, I have no objections. For long centu ries God perfected the animal form which was to become the vehicle of humanity and the image of Himself. He gave it reach whose thumbs could be applied to each of its fingers, and jaws and teeth and the throat capable of articulation, and a brain sufficiently complex to execute all material motions whereby rational thought is incarnated.The creature may have existed for ages in this state forward it became man. We do not know how many of these creatures God made, nor how long they continued in the Paradisal state The Problem of Pain (svchapel. org) The singularity of Lewis writings is fairly obvious. In comparison to other apologists, Lewis appealed to the readers emotions and sense of imagination. He, therefore, wanted to write about the essence of Christianity by reflecting upon its poignant, optic and imaginative side in its rational coherence.He wanted for the reader to taste the beauty of the faith to draw the reader into the magnificent story of Gods salvation, to submerg e him/her into the universe of Christianity. Many Christians testified that they started to seek paradise only after reading Lewis works. The way he is able to key out heaven and the spiritual world enabled the reader to truly understand the stage of Heaven that awaits us (euroleadershipresources. org). It is from C. S. Lewis that we need to learn that the kind of language use to explore God and the content of Christian faith is a matter of epitome importance.The human language has the potential to mediate feelings and understanding on an extremely poignant level. If implemented correctly Christian apologists need to be excited for themselves because of the relationship they are in with God. This very excitement on such a personal level will only function them better to find the right words and literary expressions needed to present the Christian faith. In this way, thanks to C. S. Lewis, Apologetics will become an effective personal testimony of Gods salvation (euroleadershipre sources. org).