Preview

C. S. Lewis Argument For The Existence Of God?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1168 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
C. S. Lewis Argument For The Existence Of God?
Keller is a master in clarifying the case for Christ to anyone who reads this book. C.S. Lewis uses the same type of arguments in many of his written works, part of the reason why it is not surprising to see over ten different quotes from Lewis’ works this book. Lewis states that there are two kinds of people, “those who say “thy will be done” to God or those to whom God in the end says, “Thy will be done”” (82). This insight is amazingly clever, but not only that, it accentuates the point that Keller is trying to get across. People are not thrown into hell by a judgmental, eternal damning god who hates the world; these people choose where they go. It shows the reader that people who want to live wildly and freely in spite of God can do so, but in the end they are only left to wallow in despair, pride, and selfishness.
A common way to explain Biblical truth is to explain it in terms of circles. For example, one of the core truths of scripture is the Trinitarian nature of the
…show more content…
Keller rebukes this by quoting Francis Collins in his book The Language of God, saying “the very fact that the universe had a beginning implies that someone was able to begin it.” (133). This statement captures perfectly one of the fatal flaws in the Big Bang theory; something outside of nature had to create nature itself. How more perfectly can one describe the person of God?! God not only fits this description, but it parallels John 1:3 when John says that “all things were made through Him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (ESV). God and science, as Keller points out later in his book, are not in conflict, showing why many evolutionists are Christians. These insights give Keller’s readers a reason to believe, and through this he helps them realize all the evidence they never knew was right in front of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    This is an awesome book. It describes the outlook of biology not only through the eyes of faith, but from a Christian theistic point of view. In Biology through the Eyes of Faith, it explains the difference between a scientist’s perception of nature oppose to a Christian’s perception. Scientists say the world evolved which conflicts with the theistic view, which says the world came about through the creator God.…

    • 2342 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In C.S Lewis’s celebrated book Mere Christianity he writes the following: “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. 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 lunatic—on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Mere Christianity”, C.S Lewis describes how hard it is to be a good Christian in his statement “now we cannot, in that sense, discover our failure to keep God’s law except by trying our very hardest (and then failing)” (265). In this statement, Lewis is arguing that struggling to be good and having faith in religion takes a tremendous amount of willpower. Faith in religion takes conscious effort because it can become difficult to hold onto faith over time. I can relate this to my own personal experience of struggling to maintain my faith and be a good person/Muslim. I consider myself to be a person with good “akhlaq” which is an Arabic term referring to an individual that practices virtue, morality, and manners.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his book “Mere Christianity,” C.S. Lewis proposes the idea that despite what society may say, there is an ultimate moral standard for mankind. Lewis refers to this Law as the Law of Human Nature, or the Law of Right and Wrong. Lewis proposes that, not only does this Law preside in the hearts of all men, but mankind is unique in his ability to disobey that Law. A man can either disobey this Law, such as stealing from someone, or obey it, treating people fairly. Every man has an awareness of right and wrong because of the Law of Human Nature.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The book explains by alluding to the idea that a Christian may accept the fact of the atonement while still being able to pick and choose the theory of atonement. Lewis states within the book “A Christian must be careful to distinguish between the fact of the atonement and the theory of the atonement. A Christian is committed to the fact of the atonement, he may pick and choose the theories of the atonement; though not even God could commit the non-virtuous into heaven without an atonement. No explanation a Christian chooses will be free of mystery,” (Lewis, pg. 89). Basically, this was a very effective way of saying, a bit of mystery is…

    • 1366 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wilson starts writing to a pastor that he feels the two of them are friends and he also tells the pastor that he grew up in the same religion as him. Wilson also notes that they are both Americans, more specifically Southerners. Wilson the goes on to mention the key difference between them. The pastor takes the Christian Holy Scripture literally and rejects the conclusion of Science. While Wilson is an atheist who takes a scientific approach and believes that people evolved from Apes. Though they have different beliefs, both Wilson and the pastor like everyone else in the world strive for the same imperatives of security, freedom of speech, personal dignity, and a cause to believe in. Wilson then proposes that no matter their beliefs they both need to spend time to help the environment. Scientist predicts that by the end of this century half of the plants and animals will become extinct. Wilson needs the pastor’s help because Religion and Science are the two most powerful forces in today’s world. Wilson says that almost none of the Religions have worried about Nature. Some Religions believe in the book of Revelation that a second coming of Christ will be soon and therefore they don’t have to worry about the Nature because they will all be taken to heaven. Charles Darwin even started out as a minister who referred to the bible with everything. But early on his voyage to Brazil he said, “It is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, admiration, and devotion which fill and elevate the mind.” Wilson is familiar and heartened by the Christians way of talking about Creation. Wilson then says that even though their belief on Creation is different they can come together because they share a common purpose to help protect and save the environment and Nature.…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    God is the all-powerful intelligent being and nothing created him. But how could that be true based on Cleanthes’ argument? God could not just happen without any cause. It is impossible for him to appear out of thin air just like everything else in the universe and on Earth. God had to be created by a more powerful intelligent being.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the Darwinian evolution theory came out 150 years ago when it was first introduced in On the Origin of Species in 1859, nowadays there are still many people who firmly believe in the creationism, even some who are well educated. In chapter three of River Out of Eden Richard Dawkins brings out this situation and refutes creationism by citing scientific experiments, and finally he points out that gradualism is a principle of the evolution nature world, one that becomes indispensable when one is trying to explain complex phenomena.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    He solely bases his beliefs on the quantity of evidence held by each side, using scientific evidence when regarding evolution and biblical literalism when regarding creationism. Dawkins from his statement concludes that based on his studies, all the evidence points towards evolution, implying that the Bible or any other religious book or testament is not a sufficient amount of data to conclude that the belief that life was created by a divine being is legitimate. Furthermore, Dawkins’ argument is captivating by distinctly claiming that he believes in one side over the other, averting from flaw of the “Integration” model, where science and religion can be basically unified as if they were in the same field of study. Additionally, Dawkins mentions the lack of evidence creationism has which can be compared to a film in which a character had the same problem,…

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    C.S. Lewis makes a far more convincing argument for the existence of God in Mere Christianity than does Sigmund Freud in The Future of an Illusion. Both works reflect on what religion really is; Lewis stands for the view that religion is about truth and attempts to prove that God must exist, whereas Freud claims that religion is actually about idiocy and is created by humans as a form of wishful thinking. He describes it as an illusion, a made up social construct of humanity. Humans crave protection and reacted to feelings of helplessness by creating religion. “God is the exalted father, and the longing for the father is the root of the need for religion,” he says (Freud, 39). He continues on to say that religion is made of assertions about facts of reality and argues that the motivation for believing in religion is wish-fulfillment (an illusion). Lewis agrees that humans indeed look for someone to protect us and to provide moral order but that that person is God. He feels it is only through a relationship with God that people can find true happiness. He explains that it is not coincidental that every human has a moral premise as to what is right or wrong (the Law of Human Nature), stating that human beings have an idea that they ought to behave in a certain way. Because this rule of right and wrong has to be real, not made up by ourselves, we shall admit that there is more than one kind of reality (Freud, 20). Lewis effectively convinces the reader that there must be something above and beyond the ordinary facts of men’s behavior.…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    If any one component was missing human life would cease to exist. The watch didn’t just appear. We can assume that it was created by a watchmaker as it needed something intelligent to create the parts in order to carry out its function. Therefore, something intelligent must have created the universe as it could not just appear in such perfect complexity. This concludes the argument that God created the universe.…

    • 1541 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The question of whether there is a God has been debated by many philosophers, religious experts, and even your average citizens. Many of those people have attempted to argue why God is or is not real. This paper is going to present two different arguments by the philosophers: Robin Collins and William Rowe. The first argument by Collins is an argument for the existence of God, who designed our incredibly complex universe. The explanation of Collin’s argument will be followed by Rowe’s argument against the existence of God, which is in relation to intense suffering that exists in this world. With those two arguments at hand, the question is, are the conclusions compatible?…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The fact that Descartes is even considering the mere question of his own existence just proves that he indeed exists and that is certain. Further, he argues that we are essentially thinking things (res cogitans) that can know our minds clearly and distinctly. Descartes pitches a tent for himself firmly in the rationalist camp, as opposed to the empiricist camp. He constantly emphasizes that the clear and distinct perceptions of the intellect are the only sure means of securing knowledge, and ultimately concludes that the senses are not designed to give us knowledge at all, but are rather meant to help us move through the world in a very practical…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within the “fifth meditation, philosopher Rene Descartes argues for the existence of god. He provides reasoning to support this argument, that only things that can be conceived clearly and distinctly have the power to conceive one completely. Since Descartes has a clear and distinct idea of a perfect being, and a perfect being cannot lack existence, he argues existence is necessary for god. Therefore, god must exist.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Existence of God Arguments

    • 7756 Words
    • 32 Pages

    2) The Proof from Efficient Cause. Everything in the world has its efficient cause--its maker--and that maker has its maker, and so on. The coffee table was made by the carpenter, the carpenter by his or her parents, and on and on. But if there were just an infinite series of such makers, the series could never have got started, and therefore be nothing now. But there is something everything there is! So there must have been a First Maker, that was not itself made, and that First Maker we call God.…

    • 7756 Words
    • 32 Pages
    Good Essays