Mrs. Stephanie Loomis Through the Lens with C.S. Lewis Johnson Ferry Christian Academy December 2012

1. Through the Lens with C.S.
Lewis
December 2012
“We are, not metaphorically but in very
truth, a Divine work of art, something
that God is making, and therefore
something with which He will not be
satisfied until it has a certain character.”
The Problem of Pain
Ch 3, “Divine Goodness”

2. Mere Christianity
Book Four
“Beyond Personality: or First
Steps in the Doctrine of the
Trinity”

3. Making and Begetting
 To beget is:
 To create is:
 What is the
fundamental
difference between
the two?
 Why does it
matter?

4. God of God,
Light of Light,
Lo, he abhors not the
Virgin's womb;
Very God,
Begotten, not
created:
Second verse of “O Come All Ye Faithful”

5. Bios: Bios and
Life
Animal life (biology) Zoe
Natural life
Must be sustained by external
forces (air, water, food)
Zoe:
Life
Breathe of life
Existence beyond the physical
Vitality
Soul
Energy
Spirit (pneuma in Greek)
Self-sustaining and eternal

6. Bios and Zoe (87)
“Bios has, to be sure, a certain
shadowy or symbolic resemblance to
Zoe: but only the sort of resemblance
there is between a photo and a
place, or a statue and a man.”
Why does it matter?
Why should we aspire to Zoe life?

7. The Three-Personal God
Did this illustration help
you envision the nature of
the Triune God?

8. COULD YOU HAVE GUESSED?
…as you advance to more real and more complicated levels, you do not
leave behind you the things you found on the simpler levels: you still
have them, but combined in new ways—ways you could not imagine if
you knew only the simpler levels. (89)

9.  What is the purpose of
trying to create an
illustration of the Tri-
unity of God that we
can comprehend?
 What is REALLY
important? (89)
 How can one be pulled
into the Zoe and still
remain himself?
 Why is Lewis so
focused on the need
for believers to go to
church? (90)

10. Time and Beyond Time
At the same moment. (91)

11.  How do you
respond to the
idea that you
really ARE alone
with God? (92)
 What does it
mean that God is Does Lewis‟s
explanation of God
“too completely being outside of time
and utterly real help with the
to have” a quandary of
history? predestination and
free will?

12. Good Infection (91-96)
 How do we get confused about the
Father coming before the Son?
 How can there be a cause that doesn‟t
come before the effect?
 Does the idea that “God is Love” really
necessitate at least two persons?
 How is God more like a dance than
anything else we can imagine?

13. Toy Soldiers (97-100) The Eternal Being,
who knows everything
and who created the
whole universe,
became not only a
man but (before that)
a baby, and before
that a foetus inside a
woman’s body.
How did the Incarnation
change the formula for
acquiring Zoe and a life
beyond Bios?

14. One Two
 Why did God create  Individuals DO matter
rather than beget us? (100)
(99)
Two Notes

15. Let‟s Pretend (101-103)
…you are putting yourself in the place of a son of God. To
put it bluntly, you are dressing up as Christ. If you like, you
are pretending….You are not being like The Son of
God, whose will and interests are at one with those of the
Father: you are…doomed to death. So that, in a way, this
dressing up as Christ is a piece of outrageous cheek… (101)
 Why is “pretend”
important?

16.  How does God turn us
from tin to flesh?
 How does He use other
people to assist us in the
transition?
 What is the danger of
relying on human hands?
As we begin the transformation into “new
creatures”, what do we discover? (103)

17. Hard or Easy? (104-106)
 How is Christianity
both harder and
easier than trying
to meet the moral
standard using the
natural man as the
starting point?
 What is the result
of playing Sinatra?

18. HOW IS IT SO TERRIBLE TO HAND OVER OUT WHOLE SELVES WHEN THE ETERNAL REWARD IS SO GREAT?
Christ says ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much
of your time and so much of your money and so
much of your work: I want you. I have not
come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half
measures are any good….Hand over the whole natural
self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the
ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give
you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you
Myself: my own will shall become
Did anyone else read this and say “wow”?
yours.’ (104)

19.  How can God
command us to be
perfect?
 What is the
purpose of the
Church? (106)
 What is the
purpose of the
Incarnation?
 How does this idea
connect to the
challenge I gave
you a couple of
weeks ago?

20. HOW DO YOU COUNT THE
COST?
That is why He warned people to 'count the cost' before becoming Christians.
'Make no mistake,' He says, 'if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment
you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other,
than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you
do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through.
Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable
purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me. I will never rest, not
let you rest, until you are literally perfect--until My Father can say without
reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with
Me. This I can do and will do. but I will not do anything less.’

21. Philippians 1:6  being confident of
this, that he who
 There has never began a good work
been the slightest in you will carry it
doubt in my mind on to completion
that the God who until the day of
started this great Christ Jesus.
work in you would
keep at it and bring
it to a flourishing
finish on the very
day Christ Jesus
appears.

22. So, who chooses the desired
outcome?
 But the question is not what we intended
ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be
when He made us. (108)
 But all the time He knew His plan for us and
was determined to carry it out.
 To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania;
it is obedience.
 The process will be long and in parts very
painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing
less. He meant what He said. (109)

23. Nice People or New Men? (110-
114)
Christ told us to judge by results.
But how?
By what standard?
How do we do so without making Christianity
unbelievable to the outside world?
For mere improvement is not
redemption…God became man to
turn creatures into sons….
Why is it so hard to imagine becoming something
“other?”

24. New Men (115-118)
We are being changed from being creatures
of God to being sons of God. How profound is
that?
How does knowing that make you think about your future?
Or your present?
How will it change your prayer life?
How will it change your attitude toward others?
How will it change your reaction to circumstances?

25. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of „little
Christs‟, all different, will still be too few to express Him
fully.
(118)

26. IT IS WORTH THE PRICE
Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not
given away will really be yours. Nothing in
you that has not died will ever be raised from
the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find
in the long run only hatred, loneliness,
despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for
Christ and you will find Him, and with Him
everything else thrown in.

27. Read The Great Divorce (313-362)
Create an artistic rendering of some place discussed in the
book.
Prepare a presentation for your artwork.
No essay this week.
HOMEWORK