Does the Dobbs Abortion Decision Endanger Lives? Obstetricians Facing Moral and Legal Dilemmas
Abortion

Does the Dobbs Abortion Decision Endanger Lives? Obstetricians Facing Moral and Legal Dilemmas

Is the opposite of pro-life, pro-death? Does everyone who is pro-choice ENJOY KILLING BABIES?
Another related question is, Will those who do not support a radical pro-life, no abortion under any circumstances, BURN IN HELL? This is a meme that totally ignores compassion, that refuses to believe that those considering abortion have real life-changing problems they are facing.
What liberals often do not realize is that the phrase “pro-choice” strikes at the core of religious beliefs, the term “pro-compassion” is a better narrative, a better message. The phrase “pro-choice” implies to a devout believer that there is no absolute truth, that there is no God who represents absolute morality, but that every man can formulate what is right and wrong in their own eyes, that moral truth is relative. […]

Summary of Mere Christianity, WWII Ecumenical Broadcast: Morality, Not Polemics
CS Lewis

Summary of CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity, WWII Ecumenical Broadcast: Morality Not Polemics

Many scholars speculate on whether CS Lewis was inspired by the writings of Richard Baxter, a Puritan and prolific author who first coined the phrase “Mere Christianity.” Baxter lived during the intense religious struggle in the late 1600’s, a century after Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church to form the Anglican Church. Baxter was appointed to the royal chaplaincy, but he left his post after the passage of the Act of Uniformity in 1662, which required that all pastors exclusively use the Book of Common Prayer and be ordained as Anglican ministers. Baxter was reluctant to adopt a denomination, proclaiming that “I am a Christian, a MEER CHRISTIAN, of no other religion,” and “I am against all sects and dividing parties.” He did not want to identify either with Catholics, or Anglicans, or Presbyterians. […]

CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Forgiveness, Pride, and Envy. Can Pride Ever Be Good?
CS Lewis

CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Forgiveness, Pride, and Envy. Can Pride Ever Be Good?

CS Lewis notes that in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer we pray: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” He observes: “There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. It is made perfectly clear that if we do not forgive, we shall not be forgiven.”
Indeed, immediately after the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew, Jesus exhorts us: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” […]

CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Reflections on Intimacy, Romance, Marriage, and Divorce
CS Lewis

CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Intimacy, Romance, Marriage, and Divorce

CS Lewis continues: “Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing.” “You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling.” But CS Lewis warns us that the initial excitement will not last, that “love in the second sense is not merely a feeling, but is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit, reinforced in Christian marriages by the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God.” […]

Faith, Hope, Charity, and Love in CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: The Theological Virtues
CS Lewis

Faith, Hope, Charity, and Love in CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: The Theological Virtues

CS Lewis teaches us, “Charity means Love in the Christian sense. But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves and must learn to have about other people.”
“Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did.” Be kind to your neighbor, and often you will like and love him more. But if they do not reciprocate, or are openly hostile, love them anyway, and help them if you can. We always find it easier to love, or like, those who are courteous towards us. […]

Mere Morality and the Cardinal Virtues in CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Prudence, Temperance, and Justice
CS Lewis

Mere Morality and the Cardinal Virtues in CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Prudence, Temperance, and Justice

CS Lewis has “two bits of evidence that the Somebody,” whom we worship as the Almighty God, truly exists. “One is the universe he made.” “The other bit of evidence is that Moral Law which He has put into our minds. And this is a better bit of evidence than the other because it is inside information.” In the Judeo-Christian traditions, “we conclude that the Being behind the universe is intensely interested in right conduct: in fair play, unselfishness, courage, good faith, honesty and truthfulness.” […]

Good Friday, Easter, and the Trinity SMALL CS Lewis Mere Christianity, the Chronciles of Narnia, and St Augustine
CS Lewis

Good Friday, Easter, and Trinity: CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity, Narnia, & St Augustine’s Confessions

How can we make sense of Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday? CS Lewis proclaims, “The central Christian belief is that Christ’s death has somehow put us right with God and given us a fresh start.” “We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity.” CS Lewis discusses how atonement erases the stain of original sin from mankind, but he avoids using these Catholic-sounding words. […]

Was CS Lewis a Closet Catholic- Reflections on Mere Christianity
CS Lewis

Was CS Lewis a Closet Catholic? Reflections on his Mere Christianity

In the Preface, CS Lewis states that “the reader should be warned that I offer no help to anyone who is hesitating between two Christian denominations. You will not learn from me whether you ought to become an Anglican, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, or a Roman Catholic.” “There is no mystery of my own position. I am a very ordinary layman of the Church of England, not especially high, nor especially low, nor especially anything else.” He states he avoids discussions that divide, such as the controversies on the exact nature of the Virgin Mary, and avoiding topics like birth control. […]

Preparing the Way for Vatican II: CS Lewis' Mere Christianity
CS Lewis

Preparing the Way for Vatican II: CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity

CS Lewis did not wave the flag of ecumenicism, attending this conference or that on interfaith dialogues, but instead prepares the way, saying that what denominational creed you profess is less important than whether you truly believe the core Christian teaching of the two-fold Love of God and neighbor. This was the key change wrought by Vatican II, no longer did the Catholic Church believe you needed to be Catholic to be saved. Likewise, CS Lewis is against the notion that Catholics cannot be saved. […]