Rival Notions Of God By C. S. Lewis

“I have been asked to tell you what Christians believe, and I am going to begin by telling you one thing that Christians do not believe” (Lewis 35). This quote from C.S. Lewis opens The Rival Conceptions of God, the first chapter of the second book of Mere Christianity. Why would Lewis, a former Atheist, be discussing what Christians believe? Why would Lewis begin his chapter this way? Lewis also gives an answer to the all-important question – if God is good, why has the world gone wrong?

Why would C.S. Lewis be discussing what Christians believe? How could a former Atheist possibly be able to explain a Christian’s faith? Lewis actually answered this question himself. Unfortunately, this answer was removed when his talks were drafted

There are perhaps many reasons for this, the most noticeable being that he simply wanted to inform the reader or listener of what they were “getting themselves into.” After all, giving both and allowing someone to form their own opinion should be the way someone presents an argument or situation. Lewis writes that atheists must believe that the central points of all the world’s religions are simply wrong. Christians, on the other hand, are not required to believe the same way. They have the freedom to believe that other religions hold at least some bit of truth. However, Christians must believe that Christianity is correct when it differs from another religion. In all of this, why should someone even compare Christianity to other religions? In a comparison, one can see how much more Christianity has to offer than other religions. It can be seen that Christianity holds a personal, loving, merciful God, but also a God who is just, right, and strong. In order to truly see why Christianity is the most logical and fulfilling, one must see it alongside other belief systems and understand what Christians do not

This question has plagued many a mind. Why do things such as war, famine, and death exist in the world? If God really cared about the state of the earth, would He not intervene? To answer this question, Lewis writes, one must first have a standard by which to judge right and wrong. Lewis insists that beliefs like those held in atheism do not have a standard by which to judge. “A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line” (Lewis 38). In his time as an atheist, Lewis continued trying to prove that God did not exist by discussing the wrong in the world. He soon realized that he actually proved that God indeed does exist. If the world truly held no meaning, man would not be able to discover that it had no meaning. If no light existed in the universe and there were no creatures with eyes, man would never know that dark existed. Because God loves His creation, He gave mankind a free will. As Lewis wrote earlier in Mere Christianity, God knew that man would never be happy if he was forced to love God. As a result, God gave mankind a choice. Unfortunately, the same will to do good, though it can be very good, can also be a will to do wrong. Just as the good can be great, the wrong can also be very wrong. Injustice does exist in the world and the world has indeed gone wrong, Lewis concludes, but that injustice provides no grounds to disprove the existence of