C. S. Lewis observed, "You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit 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 up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to" (Mere Christianity [Macmillan, 1952], pp. 40-41).
2007-03-10 03:17:38 · 16 answers · asked by lindakflowers 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Lewis is one of the best "modern" authors on Christianity.
Look at the answers you have recieved and you will see that they do indeed fall in these catagories. But, to say he was a great human teacher means they missed the point.
He called himself the son of God. He said that unless you believe in me and my message you will not enter heaven. He said you should follow me and do as I command and you will see the kingdom of God.
Now these are not sayings of a great human teacher. True he did say many other things that fall in this area, but they flow from the points above. So you must address all points of Jesus as a whole and not pick and choose what you like.
So in taking him at his whole you must say "what a fool to equate himself as God's son or to think he is THE way the truth and the light."
Or only a demonic son of hell would dare make such claims and is speaking blasphemy's worthy of death.
Finally, you can believe and fall at his feet and cry out "Hosanna in the Highest!"
2007-03-10 03:50:08 · answer #1 · answered by crimthann69 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Christ presents to us an unsolvable problem, unless we admit Him to be more than man, the eternal Son of God.
C. S. Lewis has summed up the options that we have as well as anyone, in Mere Christianity: in the statement you quoted.
2007-03-10 03:28:53 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
A writer may actually be using some of his life's lessons as a frame of reference, in which case any writers' ideals would reflect just how broad he or she views life and how he or she reacts to given situations or people at any given point of time. We cannot take it against him if he feels this way or if he was candidly criticizing those people who insist on being too know-it-all. In any case, he's the only one who can tell, right? It's a free country. The danger of being quoted is that sometimes, any persons' point of view can always be taken out of context.
2007-03-10 04:08:52 · answer #3 · answered by Kittsangel 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think it's an awesome quote.
I wonder why others wish you would quote someone else...is it because they don't have a way of refuting what he said? That is likely, because what he said was true.
Your question (and the responses that follow) really demonstrates the difference between a relativist's world view, and an absolutist's. They look for loopholes, we just agree with the absolute statement.
2007-03-10 03:23:30 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
An absolute brilliant argument. Nobody claims to be the son of God who isnt, that does not make you a good teacher.
2007-03-10 03:37:47 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If he really knew who Jesus is, he wouldn´t be saying that. Jesus is not a great human teacher? Then, who in his opinon is a "great human teacher". Jesus was lot more than that, He is our saviour, not just another one among us.
Take care.
2007-03-10 03:27:55 · answer #6 · answered by Yanya Yanyitus de Yanhoos 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
CS Lewis is a great man who was once an atheist and converted to Christian. He is in a better hell than atheist.
2007-03-10 03:27:23 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
anybody can say anything they like about him but all me i know is He is the Omnipotent , I am that I am, he that is he who is yet to come, the only way truth and life, just name it he is too great no-man can be compare with him.
2007-03-10 03:30:06 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm getting tired of wannabe apologists quoting Lewis. He was a brilliant man, but branch out to other writers, will you?
2007-03-10 03:21:06 · answer #9 · answered by ? 4 · 1⤊ 3⤋
I agree, Jesus was a great teacher. He was NOT the son of God, however. Unfortunately, his true message was altered by men who desired to control the masses. Most people follow Paulianity, not Jesus.
2007-03-10 03:26:13 · answer #10 · answered by Gorgeoustxwoman2013 7 · 1⤊ 5⤋