My Top 10 (+2) Quotes by C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis was so instrumental in formulating my earliest understanding of Christianity that I still have a hundred or so C.S. Lewis quotes floating around my head (and on my computer). Although there is much I now disagree with Lewis about, I don't think I'd be able to arrive at that place of disagreement were it not for him (if you know what I mean). Well, then, here they are:
"The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a sunhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it."
"The Scotch catechism says that man's chief end is 'to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.' But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him."
"We may note in passing that Jesus was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met Him. He produced mainly three results---Hatred---Terror---Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild admiration."
"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling 'darkness' on the wall of his cell..."
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
"If you look upon ham and eggs and lust, you have already committed breakfast in your heart."
"Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed."
"Jesus Christ did not say, 'Go into the world and tell the world that it is quite right.’”
"Enemy-occupied territory-----that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign in sabotage."
"God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go either wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having."
"Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms."
"Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man."
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
"The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a sunhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it."
"The Scotch catechism says that man's chief end is 'to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.' But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him."
"We may note in passing that Jesus was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met Him. He produced mainly three results---Hatred---Terror---Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild admiration."
"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling 'darkness' on the wall of his cell..."
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
"If you look upon ham and eggs and lust, you have already committed breakfast in your heart."
"Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed."
"Jesus Christ did not say, 'Go into the world and tell the world that it is quite right.’”
"Enemy-occupied territory-----that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign in sabotage."
"God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go either wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having."
"Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms."
"Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man."
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
