Letters On Living The Faith – C S Lewis

Also, you know it all better than I do. I should in your place be (I have in similar places been) far more panic-stricken and even perhaps rebellious. For it is a dreadful truth that the state of (as you say) “having to depend solely on God” is what we all dread most. And of course that just shows how very much, how almost exclusively, we have been depending on things. But trouble goes so far back in our lives and is now so deeply ingrained, we will not turn to Him as long as He leaves us anything else to turn to.

I suppose all one can say is that it was bound to come. In the hour of death and the day of judgment, what else shall we have? Perhaps when those moments come, they will feel happiest who have been forced (however unwittingly) to begin practicing it here on earth. It is good of Him to force us; but dear me, how hard to feel that it is good at the time. The vast commercial drive called “Xmas” To Father Peter Milward December 17, Christmas cards in general and the whole vast commercial drive called “Xmas” are one of my pet abominations: I wish they could die away and leave the Christian feast unentangled.

Not of course that even secular festivities are, on their own level, an evil: but the labored and organized jollity of this—the spurious childlikeness—the half-hearted and sometimes rather profane attempts to keep up some superficial connection with the Nativity—are disgusting. In praise of Russian Orthodox services To Mrs. Johnson March 13, 1956 Let’s go on disagreeing but don’t let us judge.

What doesn’t suit us may suit possible converts of a different type.

About C. S. Lewis About the Editor at Large Also by C. S. Lewis Copyright About the Publisher OceanofPDF.com C. S. Lewis as a Mentor by Mail Lewis wrote nearly forty books in his lifetime, and one might think he would have little time left over for private correspondence. But actually Lewis’s letters fill three sizable volumes of more than 3,500 pages.* Many of these letters, of course, are addressed to people Lewis knew personally. But a remarkable portion of the letters were written to complete strangers, including many Americans, who sent in questions after reading one of Lewis’s books or hearing him on the radio.

In his later years, letter writing became an onerous task for Lewis. In one missive, Lewis notes that he had sent out thirty-five letters that day. In another, he confesses, a bit wearily, that he had just spent nine hours catching up on his correspondence. Yet for Lewis, responding to letters, even from children, was not just a courtesy; it was a part of his vocation as a writer.

Noting to one friend that many of those who wrote him were “in great need of help and often in great misery,” Lewis felt it an obligation and a form of ministry to respond to so many of those who sought his advice and counsel. Having spent much of his early adulthood as an atheist, Lewis was especially attentive in replying to readers with theological questions. To one inquirer who asked him, “What is a soul?” Lewis responded succinctly, “I am.” Then he explained further, “A soul is that which can say, ‘I am.’” On the question of free will vs. determinism, Lewis agreed that it was indeed a perennial paradox.

But he noted that physicists had a similar problem in trying to find models for light, which seems to behave both as a series of waves and as a stream of particles. Lewis felt that if scientists couldn’t solve basic riddles about the nature of the created universe, then it was only to be expected that there would be even more perplexing questions about its Creator. On the practical level, Lewis suggested that we assume determinism for other people, that their characters are fixed beyond our power to change them, while adopting a freewill approach for ourselves, believing that we do have the power to make better choices.

Lewis also devoted a great many letters to questions that arise on individual faith journeys. To several seekers he suggested that they adopt an attitude of “cheerful curiosity,” not trying to force themselves to decide whether to believe or disbelieve. To one inquirer, Lewis offered the illustration of someone rowing a boat.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 57c54f3b5c4ca5bd
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 3,532,348 bytes (3.369 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 235
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 228.4 minutes
• Total Words: 45,679
• Total Characters: 250,998
• Average Words per Page: 194.38
• Average Characters per Page: 1068.08

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