I want to finish Book 3 of Mere Christianity with a short discussion on Lewis’ view of faith. He devotes two chapters to the topic of faith. In 3:11, Lewis emphasizes that we need to understand faith on two levels. The first is simple: basic belief—“accepting or regarding as true the doctrines of Christianity.” Lewis argues that one can come to the conviction that the basic beliefs and doctrines of Christianity are true by the use of one’s reason.
I, for one, believe that Jesus rose from the dead. No, I cannot go back in time and “prove” it, but knowing what I know about the historical reliability of the four gospels, my reason has lead me to believe that happened. More than just facts, though, are what I consider to be the very reasonable worldview of the Christian faith. As I’ve studied other religions and worldviews, I am logically convinced that Christianity makes the most sense of the world and has the deepest insight into the nature of humanity.
That being said, though, Lewis points out that the real battle is not between “faith” and “reason,” but rather between “faith and reason” and “emotion and imagination.” What he means by this is what is considered the second level of faith: “Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” Lewis continues: “That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods ‘where they get off,’ you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently, one must train the habit of faith.”
Lewis’ insights into the two levels of faith is are really true. On one hand, if Christianity isn’t reasonably convincing, they don’t become a Christian. Back when I was in high school, I went through a crisis of faith, and it was my reading of Mere Christianity that logically convinced me that there was enough to Christianity to dive in and see where it took me. Now it’s true, there are some who will never accept the faith unless they have every single, solitary question answered to their satisfaction…but I’ve realized that 9 times out of 10, what they are demanding isn’t reasonableness, but iron-clad certainty. That, ironically, is unreasonable: it’s like refusing to marry someone unless you have 100% proof that they will never cheat on you or let you down. Nothing in life—not even stepping out in faith—is certain. But you take the step of faith on the reasonable conviction that the one you are giving your life over to is trustworthy.
This is where the second level of faith comes in. Most people I have known who have walked away from the Christian faith have not been “logically convinced” out of the faith. Again, 9 times out of 10 it seems that there is some underlying emotional hang-up or painful scar, or just laziness that lies at the heart of the walking away. If you leave faith at solely the first level (which is pretty much mental adherence to certain claims), then it’s almost inevitable that when experiences happen in which it would be more convenient not to hold to those beliefs, then you’re going to ditch those beliefs. Why? Because as Lewis states, it is essential to “train the habit of faith.”
Faith in a Higher Sense
Lewis ends 3:11 by talking about Faith in even a higher sense. He says that any true attempt to hold on to the Christian faith and to practice the Christian virtues will quickly get you to realize something: you’re not as good as you think you are. A true attempt to follow Christ will give you a fairly quick lesson in humility. This realization, Lewis says, is a good thing. It’s not a cause for despair. If you give into temptation, dust yourself off and keep trying—what you’ll find is that the more you resist, even if you give in from time to time, the stronger you will become.
Lewis states, “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it really is.” Bad people, Lewis says, don’t really know a lot about badness—they give in on a moment’s notice. Only good people, by virtue of resisting temptation and fighting against giving into badness, really understand the strength of badness and evil.
And we know about badness because even though we may resist, we inevitably give in from time to time and realize our own weakness. This too is a good thing. Why? Because, as Lewis states, we tend to have this idea about faith that it is like trying to pass an exam or making a bargain with God—as long as we do our part, God will be obligated to keep his end of the bargain! Well we don’t do our part; we fail….and yet God is still there to pick us up, dust us off, and strengthen us to keep going. Simply put, when we fail, we realize that faith isn’t like passing an exam or making a bargain with God. …and this leads to 3:12…
Faith and Works
What Lewis says in 3:12 really is an extension of how he ends 3:11. When we try to practice the Christian, when we fail and find God is still there, we realize that we can’t do it on our own efforts. But we don’t despair because we realize that God will remain faithful to us, even when we are unfaithful—and that realization gives us courage to get up and keep going. We still must work out our salvation—like any relationship, we must continue to work at it—but eventually the work is for different reasons.
We put our faith in God by obeying him, and doing what he says—if we didn’t do what he said, then we really wouldn’t be putting our faith in him or trusting him. We do those things, not in a worried way, thinking if we don’t do them perfectly, he’ll be angry and send us to hell. But rather, as Lewis says, we do them “in a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save [us] already.”
We do “Christian works” because we are being saved, and we are being saved because we are doing “Christian works.” Yes, this opens up the old question regarding “faith” and “works,” but Lewis will have none of it. You need both. Debating which one is more important is like debating which blade in a pair of scissors is most necessary. This really shouldn’t be that hard to realize. As in marriage, how do you show your faithfulness to your spouse? By doing things for him/her. And why do you do certain things for your spouse? Because you love that person and want to display your faithfulness to him/her. Why wouldn’t it be the same with our relationship with God?
In any case, Lewis says a little more about faith, but these are the main points. They’ve stuck with me for 30 years now. That’s why I still go to church even when I don’t feel like it—I’m training in the habit of faith. That’s why I still am a Christian, despite the emotional turmoil I’ve gone through at certain times in my life—I won’t let my faith be ruined by my changing moods…although, it certainly can be tough sometimes.
