Deconstruction and Mere Christianity

Hello, Friends!

This seems like a good time for a discussion about Deconstruction and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

Truly, this is a must read for steadfast believers, the unsure and curious nonbelievers alike.

As our world continues to spin faster and faster out of control, I take great comfort in the fact that my God is still in charge. None of this is a surprise to Him and even though evil runs rampant, good will triumph in the end.

Are you like me, trying to stay in your own lane and not fall into the manipulation schemes of whatever kooks are in charge? So many people’s chains are being jerked To and FRO by the talking heads who probably wouldn’t know the truth if it came up and said hello.

I miss the days when people thought lying was a sin and something to be avoided. Now, the father of lies has people so mixed up they don’t even know right from wrong or up from down. When truth is thrown out the window, I guess we get what we’ve got.

God help us.

Deconstruction

In the midst of the events of the last 2+ years there has been a lot of discussion about people who are deconstructing their faith. I’m not exactly sure what this all means, but I’ve been doing some thinking about it.

As many of you know, I have been interviewing mainly female believers for the last couple of years in our facebook group, Morning Exhale. I enjoy these interviews so much and learn a ton from everyone I talked to.

One of the questions I like to ask everyone is, “When did your faith become your own?”

I love listening to people share what happened to turn their faith from religion to relationship.

Sidebar: Want to join us? Here is the link Morning Exhale

In my opinion, that move from religion to relationship often involves deconstructing and the MOST important part, reconstructing one’s beliefs.

My Story

For me, that began early on in our marriage and took several years to get through. Of course, society was much different then and most people were church goers. I never stopped attending church during this time of basically “checking out”, but I wasn’t very serious about allowing sanctification. I probably didn’t even know what it meant.

Good girls went to church on Sunday and I was a good girl. So, I went to church.

My theology became VERY IMPORTANT to me when Brady came along and Brad and I decided to quit messing around and get serious about Jesus. He wanted to attend a church like he grew up in, and that wasn’t my first choice.

This led to much wailing and gnashing of teeth on my part.

Funny thing, Brad doesn’t remember it being nearly as dramatic as I do. Probably because much of the drama took place in my own brain. Our brains are very good at dishing up drama. ( Now that I understand how much power our thoughts have, I wonder how differently I would have handled all that if I’d known about the Creation Cycle. But that is for another post.)

Due to extenuating circumstances, Brad won the contest for several years, and then we BOTH began to question a lot of things. I won’t go into all the details in this post but we both went through a faith struggle, got into the WORD in a deeper way, trying to see for ourselves what was being taught without the filters of previous teaching and other’s opinions.

Holy Spirit did a work in both of us and we bravely took a step that was very unpopular with people that we cared deeply about.

Those sad, hard, difficult days were a big PIVOT in our faith journey. All I can say about that is it is an UNSPEAKABLE BLESSING when a husband and wife are on the same page and both want Jesus most.

God has been reconstructing my faith ever since. And I am so grateful. I don’t think the journey ever ends and I am here for knowing Jesus more and more and grabbing your hand to join me if you are ready and willing.

Are you?

If not, if you are still in the questioning and doubting stage, I beg you to read Mere Christianity.

Mere Christianity

I bought this book a long time ago and just never had the gumption to read it (the cover was unappealing and I am all about appealing book covers) until gobbling up The Great Divorce, also by C.S. Lewis. That book was a game changer for me and put a fire in me to read more of Lewis. Here is my book review of it. The Great Divorce

The irony isn’t lost on me that I am writing this book report while the world burns. Again.

Written during World War 2,  the parallels of that time and today are astounding. I love historical fiction and have read many, many books set in that time period and always assumed mankind had learned its lesson and these atrocities would never happen again.

How in the world have we let our world get into such a mess again? Aren’t we better than this?

Lewis originally wrote these words as radio essays for the airwaves of England, but they stood the test of time and offer so much hope.

Mere Christianity did not disappoint. I absolutely LOVED it. Lewis takes very complicated concepts and explains them in a way that makes total sense.  I don’t have the brain power to dissect these ideas, but C. S. Lewis can. And did.

What a thinker!

The end result for me?  More trust than ever in Christ’s sacrifice for my sin, a stronger desire to live the life He has purposed for me, and an eagerness to tell others about Jesus Christ.

Anyone who denies the deity of Jesus and turns his back on the free gift of salvation is missing out on the very best. We are making a drastic mistake if we choose the artificial, lesser pleasure of this world when we could have the supreme BEST.

Woohoo!

Prepare to Read Mere Christianity

This book is chockful of amazingly deep quotes but yet written in a way that makes understandable very deep subjects. And it is written in a way that draws the reader in and makes one think. You will be smarter when you are done reading this. I promise.

Sidebar: Have you watched Inventing Anna on Netflix? We just finished it and it was a perfect parable explaining why so many people are floundering around with more money than they can spend and less joy than they had 20 years ago. Another reason to read Mere Christianity.

Grab your highlighter and pencil because I promise you that this will be a book you mark up. I took notes, underlined, starred, turned down corners. Also, I read at least one chapter multiple times-the chapter I want to focus on in another blogpost.

That chapter was all about pride.

Yeeks and blech.

Quotes to Ponder

You know I love a good list, so I will share some of my favorite quotes from the book in list form.

One:

“Christianity is a way of life, one that challenges us always to remember, as Lewis once stated, that “there are no ordinary people” and that it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit.”

How differently would we treat one another if we truly believed everyone is immortal and made in the image of God? And we are.

Two:

“The law of gravity tells you what stones do if you drop them; but the Law of Human Nature or the Law of Right and Wrong, tells you what human beings ought to do and do not.”

I bet you experience this every day, just like I do. I know what I want to do, what I should do, but yet I don’t do it, or don’t want to.

Three:

“God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on.”

And that, my friends, is why we have so many people obsessed with sugar, alcohol, fentanyl, money, gambling, pornography and every other vice appealing to our false selves. People are searching for something to fill what is lacking.

We are created for so MUCH MORE.

Four:

“You cannot make men good by law; and without good men you cannot have a good society.”

Of course, Lewis speaks of mankind-male and female. This quote really rings true to me after a recent experience. Dad has been in the hospital a couple of times recently, in our local hospital and in a bigger regional one. Both hospitals have signs all over the place warning that violence will not be tolerated.

What? Why? 

I asked a tech in the ER if they had a lot of trouble with violence and he said, “Yes, but the people who commit it don’t care what the sign says.”

And there you go.

Five

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

I love this one because I know there is nothing like a holiday at sea. Why do we settle for the counterfeit pleasures when we can experience eternal abundance? Please look at the list of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galations? Who doesn’t want that?

Can I sweet boss you into reading this book? I sure hope so. I truly think it could be a game changer.

And then come tell me how you were impacted!