Chapter 5 states humanity’s entangled mire
That is why its title is called
'We Have Cause to be Uneasy'
So there is a cause
Why is humanity uneasy?
C.S. Lewis explains that it is because
humanity cannot live according to the Law of Human Nature as it ought to
This law presses upon us from within
There exists ‘One’ behind the universe
who created everything,
made humanity, and placed this law within us
Yet, up to this point,
Lewis refrains from referring to a Christian God
instead referring only to
'something behind the universe’
or ‘something above humanity'
This approach stirs curiosity
and fosters a more objective view of God
This is
an inductive method
The deductive method begins with conclusions
like ‘Christian God exists’ or ‘This is the God's way,’
and then proceeds to explain further
In an atheistic society, or at a time
with the rise of evolution and materialistic thinking,
it’s understandable to think
that introducing
one’s belief in God directly
may not be effective
In Chapter 5, he reminds us once again
of the evidence for this ‘being behind it all'
First is the universe that this being created
When we look at the universe,
the being behind it appears as an awe-inspiring artist,
but if the universe is our only clue,
this being may also seem terrifying
From afar, the sea is beautiful,
but dive into its deep waters,
and it fills us with fear and dread
When we look at the stars, we call them beautiful,
but if we were to go up there in a spacecraft,
we’d feel only fear and anxiety about falling
Therefore, the universe is an object of beauty for us,
but also one of immense fear and dread
The universe alone cannot reveal the nature of the being
who created the Law of Human Nature that presses upon us
Thus, beyond the universe, there is further evidence
he Moral Law placed within humanity, within our very minds
By examining our inner selves,
we can understand something in nature
of the One who set the ‘Law of Human Nature'
that presses upon us
So what is this unease upon humanity?
It is the burden, responsibility, guilt, and anguish
felt due to the Moral Law placed upon us
It's an unease felt when we are not in the right
So in Chapter 5,
unlike 'The Law of Human Nature' up until Chapter 4,
Chapter 5 uses the word 'Moral Law'
The Moral Law is very harsh on humanity,
as Lewis puts,
'There is nothing indulgent about the Moral Law. It is as hard as nails'
'It tells you to do the straight thing and it does not seem to care
how painful, or dangerous, or difficult it is to do'
'If it is pure impersonal mind,
there may be no sense in asking it
to make allowances for you or let you off'
We are ordered to do the straight thing,
and despite the difficulty,
this being does not care
And to this impersonal being,
asking to let one off will make no sense
And, Lewis is yet to use
the biblical name of God for this being
'You know at bottom that unless the power behind the world
really and unalterably detests that sort of behavior,
then He cannot be good'
Therefore, the being behind the universe,
who created humanity and gave us this Law,
must be an absolutely good being
People think it would be pleasant to stand before an absolutely good being,
but that is not the case
It is a 'great danger'
that makes our case 'hopeless'
The absolutely ‘Good Being’ created the universe,
and because this ‘Good Being’ is all-powerful,
the universe exists
Because this Being is absolutely good,
He implanted within us the Moral Law
that dictates how we ought to act
Therefore, for humans who fail to live rightly,
standing before the absolutely good Being
is an absolutely terrifying prospect
Here, Lewis talks about the Christian God for the first time
[Absolutely Good Creator] The being behind it all
can only be the Lord God
The God revealed in the Bible is
not only the Creator of heaven and earth and omnipotent,
but also the one who demands the Moral Law,
or the Law of Right and Wrong
The Bible presents Him as an absolutely good being
Here, C.S. Lewis connects his argument thus far
to the God of the Bible as its foundation
And he continues,
'God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror,
the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from'
'He is our only possible ally,
and we have made ourselves His enemies'
'Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun'
'They are still only playing with religion'
'There is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law,
and that you have broken that law
and put your self wrong with that Power'
'It is after all this that Christianity begins to talk'
'When you know you are sick, you will listen to the doctor'
'When you have realized that our position is nearly desperate
you will begin to understand what the Christians are talking about'
'All I am doing is to ask people to face the facts,
the questions which Christianity claims to answer'
'It is no use at all trying to go on
without first going through that dismay (at the facts)'
This is the key conclusion C.S. Lewis has been driving at
in all the chapters of Book 1
'Comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it'
'If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end'
Thus, to find comfort, one must first look for truth
'If you look for comfort (without facing the facts),
you will not get either comfort or truth,
but only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with
and, in the end, despair'
Ultimately, C.S. Lewis urges us to face the truth
that we must confront
Book 1 explains that we must acknowledge the foundational truths
behind the biblical story
In Book 1, C.S. Lewis discussed the Law of Right and Wrong
and explained the absolutely good God
Why is this work important?
If an absolutely good being exists,
so does an absolute truth in the world
A defining feature of today’s postmodern era is
the belief that there is no absolute truth
It relativizes everything
Each person’s claim is seen as an individual truth
However, in the time C.S. Lewis lived,
perhaps at the start of postmodernism,
he must've to seen this shift intuitively
Thus, he explains that there is an ‘absolute truth,’
a standard humans ought to follow,
and that humanity has failed
to reach this truth
In the following Book 2,
Lewis explains what Christians believe
Thus, Book 1 served as preliminary groundwork
before presenting Christianity’s core truths
So, before explaining ‘what to believe’ apologetically,
Book 1 addresses ‘why' we should believe,
and in Book 2, Lewis will explain the central truths
that Christians are called to believe
Chapter 5: What Lies Behind the Law
1. Evidence for the Being Behind the Law
1) The Universe He Created Contains both beauty and fear
Does not fully explain the being behind it
2) The Moral Law within Our Minds Humans possess the internal knowledge
2. The Being Behind the Universe and Moral Law (God)
An absolutely good being Creator of the universe and the Moral Law