The theme of Chapter 7 is forgiveness,
central to Christian morality
One of the prayers that we learn from Jesus includes
asking God to forgive our sins
as we forgive those
who have sinned against us
Forgiveness is a crucial moral principle
because it plays a vital role in our relationship
with Jesus and with others
But we all know that
forgiving is hard
C.S. Lewis advises that we need to
hold onto this verse in order to forgive
'…You shall love your neighbor as yourself' [Matthew 22:39]
This is the verse
You love your neighbor as you love yourself
This means, looking at
how we love ourselves
tells us how we should
love our neighbors
We forgive ourselves too easily
We do not
like ourselves that much
Because we know about our own sins, flaws, weaknesses, and shortcomings,
not many people are in favor of themselves
We are against our own sins
We do not like the parts
of ourselves that have flaws
Despite this, we love ourselves
and forgive ourselves
out of that love
This is the principle
we need to apply for others
We do not forgive others out of our favor
If we love them,
we will be able to be in favor of them
It is not that
if we like that person, we can forgive them
and if we don't, we can't
Just as we forgive ourselves out of love,
we should do the same
in order to gain that love
towards our neighbors
Second, we are equipped with
what makes is harder for us to forgive,
which is insistence on seeing things negatively
When such a bias overtakes us,
we consider everything negatively,
even the good qualities
That is what happens inside of us
If we do not like something
about a particular person,
we keep that bias with us
This is the fearful tendency we have,
a fixed perspective or insistence
on a negative mindset
If we see a news
that assesses someone
as a bad person,
that judgment will
worsen as time passes
For a rumor that someone is not a good person,
we tend to take everything about that person
(Fixed Bias) overly critically
And this tendency
makes it hard for us to forgive
We take even things unrelated
to one's fault as equally bad
This gets in our way
towards forgiveness
When God orders us to love our neighbors,
forgiveness is included
To forgive our enemies
is to love and forgive them
It does not mean that there should be
no punishment for any wrongdoings
Here's Lewis' example
'To kill' and 'to murder' are different words in Greek
(Not all killings are murders) Sometimes,
there may be unavoidable consequences
in a society's punishment
For example, in a war
killing may be necessary
If one considers such actions as murder,
how can we
understand all these situations?
In some unavoidable cases,
punishment is possible for the wrongdoings
God also forgives our sins,
but we still have to pay the price for those sins.
The cost of sin and forgiveness are separate matters
Forgiving someone does not mean
waiving the penalty for their sin,
and this distinction should not be misunderstood
In the end,
we may not like ourselves
because of our sins and flaws
that are also our weaknesses,
we are still able to love ourselves
Likewise, we should
do the same to our neighbors
We are created by God,
as precious individual identities
'And walk in love' We must remember this command
'as Christ loved us...' [Ephesians 5:2] to love others,
just as we are commanded
to love God
and love ourselves
Therefore, forgiving others
is one of the core aspect of love
Mere Christianity Book 3 Christian Behavior
Chapter 8 The Great Sin
Chapter 8 is titled 'The Great Sin',
which is pride
Pride or self-conceit
is the ultimate evil
'Unchastity, anger, greed,
and drunkenness are mere
fleabites in comparison'
Pride is the complete anti-God state of mind,
which leads to every other vice
The proud
hates another's pride
Each person's pride is
in competition with
every one else's pride
The ceaseless internal comparison
comes from pride,
which leads to a hostile relationship
The comparison
that devastates me also creates
a hostile relationship with the one in comparison
The pride that constantly creates
a sense of comparison and hostility within us
arises because
we compare ourselves to God
The root of all pride is
comparing ourselves to God, an incomparable being
The devil, filled with pride, instilled the spirit of pride in us
Eating the fruit from the tree that God commanded not to eat,
we said, 'I will be like God'
This was the beginning of pride,
comparing with God,
wanting to compete with Him,
and ultimately becoming hostile towards God
The DNA of pride
is unimaginably deep
and its roots spread widely
Here is another quote by Lewis
'Pride does not come through our animal nature'
'It comes directly from Hell. It is purely spiritual'
'Consequently it is far more subtle and deadly'
Other sins and corruption
come through our senses
and human nature,
but pride is purely spiritual evil,
without our senses involved,
coming directly from hell,
and thus it
has a very dangerous poison.
Realizing and repenting
of the pride within oneself is
the first step toward
humility and salvation
In Chapter 9,
Lewis discusses the virtue of love or charity
Now, the three virtues of love, hope, and faith
are the three important keys to
the Christian virtues formed in us
through the gospel of Jesus Christ
The Apostle Paul said that faith, hope,
and love will always remain,
but the greatest of these is love
So, starting with love, and then moving on
to hope and faith, C.S. Lewis explains these three areas
as key Christian virtues
at the core of the Christian life
We will be looking at these three
in the next video
Chapter 7 Forgiveness
1. Like or Love?
Like → Love (X) Love → Like(O)
2. What Hinders Forgiveness?
Fixed and negative mindset (Bias to see the vice)
3. Love your enemies ≠ Never punish
Forgiveness and punishment are different
Chapter 8 The Great Sin
1. Pride: definition The ultimate evil
2. Pride: property 1) The anti-God state of mind
2) Leads to other vices
3. Starting Point of Pride
Comparing God with humans (Humans want to be God)
4. Realizing one's pride First step towards repentance, humility and salvation