‘What Christians Believe’ is a beautiful excerpt from C.S. Lewis’s book Mere Christianity dealing with the theology of Christianity. The purpose, as stated by Lewis in the title and first paragraph of this literary work, is to tell us what Christians believe. From the very first sentence and throughout the rest of the text he works on convincing and motivating his audience to believe in the truthfulness of the Christian belief, however against those beliefs they initially may have been. He knows what he knows is truth, and he is anxious to share that with his readers.
The central message from this excerpt is that Christianity holds key truths; God lives, we are his children, good triumphs over evil, Jesus is the Christ, and our lives should be spent with an attitude of devout discipleship.
Unlike most attempts to explain religion though, he addresses those of the world who are un-believing or doubting. He dissects the truths into a very analytical representation, so those who may look at religion with a more skeptical view find their questions met (whether they want to or not). He assumes that if a God does exist, and if the world could recognize it, all would want to choose the less simple, yet more ‘correct’ lifestyle. This may not be the case. There are many people I know who have had or still currently have truth, they are just to lazy to live by the standards to attain the joys of abiding by that truth. They settle for less than they deserve.
There were many examples of rhetoric throughout this piece using all three appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos. I will analyze one of each, though many examples are found throughout.
Ethos: “When I was an atheist… when I became Christian”. With these two phrases, C.S. Lewis is able to build is credibility on both extremes. Those who are religious will appeal to the fact that he is now a religious man, and will be willing to hear what he has to say. Those who are atheist will appeal to the fact that he was too. Both audiences are addressed, and feel comfortable knowing the writer is ‘one of them’.
Logos: “A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now 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. There is no other way.” By appealing to the logical side of religion, he appeals to both sides of his audience once more. Logic will build the faith of those whom already know and believe, and logic may also be the very thing that starts the faith of those who don’t believe. Not everything in religion is logical though, so C.S. Lewis explains, “if we ask for something more than simplicity, it is silly then to complain that the something more is not simple”. Something’s just aren’t simple…religion is one of them. There will have to be areas we are based on faith and spiritual witness alone.
Pathos: Appealing to a persons emotions in a paper about religion is just sort of inevitable. I believe that it is through his logical appeals C.S. Lewis finds the most strength in strumming each individual heart. (As truth is revealed, or made clear, the spirit will bless us with a confirmation. I believe that with all of my heart. The spirit, and our Father in heaven, are guiding our lives and if we will turn to them seeking for truth, we will receive).
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