Day 12 - Man or Rabbit?

10 Ways to Starting a Healthier, Better Life (New York Times #1 Bestseller). I'm sure most of you have come across books with as appealing titles as this (including the shiny 'New York Times Bestseller' words shining on the bottom). Christians or non-Christians alike want some sort of life that will maximize their happiness during their daily lives on earth while maintaining that "good" status. In other words, we all want to find some kind of common ground because of our uncertainty of the afterlife. In C.S Lewis' article "Man or Rabbit", he lays down a strict line between the non-Christians who make "honest errors" and those who make "dishonest errors". For example, people like Socrates sought many different aspects in life to search for the "ultimate good" in life. He died not knowing the good Word of Christ. C.S Lewis mentions about people like Socrates, stating:

"If their intentions were as good as I suppose them to have been (for of course I can't read their secret hearts) I hope and believe that the skill and mercy of God will remedy the evils which their ignorance, left to itself, would naturally produce both for them and for those whom they influenced."

But there are people who make "dishonest errors" - C.S Lewis exclaims:

"To such a main it might be enough to reply that he is really asking to be allowed to get on with being 'good' before he has done his best to discover what good means."

There are some good examples stated in the text that expands upon this idea. One good example follows:

"But to evade the Son of Man, to look the other way, to pretend you haven't noticed, to become suddenly absorbed in something on the other side of the street, to leave the receiver off the telephone because it might be He who was ringing up, to leave unopened certain letters in a strange handwriting because they might be from Him - this is a different matter."

For those who make this "dishonest error", it seems like the important point of missing from their minds. C.S Lewis states that "mere morality" the end of life. As Christians, there is simply so much more in life than living a good, moral life and then dying with a good conscience. He states: "But the Divine Life, which gives itself to us and which calls us to be gods, intends for us something in which morality will be swallowed up."

We cannot live a "good life" without Christ, C.S Lewis states. When hiking the steep, treacherous mountain of morality, we cannot do it on our own. Once our heavy ropes and axes are blown away by the cold wind, the rest is a matter of flying with our God-given wings.