Mere Christianity, Chapter 10
In this chapter, Lewis describes Christianity as the next step in evolution - that Christians have a new kind of life, passed on through baptism, belief, and Mass, the way physical human life is passed on through sex, pregnancy, and birth. Apparently, this superbiological entity (SBE) is not a metaphor. He states:
"This is not simply a way of saying that they are thinking about Christ or copying Him. They mean that Christ is actually operating through them; that the whole mass of Christians are the physical organism through which Christ acts - That we are His fingers and Muscles, the cells of His body. ... It is not merely the spreading of an idea; it is more like evolution - a biological or superbiological fact."
I was completely surprised to read this passage. I have to admit, I had always figured that when most people said that they were 'in the body of Christ' or 'had the spirit of Christ in them,' I understood it as they were thinking about Him or copying Him. If it is meant literally, that people believe that they are controlled by Christ the way I control my fingers, then that is a radical proposition.
If taken seriously, it raises some big questions:
1. If such things are possible, then how do we know that Christ is the only one?
2. Could there not me more, made of say, trees, animals, or natural elements?
3. Can these things overlap or recurse, meaning one organism can be part of multiple SBEs, or the individual parts of a SBE themselves be SBEs?
4. Doesn't this legitimize a Gaian perspective, where all life on earth is part of a similar entity as well?
5. Doesn't this blur the line with some forms of pantheism, because God is now present or acting directly in the physical realm?
6. How can there be free will if Christ drives your actions?
7. Does this justify 'religious darwinism,' or injustice to people 'not part of Christ' because they are 'less evolved'?
"This is not simply a way of saying that they are thinking about Christ or copying Him. They mean that Christ is actually operating through them; that the whole mass of Christians are the physical organism through which Christ acts - That we are His fingers and Muscles, the cells of His body. ... It is not merely the spreading of an idea; it is more like evolution - a biological or superbiological fact."
I was completely surprised to read this passage. I have to admit, I had always figured that when most people said that they were 'in the body of Christ' or 'had the spirit of Christ in them,' I understood it as they were thinking about Him or copying Him. If it is meant literally, that people believe that they are controlled by Christ the way I control my fingers, then that is a radical proposition.
If taken seriously, it raises some big questions:
1. If such things are possible, then how do we know that Christ is the only one?
2. Could there not me more, made of say, trees, animals, or natural elements?
3. Can these things overlap or recurse, meaning one organism can be part of multiple SBEs, or the individual parts of a SBE themselves be SBEs?
4. Doesn't this legitimize a Gaian perspective, where all life on earth is part of a similar entity as well?
5. Doesn't this blur the line with some forms of pantheism, because God is now present or acting directly in the physical realm?
6. How can there be free will if Christ drives your actions?
7. Does this justify 'religious darwinism,' or injustice to people 'not part of Christ' because they are 'less evolved'?
posted by Me at 6:24 PM
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