What Lies Behind The Law

In this chapter CS Lewis talks about why we should follow the moral law. He tells us that we simply are told to follow this moral law. One might think that they have no reason to try and benefit society unless it specifically benefits themselves. this is a big reason why many do not follow the moral law. They find that they might not recieve personal gain in doing so. Then there is no incentive. Why do something thats difficult for nothing? The answer given by CS Lewis is that we are simply told to do so. We are told to follow this moral law and we should, especially if we believe the world was created by a higher being. When we bring religion into the picture we have so much more responsibility. As Christians we are called by God to follow the moral law. We are called to act in accordance with what is best for society. There is no guarantee of personal gain here on earth, but we have already been promised eternal life. the least we can do is follow him faithfully. When we live in accordance with God's law we find that our lives are better than when we don't. Living according to God's law is hard, but worth it. But even if we didn't recieve the promise of personal gain we should simply live according to the moral law because we are commanded to do so.

The Reality Of The Law

This chapter explains how the moral law is an actual thing instead of something just made up by ourselves. CS Lewis writes that each man considers others to be doing decent things when it benefits himself. He shows how when you go to the train station and someone else takes the seat you wanted you are irritated by that because the action did not benefit you. Here he establishes that we consider good things that benefit ourselves. He goes on to say that what would be good is something that benefits the society as a whole. If it benefits everyone it is good. From here he goes on to explain how this shows that the moral law is an actual thing because it is something that doesn't simply model behavior. When you drop a rock it falls. That is called gravity. CS Lewis states that the rock can't simply think, "Oh I have to fall because those are my orders!" He states that the law of gravity is just simply something it does. When it comes to the moral law we know that men should be unselfish, for example, but this can't be based off of something we simply do because a lot of men don't. there are a lot of people that disobey this law everyday, but it is still included in the moral law. This shows that the moral law is not something made by man off of his observations like the law of nature is. It is something more that comes from something greater rooted within us. That is how we know it is good to be unselfish even though so many people are not. The goodness of the moral law is above human creation and observation.

Some Objections

This chapter explains what the Moral law is. It takes us through the logic of separating the moral law from a simple instinct. CS Lewis states that the instincts we have guide us through the moral law but instinct is not our moral law. He gives the example of a musical tune and how the moral law represents the tune. It tells us at whichever time which note is right to play and which note is not. Our instincts are guided along this tune. The tune we are supposed to play helps us by guiding our instincts so that we can make the song that we are supposed to play. Without our instincts it would be unable to know what is right or wrong. Without the moral law we would not have these instinctual desires. The moral law is not an instinct and CS Lewis makes this very clear. This helps us understand a bit of why we each know in our hearts that kiloling is wrong or that stealing is wrong. Our instincts are following a higher power instead of each one individual's personal instincts.

Law of Human nature

this chapter talked about the moral law being a standard. It talked about how every one knows certian things to be wiithin the moral law and certian things are immoral. One of the big things we discussed is whether the moral law is above God or not. Some stated that God did not create the moral law, otherwise everything he did would be considered moral. This could cause problems because then God could actually not be very moral at all, but he is just the only standard by which we can judge the morality of things. According to the Bible, God acts within the moral law. He is holy, and cannot sin. another interesting thing though is that in the Bible it does say that God created the law. The issue comes when you think about how can we know God to be holy if he can do anything he wants and it would be considered morally right. I personally believe that God created the moral law and told us what was right and what was wrong. That way we could see that there are no contradictions, and that God acts within this moral law. Its hard though to know the truth because it is true that Cain was charged before the law was made. God also destroyed the earth with a flood because of it's sin before the law was made. So is the moral law above God? I don't know to be honest with you. If it is then where did it come from? who decides whether this is right or wrong. Are we saying that god is not the ultimate authority? Maybe we'll know when we meet him in heaven. He'll have eternity to explain it.

guest speaker

The other day we had a guest speaker come in. He talked to us about not wasting our time here at calvin on things like schoolowork and studying. He told us how his GPA his first semester wasincredible but all he did was sit in his room and do homework. He said it was really great to get out and hang out with friends. He say the benefits of it and encouraged us to do the same. He told us not to waste our lives on our schoolwork. He showed us countless of activities we could do to get to know people and get involved with thepeople around you. He also told us not to forgat about God. We are farthest from God when we pour our lives into other things. He encouraged us to go to chapel, go to loft, and be involved in a church community. He told us that Calvin is one of the few schools that has those kinds of oppertunities. He encouraged us to take advantage of those oppertunities and go to those things. They can only be benefitial.