Mere Christianity: 7 Helpful Quotes for Modern-Day Readers

I read Mere Christianity for the first time when I was in my late 40s. I don’t know why it took me so long. I love C.S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia are among my favorite books in the whole wide literary world.

I was late to the party, for sure. But once I read Mere Christianity, the non-fiction title Lewis is perhaps best known for, I felt like someone who had just discovered pizza and wanted everyone else to know about it.

The book is pure apologetics (as opposed to the spiritual memoir or self-help books that are so popular today). The author’s voice is clear and distinctive—very British, down-to-earth, unpretentious.

The material was first presented as a series of radio broadcasts during World War II. “Asked by the BBC to explain to his fellow Britons what Christians believe, C.S. Lewis proceeded with the task as if this were the simplest thing in the world, and also the most important,” Kathleen Norris writes in the foreword.

Lewis uses a bit of the military language the British public would have been familiar with at the time. But he also sprinkles in references to eggs (boiled and otherwise), electricity, cabbages, machinery and other everyday items as he covers topics ranging from time, moral law and the Trinity to marriage, pride and hope.

For example, when writing about the necessity of Christian growth, Lewis says this: “It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

He certainly had a way with words, didn’t he?

Lewis presents his explanation of Christianity in a logical, step-by-step way that resonated with my mind while also stirring my soul. When I read it again a few years later, I was struck by how relevant—even prophetic—it is 70 years after it was published.

The second time, a friend and I worked our way through the book using a study guide from the C.S. Lewis Institute. It was challenging, to say the least, but I was actually sorry when we got to the last page.

We all have different reading tastes, so not everyone will love—or even care to read—Mere Christianity. That said, if you’re a logical thinker—or simply someone hungering for a different perspective as you navigate our increasingly feelings-based culture—you might want to give it a try.

Whether or not you rush off to reserve Mere Christianity at your local library, take a minute to ponder a few of my favorite quotes from the book. Starting with …

• A surprising reason to believe in Christianity:

“Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed,” Lewis writes. “That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up.”

• How to find comfort:

“In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”

• One way Christians make unbelievers doubt Christianity:

“When we Christians behave badly, or fail to behave well, we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world,” Lewis says. “The war-time posters told us that Careless Talk costs Lives. It is equally true that Careless Lives cost Talk. Our careless lives set the outer world talking; and we give them grounds for talking in a way that throws doubt on the truth of Christianity itself.”

• How to love others:

“The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as though you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”

• What a humble person is like:

“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays,” Lewis explains. “He will not be a sort of smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.”

• On not putting other believers on pedestals:

“We must be thankful to all the people who have helped us, we must honour them and love them. But never, never pin your whole faith on any human being: not if he is the best and wisest in the whole world. There are lots of things you can do with sand: but do not try building a house on it.”

• On Christ’s return, and why we need to choose whose side we’re on now:

“God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to intervene openly and directly in our world quite realise what it will be like when He does,” Lewis writes. “When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else—something it never entered your head to conceive—comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left?

“For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature,” Lewis continues. “That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last for ever. We must take it or leave it.”

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Which of these excerpts resonated most with you? Or, if you’ve read Mere Christianity, feel free to share some of your own favorite quotes from the book.

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Recharge Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee and Grace & Truth.