Morality and C.S. Lewis

I just started “book” three of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I was intrigued with his discussion of morality.

“Morality, then, seems to be concerned with three things. Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals. Secondly, with what might be called tidying up or harmonizing the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for . . .You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society.”

His definition of morality intrigued me. He mentions how most people only concern themselves with the first point, which makes sense, and seem to forget the other two points. I decided to look up morality in the dictionary to see what the “standard” definition is.

morality, n, 1 a moral discourse, statement, or lesson 2 a doctrine or system of moral conduct 3 conformity to ideals of right human conduct 4 moral conduct

I quickly realized that I also needed to look up moral

moral, adj., 1 of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior 2 probable though not proved 3 having the effects of such on the mind, confidence, or will

First, I wonder where evolutionists say that our sense of right and wrong come from. I, of course, believe that our sense of right and wrong come from God who placed it in our hearts. With that understanding, Lewis’ description of morality makes sense. We would then want to have harmony within ourselves as well as harmony in what we were created for.

Second, I wonder if the reason why most people only concern themselves with the first aspect of morality is because it is easier to find faults in other people instead of ourselves. We see much clearer how someone else is not harmonizing with others than we can see how we are failing not only others but ourselves.

In our society, people are taught to find someone else to blame for any of their problems and that includes problems with their morality. They will blame it on their upbringing, on their lack of having everything, on their lack of love, etc. No one wants to take responsibility for their own actions and their own lack of morals. They don’t want to admit that they are struggling within themselves. They truly know what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior, but when they aren’t worried about harmony within themselves, they will convince themselves of the opposite because they think it will be more beneficial. If they were concerned with harmonizing with the general purpose of what man was created for, they wouldn’t be concerned with what was more beneficial for only them, but for others as well.

Our society has tried to create moral men by writing more and more laws. As Lewis states, that just isn’t going to work!  You can’t teach men morals by giving them laws to abide. If they don’t have morals in the first place, they aren’t going to care if they break any laws. In reality, they are already breaking the most important laws there are—God’s laws.

The current gun ban proposal is just the most recent example of trying to create moral men. Some people in government believe that if they just make it illegal to own guns, or even certain kinds of guns, that the US will be a safer place for all men. Don’t they realize that the same people who are already hurting people with guns are the same people who don’t care whether they break a law or not. Making another law for them to break (because they are already breaking laws), isn’t going to make them one day just change their minds into obeying the law! People have to have morals in the first place before they even agree to be law abiding citizens.

This discussion on morality will hopefully continue as I continue to read this book. I know that if it is something the Lord wants me to share, He’ll provide the words for me to write as well as the time to write them.