Emphasis mine:
Incredible. I literally just got up from reading the chapter on “The Three Parts of Morality” from Lewis’
Mere Christianity, and then I log on to CAF to encounter this post.
There truly is nothing new under the sun.
A short excerpt:
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 harmonising the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for: what course the whole fleet ought to be on: what tune the conductor of the band wants it to play.
You may have noticed that modern people are nearly always thinking about the first thing and forgetting the other two. When people say in the newspapers that we are striving for Christian moral standards, they usually mean that we are striving for kindness and fair play between nations, and classes, and individuals; that is, they are thinking only of the first thing. **When a man says about something he wants to do, ‘It can’t be wrong because it doesn’t do anyone else any harm,’ he is thinking only of the first thing. He is thinking it does not matter what his ship is like inside provided that he does not run into the next ship. **And it is quite natural, when we start thinking about morality, to begin with the first thing, with social relations. For one thing, the results of bad morality in that sphere are so obvious and press on us every day: war and poverty and graft and lies and shoddy work. And also, as long as you stick to the first thing, there is very little disagreement about morality. Almost all people at all times have agreed (in theory) that human beings ought to be honest and kind and helpful to one another. But though it is natural to begin with all that, if our thinking about morality stops there, we might just as well not have thought at all. Unless we go on to the second thing - the tidying up inside each human being - we are only deceiving ourselves.
Have a look; here’s a link to the entire chapter:
philosophyforlife.com/mc11.htm
For those who have never read
Mere Christianity, you’re truly missing something wonderful; it’s worth a trip to the library or bookstore to find this one!
On a final note, I can’t believe that anyone is seriously suggesting that acceptable moral behavior is determined by “common actions … which are commonly practiced and not a problem to virtually all other mainstream denominations.” 1234, if this was not your intent, please clarify; however, as it stands, your argument is little more than a grown-up version of “but all the other kids are doing it!”
I am sorry that you felt like you never knew Jesus…I mean once you have Jesus in your life you never want to go back to the way it was before. But I did not have Jesus in my life the way I have him now…not when I was in another faith. I never learned all that I know now. I am afraid that I do know that one of the unforgiven sins is to turn from God and never to take him back…it is the dreaded hell opening and not God’s hand but hell.There is no saving grace outside of Jesus and the Father. I think I can tell you pretty clearly that you did not come from a plant!