Welcome to Gaia! ::

Read "Mere Christianity" and loved it. I suggest any C.S. Lewis book to everyone. I would also suggest Pope John Paul II book "Theology of The Body." It is quite hefty reading. But this is (in my opinion) the definitive answer to sexuality. He bases everything on the relationship of Adam&Eve and goes from there showing that love is more then what we think. Revealing the divine plan behind marriage and so on.

Oh man, you have no idea how prolific of a writer Pope John Paul II was eek xd I've barely begun to get through the prologue. That's how long it is! 663 pages sweatdrop Here is a good site that digests it better then I could at the stage I am in my own reading sweatdrop A good quote from said site


As for C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity." His original intent was simply to “explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.” Mere Christianity’s vast appeal lies in its rejection of the boundaries that divide the church’s many denominations. Its uncompromising focus throughout is the centrality of Jesus Christ—his life, death, resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

He makes a clear distinction between the essentials and non­essentials of historic Christian orthodoxy, re-focuses believers who have unwittingly drifted to the left or right and provides a powerful witness to those outside the faith. His book is a beautiful expression of the old Christian guiding principle, “In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, and in all things love.”

Lewis, a converted atheist, establishes our common ground as believers in our faith in Jesus Christ. He pulls no punches when he speaks about the Author and Finisher of our salvation: “I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’... A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic … or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse.”

This was a revelation to me. He was right on the mark in saying that Jesus was either God or a madman. You just can't say that He was just a good man with nice ideas. Jesus claimed to be God! If someone today where to teach good ideas and/or morals, but at the same time claim to be God, would people forget about that or say that he was nuts? This is a very important fact. Because you can't hold that He was just a prophet, as Islam claims, when His own claims were that of being that of being The One True Almighty God!

oh no the Prologue isn't 663 pages sweatdrop mybad. I should have phrased that batter. The whole book is 663 pages. But the prologue it self is quite prolific, I have to read it a couple of times to really get the full sense. It's a real joy.

I just found a good video review of the book here.

C S Lewis' writings are excellent, I think. I've got The Great Divorce, the Pilgrim's Regress and the Screwtape Letters. The best thing, I think, is that he is a theologically aware writer who writes in normal English and makes things easy to understand.

The only thing of his I didn't like was the Trilemma you mentioned - which I don't think "works". There are other options than Lord, liar or demon. That said it is an interesting idea.

Hey Beth,
The other options are that Jesus was a good man who was mistaken about his identity, that the teachings of Jesus were good, but altered by later writers to include the messiah-ship/Godhood. There are probably others but that is what springs to mind.