C.S. Lewis and His Friends

Maybe three times in the last four weeks, I have used something C. S. Lewis said as an example or explanation. This is all the more remarkable because while once upon a time I practically promoted Mr. Lewis to near-god status, he and I have fallen out of favor in the last few years. I guess it would be more accurate to say he had fallen out of favor with me, as he has been dead some 40 years now and could give a rip about me.

In any event, of late, I have began thinking more about what he had to say and finding myself in agreement with some of it, or at least what I remembered of it.  So, I dug out my old, battered and dog eared copy of Mere Christianity and began reading it again .

The jury is still out on whether Mr. Lewis and I will become friends again, but one thing is certain: Reading C. S. Lewis in public will make you more friends.

For example, yesterday I am in Starbucks, sipping a latte and reading my book while waiting for a meeting to start and a lady comes up to me and asks my first name. Startled, I tell her, only for her to tell me she will be praying for me as I read the book. Apparently she thought I was reading the book before making a faith decision. Lewis himself once alluded to the fact that Mere Christianity was the sort of book more often bought to give away than to read oneself.

Today, I am eating a taco and reading my book when a well dressed gentleman comes up, hands me a card and tells me that if I have any questions after reading the book, I should call the number on the card. He leaves and I look at the card, not surprised that it has six verses from Romans on the back, the front showing a particularly bloody Jesus on the cross. It is heavily implied that should I want to avoid hellfire, I should call the number on the card.

I think this was the problem I had with Jack Lewis in the first place–not his ideas, but the friends he kept.