Mere Christianity - Book Three - Charity

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Three

 

CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR

 

 

 

9. Charity

     I said in an  earlier chapter that  there were  four "Cardinal" virtues
and three "Theological" virtues. The three Theological ones are Faith, Hope,
and Charity.  Faith is  going  to  be  dealt with  in the last two chapters.
Charity was partly dealt with in Chapter 7, but there I concentrated on that
part  of Charity which is  called Forgiveness.  I now want to add  a  little
more.

     First,  as to the meaning of  the word. "Charity" now means simply what
used  to be called "alms"-that is, giving to  the  poor. Originally it had a
much wider  meaning. (You can see how  it got the modern sense. If a man has
"charity," giving to the poor is one of the most obvious things he does, and
so people  came to talk as if that were the whole of charity.  In  the  same
way, "rhyme" is the  most obvious thing about poetry, and  so people come to
mean by "poetry" simply rhyme and nothing more.) Charity means "Love, in the
Christian  sense."  But love,  in  the  Christian  sense, does  not mean  an
emotion.  It is a state not  of the  feelings but of the will; that state of
the will  which we  have naturally about  ourselves,  and must learn to have
about other people.

     I pointed out in the chapter on Forgiveness that our love for ourselves
does not mean that we like ourselves. It means that we wish our own good. In
the  same  way  Christian Love (or  Charity)  for our  neighbours is quite a
different thing from liking or affection.  We "like" or  are "fond  of" some
people, and  not of others. It is important  to understand that this natural
"liking" is  neither  a  sin  nor a virtue,  any more  than  your likes  and
dislikes in  food are a sin or a virtue. It is just a fact  But,  of course,
what we do about it is either sinful or virtuous.

     Natural  liking  or  affection  for  people  makes   it  easier  to  be
"charitable" towards  them. It is,  therefore,  normally a duty to encourage
our affections-to "like"  people as much as we can  (just as it is often our
duty  to encourage our  liking for exercise or wholesome  food)-not  because
this liking is itself  the virtue of charity, but because it is a help to it
On  the  other hand, it is also  necessary to keep a very sharp look-out for
fear our liking  for some  one person makes us uncharitable, or even unfair,
to someone  else. There are even cases  where our liking  conflicts with our
charity towards  the person we like. For example,  a  doting  mother may  be
tempted by  natural affection to "spoil" her  child; that is, to gratify her
own affectionate impulses at the expense of the child's real happiness later
on.

     But though natural  likings should  normally be encouraged, it would be
quite wrong  to think that the way to become charitable  is to sit trying to
manufacture  affectionate feelings. Some  people are  "cold" by temperament;
that may be a misfortune for them, but it is no more a sin than having a bad
digestion is a  sin; and it does not cut them out from the chance, or excuse
them from the duty, of learning charity. The rule for all of us is perfectly
simple. Do  not waste time bothering  whether you "love" your neighbour; act
as if  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. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him
more. If  you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.
There is,  indeed, one exception. If  you do  him a good turn, not to please
God and obey the law of charity, but to show him  what a fine forgiving chap
you are, and to put  him  in  your debt, and then sit  down to wait  for his
"gratitude," you will  probably be disappointed. (People are not fools: they
have  a  very quick eye for  anything like showing off, or  patronage.)  But
whenever we do  good to  another self, just because it is a self, made (like
us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall  have
learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less.

     Consequently,  though Christian  charity  sounds  a  very cold thing to
people  whose  heads  are full of sentimentality, and  though  it  is  quite
distinct from affection, yet it leads to affection. The difference between a
Christian and a  worldly man is not that the worldly man has only affections
or "likings" and the Christian  has only  "charity." The  worldly man treats
certain  people kindly because he  "likes"  them: the  Christian,  trying to
treat every one kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes
on-including people  he could  not even have imagined himself liking  at the
beginning.

     This same spiritual  law works terribly in the opposite  direction. The
Germans, perhaps, at  first ill-treated the  Jews because they  hated  them:
afterwards they hated  them much more because they had ill-treated them. The
more cruel you are, the  more you will hate; and the more you hate, the more
cruel you will become-and so on in a vicious circle for ever.

     Good  and  evil both  increase at  compound interest.  That is  why the
little decisions you and I make every day are  of such infinite  importance.
The smallest good act today is the  capture of a strategic point from which,
a few months later,  you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed
of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a
ridge  or railway line or bridgehead  from  which the  enemy  may  launch an
attack otherwise impossible.

     Some writers use the word charity to  describe  not only Christian love
between human beings, but  also God's love for  man and man's love  for God.
About the second  of these two, people are often worried. They are told they
ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are
they to do? The answer is the same as before.  Act as if you did. Do not sit
trying to  manufacture feelings. Ask yourself,  "If I were sure that I loved
God, what would I do?" When you have found the answer, go and do it.

     on the whole, God's love for us is a much  safer subject to think about
than  our love for Him. Nobody can  always have devout feelings: and even if
we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about. Christian Love,
either towards  God  or  towards man, is an  affair of the will. If  we  are
trying to do His  will  we are obeying the commandment, "Thou shalt love the
Lord  thy  God." He will  give us feelings of love if  He pleases. We cannot
create them for  ourselves, and we must not  demand them as a right. But the
great thing  to remember is that, though our feelings come and go,  His love
for us  does not. It  is not wearied  by our sins, or our indifference; and,
therefore,  it  is  quite relentless in its  determination that we  shall be
cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.

 

 

 

 

 

A discussion of the part of charity known as "alms" or giving to the poor.

1. Is having a cold temperament a sin?
2. What is one of the great secrets about cultivating charity?
3. What is Lewis' advice for a person who has no feelings of love toward God?
4. What is the great thing to remember about God's love for us?

 

 

 

 

 

 

We touched on Charity in chapter 7, Forgiveness, but this chapter goes deeper.

The modern meaning of 'Charity' is given to the poor, or 'alms.' The original meaning was much wider, and giving to the poor was a part of Charity. Charity is a 'state of the will.'

Charity means 'Love, in the Christian sense'. But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.

• As we discussed in Forgiveness, loving ourselves does not mean we like ourselves, but that we wish out own good.
• In the same way, Christian Love/Charity for our neighbors does not mean we'll automatically have affection for our neighbors.
• Natural liking/affection for some people makes it easier to be charitable toward them. For this reason, we should encourage affection for the reason that it will make us more Charitable. (The affection, however, is not the virtue.)
• We need to be aware that our affection for some will make us less charitable to others, as well as be on guard that our affections for some people will cause us to be unwise for some people.
• Affection cannot be 'manufactured' by setting and 'thinking it up.'

• The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if 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.

• In the same way, action on negative impulses will make it easier to dislike someone more --> making treating them badly easier --> making disliking the more easier --> ....

Consequently, though Christian charity sounds a very cold thing to people whose heads are full of sentimentality, and though it is quite distinct from affection, yet it leads to affection. The difference between a Christian and a worldly man is not that the worldly man has only affections or 'likings' and the Christian has only `charity'. The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he 'likes' them: the Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on -- including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning.

• "Good and evil both increase at compound interest." Every good/Godly action makes more goodness possible. Every trivial indulgence is ground lost to the enemy. Some of these losses will lead to enemy strongholds in our lives. Every battle is important to a victorious life.

• Charity not only describes our relationships with people, but also with God... but we often don't feel emotional towards God. The thing is to act as though you do, and the feelings will grow in that obedience.
• God's love toward us is easier to think about...

Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about. Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will. If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.' He will give us feelings of love if He pleases. We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right. But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://lib.ru/LEWISCL/mere_engl.txt 

http://www.opendiscipleship.org/Mere_Christianity_leaders_notes

http://www.gordy-stith.com/Mere%20Christianity/mere_christianity_study_guide.htm