1 / 10

The New Men

The New Men. Book IV: Ch 10-11 “ God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man ” (216). . What does it mean to become a “new man?”.

kedem
Download Presentation

The New Men

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The New Men Book IV: Ch 10-11 “God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man” (216).

  2. What does it mean to become a “new man?” “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.” – Blessed Pope John Paul II.

  3. Christians vs. Non- Christians • Are Christians nicer than all non-Christians? • Not necessarily -- we have to start from where each Christian or person is • The evidence will not be the same in every life, and is impossible to judge from the information we have available to us. • When Christians fail to act Christian, we make Christianity unbelievable. “Ourcareless lives set the outer world talking; and we give them grounds for talking in a way that throws doubt on the truth of Christianity itself” (207).

  4. What is the “Danger” in being a nice person? • Contention in our niceness (all this niceness is our own doing) leads to no need for a better kind of goodness • “…until one day the natural goodness lets them down and their self-satisfaction is shattered”(214). • “…if virtue comes easily to your- beware! Much is expected from those to whom much is given” (215).

  5. ‘Niceness’ is an excellent thing “We must try by every medical, educational, economic, and political means in our power to produce a world where a many people as possible grow up ‘nice’…” (215). Success in making someone nice does not save their souls: “A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world- and might even be more difficult to save” (216).

  6. Creation of New Men in Christ • Lewis uses the illustration of Evolutionary change. • Of how man came to be (according to that theory), and the common views of "what's next" for humanity, according to Evolutionary extrapolation. “The Next Step" is already upon us.... Christianity is the Next Step for humanity. “…a change from being creatures of God to being sons of God” (220).

  7. BBC Reel: "The New Men" Oral Literature in Action: Adaptation of Book IV: Ch 11

  8. The Next, New Step #1) It is not carried out through sexual reproduction. #2) In this Step, we get a choice: we are free to reject the change. #3) The transformation comes by direct contact with Christ, not the “First” but the new creature.

  9. The Next, New Step #4) This Step happens at a different speed -- in a flash! • We are still "the early Christians” • The World keeps thinking we are dying or dead only to find us alive somewhere else: “They keep killing the thing that He started: and each time, just as they are patting down the earth on its grave, they suddenly hear that it is still alive and has even broken out in some new place. No wonder they hate us” (222). #5) The stakes are high: “By falling back at this step we lose a prize which is (in the strictest sense of the word) infinite” (222).

  10. Seeking a New Personality, The Next Step “It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own” (226). #1- Forget about your self altogether #2- “Your new, real self will not come as long as you are looking for it… #3 …It will come when you are looking for Him” (226). “But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in” (227). [Closing Paragraph- pg. 226-227]

More Related