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My selection for the most influential Christian book of the past 100 years would be Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
I doubt it is possible to write a book today about any aspect of Christianity without quoting C.S. Lewis. He is quoted for good reason – he has an ability to take complicated topics and make sense of them.
I read an author who said that the intellect of Lewis appears every 1,000 years.
C.S. Lewis combines this intellect with his easy to understand writing in his book Mere Christianity.
In the 70’s I would talk in high schools on Jesus. I spoke in hundreds of classrooms from the early 70’s to the mid 80’s. Teachers would have me come back year after year. It was a different age then!
During each talk I would say:
You might think that Jesus is a good person. Anyone who did the things that Jesus did, and said the things that Jesus said, cannot be called a good person. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. Take your pick – but Jesus isn’t just a good person.
Let’s say there is someone in school named “Mike.” Mike comes to school one day and tells everyone, “I’m the way, the truth, and the life.”
For months, Mike enters the school every morning and walking to his first class, shouts, “I am the way, the truth, and the life!”
Everybody would think Mike is a liar or crazy.
Then one day, Mike is killed in a car wreck. Some are sad but many are relieved.
Hundreds attend his funeral.
The day after the funeral, as students are starting their first class, they hear Mike walking through the hallways shouting, “I’m the way, the truth, and the life!”
Now what do you think?
I took the above illustration from Mere Christianity and elaborated on it. Students always listened. If someone comes back from the dead, He is not a liar or lunatic but Lord!
Jesus is alive!
As you read Mere Christianity note the following insights:
I believe in Christianity for one reason. It is a religion that you could not have guessed.
The moment that you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first… And out of this hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history – money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery – the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God.
I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
I have read all the books written by C.S. Lewis. He has impacted my life so much that I learned his full name. The initials C.S. stand for Clive Staples.
A great joy would be that someone, someday, would read Interruptions and write about G.C. Edwards or Grant Clinton Edwards.