Video from Dr. Scott Mason
"C.S. Lewis's 1952 book Mere Christianity is arguably the most important work of Christian apologetics of our day. He begins it in an odd place, at least it is odd if we consider it in relation to historic apologetic works. Book 1 is devoted to demonstrating the validity of the law of human nature, which is something that (as he argues in The Abolition of Man) would have had no need of demonstration in ages past. It is the context of the modern education and its application of Baconian science to human nature (in the form of the 'social sciences') that have made it necessary to prove something that the Apostle Paul in Romans 1 regarded as so self-evident as to assert, that "God's invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." (Rom. 1:20) and even when people "who do not have the law" "they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them." (Rom. 2:14, 15) There were no atheists in the ancient world. But in Lewis's day, not only were there atheists, the premises of their teaching were actually more prominent - even *within* the humanities who were following the lead of the 'conditioners' - than the law of human nature understood by all generations throughout the history of humanity. So Lewis is at pains to demonstrate first of all that there *is* a law of human nature, secondly, that it differs from other laws (i.e. it not only can but is characteristically believed to be binding on others but not ourselves - Jesus calls it hypocrisy), and finally, that what he presents about Christianity is in fact 'good news.'" from video introduction.
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