forty answers to questions on

Christianity first published as a

pamphlet by the electrical and musical

industries Christian Fellowship haze

Middlesex 1944 and subsequently in under

Sections 1971 and timeless at heart

1991 Louis I have been asked to open

with a few words on Christianity and

modern industry now modern industry is a

subject of which I know nothing at all

but for that very reason it may

illustrate what Christianity in my

opinion does and does not do

Christianity does not replace the

technical when it tells you to feed the

hungry it doesn't give you lessons in

cookery if you want to learn that you

must go to a cook rather than a

Christian if you are not a professional

economist and have no experience of

industry simply being a Christian won't

give you the answer to industrial

problems my own idea is that modern

industry is a radically hopeless system

you can improve wages hours conditions

etc but all that doesn't kill the

deepest trouble ie that numbers of

people are kept all their lives doing

dull repetition work which gives no full

play to their faculties now how that is

to be overcome I do not know if a single

country abandoned the system it would

merely fall a prey to the other

countries which hadn't abandoned it I

don't know the solution that is not the

kind of thing Christianity teaches a

person like me

let's now carry on with the questions

question one Christians are taught to

love their neighbors now therefore can

they justify their attitude of

supporting the war Louis you are told to

love your neighbor as yourself

how do you love yourself when I look

into my own mind I find that I do not

love myself by thinking myself a dear

old chap or having affectionate feelings

I do not think that I love myself

because I am particularly good but just

because I am myself and quite apart from

my character I might detest something

which I have done never

les I do not cease to love myself in

other words that definite distinction

that Christians make between hating sin

and loving the sinner is one that you

have been making in your own case since

you were born you dislike what you have

done but you don't cease to love

yourself you may even think that you

ought to be hanged you may even think

that you ought to go to the police and

own up and be hanged love is not an

affectionate feeling but a steady wish

for the loved persons ultimate good as

far as it can be obtained it seems to me

therefore that when the worst comes to

the worst

if you cannot restrain a man by any

method except by trying to kill him then

a Christian must do that that is my

answer but I may be wrong it is very

difficult to answer of course question

two supposing a factory worker asked you

how can I find God how would you reply

Louis I don't see how the problem would

be different for a factory worker than

for anyone else

the primary thing about any man is that

he is a human being sharing all the

ordinary human temptations and essence

what is the special problem about the

factory worker but perhaps it is worth

saying this a Christianity really does

two things about conditions here and now

in this world a one it tries to make

them as good as possible

DYI to reform them but also two it

fortifies you against them insofar as

they remain bad if what was in the

questioners mind was this problem of

repetition work then the factory workers

difficulty is the same as any other man

confronted with any sorrow or difficulty

people will find God if they consciously

seek from him the right attitude towards

all unpleasant things if that is the

point of the question question three

will you please say how you would define

a practicing Christian are there any

other varieties Louis certainly there

are a great many other varieties it

depends of course on what you mean by

practicing Christian if you mean one who

has practiced Christianity in every

respect

at every moment of his life then there

is only one on record Christ himself in

that sense there are no practicing

Christians but only Christians who in

varying degrees try to practice it and

fail in varying degrees and then start

again a perfect practice of Christianity

would of course consist in a perfect

imitation of the life of Christ

I mean insofar as it was applicable in

one's own particular circumstances not

in an idiotic sense it doesn't mean that

every Christian should grow a beard or

be a bachelor or become a traveling

preacher it means that every single act

and feeling every experience were the

pleasant or unpleasant must be referred

to God it means looking at everything as

something that comes from him and always

looking to him and asking his will first

and saying how would he wish me to deal

with this a kind of picture or pattern

in a very remote way of the relation

between the perfect Christian and his

God would be the relation of the good

dog to its master this is only a very

imperfect picture though because the dog

hasn't reasoned like its master whereas

we do share in God's reason even if in

an imperfect and uninterrupted way

interrupted because we don't think

rationally for very long at a time it's

too tiring and we have an information to

understand things fully and our

intelligence itself has certain

limitations in that way we are more like

God than the dog is like us although of

course there are other ways in which the

dog is more like us than we are like God

it is only an illustration a question

for what justification on ethical

grounds and on the grounds of social

expediency exists what the church's

attitude towards venereal disease and

prophylaxis and publicity in connection

with it Lois I need further advice on

that question and then perhaps I can

answer it can the questioner say which

church he has in mind a voice the church

concerned is the Church of England and

its attitude though not written is

implicit in that it has more or less

Bandol publicity in connection with

prophylactic methods of combating

venereal disease the view of some is

that moral punishment should not be

avoided Louis I haven't myself met any

clergyman of the Church of England who

held that view and I don't hold it

myself there are obvious objections to

it after all it isn't only venereal

disease that can be regarded as a

punishment for bad conduct indigestion

in old age may be the result of

overeating in earlier life but no one

objects to advertisements for Beecham's

pills die at any rate strongly dissent

from the view that you've mentioned

question 5 many people feel resentful or

unhappy because they think they are the

target of unjust fate these feelings are

stimulated by bereavement illness

deranged domestic or working conditions

or the observation of suffering in

others what is the Christian view of

this problem louis the christian view is

that men are created to be in a certain

relationship to God if we are in that

relation to him the right relation to

one another will follow inevitably

Christ said it was difficult for the

rich to enter the kingdom of heaven

Matthew chapter 19 verse 23 mark chapter

10 verse 23 Luke chapter 18 verse 24

refering no doubt to riches in the

ordinary sense but I think it really

covers riches in every sense good

fortune health popularity and all the

things one wants to have all these

things tend just as money tends to make

you feel independent of God because if

you have them you are happy already and

contented in this life you don't want to

turn away to anything more and so you

try to rest in a shadowy happiness as if

it could last forever but God wants to

give you a real and eternal happiness

consequently he may have to take all

these riches away from you if he doesn't

you will go on relying on them it sounds

cruel doesn't it but I am beginning to

find out that what people call the cruel

doctrines are really the kindest ones in

the long run I used to think it was a

cruel

turn to say the troubles and sorrows

were punishments but I find in practice

that when you are in trouble the moment

you regard it as a punishment it becomes

easier to bear if you think of this

world as a place intended simply for our

happiness you find it quite intolerable

think of it as a place of training and

correction and it's not so bad

imagine a set of people all living in

the same building half of them think it

is a hotel the other half think it is a

prison those who think it a hotel might

regard it as quite intolerable and those

who thought it was a prison might decide

that it was really surprisingly

comfortable so that what seems the ugly

doctrine is the one that comforts and

strengthens you in the end the people

who tried to hold an optimistic view of

this world would become pessimists

the people who hold a pretty stern view

of it become optimistic question six

materialists and some astronomers

suggests that the solar planetary system

and life as we know it

was brought about by an accidental

stellar collision what is the Christian

view of this theory Louis if the solar

system was brought about by an

accidental collision then the appearance

of organic life on this planet was also

an accident and the whole evolution of

man was an accident too

if so then all our present thoughts a

mere accidents the accidental byproduct

of the movement of atoms and this holds

for the salts of the materialists and

astronomers as well as for anyone elses

but if their thoughts ie of materialism

and astronomy are merely accidental

byproducts why should we believe them to

be true I see no reason for believing

that one accident should be able to give

me a correct account of all the other

accidents

it's like expecting that the accidental

shape taken by the splash when you upset

a milk jug should give you a correct

account of how the jug was made and why

it was upset question 7 is it true that

Christianity especially the Protestant

forms tends to produce a gloomy joyless

condition of society which is like a

pain in the neck to most people Louis

as to the distinction between Protestant

and other forms of Christianity it is

very difficult to answer I find by

reading about the sixteenth century that

people like Sir Thomas More for whom I

have a great respect always regarded

Martin Luther's doctrines not as gloomy

thinking but as wishful thinking I doubt

whether we can make a distinction

between Protestant and other forms in

this respect whether Protestantism is

gloomy and whether Christianity at all

produces gloominess I find it very

difficult to answer as I have never

lived in a completely non Christian

society nor a completely Christian one

and I wasn't there in the sixteenth

century and only have my knowledge from

reading books I think there is about the

same amount of fun and gloom in all

periods the poems novels letters etc of

every period all seem to show that but

again I don't really know the answer of

course I wasn't there question eight is

it true that Christians must be prepared

to live a life of personal discomfort

and self-sacrifice in order to qualify

for pie-in-the-sky Louis all people

whether Christians or not must be

prepared to live a life of discomfort it

is impossible to accept Christianity for

the sake of finding comfort but the

Christian tries to lay himself open to

the will of God to do what God wants him

to do you don't know in advance whether

God is going to set you to do something

difficult or painful or something that

you will quite like and some people of

heroic mold are disappointed when the

job doled out to them turns out to be

something quite nice but you must be

prepared for the unpleasant things and

the discomforts I don't mean fasting and

things like that they are a different

matter when you are training soldiers in

maneuvers you practice with blank

ammunition because you would like them

to have practice before meeting the real

enemy so we must practice in abstaining

from pleasures which are not in

themselves wicked if you don't abstain

from pleasure you won't be good when the

time comes along it is purely a matter

of practice voice are not practices like

fasting and self-denial borrowed

from earlier or more primitive religions

Louis I can't say for certain which bits

came into Christianity from earlier

religions an enormous amount did I

should find it hard to believe

Christianity if that were not so I

couldn't believe that 999 religions were

completely false and the remaining one

true in reality Christianity is

primarily the fulfillment of the Jewish

religion but also the fulfillment of

what was vaguely hinted in all the

religions at their best what was vaguely

seen in them all comes into focus in

Christianity just as God Himself comes

into focus by becoming a man I take it

that the speaker's remarks on earlier

religions are based on evidence about

modern savages I don't think it is good

evidence modern savages usually

represent some decay and culture you

find them doing things which look as if

they had a fairly civilized basis once

which they have forgotten to assume that

primitive man was exactly like the

modern savage is unsound a voice could

you say any more on how one discovers

whether a task is laid on one by God or

whether it comes in some other way if we

cannot distinguish between the pleasant

and the unpleasant things it is a

complicated matter Louis we are guided

by the ordinary rules of moral behavior

which I think are more or less common to

the human race and quite reasonable and

demanded by the circumstances I don't

mean anything like sitting down and

waiting for a supernatural vision a

voice we don't qualify for heaven by

practice but salvation is obtained at

the cross we do nothing to obtain it but

follow Christ we may have pain or

tribulation but nothing we do qualifies

us for heaven but Christ Louis the

controversy about faith and works is one

that has gone on for a very long time

and it is a highly technical matter

I personally rely on the paradoxical

text work out your own salvation for it

is God that work is in you Philippians

chapter 2 verses 12 and 13 it looks as

if in one sense

we do nothing and in another case we do

a damned lot work out your own salvation

with fear and trembling but you must

have it in you before you can work it

out but I have no wish to go further

into it as it would interest no one but

the Christians present would it question

9 with the application of Christian

standards bring an end or greatly

reduced scientific and material progress

in other words is it wrong for a

Christian to be ambitious and strive for

personal success Louis it is easier to

think of a simplified example how would

the application of Christianity affect

anyone on a desert island

would he be less likely to build a

comfortable Hut the answer is no there

might come a particular moment of course

when Christianity would tell him to

bother less about the hut ie if he were

in danger of coming to think that the

hut was the most important thing in the

universe but there is no evidence that

Christianity would prevent him from

building it ambition we must be careful

what we mean by it if it means the

desire to get ahead of other people

which is what I think it does mean then

it is bad if it means simply wanting to

do a thing well then it is good it isn't

wrong for an actor to want to act his

part as well as it can possibly be acted

but the wish to have his name in bigger

types and the other actors is a bad one

a voice it's alright to be a general but

if it is one's ambition to be a general

then you shouldn't become one Louis the

mere event of becoming a general isn't

either right or wrong in itself what

matters morally is your attitude towards

it the man may be thinking about winning

a war he may be wanting to be a general

because he honestly thinks that he has a

good plan and is glad of a chance to

carry it out that's alright but if he is

thinking what can I get out of the job

or how can I get on the front page of

the Illustrated news then it is all

wrong and what we call ambition usually

means the wish to be more conspicuous or

more successful than someone else

it is this competitive element in it

that is bad

it is perfectly reasonable to want to

dance well or to look nice but when the

dominant wishes to dance better or look

nicer than the others when you begin to

feel that if the others danced as well

as you or looked as nice as you that

would take all the fun out of it then

you are going wrong a voice I am

wondering how far we can ascribe to the

work of the devil

those very legitimate desires that we

indulge in some people have a very

sensitive conception of the presence of

the devil others haven't is the devil as

real as we think he is and that doesn't

trouble some people since they have no

desire to be good but others are

continually harassed by the old man

himself Louis no reference to the devil

or Devils is included in any Christian

Creed's and it is quite possible to be a

Christian without believing in them

I do believe such beings exist but that

is my own affair supposing there to be

such beings the degree to which humans

were conscious of their presence would

presumably very very much I mean the

moral man was in the devil's power the

less he would be aware of it on the

principle that a man is still fairly

sober as long as he knows he's drunk it

is the people who are fully awake and

trying hard to be good who would be most

aware of the devil it is when you start

arming against Hitler that you first

realize your country is full of Nazi

agents of course they don't want you to

know they are there in the same way the

devil doesn't want you to believe in the

devil

if Devils exist the first aim is to give

you an anaesthetic to put you off your

guard only if that fails do you become

aware of them a voice does Christianity

scientific advancement or does it

approve of those who help spiritually

others who are on the road to perdition

by scientifically removing the

environmental causes of the trouble

Louis yes in the abstract it is

certainly so at a particular moment if

most human beings are concentrating only

on material improvements in the

environment it may be the duty of

Christians to point out and pretty

loudly that this isn't the only thing

that matters

but as a general rule it is in favor of

all knowledge and all that will help the

human race in any way question 10 the

Bible was written thousands of years ago

for people in a lower state of mental

development than today many portions

seemed preposterous in the light of

modern knowledge in view of this should

not the Bible be rewritten with the

objective discarding the fabulous and

reinterpreting the remainder Lois first

of all as to the people in a lower state

of mental development I am not so sure

what lurks behind that if it means that

people 10,000 years ago did not know a

good many things that we know now of

course I agree but if it means that

there has been any advance in

intelligence in that time I believe

there is no evidence for any such thing

the Bible can be divided into two parts

the old and the New Testaments the Old

Testament contains fabulous elements the

New Testament consists mostly of

teaching not of narrative at all

but where it is narrative it is in my

opinion historical as to the fabulous

element in the Old Testament I very much

doubt if you would be wise to chuck it

out what you get is something coming

gradually into focus first you get

scattered through the heathen religions

all over the world but still quite vague

and mythical the idea of a God who is

killed and broken and then comes to life

again and no one knows where he is

supposed to have lived and died he's not

historical then you get the Old

Testament religious ideas get a bit more

focused everything is now connected with

a particular nation and it comes still

more into focus as it goes on and Jonah

and the Whale The Book of Jonah Noah and

his ark Genesis chapter 6 to 8 of

fabulous but the court history of King

David 2 Samuel chapter 2 1 Kings chapter

2 is probably as reliable as the court

history of louis xiv

then in the new testament the thing

really happens the dying god really

appears as a historical person living in

a definite place in time if we could

sort out all

the fabulous elements in the earlier

stages and separate them from the

historical ones I think we might lose an

essential part of the whole process that

is my own idea question 11 which of the

religions of the world gives to its

followers the greatest happiness a Lois

which of the religions of the world

gives to its followers the greatest

happiness while it lasts the religion of

worshipping oneself is the best I have

an elderly acquaintance of about 80 who

has lived a life of unbroken selfishness

and self-admiration from the earliest

years and is more or less I regret to

say one of the happiest men I know from

the moral point of view it is very

difficult I am not approaching the

question from that angle as you perhaps

know I haven't always been a Christian I

didn't go to religion to make me happy

I always knew a bottle of port would do

that if you want a religion to make you

feel really comfortable I certainly

don't recommend Christianity I am

certain there must be a patent American

article on the market which will suit do

far better but I can't give any advice

on it question 12

are there any unmistakable outward signs

in a person surrendered to God would he

be cantankerous would he smoke Louis I

think of the advertisements for white

smiles toothpaste saying that it is the

best on the market if they are true it

would follow that one anyone who starts

using it will have better teeth to

anyone using it has better teeth than he

would have if he weren't using it but

you can't test it in the case of one who

has naturally bad teeth and uses it and

compared him with a healthy Negro who

has never used toothpaste at all take

the case of a sour old mate who is a

Christian but cantankerous on the other

hand takes unpleasant and popular fellow

but who has never been to church who

knows how much more cantankerous the old

maid might be if she were not a

Christian and how much more likeable the

nice fellow might be if he were a

Christian you can't judge Christianity

simply by comparing the product in those

two people

you would need to know what kind of raw

material Christ was working on in both

cases as an illustration let us take a

case of industrialism let us take two

factories factory a with poor and

inadequate plant and factory B with

first-class modern plant you can't judge

by the outside you must consider the

plant and the methods by which they are

run and considering the plant at factory

a it may be a wonder it does anything at

all and considering the new machinery at

factory B it may be a wonder it doesn't

do better question 13 what is your

opinion about raffles within the plant

no matter how good the cause which not

infrequently is given less prominence

than the alluring list of prizes Louis a

gambling ought never to be an important

part of a man's life if it is a way in

which large sums of money are

transferred from person to person

without doing any good

eg producing employment good will let

cetera then it is a bad thing if it is

carried out on a small scale I am Not

sure that it is bad I don't know much

about it because it is about the only

vice to which I have no temptation at

all and I think it is a risk to talk

about things which are not in my own

makeup because I don't understand them

if anyone comes to me asking me to play

bridge for money I just say how much do

you hope to win take it and go away

question 14 many people are quite unable

to understand the theological

differences which have caused divisions

in the Christian Church do you consider

that these differences are fundamental

and is the time now ripe for reunion

Louis the time is always ripe for

reunion divisions between Christians are

a sin and a scandal and Christians ought

at all times to be making contributions

towards reunion if it is only by their

prayers I am only a layman and a recent

Christian and I do not know much about

these things but in all the things which

I have written and thought I have always

stuck to traditional dogmatic positions

the result is that letters of agreement

reached me from

what are ordinarily regarded as the most

different kinds of Christians for

instance I get letters from Jesuits

monks nuns and also from Quakers and

Welsh dissenters and so on

so it seems to me that the extreme

elements in every church are nearest one

another and the liberal and broad-minded

people in each body could never be

united at all the world of dogmatic

Christianity is a place in which

thousands of people are quite different

types keep on saying the same thing and

the world of broad-mindedness and

watered-down religion is a world where a

small number of people all of the same

type say totally different things and

changed their minds every few minutes we

shall never get reunion from them

question 15 in the past the church used

various kinds of compulsion in attempts

to force a particular brand of

Christianity on the community given

sufficient power is there not a danger

of this sort of thing happening again

Louis yes I hear nasty rumors coming

from Spain persecution is a temptation

to which all men are exposed

I had a postcard signed em D saying that

anyone who expressed and published his

belief in the virgin birth should be

stripped and flogged that shows you how

easily persecution of Christians by the

non-christians might come back of course

they wouldn't call it persecution they'd

call it compulsory re-education of the

ideologically unfit or something like

that but of course I have to admit that

Christians themselves have been

persecutors in the past it was worse of

them because they ought to have known

better

they weren't worse in any other way I

detest every kind of religious

compulsion only the other day I was

writing an angry letter to The Spectator

about church parades in the home guard

question 16 is attendance at a place of

worship or membership with a Christian

community necessary to a Christian Way

of life Louis that's a question which I

cannot answer my own experience is that

when I first became a Christian about 14

years ago I

thought that I could do it on my own by

retiring to my rooms and reading

theology and I wouldn't go to the

churches and gospel halls and then later

I found that it was the only way of

flying a flag and of course I found that

this meant being a target it is

extraordinary how inconvenient to your

family it becomes for you to get up

early to go to church it doesn't matter

so much if you get up early for anything

else but if you get up early to go to

church it's very selfish of you and you

upset the house if there is anything in

the teaching of the New Testament which

is in the nature of a command it is that

you are obliged to take the sacrament

and you can't do it without going to

church I disliked very much their hymns

which I considered to be fifth-rate

poems said to sixth rate music but as I

went on I saw the great merit of it I

came up against different people of

quite different outlooks and different

education and then gradually my conceit

just began peeling off I realized that

the hymns which were just sixth rate

music were nevertheless being sung with

devotion and benefit by an old Saint in

elastic-sided boots in the opposite Pew

and then you realize that you aren't fit

to clean those boots it gets you out of

your solitary conceit it is not for me

to lay down laws as I am only a layman

and I don't know much question 17 if it

is true that one only has to want God

enough in order to find him how can I

make myself want him enough to enable

myself to find him

Louis if you don't want God why are you

so anxious to want to want him I think

that in reality the want is a real one

and I should say that this person has in

fact found God although it may not be

fully recognized yet we are not always

aware of things at a time they happen at

any rate what is more important is that

God has found this person and that is

the main thing