Why I now go for Mere Christianity

 

C. S. Lewis wrote the book Mere Christianity, as an apology for the soundness and truthfulness of the Christian faith. Lewis was Anglican but he was not defending the Anglican version or approach to Christianity, he was defending all of Christianity. So what did Lewis mean by 'mere Christianity'?

By this, he meant the fundamental essential orthodox beliefs in order for one to be called a Christian, a follower of Christ.

My friend, do you trust Jesus as your Saviour and Lord?  Then you got my good will as a brother or sister in Christ. You do not have to share my label or brand of Christianity, for me to extend that good will to you.

 1 jOHN 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love his brother remains in death.

In the 1990s while I was in ministry and taking a degree in Religious Studies, I happened to have  Prof Greg Horsley as my Classic and Koine NT Greek teacher. Horsley is the editor of a multivolume book New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity.  

While I was a student, Prof Horsley told me this story he found in the early documents, I am not sure if he saw this in the inscriptions or in a papyri, probably the latter.

He told the story of two Christians who were about to be burned alive by a Roman soldier. These two were tied facing each other. One of them asked the Roman soldier if they be not tied facing each other because he believed the other one was a heretic. The Roman soldier obliged to tie them behind each other. Then, he proceeded to burn them anyway.

This story has stucked with me upto this day. I forget if Prof Horsley was trying to illustrate a point with me there, but I definitely formed the moral to that story.

In the last days, as stated in Mk 13 and similar passages, when the secular world goes after Christians, their persecutors will not care what label/brand/denomination of Christianity they come from, they will get "torched" anyway. They will not care, they will inflict the same suffering upon them no matter what  label they identify with. There is a pre-taste of this in the life and testimony of the sainted Rev Richard Wurmbrand, founder of Voice of the Martyrs.

For this reason, I accept with open arms, any one who is just a mere Christian.