Some differences between the radio and book versions are here in the notes below, where Lewis clarifies, limits, and adds a few additional examples to the very short broadcast (but for a complete understanding read the complete chapters - 4 & 7):
(1:35) On Time: “It is a very silly idea that in reading a book you must never "skip." All sensible people skip freely when they come to a chapter which they find is going to be no use to them. In this chapter I am going to talk about something which may be helpful to some readers, but which may seem to others merely an unnecessary complication. If you are one of the second sort of readers, then I advise you not to bother about this chapter at all but to turn on to the next. In the last chapter I had to touch on the subject of prayer, and while that is still fresh in your mind and my own, I should like to deal with a difficulty that some people find about the whole idea of prayer…”
(5:10) “I could think about Mary as if she were the only character in the book and for as long as I pleased, and the hours I spent in doing so would not appear in Mary's time (the time inside the story) at all…”
(5:16) “The way in which my illustration breaks down is this. In it the author gets out of one Time-series (that of the novel) only by going into another Time-series (the real one). But God, I believe, does not live in a Time-series at all. His life is not dribbled out moment by moment like ours: with Him it is, so to speak, still 1920 and already 1960. For His life is Himself…”
(5:25) “God is not hurried along in the Time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own novel. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us…”
(9:31) "They do not draw attention to themselves. You tend to think that you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you. They love you more than other men do, but they need you less. (We must get over wanting to be needed: in some goodish people, specially women, that is the hardest of all temptations to resist.) They will usually seem to have a lot of time: you will wonder where it comes from."
(9:58) “Imaginative writers try sometimes to picture this next step—the "Superman" as they call him; but they usually only succeed in picturing someone a good deal nastier than man as we know him and then try to make up for that by sticking on extra legs or arms…”
(10:53) “In the last chapter I compared Christ's work of making New Men to the process of turning a horse into a winged creature. I used that extreme example in order to emphasise the point that it is not mere improvement but Transformation…”
(11:47) “Imagine a lot of people who have always lived in the dark. You come and try to describe to them what light is like. You might tell them that if they come into the light that same light would fall on them all and they would all reflect it and thus become what we call visible. Is it not quite possible that they would imagine that, since they were all receiving the same light, and all reacting to it in the same way (i.e., all reflecting it), they would all look alike? Whereas you and I know that the light will in fact bring out, or show up, how different they are…”
(12:31) “So far from killing the taste of the egg and the tripe and the cabbage, it actually brings it out. They do not show their real taste till you have added the salt. (Of course, as I warned you, this is not really a very good illustration, because you can, after all, kill the other tastes by putting in too much salt, whereas you cannot kill the taste of a human personality by putting in too much Christ. I am doing the best I can.)"
(12:37) "It is something like that with Christ and us. The more we get what we now call "ourselves" out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of "little Christs," all different, will still be too few to express Him fully. He made them all. He invented—as an author invents characters in a novel—all the different men that you and I were intended to be. In that sense our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. It is no good trying to "be myself" without Him.
"
13:17) "The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call "Myself" becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop. What I call "My wishes" become merely the desires thrown up by my physical organism or pumped into me by other men's thoughts or even suggested to me by devils.
"
"Eggs and alcohol and a good night's sleep will be the real origins of what I flatter myself by regarding as my own highly personal and discriminating decision to make love to [to woo, romance] the girl opposite to me in the railway carriage. Propaganda will be the real origin of what I regard as my own personal political ideals, I am not, in my natural state, nearly so much of a person as I like to believe: most of what I call "me" can be very easily explained. 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. "
"Sameness is to be found most among the most "natural" men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints. But there must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away "blindly" so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality: but you must not go to Him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him.
"
(14:58) "Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. "
(15:39) "Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.”
(15:44) "Again and again it has thought Christianity was dying, dying by persecutions from without or corruptions from within, by the rise of Mohammedanism, the rise of the physical sciences, the rise of great anti-Christian revolutionary movements. But every time the world has been disappointed. Its first disappointment was over the crucifixion. The Man came to life again. In a sense—and I quite realise how frightfully unfair it must seem to them—that has been happening ever since. They keep on 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."
@jessicahadi3389 Says:
Thank you so much for the series of this doodle artwork that makes this extraordinary book easier to digest for most people. I was only able to grasp the full content of it because of the help of this doodle artwork. I can't say my gratitude enough. Hope it continues to change people's life for decades to come!
@arthurw8054 Says:
This 31 part presentation of Lewis is probably the single best use of YouTube that I have ever seen. A book like Mere Christianity IMHO uniquely lends itself to this sort of audiovisual format, offering us a chance to actually ponder the questions posed and meditate on the assertions, the case for Christianity being made... The reader and the artwork (for the majority of non-original broadcasts) are absolutely superb... I appreciate the other accompanying audiovisual content as well, especially that which continually reminds us of the historical time, place and context from which Lewis was operating, which can help to explain vernacular that occasionally might sound anachronistic to 21st century audiences. Thank you.
@agez3351 Says:
Thank you so much for all these videos!!
@missh1774 Says:
"you will never make an impression on people if you don't stop thinking about making an impression on people" ... Would this statement be one of our deepest modern phycological challenges we have little ability to unpack given the impacts subtle messaging has in world wide web of thing's?
@preachersblog932 Says:
really blessed to have stumbled across this channel
@morgangreenlee2091 Says:
"Their very faces look different." :)
"When you give up your soul to Christ, you will for the first time, develop into a real person. All that you and I were intended to be. Our real selves, so to speak, are waiting for Him." (Paraphrased)
"Only when you allow yourself to be drawn into His light do you turn into a true person."
"Give up your self to find yourself. Lose your life, and you will save it."
@loveinc.7438 Says:
Oh yeah baby it's on like donkey Kong
@SoulDeepZim Says:
When you truly consider what C.S. Lewis said about God and prayer in the first part of the video, you will see a glimpse of how awesome God is, His “otherness”. “Infinite attention, infinite leisure for all of us. ”
@Blunaticat Says:
So good! Thank you!!
@koreychambers7738 Says:
Thank you so much CSLewisDoodle, this is amazing.
@petepeet5174 Says:
Simultaneously entertaining and educational.
@gabriellebaalke6704 Says:
Wow. Wow! I can't believe I'm listening to Jack Lewis' actual voice. It's even more delightful than I had imagined. Thank you, CSLewisDoodle. This is precisely what I needed this week. Bless you.
@nahumkhokhar3441 Says:
Self note: 15:49
@charleslathrop9743 Says:
@CSLewisDoodle
Could you help me? I am trying to find a quote I believe I heard on your channel. It includes a few lines I remember. "You have rich colonies. We have none. ... You had the past. Let us have the future. ... You are weak. We are strong."
@chessversarius2253 Says:
So creative with the old print magazine, fantastic.
I guess that is the result of someone doing a project with REAL PASSION and therefore want to make it not just good but GREAT.
These are SO GREAT.
@rafisw160 Says:
Thank you from a Jewish friend!
@brianlynch1222 Says:
Seek yes first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Thank you for what you do!
@microbroadcast Says:
Excellent topic and production. Great production skills - well done.
@adriennemurphy9630 Says:
As usual, this is amazing content. Thank you!
@richardjones2953 Says:
This is the best thing going on YouTube. Thank you! I wait for these like my friends used to wait for the next episode of Melrose Place.
@randolphwilliams2365 Says:
Fabulous
@D-777i Says:
Fantastic.... I heard this before years ago but really, only now with your wonderful illustrations helping me to listen properly did it really sink in. Thank-you so much!
@sazlit Says:
I'm really Glad i stumbled upon this channel. The doodling makes it all so interesting and understandable.
@f.b.minamahal4252 Says:
Thank you so much for these . I use these to better explain Christianity to my unbelieving friends when they ask me questions .
@Taymanator0051 Says:
Once again, really well done. His analogies always hit me perfectly, it's so impressive.
@grobson4 Says:
CSLewisDoodle, your diligence is astonishing. So many useful details included in your animations. And notes! Thank you so much.
@ehuntley83 Says:
Stunning and thought provoking as usual!
@burnstick1380 Says:
"look for yourself and you'll only get hatred, loneliness, despair, ruin."
What a quote.
@allanlindsay8369 Says:
Thank you for another precious and wonderfully researched CS Lewis presentation - beautifully illuminating pious relief - in the face of Covid-19.
@andyboreland Says:
Keep these coming!
I'm taking a group of young people from my church through CS Lewis, and these videos have been invaluable!
Love the intro too 😎
@hannahsolo27 Says:
I teach at a Christian school and am having my seniors finish out the school year, particularly in the midst of this distance-learning sitution, with Mere Christianity. I am sharing your videos with them as they read the chapters, and I am getting very positive feedback from students. Thank you for creating these! I love them and so appreciate the hard work that goes into them!
@The_Ballo Says:
I can't help but think of virtue signalers on social media trying to appear good while being miserable
@helwrecht1637 Says:
Nice, love this channel
@pettifoggingpharisee Says:
Another good doodle. Off topic, I know that song at the end!
"Come cheer up, my lads! Tis glory we steer.
Our heads bearing high, we shall banish all fear!
To honor we call, we are free men, not slaves!
And who are as free as the sons of the waves?
Our hearts are our oaks, jolly tars are our men.
We'll always be ready, stead boys steady.
We'll fight and will conquer again and again!"
@morenojames5868 Says:
Fantastic yet again. You're one of the better historian and theology channels here ate. God bless you in Christ Jesus.
@johnbuscher Says:
That’s an awesome opening. Thank you so much for doodling all these talks! Even if I have a hard time comprehending the full meaning, Lewis’s lectures are always chock full of information to mull over.
@1lunifyd Says:
Thank you for taking the time to do this for us.. Your doodles are off the charts and spot on. Again I say thank you 🙏🏻
@SunkyoKim Says:
Thank you very much.
@jacquedegatineau9037 Says:
The intro was a lovely touch. Thank you!
@heidimelo758 Says:
The effort put into this is so great. What a creative idea! Thank you for this!
@amacnaughton85 Says:
Very nice intro!
@toddlinde5446 Says:
My favourite Youtube channel.
@shinigamimiroku3723 Says:
I remember reading this in Mere Christianity and being absolutely floored. When I first surrendered to Jesus, I didn't really understand what that entailed, only that he was the only way I could survive, and the passage "If any man would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me," but when I got that book the pieces fell into place. Did it become easier? No, not really, but that's due to the old man continuing to rise up - with the help of the world and the devil. By God's grace I am now able to choose to "deny myself."
@danielfromca Says:
thanks for your effort on this project; so nice to see a new CS Lewis doodle video, especially at these times..
@joseph910 Says:
Love these videos you do! I had barely heard of CS Lewis until I came across these videos. Now all of his books are on my reading list.
@SquirrellyMom Says:
Thank you for all you do!! I work with teens who have focusing issues. They love your videos because they can focus and remember what they hear and see!
LATEST COMMENTS