The historic church of St. Andrew's, Toronto, was born of a congregation that came together in the blustery March of 1830 when Queen Victoria was about to be crowned, so beginning her great era.

Mere Christianity is a tough concept. I was never sure whether or not we really were the same religion under all of the layers of doctrines and rules and theologies, until C. S. Lewis helped to peel away all of those layers. Sure enough, as the doctrines and denominations fell away, something beautiful and pure was revealed. It was Christianity at its most innocent level, existing solely as the manifestation of forgiveness, love and faith.

C. S. Lewis depicts Christianity as a hallway with doorways going into various rooms. You can't live in the hallway-you have to pick a room. Hence the different denominations. He urges us to be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. This makes the point that he is talking about Christianity, not any particular denomination. This is useful in our thinking about the different denominations today. It is necessary for us each to find a place where we feel at home and can express our faith.

Written more than 50 years ago, Lewis's words lay before us the most important choice we will ever be asked to make: "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." It was a choice I consciously made for the first time nearly 30 years ago. The clear, winning logic of Mere Christianity continues to remind me what an obvious choice it ought to be.

It is almost impossible to read Lewis without cribbing his material. Among the phrases that caught my attention on this reading of Mere Christianity: "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man." In his section on sexual morality, Lewis compares the animal self with the much more serious diabolical self and comments: "That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer hell than a prostitute." And then he adds, with a twinkle in his eye: "But, of course, it is better to be neither!" Lewis's ability to express a matter in a fresh way also serves to promote deeper thought. He says that "bad people" lead sheltered lives since they, always giving in to evil, have never entered into the struggle of resistance against it. "No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good." Finally, Lewis offers the sobering and realistic saying: "Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive."

The writings of C.S. Lewis have spawned a lengthy list of websites devoted to the author and his Christian musings. Below is by no means an exhaustive list, but a sampling of the better sites the Record has come across during its online travels.

The civil war has been more active than ever this year, with 12,000 killed since the beginning of the war. Some very good recent news is that the Maoists have just called a three month ceasefire, which could translate to safer access in remote areas and no road closures. However, the army has not reciprocated, which may force the Maoists to cancel it. The political parties seem ready to fill the void in fighting by increasing agitation; they may start calling general strikes as they have in the past. They seem to be heading for a showdown with the king, as they are demanding a republic, that is, no monarchy at all, and a very radical call in today's situation.

Although I have been reasonably active in church work for most of my life, after listening to (I used audio tapes, it was a radio broadcast first, after all) and reading Mere Christianity I realized that my understanding of Christian doctrine was very shallow and immature. For example, I did not know the differences between pantheism and dualism. I did not know that earning interest on investments was unchristian. Lewis's lengthy description of Christ as the "perfect penitent" helped me understand the great significance of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross from a different perspective. Some of his ideas clarified some misunderstandings I had. For example, I have always had trouble accepting the notion that heaven is only accessible if people take Jesus as their personal saviour. What about all those people who have not had the opportunity to learn and accept Christ? I found comfort in Lewis's explanation that "we know that no man can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know him can be saved through Him." God has not revealed what happens to the others, according to Lewis.