"What Is That To Thee?"

The thought that Lewis points out at the outset of this preface is common sense, but hardly ever mentioned. More often than not, Christians who argue about doctrine amongst one another end up pushing away the very people they are trying to convert. At the end of the day, we are here to get people to "come to believe that there is one God and that Jesus Christ is His only Son."

We are not to judge. We are here to share the Gospel!

"Now if once we allow people to start spiritualising and refining, or as they might say "deepening," the sense of the word Christian, it too will speedily become a useless word [as gentlemen did]. In the first place, Christians themselves will never be able to apply it to anyone. It is not for us to say who, in the deepest sense, is or is not close to the spirit of Christ. We do not see into men's hearts. We cannot judge, and indeed are forbidden to judge."

I love the preface to Mere Christianity because it reminds me that even the Savior left judgment out when he said to the woman who had been taken in adultery, "Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more." I am to be kind to all those around me, because, at the end of the day, that is what people need from all those around them. The Gospel is here to unite people, not to create divisions. A lot of the time, the things that are discussed and argued about have no lasting consequence to our salvation. This passage from the preface sums it up perfectly:

"There are some to which I may never know the answer: if I asked them, even in a better world, I might (for all I know) be answered as a far greater questioner was answered: "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me."

At the end of the day, the "deep" doctrines aren't for us to worry about. What matters is that I keep the commandments, that I am kind to others, that I remember and know that Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer, and that is all that really matters.