C.S. Lewis on free will and the key to history
Religion & Liberty Online

C.S. Lewis on free will and the key to history

“What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors,” says C.S. Lewis, “was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

In this video, an illustration of the third talk from the radio series called ‘What Christians Believe’ (1942), Lewis explains why the world has gone so desperately wrong.

Joe Carter

Joe Carter is a senior writer for The Gospel Coalition, author of The Life and Faith Field Guide for Parents, the editor of the NIV Lifehacks Bible, and coauthor of How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History’s Greatest Communicator. He also serves as an associate pastor at McLean Bible Church in Arlington, Va.