words being used in more than one sense

[soso]

TO GENIA GOELZ, who had asked Lewis for a prayer in her struggle to believe: Lewis’s prayer for a daily increase in obedience and faith.

18 March 1952

Don’t bother at all about that question of a person /being ‘made a Christian’ by baptism.

It is only the usual trouble /about words /being used in more than one sense.

Thus we might say a man ‘became a soldier’ /the moment //that he joined the army.

But his instructors might say six months later ‘I think () we have made a soldier of him’.

Both usages are quite definable, only one wants to know which is being used in a given sentence.

The Bible itself gives us one short prayer //which is suitable for all //who are struggling with the beliefs and doctrines.

It is: ‘Lord I believe, help Thou my unbelief.’

Would something of this sort be any good?

Almighty God, who art the Father of lights and who has promised by thy dear Son //that [all //who do thy will] shall know thy doctrine:

[John 7:17] give me grace /so to live that by daily obedience I daily increase in faith and in the understanding

of thy Holy Word, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

* DOCTRINE : 1 : a set of ideas or beliefs that are taught or believed to be true;

* [John 7:17]

New Living Translation
Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own.

New International Version
Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

King James Bible
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

New King James Version
If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine,

whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.


From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume II
Compiled in Yours, Jack

The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume II: Family Letters 1905-1931. Copyright © 2004 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 2008 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.