you must be asking which door is the true one

[soso]

I hope () no reader will suppose that ‘mere’ Christianity is here /put forward as an alternative

to the creeds of the existing communions. . .

It is more like a hall /out of which doors open into several rooms.

If I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done [what I attempted].

But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals.

The hall is a place /to wait in, a place //from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in.

For that purpose the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable.

It is true that some people may find () they have to wait /in the hall /for a considerable time,

while others feel certain almost at once /which door they must knock at.

I do not know [why there is this difference], but I am sure () God keeps [no one] [waiting]

/unless He sees that it is good for him to wait.

When you do get /into your room

you will find that the long wait has done [you] [some kind of good //which you would not have had /otherwise.

But you must regard it /as waiting, not as camping.

You must keep on [praying for light]: and, of course, even in the hall,

you must begin [trying to obey the rules //which are common to the whole house].

And above all you must be asking [which door is the true one];

not which pleases you /best /by its paint and paneling.

In plain language, the question should never be: ‘Do I like that kind of service?’

but ‘Are these doctrines true: Is holiness here? Does my conscience move me /towards this?

Is my reluctance /to knock at this door /due to my pride,

or my mere taste, or my personal dislike of this particular door-keeper?’

When you have reached [your own room], be kind /to those //who have chosen different doors

and to those //who are still in the hall.

If they are wrong they need your prayers /all the more;

and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them.

That is one of the rules /common to the whole house.

From Mere Christianity
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis