“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
What I appreciate about C.S. Lewis is the way in which he approaches God from reason and logic as opposed to emotion. I know that my own emotional responses change according to my levels of hunger, hormones and tiredness, to name but a few, whereas my logic and reason, by definition, should not! Being so changeable, I am grateful for the reasoned approach.
My interpretation of the comment is that firstly, Lewis is making a statement of belief. He is telling us quite categorically that he believes in a faith that is based upon Christ. He adds to this assertion that he believes in it in the same straight-forward way that he believes that the sun has risen; in other words it is an irrefutable fact. He is just as sure about both.
Each day we are told a great number of things that we never question and just accept as being fact – you will not fall off the edge of the planet if you walk to the horizon, there is something called gravity keeping your feet on the ground, we are breathing in Oxygen every moment of the day, your heart keeps pumping whilst you sleep, indeed that the sun has risen. There are so many things that I whole-heartedly accept and believe even though I have never personally and properly proven them for myself. I believe them because they are logical, reasoned explanations that make sense, they are clearly argued and because they fit in with other ‘truths’ about life whilst simultaneously helping to explain additional ‘truths’.
Yes, I see that the sun has risen, but there is more to it than that. The proof is not only that I see it but also that because I accept and understand that fact I am consequently able to accept and understand a host of other facts that augment my knowledge and understanding – day and night, seasons, plant growth, the earth’s rotation, darkness and light etc.
If I believe in the fact of a loving God who created, then I have a means of accepting and understanding the notions of love and creation. Otherwise, logically, there could be no origin for these things other than a fabrication of my own mind…and if this is the case then how could you share an innate understanding of these notions with me, even though we’ve possibly never met?
Similarly, what is this desirable thing called ‘good’ that you and I share unless there is an ultimate origin of goodness? Why do we desire peace? Why do we have a common understanding of morality unless there is an originator who is the ultimate expression of all of these things? Why do I long for there to be something more than this life? Lewis suggests that “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
My understanding is that for Lewis, Christianity was believable not only because he came to accept it as fact, but also because it enabled him to understand and explain other things about life and existence.
One thing that I know for sure is that I have struggled and spectacularly failed to articulate my thoughts on this matter…even after a week of trying. I just can’t quite crystallise my thoughts on this one.
Please, do add your comments below to help me sort it out.
C.S. Lewis encapsulated it in one sentence: What a man!
Elevation of mind 
I’m thinking along the lines of how Christianity helps me make sense of life. For me, the only way I can make any sense of some things – by no means all – in this world is by realising that it is only a small part of a much bigger picture and a short time in an eternity. So Christianity makes sense for me, and it also helps me make sense of what I see around me, just as the sun shines on things and illuminates them, but nonetheless leaves some things in shadow.
Secondly, the approach of reason appeals to me especially at the moment, when I am going through a period of little emotional response with regard to my faith. Not that I’m not hoping I will begin to “feel” more again at some point, but it is good to know that logic is also a sound and valid approach, and, like you say, often more reliable and consistent than emotions!
Jenny
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