Virtue In C. S. Lewis Out Of The Silent Planet

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it (author anonymous).” Virtue is defined by Webster Online Dictionary as a conformity to a standard of right, a particular moral excellence. As Christians, we are instructed to stand apart from this dark and ominous world, to be a light in the darkness. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.” The question then becomes, is averting evil enough to generate a virtuous person or must it be an active choice? Everyone is created with a sin nature. Our natural instinct is to choose immorality over morality. But, Christ

This seems like an active choice right? So to become a virtuous person, one must determine in the mind and follow through daily with their actions to pursue moral excellence. This previous statement is not only proved by Scripture, but it can also be proven by C.S. Lewis’s novel, Out of the Silent Planet. Virtue is an active choice. This is demonstrated in the first of C.S. Lewis’s space trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet. In this novel, Lewis creatively writes an intriguing story involving Ransom, the brilliant philologist, who studied at Cambridge College. At the beginning of the novel, Ransom is a free traveler walking by foot, or as Lewis called him a “Pedestrian”. Upon Ransom’s journey, he attempts to find a place to rest his head for the night. However, to his great surprise, he is denied a place to stay in Nadderby. The British innkeeper of

In Matthew chapter sixteen verse twenty-four, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” Taking up your cross is an action that must occur minute by minute. You must choose either to sit idly and to just avoid evil or to make a conscious decision to follow and chase after Christ and His ways. Another example in Scripture is Ephesians six verses ten through thirteen. It says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” You make a choice to fight the principalities of this world. You could choose to just avoid all wrongdoing, but you aren’t choosing virtue. Virtue is not something that occurs by avoiding evil, it comes when you decide to conform to morality and to what is