1. There is a universal moral law.
2. Because there is a universal moral law, there must be a moral lawgiver
3. There must be a God
1. Lewis claims there is a universal moral law. He believes this law can be seen through the moral standards of society. When we fight over whether something is right or wrong, regardless of who is right, we are confirming that there is an accepted right or wrong. There seems to be an accepted morality most people follow, such as finding acts like murder, cheating, andlying as evil deeds. We do not need to explain why these acts are wrong, we just accept them as being morally corrupt. We assume that everyone else feels the same way about these acts as we do; we assume everyone has a universal acceptance of these standards. Lewis also uses moral judgment as proof of a universal moral law. Without a universal standard, how could we judge the actions of others? For example, if there was no moral law how could anything be immoral. If one country believes that murdering the third child is moral, and we believe it is evil, no conclusion could be reached because it would just be a difference of opinion. There would be no standard to compare the act to. Lewis then proves that this moral law cannot simply be herd instinct. If this argument was true, then whatever instinct a person felt the strongest would be the instinct they would follow. However, we often see people overcome their natural instinct to do what they think is right. For example, a man risking his life for a stranger.
2. Lewis uses the conclusion that there is a universal moral law to claim that there must be a lawgiver. He reasons that if there was no one who gave this moral standard, then how, or why, does it exist? There does not seem to be any physical force that could create such a set of laws. Therefore, it would require some kind of supreme being to create these laws.
3. Lewis uses his two premises to conclude that there is in fact a God. He goes on to describe this God. The God must be omnipotent, or else he wouldn't be able to creat the universal moral law. The God must be the model of goodness for us to follow the moral code. In addition, He would care about us and our behavior, or else he wouldn't make us follow the law. Lewis claims that this God is the God of Christianity.
C.S. Lewis went through many different religions in his lifetime. The main two being atheism and Christianity. Lewis moved to Christianity from atheism in 1929. He wrote many books on the issue in order to try and help people understand why he was a Christian and what he believed about God, Christianity, etc.
I find Lewis's argument to be very convincing. I think that many people would easily accept his idea on a universal moral code. I also find it easy to believe that there is nothing physical in this world that could have created such a law, leading to the conclusion that there must be some supernatural force in charge. While it may not be the God he describes, I do believe that there must be some God ruling over us.
Sources:
C.S. Lewis Biography - http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/cslewis.htm
The Moral Argument by Dr. Phil Fernandes - http://www.biblicaldefense.org/Writings/moral_argument.htm#23
Arguments from Morality for the Existence of God - http://apologetics.johndepoe.com/morality.html
C.S. Lewis's Moral Argument - http://blog.atheology.com/2007/03/29/cs-lewis-moral-argument/
